Budget schmudget. I’m more interested in my own budget than Michael Cullen’s this week. While writing our next special edition, Homegrown 2: Live off your land for less (on sale June 16), I thought I’d take a look back at how much I used to spend on food (and alcohol) before I launched my self-sufficiency project and vowed to cut my weekly supermarket bill to $10 as a challenge. So I printed out my old bank statements and thought I’d compare what I spent in the first two weeks of May in 2006 (pre-self-suffciency project) vs 2007 vs 2008.
Now, before I tell you all this, you have to promise not to laugh or recoil in horror at my fiscal frivolity. (Honestly, it makes quite alarming reading to see how much I used to spend/waste on takeaways and at cafes before I set out to grow my own food.)
May 1-14 2006: On the 1st of May I spent $29 at Frolic Café and bought a bottle of wine for $16.99 at Liquorland. On the 2nd of May I spent $57.55 on groceries at Foodtown Grey Lynn, $13.50 at Atomic Coffee (latte, sandwich and cinnamon brioche)… and then went out to dinner at Sawadee Thai restaurant ($30). On the 3rd it was back to the supermarket for $33.37 of groceries. On the 5th I went to Tamuki’s Cave (Japanese) for dinner. Came to $120 (must have drunk a lot of wine!). On the 8th I had lunch at the New Orient (Chinese) restaurant for $63.50. On the 9th, spent $7.50 at Atomic Coffee and went to the supermarket twice: spending $25.91 on the first trip and $36.84 on the second. On the 10th, yep, lured back to the supermarket again, spending $77.34. Also spent $21.90 at Il Forno bakery in Grey Lynn. On the 12th, dinner at GPK in Ponsonby $48. On the 13th, Atomic Coffee for a latte and brioche: $7.50; and finally lunch at Circus Circus in Mt Eden for $17.50 on the 14th.
GRAND TOTAL FOR TWO WEEKS: $589.41
(Cafes/coffee/takeaways: $358.40)
(Grocery shopping: $231.01)
(Now keep in mind that I am a single city gal and we single city gals do have to have a social life, but even I’m embarrassed by that total. And don’t think that was an aberration that fortnight: I ate out all the time. In 2006, my Visa card statement was 56 pages long.)
May 1-14, 2007 (the middle of my first year of self-sufficiency): On the 1st of May I spent $23 at Verve café (weekend brunch with friends). On the 3rd of May I spent $14.50 at The Mount in Mt Eden (two glasses of wine at book club) and $68 at Winehot in Morningside (dinner out with friends). Then spent nothing for the next two days as was holed up in bed with mighty hangover, after winning 2007 NZ Magazine of the Year and 2007 Supreme Editor of the Year at the Magazine Publishers Awards. On 8 May, spent $20.92 at Foodtown and went to dinner at Prego ($70). No other food expenses that fortnight.
GRAND TOTAL FOR TWO WEEKS: $196.42
(Cafes/coffee/takeaway: $175.55)
(Groceries: $20.92)
(Wow. I cut my overall expenditure by almost two-thirds and it would have been even more if I didn’t count wine! Notice that I only ate out for dinner once, because I was cooking at home instead, and that I spent 10 times less on groceries too! And I can tell you, I must have cut the amount of wasted food going into my wheelie bin by at least 90%.)
Now, for the first two weeks of May 2008: On the 2nd of May I spent $23 at the supermarket (would have been less but I needed olive oil). On the 5th of May I spent $50 (tapas and two glasses of wine) at Didas in Herne Bay. And on the 14th of May, I went to Winehot and spent $50. Plus I probably had a coffee every second day at work but I pay cash for those so they’re not on my bank statement, but lets say $20.
GRAND TOTAL FOR TWO WEEKS: $143
(Cafes/coffee/takeaways: $120)
(Groceries: $23)
That means that, by growing my own food... and actually eating it, rather than just going out every night because it's easier... I'm now saving about $223 a week compared to the same time two years ago. That's more than $11K a year. Which could explain why, for the first time in my life, I now pay off my credit card on time every month and have knocked a fair chunk off the mortgage over the past 12 months.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
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8 Comments: Click here to add your thoughts:
I agree it is scary looking at bank statements!
I have had a vegie garden with varying degres of sucess for 4 years, last spring inspired by you I planted out a lot of seeds and am now enjoying fresh vegies daily.
I am planning on planting fruit trees as there are currently none on our rural property.
Our food bill has gone down and it is great feeling to be eating our own produce.
I've been so inspired by your blog and the magazine to start digging in for victory. We have a big unformed hunk of a garden that needs pulling together so it's all just perfect timing. Please tell me if I've gone crazy, or did you have a link on the blog a while ago to people who do raised bed kitsets? Or did you have instructions on the blog on how to build them? We can't wait to get building and planting. Thanks for letting us live vicariously through your efforts in the meantime!
The link for building a raised bed is very useful so I've copy & pasted the link below (Riya). I'd like to add that railway sleepers or stacked half rounds with posts work well & are very strong, cheap and look great.
http://nzgardener.blogspot.com/2007/09/building-raised-vege-garden.html
Could I ask how many hours a week you spend growing your own food?
Hi AW,
Of course you can ask. I spend about one hour a week planting and harvesting food. And I know that sounds impossible, but keep in mind that I work full-time so I don't even *see* my garden in daylight between Monday and Friday. Once a month I might spend an afternoon planting seedlings or sowing seeds, but at this time of the year there's no weeding or watering to do so actually, once the stuff is in the ground, you can ignore it until it's ready to eat. In summer the weeds go bananas but it's also daylight saving, so I tend to potter around outside for half an hour a day. Trust me, growing food takes less time than driving to the supermarket each week to buy it.
Scary to realise how much we friviously spend! Your efforts have been so inspiring & I too grow lots of vege. I'dlike to grow more & plant fruit tress too. I am wondering ....have you calculated how much you might have spent on the garden - seeds, equiplment, fruit trees etc. I'd be interested to know. Kepp growing!!
It would be interesting to calculate. I suppose I already have all the equipment and my dad's a marvellous source of free labour, which helps. I don't spend much on growing vegetables because I raise almost everything from seeds and it takes ages to get through each packet. Plus I also save my own seeds. As for fruit trees, I suppose the best way to look at them is as money in the bank. For example, my lemon trees cost $17 each three years ago and each produces at least 50 fruit a year now. So they've paid for themselves.
Fabulous effort, well done you! I miss the vege patch I once had, need to get one going soon!!!!
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