Observations About March Money

Well, can I call them or what?

When I wrote about this household's February spending, back in mid-March, I predicted that March would be worse. In February, we spent $231 and change on food and household staples, and that was as the COVID-19 issues were just starting to swirl around us in Ohio.

Since my post on March 14, all things related to COVID-19 have only intensified here as our Governor and Director of Health, the who-would-have-thought-it? amazing duo of Mike DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton have taken steps to make sure Ohioans flatten the curve. Warren and I had already bought a lot of staples by mid-March; our last grocery trip that month was March 20, which Warren conducted alone because I was not allowed in stores (or anywhere else) per my oncologist. [Note: I am still not. And I do not expect that to change when I see Tim next Tuesday for infusion.]

March totals? $281.97 in groceries (food items), $23.83 in common household goods. Grand total? $305.80.  Year-to-date average? $238.47, or about $59 a month over my 2020 goal, set back in pre-COVID-19 times, of $180 a month.

Now that is a curve it will be hard to flatten. Oh, our spending will go down, but I'm not sure I can drag that monthly average back down to $180.00. If my math is right, we'd have to hold monthly spending at $160.00 for the rest of the year. Doable? Sure. Will we do it? Remains to be seen.

But it is what it is. We are eating out of the pantry and freezer, we have had only one grocery trip in April (and will likely have one more later in the month), and life goes on.

In a note that makes me smile, our eating out expenses in March were a little higher than you would expect for two people who don't eat out much in a state that is all but shut down. Our total was $31.25. That amount covered meeting a friend for tea in very early March, a quick, late evening meal, also in early March, following a music presentation by Warren in Marion (20 miles north), Warren buying a sandwich for takeout in downtown Delaware when the Symphony office was still open to show support for local restaurants, and a takeout lunch with another local restaurant at month's end to celebrate an important anniversary for us. (Why did we get takeout? It had to be Mexican to tie in with the anniversary.) Eating out this month will probably be...zero.

In the meantime, the weather is finally showing signs that spring is no more than a wild story.  We will be starting our garden soon and, assuming all goes well, we should be eating out of it by early June (at least the lettuces, maybe, I hope, please).

So keep on washing your hands and staying safe. I know we are.