Comparision of grocery and clothes shopping costs - YouLookFab Forum

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Comparision of grocery and clothes shopping costs

anne

Veteran

I did the grocery shopping today. Usually DH does it but he is rather overloaded ( and away) so I have been doing it the last few weeks. Once again, I am just astounded at how much it costs. I thought I had a fairly small shop today but it came to $215!!! (AUS) And I don't think we have gone under $200 in the last few weeks.

In case you are wondering where I am going with this, my segue is that I am amazed at how much more these things cost than clothes. I have set myself a clothing budget of effectively $10/week and clothes for the whole rest of my family (ie 1DH, 3DDs would probably come to the same amount again. Even in my spendy first half of the year it wouldn't have been more than $40 a week (and then only because I was buying expensive running shoes and orthotic shoes that will last for years)

How do you think you grocery shopping compares to your fashion spending?

BTW I also felt confronted because my image of myself as a frugal shopper has taken a hit. I bought a few things not on the list. Also am dieting at the moment and consuming more protein rich food which is more expensive than starches (I am eating both, just changing the proportions - and previously my diet was characterized by being pretty low in protein). Now I am feeling a pang that all my restraint in the clothes spending category is being used up by extra food spending!

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31 replies

Latest reply was from anne

anne

Veteran

My current plan to do something about this is to learn to make our own yoghurt! I grew up with homemade yoghurt.

rute

Veteran

Groceries are very expensive! I'm glad we don't eat much meat (just twice a week), we eat mostly vegetables, soup, fruits.

mumtojessandluke

This is my 1st post. Been lurking for some time. Anyway, just thought I could help out in a small way here.
Home made yogurt is easy.
Just find a 1L container that fits inside a thermos type container. I use an old Kentucky fried chicken thermos that they had for a promo aged ago in the 80's, and a square 1L container from S'way.
Add 2 Cups of milk powder (low fat or full cream) and 2 tablespoon of greek yougurt, and make up to 1L with tepid water making sure the powder is all dissolved. Place into your thermos, fill around the thermos with hot water & leave overnight on bench.
It takes about 5min's tops. Saves heaps on yogurt and can be flavored anyway you like.
More money for clothes

anne

Veteran

Hi Rute - I always read that food is very expensive in Europe. It has been fairly cheap until the last few years here in Australia so it is a bit of a shock for us. We pay nearly as much for food etc as we do for rent (though we are lucky in that we don't pay the highly inflated rents many Australians have to)

mumtojessluke - thanks so much for the recipe! I have been looking for recipes on the web but most of those I found had very precise temperatures and I don't have a thermometer. I have a great container already - an insulated cooking device called a dreampot. I will try yours tonight.

Ele

(website)

I spend quite a bit on food- it's not something I'll scrimp on. Luckily, we don't eat meat so don't spend that much, though local veg from the market can be a lot pricier than the cheap imported stuff. It's cheeses and fancy condiments/extras where I can get carried away. Oh, and breads- I love the organic stuff at the market but it can get so pricey!

Dawn

(website)

I also spend a lot of money on food, and like Ele, I also get carried away with buying random food that I probably don't need. I would probably save so much money if I planned a week of meals but I live opposite a supermarket and invariably am less than ten minutes from a farmer's market four days a week so I generally can get what I need if I was to cook something on a whim.

The biggest rip-off for me is the price of milk and other dairy products as my father is a dairy farmer so I know what the producers are getting vs the price of milk in the supermarket. I'm also lactose intolerant so I have to buy lactose-free milk which costs twice the price of regular full-fat milk.

londonkiwi (now back in NZ)

Veteran

I'm a bit of a foodie too. To keep bills down I buy fruit that is in season and from a market, I buy the best I can afford, that doesn't always mean organic, but I do try. We try to eat as little processed food as possible and are trying to decrease it all the time. If I had a bigger kitchen I would make my own bread and having just done a cooking class probably pasta too.

We do eat meat and chicken, but not very much as I am picky about what we buy. Milk is also organic where possible. It is the extra's that add up - like the jams and cheese.

I should probably be as fussy with my clothes shopping as I am with my food shopping...

bj1111

Veteran

there are fewer outlets for cutting food costs. unlike clothing, i would not thrift/ebay used food! bleah!

