Grocery Budget & Clutter Sales

At the end of January I was horrified to find out how much I had spent on my groceries and drinks during that month. I wanted to radically reduce this amount and had very little success in February. There was a reduction but only minor. For January the total was £606.14 and for February the total was £598.30. Hardly a radical reduction when the amount in question is just £7.84. However, what has been of great value has been keeping a record of my spending and I have come to realise that I keep too much "stock" in my pantry, fridge and freezers and that I am sucker for using up money off vouchers sent to my the supermarkets. I usually get them from Sainsburys, Waitrose, Tesco and M&S.

I would not have spent so much in February if it had not been for three £8 off a £40 spend vouchers from Waitrose. In my mind I HAVE to use them up and have bought lots of long lasting items such as cat food, toilet paper and laundry liquid to use up the vouchers. If I try to not fall for using up any vouchers in March I am hopeful I can use up my "stock" and reduce my spending for March.

I have still been planning our meals and have been doubling up any cooking in the oven, so for example I cooked a roast beef dinner the other Sunday (beef was half price from the butcher's counter in Waitrose). I also cooked a chicken at the same time for using during the week for a couple of evening meals and sandwiches for work lunches.

I used the same accounts app for my grocery spending to keep a check on how much money I made in January & February on selling my clutter on eBay. I took into account postage costs plus eBay and PayPal costs. The amount I made was not huge and was more satisfying in freeing up space in the house than becoming a potential eBay millionaire but it will certainly help towards some spending money for our holiday in April. I managed to sell just over 40 items most of which were make-up, books and shoes. The smallest amount I sold an item for was £2.49 for an eye-liner and the most was £25 for a pair of boots that I had not worn for years. 

I will give the eBay selling a rest for now as it can be time-consuming in addition to me working full time as well and I seem to have reduced some of my clutter within our home. I think I will start again once we are back from our holidays in April.