SOA's and high grocery bills

mrs_motivated

Hi All,

I have noticed recently that alot of SOA's hve very high grocery bills. When I first posted my SOA, it was the same for me too. (2 adults - 2 children and bill often between £600 and £800). :eek:

However, when I got serious about tackling debt and tried to keep track of what I was spending I realised that birthday pressies, hair cuts, clothes the odd bit of pertrol and entertainment (meals out / wine etc) were in fact often included in this and these were the areas where I was underestimating what I spent.

So now I have a realistic SOA, which I use as my budget - groceries is £50per week, entertainment £30 etc. When I get paid I all bills are paid by DD/SO and a transfer of money to a savings account. Everything else gets drawn out weekly and put into the relevant envelopes (it is a bit like having four purses but you soon get used to it) so when I go shopping the grocery envelope is for food / cleaning products etc. if when mooching around the supermarket I fancy a bottle of wine (the entertainment envelope comes out) and likewise if I want some new undies or a jumper, out comes the clothes envelope.

This really works for me - I know exactly what i spend on what and it is keeping me debt free.

I just wanted to share this tip in case it is useful for others.

Tixy

I think some of the really high grocery costs we see on her often include quite a lot on non groceries - things like alcohol and cigs that you buy from the supermarket in the same transaction but should really be identified seperately on your SoA.

Some people also get into a habit of picking up kids clothes / cds/ games etc as part of the weekly shop and think that they spend £150 a week, but forget that only £75 is actually groceries.

Good idea for people to do as you have and analyse supermarket receipts a bit.

Of course in some cases people really do spend a lot on food in the supermarket but at least there is a lot of advice for reducing that.

downsizer3

Its also important to make a list and stick to it.
Too easy to browse the aisles picking up 'bargains' you don't really need.
I have a list - and I spread the housekeeping / cleaning stuff over the month so that I can stick to my £30pw