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July 2022 Saving/Spending

4 Responses to “July 2022 Saving/Spending”

1. rob62521 Says:
   July 31st, 2022 at 06:41 pm 1659292884
   1659292884
   A good job. You did squeak under your $70 for groceries with a little change to spare as well!

2. Dido Says:
   July 31st, 2022 at 09:24 pm 1659302658
   1659302658
   Amazing. I just can't fathom how you could spend so little in a month for groceries. I spend about double your entire monthly grocery spending in just one WEEK of shopping. Granted, since I'm working at a busy job and I can afford to, I buy organic and some minimally prepared foods (not processed, but I'll buy the pre-chopped veggies etc because that time-saving is the difference between my cooking at home vs eating out). My grocery expenses will definitely go down when I retire but I have a real hard time imagining how one could survive on $70 groceries a month in this day and age. Have you always been such a frugal grocery shopper or did you have to learn how to cut your bill after retiring, and if the latter, how long did that take you?

3. Wink Says:
   July 31st, 2022 at 10:25 pm 1659306319
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   Dido: One thing that helps me is that once a month I receive free groceries from my senior center. The food is donated by local grocery stores and is available for anyone in my zip code, 60 years or older, and who is a member of the senior center. I don't get to choose what I receive it is already bagged up. I have blogged about this before, but you may have missed it. It's typically canned goods but includes tuna and canned chicken, peanut butter, soups, some bread etc. Some months I will receive some frozen chicken or ground meat. I usually do not receive fresh produce or things like butter, eggs or milk. The $70 I spend a month is mostly on fresh produce, butter eggs etc. I also only eat a full meal twice a day now (by choice, I am intermittent fasting) and I only eat meat maybe twice a week. I batch cook things like chili, soups etc. and freeze portions. It is difficult, and some months I do spend more, but I am pretty low income and need to stretch things as much as I can.

4. Dido Says:
   August 1st, 2022 at 12:28 am 1659313739
   1659313739
   Ah, yes, I do recall your mentioning the senior center groceries. Definitely it helps! And intermittent fasting does as well--I do that on and off (lately off). As does eating meat less often.
   
   I know I'll have to cut my grocery spending a lot when I retire, but in the meantime, pre-chopped veggies that I can throw into the Instant Pot or Air Fryer or microwave and buying rotisserie chickens often mean the difference between "cooking" a meal myself at home vs. going out. I *am* trying to eat out less often--for health reasons at the moment more than anything. I do kind of wince at the amount I spend on groceries, but I also figure it's worth it to support my health, given that I currently have the income to be able to do it. But I expect changing food habits will probably be one of my biggest struggles when I *do* retire at the end of this decade.
   
   In the meantime, I went to my first movie post-COVID, which is also my first movie post-turning 60 (I hit 62 next month) and it was a shock to realize I qualified for the senior discount.
   
   

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