I’m still husbanding my resources. And still very aware of the irony of that statement.
Last year, when my husband had just left me, I needed to try to live as frugally as I possibly could. I cut back on the amount of money I spent on electricity, gas, water, and food.
I’m evangelical about Rubber Chicken – making a chicken s-t-r-e-t-c-h as far as possible. It’s been the lynch-pin of my money saving.
For the year after he left, my average monthly bill for food (the food part of the supermarket shop, plus meals and coffees out, takeaways and alcohol) was £79.05.
For the first three months the average was closer to £70, while I used up the stocks I already had in the cupboards.
I never did get around to drinking the advocaat. It’s still there, if anyone wants it. Any idea how long it keeps??
I was determined to continue to have a healthy diet – wholemeal bread and pasta, brown rice, lots of veggies, not too much red meat. I also continued to have the occasional treat – pizza on a Friday night, a takeaway once a month. It had to be sustainable if I was going to be able to maintain it for any length of time.
This year, now that I’m working pretty much full time, and I have a lodger, and working alongside my ex in our business is actually going OK, the money situation is a little easier. And thanks to the Covid crisis, I’m simply not spending as much money on ‘doing things’ as I did previously. Ironic granted one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to get out and about more this year!!
So, what with one thing and another, I’ve stopped feeling that I need to count every single penny that I spend on food. I still keep a track of what I’m spending my money on, but now I just track what I spend at the supermarket in general.
Thanks to Covid, I’ve stopped getting takeaways, and I don’t think I’ve been out for a meal at all this year, so the supermarket spend is a pretty fair indication of my food spend – but of course it includes other things as well, like toiletries, cleaning materials, and so on.
So – my new monthly average for all supermarket purchases so far this year is £95.20. That’s up £16.15 per month on my food spending from last year, but includes all those other bits and bobs. I can live with that.
I’ve allowed myself to ease off just a little. I rebelled about a month ago – I didn’t buy a chicken! Instead I bought chicken fillets, some mince, some sausages, some frozen fish, and other good things. I’ve enjoyed the change, and the overall cost hasn’t been too much more.
I’ve just about used up everything that went into the freezer – there’s one more fish fillet and one or two chicken fillets left, but that’s about it.
I might buy a chicken this weekend, just for a change…
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