Observations About May Money

This pandemic and our grocery spending (because that is about the ONLY spending I am doing these days) continue to be...what? Fascinating? Mind boggling? Head scratching? All of these?

Yeah, all of these. 

After sailing through April with food expenditures well below the monthly $180.00 target I had set months ago, May costs went back up over that. May food costs were $218.52; household (non-food) expenditures were $23.43. The grand total? $242.36. 

That brings our monthly average year-to-date to $221.69.

And, once again, we did not eat out. Ohio has started reopening, and restaurants that can accommodate the mandatory distances are opening, but I have not yet been cleared by my oncologist to go beyond the boundaries of my home for all practical purposes. 

In preparing to write this post, especially in light of last month's revelations about my "twitch," I looked back at the three (yes, three) receipts for groceries in May. Some (a significant portion) of the expenditures consisted of stocking up on food items we routinely use such as coconut oil (my current jar is down to about a week's left), olive oil, and decaf instant coffee (I make chocolate mochas with it at home; I cannot drink caffeinated coffee). Those three items alone came to $14.77. Butter was on sale at Kroger and we spent $6.00 to get three pounds of unsalted as I was running low on it from the stocking up I did last December. (I use the unsalted in baking and there has been a lot of baking lately. A. Lot.) 

And let's talk about the steep rise in the cost of meat. Fortunately, we are not huge meat eaters. I cringe for family and friends who are. Around here, meat is more expensive and, of course, scarcer. So when I looked to order chicken thighs, the store's first response was it had none. By the time we picked up the order the next day, thighs were available, at a higher cost because these were boneless and skinless (the only type available).

So I get why the May expenses were higher. I also suspect that June will drop off precipitously as we eat our way through the items on hand. And maybe this will be the 2020 pattern: high, low, high, low. The good news going forward is that now that I am aware of my twitch, I am much more conscientious about what we order. Placing the second online order in May was stressful as I wrestled with making sure the items were needs and not twitches. (Once I placed the order, the stress dissolved.) When I am allowed back in a grocery, I hope to carry that awareness with me. 

On the gardening front, we are still weeks away from tomatoes. Many of the tomato plants are setting blooms and I am hoping that I will have one by month's end. Time will tell. The zucchini is not cooperating in germinating; I will be replanting that entire garden. (I now have a second garden, courtesy of our backyard neighbors, who have a great plot they never use. Basically, I am sharecropping zucchini this year.) Lettuce is coming along slowly; maybe in a few more weeks we will have lettuce. 

These were hard times before the Minneapolis killing tore even deeper fissures into our country. Our Legal Clinic, which is serving clients remotely, is already seeing its numbers rising and we know the tsunami of evictions and debt-related matters is on its way. I am dealing with personal issues as well, ranging from my health to accepting that I will not be able to travel to the Pacific Northwest this year. As the likelihood of the NW family contingent coming here is also nil, this will be first year since 2013 I have not seen Ramona and company in person. I get it, but it is still a disappointment. So the fact that I managed Tuesday to knock the entire stack of our everyday bowls off the shelf onto the counter and kitchen floor, shattering every last one, seemed somehow a fitting note.

Here's to a better June.