Third week of January Food Update

January is never ending, and we are heading into one more week of it! Fortunately the way the dates fell this year, my monthly pay came a bit ahead of schedule. The bad news is that means it will be another 5 weeks before my next monthly pay. Often the Dec - Feb pay sequence is 6 weeks and then 4, but this year its 5 and 5. Update on the monthly goals later however.

Foodwise, my grocery shopping continued along the same as the previous week, with multiple small trips to our mainstream (and therefore, pricier) grocery store. The totals spent add up to $151.79 which is completely acceptable to me. My "convenience foods" expenditure was up this week, to $46.63. This is primarily due to two "meals" purchased from the local cafeteria. Truth is, they weren't actually meals but they priced out to over $9!!!What I purchased were basically the equivalent of a protein snack box at Starbucks or the like. Boiled egg, peanut butter with tiny bagel or crackers, fruit, etc. Sooo easy to make myself if I am ready!

I'm happy with the food expenses thus far and plan to keep this goal going for February. I would really like to add to my savings in February, which may take some effort.

Food Expenses Jan 11-17

Here is my update on weekly food expenditure for the second full week of January, from Saturday Jan 11 to Friday Jan 17:

Grocery shopping= $190.43
Convenience = $23.91

Overall I still think these are pretty reasonable expenses, even though they are higher than last week. I am continuing to cook from scratch and bring my lunches. There is more in the "Convenience " category this week as I relaxed a bit and felt more free to get coffee to go! I also think there might have been a few small treats for my daughter as we were out doing errands.

I might take a deeper dive into my food expenses next week. This week does not reflect any attempts to shop around or compare prices, however I did make a note to buy less expensive items at the store. I do plan to increase my fruits and veggies this week, so that will make an impact.

Cheers!

The Week in Food Expenses

Since my goal this month is to pay attention to my food expenditures, here is a wrap up of my spending for the second full week of January - I'm counting Friday Jan 3 to Friday Jan 10.

Groceries: $113.58
Coffee shops: $13.23

My "coffee shop" expenditures also include small snacks. I've been bringing lunch to work but sometimes get hungry! This category does not capture any purchases I made with cash. I didn't use alot of cash this week, but I do know I spend a few loonies and toonies on coffee or snacks.

Overall pretty outstanding! I'm very pleased with this low expense. I do have a lot of items in my pantry and freezer, and I think this low food expense reflects:

• eat what I have in the pantry
• focus on buying healthy but lower price items (ie apples instead of strawberries this week)
• take my lunch and snacks to work
• cook at home

I wasn't super frugal with other spending this week, I did indulge on some winter items. We had a big snowstorm and as I really like to make sure we get outside in the winter I did buy some gear for that.

January Goal is all about Food Prices!!

I get paid monthly, near the end of the month, and have most of my bills organized to come out just after payday.

Due to holidays, my December pay gets deposited a full week early. Yay, more money to spend over the holidays. This make a long January, as I usually treat myself during post holiday sales. Then I start January with less than my usual monthly deposit.

This year my January goal is to not use any credit to manage this shortfall. I'm already noticing that it might be difficult, due to a new (and much larger!) child care payment, and two property emergencies. I manage my rentals from their own account, so that should not affect my goals stated here, but one emergency was at my primary residence.

Main Concern: Food Prices!

So this month I will be paying attention to food prices. I will plan meals around ingredients I already have, as well as buy less expensive groceries while trying to maintain good nutrition. Planning meals and bringing my lunch will help cut down on several hundred dollars of food expenses.

Do you have any tips on saving on groceries?

New Decade of Financial Accountability

Welcome to the New Decade!


Happy 2020. I'm posting my goals for the year, and following up with more specific monthly goals and information, with the intention of keeping myself accountable by sharing and updating my financial path.


My goals for the coming year:

1. Max out my TFSA for this year (plenty of room for catch up).
2. Max out RESP.
3. Get my get my investment portfolio professionally reviewed.
4. Learn now my online investing platform works, and follow the investment performance monthly.
5. Rental Properties: pay attention to the cash flow, and drive income.
6. My consulting business: Target a 20,000 thousand gross revenue.
7. Find free resources when at all possible.
8. Add value to primary home and properties.

I will work on adding detail to these ideas as the days and weeks unfold! My main objective is to continue on a path of improving my personal finances.

Most of my life I've been a great saver and shown excellent financial responsibility. Then the years of solo parenting kicked in, and I was happy to make ends meet (while still experiencing growth of my pension and one rental property). Day care was expensive, and I wanted to spend money on experiences.  Then the opportunity came to buy a home in the best school neighborhood and I took advantage of it!

It definitely hit my finances but it was also a great move.

Fast forward to 10 years of parenting, my salary has increased and I have 2 rental properties now. I incurred some bad debt due to a "yolo", which I spent last year working hard to pay off. I'm entering 2020 with only "good" debt, and a clean slate. I do have a decent retirement portfolio, excellent pension, a great start on an RESP and real estate equity. But I want now is to build more liquid assets.
So I'm here to describe my journey of making more and spending less.