My husband just got paid. His paychecks come biweekly. In quite a reversal from our first few years together, he is by far the major breadwinner in our house. In order to rein in our spending, I decided we’ll do as we used to and use a mostly cash-based system to manage our money for a while. Dan is game with pretty much whatever I can explain well, especially if it means saving money. The new system means pulling money out of our account and putting it into envelopes marked for certain categories. But before we made it by the ATM, we decided to stop by Whole Foods on our way home from flying kites and taking photos during sunset at the beach.
We stopped at Whole Foods because my husband wanted to get one thing: the kind of cat food our vet recommends for our kitties. (It’s a kind that has actually been tested for cats’ health, not just theoretically formulated for it.) I said, “Okay, let’s pick up salsa and guacamole and eat our leftover tamales for dinner tonight.” That made three things on our list for the store. And if we’d bought the ingredients for the guacamole, it would have cost more than a container of guacamole. Then when we walked in, I said, “Oh, my TCM practitioner told me yesterday that she wants me to get fish oil capsules and a prenatal vitamin to take.” (Note: the prenatal has no meaning other than that I am at a particular age where, my doctor says, “it’s good to expect the unexpected.” And I know I have low vitamin levels at times due to a not entirely healed gut, so I was game for that concept.) That made five items to pick up at the store. It took a while to find a prenatal vitamin that was free of soy and gluten and didn’t cost an arm and a leg. While we were picking that up, I remembered the doctor also wanted me to try drinking kombucha. I’ve had homemade kombucha before but haven’t made it myself, so I thought I’d pick up a bottle to try before I made my own. That made six things on our list. While finding the kombucha, I came across the only vegan, soy-free, casein-free cheese that I like–and which stores here have been running out of. I grabbed a container. We were up to seven. Then I came across a display of the lifetime-guaranteed, high-quality kitchenware that we use
And we weren’t up to just any eight items. The can opener was $35. Two months of the fish oil was $34. Three months of the prenatal vitamin was $23. The cost of those items plus our other ones meant we ended up walking out of the grocery store having spent $129.19.
It is times like this one that make me amazed how little other people manage to spend in the grocery store. Sure, I am not (thank God) walking in every day and purchasing kitchen appliances and vitamins. But it seems like high-end items end up in my cart far more often than they do for others.
I’m still determined to eat well, to eat joyfully, and spend less this month. (We pulled money out of the ATM as we left the store.) I am glad to have the vitamins and the can opener. I just thought it was a good example of my experience of grocery shopping.
19 responses so far ↓
1 julie // Jan 31, 2010 at 7:50 am
Whole Paycheck is quite outrageous in their prices. Good quality food, but I’ve noticed, the rare time I go in there I spend $45 on 7 items. Fortunately, we have alternatives where I live, not everyone is so lucky. And if they are, it’s only a matter of time before WF will move in and kill the competition anyway.
I should consider myself lucky, having no allergies nor sensitivies, it’s easier and cheaper for me to shop. My can openers, etc. tend to come from garage sales, not electric. Simple living for unemployed single woman, yah, I’m poor.
2 Rachel // Jan 31, 2010 at 9:03 am
Just because you bought something at the grocery store doesn’t mean it needs to come out of your grocery budget. We budget for vitamins, home purchases like the can opener, and pets separately. I do include things like toilet paper and soap in the grocery budget, because that’s easier than trying to separate everything.
3 Kristen // Jan 31, 2010 at 10:55 am
Have you tried iherb.com for vitamins? What brand prenatal did you get? I was taking Nature’s Plus for a long time. (Oh, and the cheese does have casein in it — you were right, though I swear, the last time I bought it, it clearly said “CASEIN free” on it.)
4 Shannon // Feb 1, 2010 at 4:25 am
It’s just so easy. I second what Rachel said above. It is easier for me to have a clear idea of where we are spending our money if we budget separately for household goods, etc.
5 Ellen Allard // Feb 1, 2010 at 9:27 am
Sally - I started using a budgeting program 1 1/2 years ago and it literally has changed the way we spend and view money. The program is called YNAB and you can find it online. The acronym stands for You Need A Budget. It is worth every penny (it’s not really that expensive). There is a bit of a learning curve but they have lots of support including a great forum. Whenever I ask a question on the forum, it is usually answered within minutes. They also have free online webinars to get you up and running. I can’t recommend it enough. It helps you figure out how to budget for EVERYTHING!
6 sally // Feb 1, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Julie, some of WF prices are high. But I have found some of them are actually lower than at smaller and/or local lower-case whole food stores (like our coop). I shop there for several reasons: 1) Employees make a living wage and are offered health benefits; 2) the employees are almost always friendly and helpful; 3) the foods don’t have weird things in them. That is, my can of tuna is tuna and spring water instead of (at Publix or Kroger–this example is Starkist) tuna, vegetable broth (contains soy), salt, pyrophosphate. Or weirder. 4) There’s not a hugely disproportionate difference in what upper management makes versus what the average worker there makes. Those reasons are definitely not as important to everyone else as they are to me, but they do matter to me.
