Ok, so busy weekend with it being Easter weekend. I ended up working Thursday morning, then did my grocery shopping right after work. Came home, had to put the groceries away then start cleaning in prep for the company we had coming over the next day. By the time Saturday (yesterday) hit, I was beat from the past week and a half.
I'm still not meeting my goal, but trying to see where my costs are coming from that are taking me over. This past week my grocery bill was $115.05 (including taxes). Lower then the previous week, but still higher then my goal of $100.
With this week's trip, I ended up spending $7 on Easter treats for the kids, obviously not a normal expense, but wanted a little something for the kids to go searching for this morning. And yes, I went the cheaper route and tried to buy things that literally cost about $1 each, so no bigger items. I also had to pick up laundry detergent this past week. Normally I can go a few months without needing to buy detergent since it can last a while, but what I had was getting lower anyways, and with the recent bout of stomach flu we just went through here, I ended up doing a LOT more laundry then I normally do. Not fun! Luckily though, the stuff I normally buy was on sale for about $10 so I did save a bit on that.
While I haven't really had the time, or energy, to really study my grocery bill to see where I can cut back more, I did start thinking about what could be causing some extra expense that most people normally wouldn't have. I live out in the country, which means I'm not on city water or sewer system. That's great in the sense that I don't worry about a water bill, but since we have well water, I have other things to worry about. One of those things is, depending on what's going on in nature, my well water, and therefore drinking water, could end up contaminated with bacteria. Since this house didn't have a UV light or a reverse osmosis system (systems that can help clean up the water to make it safe for drinking), when we moved in last year, we started buying large jugs of water to use as our drinking water. We could install the systems, but unfortunately, they can be pricey up front and we didn't have that kind of money on hand to do.
This is obviously an expense not everyone has, and if we were fortunate enough to be on city water (or have the proper systems installed in this house), then I'd have a little more luck keeping in my budget. As it is, I'll do my best to see what I can do to make this work, and try to keep you informed of how I'm doing.
Also, based on freezer levels, I may need to get my meat rations this upcoming week, though I may see if I can hold it off for one more week.