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Well, there are ways to cut your food bills. It just takes some out of the box thinking, and a little more planning.
There are the simpler ways-

do without (there are some items that you can just give up or save as special treats),

make your own (almost always cheaper than store bought. I make my own crackers,

laundry detergent and vegetable broth, for instance)

plan meals around the weekly sales (buy the produce, meat, etc that is on sale that week and work your meals around those items)

buy in bulk (from co-ops, online or just bulk bins at the market- again often cheaper in the long run)

If you can take it a step further, you can really save a lot of money.

Save the coupon inserts from the Sunday newspaper, and find one of the many websites that gives you coupon match ups every week (Pinching Your Pennies, Never Pay Retail Again, The Grocery Game- which charges, but is simple to use)

Visit at least one grocery store and one drug store each week

stock up on the non-perishible or freezable items (canned good, meat, boxed items, toiletries) which are at their rock bottom prices (with your coupons), and buy enough to last you through one cycle- 12 weeks

shop a club store like Costco for eggs, butter and milk

only buy items at their lowest prices, and create a stockpile that you can use through your 12 week grocery cycle. Doing this, you will always pay only the lowest price for each item, and you cut your bill substantially.

Scarlet

Veteran

For a family of 5, $200 a week seems reasonable to me.

Lisa

Veteran

I spend $100 for two people a week so $200 for 5 sounds great to me!

Kate

Veteran

I use http://www.grocerysmarts.com to know what is on sale locally. I select my state, and then the store, and there's a great list that uses a star system to tell you how good the sale is. It helps me know when to stock up and provides a reference point for how good a sale really is. I also use the coupons that come in the mail. My boyfriend and I average about $300/month on food for the two of us. We shop at Safeway, Trader Joe's, and Costco.

Rebecca

anne, I don't think you are doing too badly - we spend about $180ish a week for the 3 of us. From what I've seen food prices in Aus are fairly similar to NZ but you guys seem to get better specials. I do a vague menu plan going by what is on special at the suppermarket and shop online for the groceries monthly (although more like fortnightly lately as I haven't been organised with the meal planning). Adding delivery and being one of the more expensive supermarkets it doesn't seem like a cheap way to shop but i'm busy and hate trawling round the supermarket every weekend so its worth it for me and it does end up saving me alot as I am reaaaaaallllllly bad at impulse purchases. I shop weekly at the local butcher and fruit & vege shop for fresh stuff - once again buying what is on special/ in season.

As to how it compares to fashion spending - honestly the last month or so I have spent more on clothes than on groceries. I started from a barren unflattering wardrobe that just wasn't working for me, now I've got a good basic wardrobe I'm going to have to stop buying stuff for another month or so to give the bank account time to recover. I guess I shop for clothes in a similar way to food - I check what's on sale first and then move on to the full price stuff if there's nothing on sale I like or I will wait a bit to see if what I want/need comes up cheaper somewhere else. Case in point, I tried on a lovely pair of boots back in June, they were $200 on sale and I couldn't justify the cost - last week a pair in my size was listed on ebay, unworn perfect condition for $70 so I snapped them up.

Isabel

Veteran

Anne, I think that you are right. With the economy the way it is, food is the last area where prices can rise and there can be class distinction : "artisan bread", organic apple sause, speciality vinegars, etc. My husband came home with a bunch of these "specialty" foods the other day, spent $350 and we did not ONE complete dinner in the whole thing. He is never going again. : )

Also, buying anything at the supermarket besides food, like toothpaste, napkins, is outrageous.

taylor

Veteran

The truth is I never really have compared the two.
Food we cannot do without, so this is a necessity...more clothes...well a luxury that i will do without the next 5 months.

edit to say that I am not growing...unlike small children...YIKES , that is costly... to clothe and feed them.

MsMaven

Veteran

When I occasionally make some impulse buy for something relatively inexpensive, I ease my guilt by remembering that we probably ate a meal out the week before and spent more on that momentary pleasure.

I buy few processed foods but am still amazed at how much everything costs today. Occasionally I will compute the price in today's dollars compared to the good (ha!) old days.

Theresa

(website)

Veteran

oh Anne I feel your pain when it comes to the increased grocery prices we've been facing

Due to all their allergies, the only source of complete protein my girls can eat, is meat - no eggs, dairy etc - and due to the amount of protein they need for their recovery, they physically couldn't eat as many combined protein meals as they would require... so... we eat a LOT of meat. We also have to order in a lot of speciality ingredients for all the baking I do for them, so at the moment, for just the three of us, my groceries are around $300/fortnight.