To everyone else—we have a functional budget. I don’t like budgeting, but it keeps me sane, and I do it monthly. The can opener comes out of Household Goods. The cat food comes out of Pet Supplies. The vitamins do come out of grocery but get reimbursed through our HSA. So we do have a system. My point is that I go in to the grocery store thinking I won’t spend much and then I do. And it’s not always these items, but it happens a lot. And for the past several months, we’ve had unexpectedly high costs in a variety of areas.
7 noosh. // Feb 1, 2010 at 12:47 pm
whole foods is always a dangerous trap for me, but i think that there’s something about ‘natural’ stores that make me feel more accepted when i walk in the door that i feel i can spend more
which cheese did you buy? only sf/cf one i’ve found is galaxy naturals slices which are a bit like plastic and taste ricey.
8 sally // Feb 1, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Noosh–Daiya soy-free vegan cheese is the only non-cheese I’ve ever liked. (I’ll be posting about it soon.) Well, the only non-cheese I’ve liked besides the local-only cashew creamy cheeselike thing I can get at the co-op here, which is fabulous in faux-alfredo. Anyway, Daiya is tasty–particularly tossed in something mildly warm or when it’s broiled, like on pizza. It’s at its weakest in a quesadilla or other closed setting. Karina (GFGoddess) likens it to Velveeta, but I really miss cheese, so I’ll take Velveeta over nothing.
9 Eileen Loughman // Feb 2, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Ha…. $130 is always the magic number when we go to whole foods some how. Thank goodness it’s an hour away so we don’t go that often. Working on our food budget this year.
10 Dream Imagine Happen // Feb 2, 2010 at 5:56 pm
You’re so right! This sounds like many a trip I’ve made to the grocery store. Even with a list in hand, it’s incredibly difficult to go grocery shopping without remembering a million things you need (at least, that’s how it is with me). Our NY’s resolution to stick to our budget is crawling along fairly successfully, but I have to say that there are times when it feels almost physically painful to *not* purchase something I haven’t budgeted.
Your idea to use cash in envelopes is a great one. We’re also trying to do that…so much more tangible than swiping a card.
BTW, I hope you’re enjoying Santa Monica! It’s beautiful there. I read somewhere on your blog that you recently moved. All that sun and the peace of Dan finding a great job is certainly cause for celebration…even $129 worth of essentials.
11 noosh. // Feb 3, 2010 at 11:46 am
thanks so much for the cheese rec! i found a few stores close to me that carry it, so i’ll have to get it soon
i forgot to mention earlier, but i’ve also signed up for these coupons: http://www.healthesavers.com/
hard to find coupons for some of the healthier products out there and they offer them.
12 Doc Manette // Feb 5, 2010 at 9:06 am
I was surprised by how little $$ on groceries /month for a family of 4 some of your readers commented on your previous post.
Until recently, I was spending $800/month for a family of 3 (this included tp/tissues/laundry detergent/shampoo/toothpaste).
Most of the money was going for junk-y individual snacks for the car, so the kids had a snack when they got out of school (crackers, pretzels,). My son could eat three packages on the way home and a box yielded only 6 pkgs for $4.97 a box (he is 13, growing quickly and always hungry and must have a tape worm because he is so thin).
anyway, I started cooking healthier and cut out the snacks and pops and saw a huge savings on the grocery bill.
13 Linda // Feb 5, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Just wondering what type of cat food started off your shopping excursion. I’m looking for a better quality food.
14 Kathryn // Feb 6, 2010 at 6:46 am
Oh, yeah, Whole Foods can be expensive, but sometimes it is the only place I can find something I want - say vitamin e with all 3 tocoperols or a half gallon of almond milk as opposed to the small box. I have been shopping more at Trader Joe’s lately. It has some gluten free items - varies how much depending on the demand at a particular store. And, it tends to have lower prices than Whole Foods. The employees are all friendly and helpful - at least at the store I shop at. Which says to me that they are happy and well trained.
15 Cindy (aka Wheatless Foodie) // Feb 11, 2010 at 11:14 am
This post made me laugh because this happens to us all the time at Costco. We have 6 to 8 items on our list and walk out with a full cart and a receipt for $300+.
I’ve heard WF can be expensive for some things, but I like your reasons for shopping there. Wish we had one here.
16 Frances // Mar 5, 2010 at 2:54 pm
We live on a very meager budget but there are still a few things we buy from Whole Foods. The things we buy there are actually cheaper than we can find any where else. For instance, I’m allergic to most fragrances so I have to use a fragrance free shampoo. Ever seen one? At whole foods they have one that costs somewhere around $3. They also sell large containers of spices for less than they would cost at our regular grocery store. If we could, we would shop there more often because it’s such an uplifting experience. It’s also pretty educational to have a look around at all the things being left out of ingredient lists.
17 Amy // Apr 5, 2010 at 5:36 am
I love to shop at whole foods and feel good about the stuff that I buy there, though I always end up spending way more than I expected to there vs the local grocery store (Because I usually find things that I want to try and did not expect to get). I love your reasons for shopping there. I did not know that about WF re wages.
18 ~M // Jun 23, 2010 at 5:58 pm
What prenatal did you find that is soy- and gluten-free? They all seem to have one or both!
19 Meg Wolff // Jul 3, 2010 at 11:28 am
Happy 4th Sally! Just taking a break and thought of you. Hope all’s well in LA! xox
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