So, I was talking about how much money I spent a month, right?

I went through this in my last post, which was mainly about my credit card debt. I talked about how I’ve spent about how in the last month, I spent $150 on coffee and wine, about $80 on eating out.

Small potatoes, right?

When I realized I needed to make some adjustments to my spending, I thought there’d be a big aha. I thought it’d be easy to pick one thing to cut out of my spending. When I went through my transactions, however, I was really surprised at what I found.

I don’t really buy that much. Often, people can stop spending a lot of money on clothes, or trips to the movies. I don’t really spend a lot on either. While I can easily stop going out for coffee (sad), I was hoping for one big GOTCHA that I could cut out in order to budget.

What I found was surprising.

Basically:

1 – A lot of my smaller purchases build up. I’ve since cancelled a lot of auto-subscriptions I didn’t really notice coming out of my account.

2- Cutting out common culprits (coffee, going out, beer, video games) that apply to other people isn’t going to apply to me.

3- My goal to travel more is leading to a lot of “pay now, worry about it later” expenses.

4- Living alone is my largest deterrent in saving more money. If I had a roommate, I could pay off most of my credit card debt on my next paycheck. 2 more months until Chase moves in.

The area that I have the most room to improve on is… groceries.

Last month, I spent $447 fucking dollars on groceries. That’s at least $100 a week for someone who lives alone, and weighs 110 lbs wet.

Sigh. I didn’t want it to be groceries.

I really didn’t want it to be groceries.

The travel expenses ($600 last month for booking flights for a trip in May, expenses from when I was in Sacramento) are a different monster, hence, a different post.

But groceries?!

I drink $4 a bottle wine. I don’t eat bread, and I don’t buy snacks. I swapped expensive ice cream out for yogurt (cheaper, better for you, can eat whenever without judgement.)

So how the fuck did I spent nearly $500 on groceries?

Here’s how:

Whole Foods – $230
Harris Teeter – $69
Food Lion – $78

Oh. My Whole Foods hot bar. That hurts my heart.

So on average, that’s $14 a day at the grocery store. That might not seem like a lot…. but isn’t it? Why spend $14 a day on groceries when you could just ….

…. yeah, I get it. This is why people budget.

Hear me out for a second, before throwing coupon websites my way…

  1. I work a straight 8 hours a day. I often don’t have a lot of time to cook and prep for the week. Convenience means a lot to me.
  2. And honestly, I don’t like to meal prep. I like variety, and running out to go to the store is a great way for me to get out of the house.
  3. I like to eat organic, I don’t eat bread, I pay more for almond milk, etc. You get the idea. A lot of food that’s typically inexpensive and quick to make (pasta is always the exception), is actually really bad for you.

But I can’t ignore that number. Almost $500 for one person? That’s more than $100 a week. That’s ridiculous.

For April, I’m making a new food budget – stay tuned. I’m going to Anthony Bourdain the fuck out of cheap eating.