Squeezing those pennies!

 

I track all my expenditure very carefully which is sometimes encouraging and sometimes very definitely not!  The big thing is that I have real figures with which to work so I can see what I have been up to.  Here's my average weekly food spend for the last few years, including groceries and eating out. 

                                       2018                2019            2020            2021

Average weekly           £56.81            £52.92        £47.17          £44.17

In  many ways I am pleased with that.  Year on year I have reduced my food expenditure and I haven't felt deprived.  But I am also very aware that for a single person, it's not exactly brilliant.

I'm seventy now and there are still things I want to do and some of those things cost money.  (No, I'm not ready to be specific on this blog!)  I want to get things under even better control, especially in the face of rapidly rising prices.  I decided at the beginning of the year to aim for £5 per day.  Food is one of life's pleasures for me so I don't want to squeeze that very definite source of pleasure too much.  This year I am allowing myself £5 per day or £35 per week which is a very considerable reduction.  In the first thirteen weeks of this year I have averaged £30.16.  That sounds really good but as yet I am not eating out and the second half the year is always more expensive than the first.  

Let's see how it goes.