I have never spent that much money at a grocery store, even when I had a couple of teenagers.
I realize that living alone makes grocery shopping a lot easier. I often cook things, like soups or pasta things, and freeze most of the leftovers. Living this way is incredibly cost effective. My meals work out to $2.00 or less per portion.
I was one of six kids growing up, mostly in the 1950s and into the early 1960s. Because my parents had grown up in the Depression, they were absolutely determined that we kids would have adequate food growing up. And they achieved that.
In 1962, when I was fourteen, we moved to Tucson, AZ, because my mother realized that leaving my alcoholic father was a good thing to do. The next year, in 1963, an offer to babysit a couple of girls on Saturdays was offered at my school. When I signed up for the babysitting gig, I figured I'd never make it, as there were about six others ahead of me on the list. But I got a call into the office and was offered the job. The school knew that my family was extremely poor, and had scholarshipped our books, knowing that my mom simply could not afford them.
The babysitting job lasted three or four months. The parents were school teachers (in a different school district from the one I lived in) who worked at a nursery on Saturdays. My own mom drove me to their house in the morning. Their mom drove me back home at the end of the day. It paid $3.00 for the day, which honestly is not as shockingly a low sum as it seems today. According to an inflation calculator, it would be close to $30.00 these days. But more to the point, when the mom was driving me home, I'd often ask to stop at a nearby grocery store, so I could by food for my family. The mom was always astonished, but I could not imagine not buying food for the family. Mom was a nurse, and back then nurses earned nothing. Mom worked every extra shift she could get, and it still was barely enough. My wages from that babysitting job was an enormous help. I never felt deprived or as if I was spending money on something else I couldn't have.
I think my point is that having grown up relatively poor, and having lived relatively poor at various points in my life, I'm somewhat astonished at a grocery bill that is at all close to $100.00.
Not sure if this is helpful, but this is how I manage my money. At the beginning of every week I take out a specific sum of money from my checking account. I then put most of that money into several different envelopes. Cat, Health and Well Being, Clothes, Entertainment, and Miscellaneous. Here's how I work it. If I want to buy clothing, I need to have money in that envelope. Otherwise, no clothes. The money that stays in my wallet is mostly grocery store money. If, at the end of the week, there is money left over, I have a super-miscellanous envelope that excess money goes to.
I realize that many reading may well have a different way of managing money. I will say this. Back in 2019, my financials had stabilized, and I figured I could transition to putting most of my purchases on line. Somewhat to my horror I realized that putting everything on line was a very bad decision. All of a sudden I was spending a whole lot money that before. Not a good thing, at least not for me.
I do understand that this system may not work well for all, but it has been wonderful for me.
= new reply since forum marked as read
