Comparing Costs: Budget Changes in the Time of Coronavirus

One Year Ago vs Today

Now that we are approaching tax time, I’ve been delving into some numbers from 2020. Mostly I’ve looked at our income (which took a hit; we were down about 20% from the year before), but I’ve also been looking at how we’re spending — or rather, how much we are spending — right now in a few categories, because it feels like even though we are tightening our belts in terms of how much we are buying, we are still feeling the squeeze because of how much things are costing.

During the past year, I’ve had the overall impression that costs keep going up — especially where food is concerned — but it’s a little difficult to know exactly by how much, because how we shop right now has changed so drastically from a year ago. A year ago, we took multiple trips each week to the store (whichever store we chose, whenever we felt like it) but did one “major stock up” trip during the month at a mass merchandiser. In 2021, due to COVID restrictions and a desire to shop only locally, we are paying ‘only local’ prices (which is something we are literally paying the price for) but are making fewer trips overall. So the ‘how’ and ‘where’ has an impact on our totals.

BUT

With that caveat/understanding in mind, I decided to look at the hard numbers (I know the numbers because I write them all down — I have a yearly budget book that is really handy for that) from January 2020 and compare them to January 2021 in the categories of Groceries and Dining Out to see if my gut feeling that we have been paying more for food was correct.

No surprise: It was.

THE NUMBERS:

• January 2020 = 14 grocery trips totaling $489.62
• January 2021 = 8 grocery trips totaling $600.65

Our grocery spending has seen a 22.7% increase compared to the same month a year ago.

Meanwhile, our income has seen an 18.6% decrease compared to the same month a year ago.

That’s a disparity of 41.3% !!!

To clarify what ‘grocery’ means as a spending category for us, it includes:

• produce (fresh veggies & fruit)
• dairy (& dairy alternatives)
• meat (& non-meat substitutes)
• seafood
• deli & bakery items
• breads
• drinks
• frozen foods
• snacks
• condiments
• canned goods
• baking supplies
• spices & oils
• foils, wraps, and other food storage/packaging
• candy
• pet food & supplies (applicable to 2020 only — we not longer have pets)
• personal care (think: shampoo, shaving cream, lotion, toothpaste)
• medicine cabinet items (Tylenol, Band-Aids)
• paper products (toilet paper, paper towels)
• charcoal & grilling supplies
• dish & laundry soaps
• general cleaning supplies

And WOW… The disparity of income versus cost of groceries becomes a little clearer when you look at that list, doesn’t it? Toilet paper has become outrageously expensive; all items in the ‘cleaning’ category have gone up in price, with some things almost doubling (bleach, anyone?); canned goods are rarely on promotion anymore because everybody buys them regardless (we must stock up for Armageddon, of course!); frozen foods have become the go-to for folks who have no cooking skills and can no longer get their meals from restaurants, so those items have either stopped being available ‘on sale’ or their sticker prices have gone up.

It’s INSANE.

Dining Out

Despite being hemmed in by regulations that have forbidden going out, this part of our budget is almost exactly the same in terms of output. It just looks different in terms of actual dining than it did a year ago. We order food for pick up or run through a drive-up instead of sitting down inside and ordering food to be brought to our table. Instead of one meal at a fast casual restaurant, we use our dining-out money for more food runs that net smaller/less-expensive orders. We can order pizza on Monday night, get teriyaki take-out on Thursday afternoon, and go to Starbucks’ drive-thru for coffee on Saturday morning and still meet (or be under) our designated restaurant budget for the week. This area of spending, at least, has meant that less is more. Less availability of dining options has meant more stretching of available funds.

THE NUMBERS:

• January 2020 = $188.02 cash spent on 8 dining-out events
• January 2021 = $179.19 cash spent on 10 ordering-out events

We spent 4.4% less than in the same month one year ago but had a 25% increase in “out” eats. (Regardless that the actual eating in 2021 was not done out.)

Considering the circumstances…

I’d say that’s not bad. 🙂

Other Categories of Interest

Knowing that we’ve seen an increase in grocery spending, but also knowing that we’ve seen a decrease in overall income, I took a look at where we were making up the difference.

It wasn’t hard to find.

• Transportation Costs (gas, oil changes, car washes, auto repairs) have gone down significantly even though the cost of fuel has gone up because I’m not working (and therefore not driving) in as wide-net an area as I was a year ago.
  • January 2020 = $533.83 spent in this category
  • January 2021 = $305.00 spent in this category
  • Cost Differential = $228.83 (which covers the increased grocery bill), down 42.9%

Another area that has seen a (small) decrease in 2021 is insurance spending. My healthcare premiums stayed the same in 2021; my husband’s went down by $36.50/month starting in January. Our monthly payment to State Farm (auto & life insurances) has gone down approximately $20/month.

Also, since vacation is pretty much Not A Thing right now, we aren’t putting any money toward vacation planning. And then there is the money I allot each of us as ‘discretionary’ — this is money that neither of us has to account to the other for; I write down the allowance amounts in the budget book and call it good, so it can be stuffed into piggy banks or spent on McDonald’s or what.e.ver and it’s all good — that I have not been doling out as often or in as high of increments ($15 instead of $20, every ten days instead of once a week, etc.), which helps.

But still.

My goodness, THE NUMBERS!

*sigh*

Anywhoo…

I’ve kind of been meaning to talk about money on this blog for a good long while now. The ad-hoc meme I took part in during late-January/early-February sort of gave me the kick I needed to get going with it, but I intend to continue on for a little bit. Because money — our access to it, our understanding of it, the way we spend it, how much of it we have at our disposal, etc. — impacts us all in very real ways, but rarely do we discuss it. And I think it’s important that we do. The only way we can know whether what we’re experiencing with/around money is ‘normal’ is if we know what other people’s experiences are, right?

So this is a piece of my experience.

If you feel so inclined, please tell me about yours. 🙂

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Has your grocery spending gone up over the past year due to the impacts of Coronavirus?

Has your income gone down?

Where have you been able to tighten your budget?