Typical household budget

[violet]

I just love reading the breakdown of average household expenditure. No, I don't know why it fascinates me so, but it does!

Here are some averages for you:

www.householdbudget.com.au/Household_Budget_Breakdown.html

[braided-rug]

I definitely don't fit this:

13-14% Food Budget (55% at home, 45% away) I suppose it is just something that happened after we moved here, a few years later.

[violet]

Same here, Br. We don't spend much on food away from home at all. Also, 13 - 14% of income for food is way less than we spend. Either food is much more expensive in Australia, or we eat much more of it than others! I'm sure these figures don't apply to families with teenage/young adult males.

[linda]

I saw on a website once how you can feed a family of 6 on $70.00 a week.... I *knew* there was no way I could feed my family of 5 on $70.00....so I did my own research.... ;D She posted a menu and a grocery list. I only compared only 10 items (there were 48 on her list)....and I was already up to $51.21. (I blogged about it and compared her grocery prices to what we pay, here athomeontherock.blogspot.com/search/label/Rants in case anybody wants to see). Also, it was an American site, so all the measurements were in ounces, pounds etc. I had my dh convert (he's a math teacher) our items from grams, kgs to ounces, pounds etc., so I could compare the two exactly.

Where we are in Canada, food prices are a lot higher than other parts (especially the part of Ontario we used to live in).

Somebody on another board posted a poll regarding food prices. They had a list of common items and we were to list what we pay. It was surprising the wide range of prices between the various places.


Linda

[braided-rug]

I happen to have a docket here from mid July.

Edgell Chick Peas $1.48 300g
Devondale Light Blend Butter $2.69 375g
Drama Clean Herbal Essence Shampoo $6.29 300ml
Kraft Philly Soft Spreadable Tub 250g $4.03
Black & Gold Thickened Cream 300ml $1.47
Black & Gold Sour Cream 300ml $2.01
Uncle Toby's Quick Oats 1kg $4.49
IGA Courtyard Tea Bags Round 100s $3.29

[violet]

I confess to buying home brand rolled oats, which are about half the price of branded ones.

Like Linda, I've seen those "I feed my family on five cents a year" posts, and when they do list what they eat, it's unhealthy. They don't have much in the way of vegetable matter, fresh or otherwise.

I should mention that dh's blood pressure and cholesterol levels have dropped as our food bill has gone up. I remind him of that when we bemoan the cost of living. It does seem mighty unfair that the foods people need to stay healthy are the most expensive.

[braided-rug]

I think I didn't know or forgot this lady was in Australia.

Anyway, it looks interesting though I haven't read it properly.

brasstacksandbasics.blogspot.com/2007/10/budgeting.html

[violet]

I may have read it wrong, but I thought she was in the US. That aside, she has an interesting way of working out how much food her family needs.

[braided-rug]

She mentions living in Australia at some point I think.

[violet]

I always miss the good bits lol.

Today from the fruit shop I bought a dozen eggs, a head of broccoli, one lettuce, handful of spinach, 5 tomatoes, 4 zucchini, handful of sugar snap peas, 4 carrots, small bunch of grapes, a continental cucumber, 4 small bananas, a punnet of strawberries, a quarter cabbage and a green capsicum. That cost $39 and won't last 2 days.

[braided-rug]

I think I will put that in my online fruit shop and see how much it comes to for me.

[braided-rug]

Wow, $34.98.

There were no grapes though, and the zucchini were on special. I chose the large eggs. I also "got" a half cabbage. We won't go into the freight charges though.

[violet]

It is actually cheaper to eat processed food. There's such a lot in the media about the obesity crisis, but who can afford to eat heaps of veggies??

(edited to add: the eggs I got are 700g free range)

(which younger ds eats FIVE at a time in his weekly lunch omelet)

[braided-rug]

We are big into eggs at the moment too.

I didn't notice this fortnight that went down. But I am guessing because there were no hamburger rolls left, that dd14 wasn't making her speciality - egg hamburgers without the hamburger/meat pattie?

[braided-rug]

I noticed in this blog, a post called 100 blog topics I hope you write, at number 34 is:

"What I Spend Money On"

I will try to see if I can find any.


www.chrisbrogan.com/100-blog-topics-i-hope-you-write/