My clothing budget for us all is certainly no where near that!

Khris I wish we had half those options available - it sounds like you guys have lots of alternatives!!! Coupons just aren't a big thing here in Aus (well not where I live), in fact, they are really quite rare for anything at all, let alone food. We don't even have a food co-op or bulk source of food here, or even in the big town I usually go to!

stringy

Veteran

I think you're doing really well to feed a family of 5 on $200 - kids need so much when they're growing!

We've been growing our own herbs and some vegies lately. Just easy stuff like tomatoes and capsicums in summer, and broccoli and potatoes in winter. And parsley and rosemary - I will never again pay through the nose for a limp sprig or two of 'fresh' herbs.

The other thing we've been doing to cut back on grocery costs is to buy food in season. The price charged for apples in summer or plums in winter is just not something we can manage. But winter apples and summer plums are much more affordable, and you can even get a bargain sometimes. Same goes for winter root vegetables and summer corn and beans.

Sihaya

Veteran

Anne, you're doing great at least by the cost of living in these parts. Our costs are added to by the fact that we try to buy as much organic stuff as possible. Thankfully Costco has started carrying several organic things so that helps a bit. We have cut down on how often we eat out as a result. And yes, like many others, I'm a huge foodie so I can't help myself when it comes to great fruit, fresh veggies, or interesting cheeses!

RoseandJoan

Veteran

Well our family monthly grocery bill is the second biggest expense to our mortgage but the margin is very narrow. I do one big shop a week where I buy 95% of our weekly food, nappies and cat food and the cost is £75.00 per week. I plan meals before I shop to eliminate waste and will cook and only tend to eat meet at the weekend. I would love to go to the supermarket and just pick the food which appeals but I'm always mentally totally the costs as I browse the aisles.

I put even more planning into my monthly clothes shopping, I spend approximately £20 - £30 per month but the budget is blown if I need to buy shoes or a coat. I shop outlets and sales and I'm usually filling a wardrobe gap.

So although the budget is wildly different I would say the forethought is quite similar.

mumtojessandluke

Hope the yogurt worked out

I was thinking the same thing when I passed through the shopping center on my way to get my medicine (cough, splutter).
$200 a week is quite reasonable for a family in Australia, and I know of loads more that spend more than that. Not extravagant spending on 'organic' stuff or top line items, but the basics.

When I go on a low GI diet our grocery bill is around the $200 week mark. Basic Basics, grocery shopping comes in at around $350 a month. Meals are very basic though.

In comparison, K-mart sells T-shirts that are under $10. If you look at other stores, like Jeans west ect, you can normally pick up tops for $30 and under, and Jeans for around $50 a pair. LOL! If I spent the same cash on clothing as I did groceries, I could buy a pair of jeans a week, and 5 T-shirts and probably a Jacket... enough clothes for the week not including underwear and shoes! But hey, that isn't how it is going to be in our family as I just don't have that kind of disposable income, but it is a quirky thought.

We have chooks, vegie garden, and make my own stuff like yogurt, washing powder ect where possible, and shop for meat at the abattoirs. Might be worth your while going for a visit, if you live on the Eastern suburbs of Melb or closer to Moe.

I blew my shopping budget this month, because we got sick and things weren't organized enough. DH did a quick shop costing a heap, but it is all good swings and round abouts.

anne

Veteran

I wanted to thanks everyone who contributed to this thread and apologise for not getting back to it earlier.

First wanted to say that I meant "at least $200" - we have spent more than that some weeks.

Second there is some real food for thought there. As some of my fellow antipodeans have pointed out, some of the options available to those in the US are not on offer here but some of the solutions could be incorporated. We have a farmer's market in our town whose prices I haven't really checked out, but could do. I am not sure about abattoirs though we did buy some meat at good price when someones brother on a farm killed a cow last year, and actually I think our local butchers do bulk deals.

We already get free leftovers from a bakery once a week, and keep our own chooks, though they don't lay so well now at over 2 years old. I am pretty good at doing without, but find it harder to deprive DH and the kids. (Not that our kids have high expectations of treats or anything like that - I meant things like buying the sort of fruit and veg that they will eat) CH has got rather a lot of treats he likes to buy - but he hardly spends anything on clothes!

