The Sport of Shopping...

... It is that challenging.

My daily challenge for the first day was that I had a chocolate craving and had to give in!  I was very lucky and found that a package of 4 chocolate pudding cups is on sale at IGA for $1 (if this was any other week I wouldn't be so lucky!!).  I was able to incorporate this cost into my budget, but nothing else.

At Wal-Mart: wow. I didn't realize that the price of food was so high.  It seems like everything is about $0.50 more expensive than I figured.  So it looks like the meatloaf is out of the question and 7 nights of Mexican Casserole it is.  I'm shuddering at the thought.  Oh, and surprise! I can't believe I can't afford to buy tea!  It is 'only' $2 for 20 bags but my personal items- deodorant, toilet paper-yikes! shampoo and body soap are so expensive! Add in the toothbrush and paste and it came to a grand total of $11.49.  One of my food weaknesses is Yop.  I really, really wanted to buy it and it was only $0.97 but I didn't have enough money.

To IGA:  They are having their Dollar Days sales on.  Thank goodness!
Woo hoo!  It looks like I can buy a fresh pineapple because it is on sale for $1.99!  This makes me really excited because the only other fresh fruits and vegetables I could afford is a bag of frozen mixed veggies and a bag of oranges (I splurged, spent the $3.99).  Unfortunately I couldn't afford to buy any more fruit and veggies for snacks as I had planned.

Although I spent a lot of time looking at grocery store flyers to plan my meals, I found it very difficult to purchase the ingredients I needed to eat for the week.  Toilet paper was really expensive, and so I "split the cost" and package with a friend.  Bar soap was also really expensive!  Normally I try to buy some of these items in large quantities to save on the per unit cost and so I found it to be very alarming to see how expensive the smallest package costs are, regardless of brand.  Even store brands are quite expensive at over $2.50 for 3 bars of soap.

I live in the country and with there not being any public transit where I live, I had to take my vehicle (that I would not be able to afford if I was living on social assistance).  The problem is that the total cost of my groceries and personal items came to $51.85, leaving me without any money for transportation, makeup, or future challenges...  as it is I think the monotony of eating the same thing all week long will be a real challenge.


Here's what $51.85 got me:

650g strawberry yogurt
brown bread
1L Oasis mango juice
bag of oranges
small peanut butter
strawberry jam
2L milk
1 kg frozen mixed vegetables
about 3 oz of cheddar cheese
2 boxes of jiffy corn muffin mix (I'm relying on a friend to pick this up for me)
13 oz of salsa
2 lbs regular ground beef
1 small bag of onions
1 can cream corn
500ml of cottage cheese
4 pack of chocolate pudding
pineapple
deodorant
toilet paper (split cost & package with a friend)
shampoo
toothbrush
toothpaste
body soap (split cost & package with a friend)