We are not in any financial stress - we have no debt, our expenses are not onerous and we are managing okay. I am keen to live relatively simply in order to be generous to others and that is the main reason I want to cut down on clothes purchasing. I am not particularly generous by nature and so I have to work on it!

I know too, that in order for me to keep up all the commitments I have made (timewise) I can't devote too much time just to the economics of food consumption.

Thanks to for all those who responded to the invitation to link clothing and food purchasing. Interesting reading!

PS I have had to put the yoghurt making on hold til my next shopping day as it turned out I didn't have enough milk powder. Will let you know how it turns out in the end.

Lynne

Veteran

Anne, well done with your goal to live simply and share with others!

Khris and mum to Jess and Luke, I am intrigued about making your own laundry detergent, how?

Anne, I am interested to hear about the yoghurt. I bought an electric yoghurt maker when were living in Asia as it was difficult to get fresh dairy. It is essentially a small warmer, so probably no different in principle to the thermos. I found that UHT milk worked best, although that probably negates some of the price advantage of using powdered milk. It is nice to have a sieve to strain the yoghurt in: a very fine mesh that thickens the yoghurt once it's made, as it was quite runny. I use the sieve with store bought yoghurt if I want to make it thicker for dips/desserts etc.

looking forward to hearing more!

mumtojessandluke

Hi Lynne. Powdered milk is used as you can get more milk proteins per mL of yogurt, not because of cost- but hey it is a great benefit too. It also means you don't have to heat the milk. It makes really thick yogurt, no need for a sieve.
The Laundry detergent is really quite straight forward.
You can find the link to the pdf file under cooking on this web page as well as the yogurt recipe and a ton of other tips and hints to save a few dollars here and there
http://www.cheapskates.com.au/.....e_id=41827
I hope this is helpful.

Lynne

Veteran

Thx, great link...are you a member? is it worth it?

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

This is the recipe that I use:
http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html
scroll down a little bit- it's the liquid laundry soap recipe. I like this one because it makes a really huge batch that lasts me 6 months at a time.

FiestyWife

I do The Grocery Game (chewyspaghetti mentioned it above). It is a pay site but very worth it. It uses coupons and pairs it up with the sales in stores. You create a stockpile to suit your family so you never have to pay full price when you need something. I don't want to advertise too much for it but PM if you have questions.

My monthly budget for clothes & misc. for my son, household goodies (like new pots & pans, curtains, etc) and groceries is $500. That is for me, DH (a Marine with a HUGE appetite) my DS (almost 18 months but eats as much as I do) and 2 fur babies. For the 6ish months that I've been shopping with that budget I've never gone over. I've come very close but we've always had tasty & healthy meals. We eat only whole wheat bread, brown rice, nice produce & are slowly cutting out HFCS. This allows me to spend more money on other things, like clothes!

However, shopping so frugally for groceries (but getting great, tasty & healthy results) has impacted shopping for other items b/c I expect so much more bang for my buck. Its hard to go into a store and only get 20% off something. I've fallen into a bit of a trap buying less expensive items but having to get them more often instead of waiting and buying something that costs more but lasts longer. I'm on a spending freeze until Dec/Jan so I can get some nice premium denim (bootcuts & skinny).

anne

Veteran

I am back here to report on the yogurt experiment. It didn't go too well, I am pretty sure (having looked at a few other recipes) that the problem was that I didn't have the initial mixture hot enough, the surrounding water hot enough and enough of it. . It is very runny and I think I'll use it to makes smoothies (a rare treat for us) for afternoon tea. I'll try again

Fiestywife thanks for adding to this thread (I didn't see it when you first posted).
We don't have the grocery game in Australia (though I see from the website they do have it in some countries other than the USA, including the UK).

For those in the US, I found some anecdotal evidence from the web that current food prices in Australia are substantially higher than the US (and UK, which surprised me) though possibly the quality is better. Our dollar is not the same either of course!

Oh and lastly, in regard to the suggestion about buying fruit in season, I asked DH (who usually does our food shopping) if he bought according to season. He said no, he just buys it when it is cheaper! So I guess we already have that covered!

mumtojessandluke

Hey Anne. Sorry to hear the yogurt didn't fair too well.
If it is helpful, I do mine around 2-3pm the day before then get it out around 10-11am the next day. I found as the weather is cooler it takes longer than the recipe says.
Glad to hear that your hubby is on to the seasonal is cheaper idea

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