A few weeks ago, CNBC Make It profiled Carly DeFelice, a 38-year-old community manager at a co-working space in Austin, Texas, who makes about $58,000 per year. DeFelice is also the founder of financial management course Best Money Class Ever, and a number of things about her monthly budget may stick out to those looking to get their spending under control.
For one, her total housing and utility cost is just $792, thanks to the fact that DeFelice lives in an RV that she owns outright. She merely pays for a lot rental, propane, water and electricity.
But what really caught readers' eyes was DeFelice's food budget. In September of this year, DeFelice spent $124 at grocery stores, including a takeout meal from one market's kitchen. As for household staples and ingredients she used to cook, she spent $113.
In response to some readers' skepticism over her food spending, DeFelice has taken to Instagram to map out her grocery spending and meal planning for September, providing a look at her weekly money journal and receipts from her grocery trips.
DeFelice keeps her grocery budget slim by creating a list that will cover only the meals she needs for the upcoming week. That means she can factor in that she plans to eat lunch at a work-sponsored Taco Tuesday or that she's going out to dinner with a friend.
The $112.75 DeFelice spent on staples and ingredients doesn't cover every single meal she had for a month. She paid about $61 in September for restaurant dining and takeout. Some meals were free. Some pantry staples she already had on hand. Occasionally, she ate at an event, the total cost of which we filed under "entertainment and celebrations" in her budget.
Entertainment costs, along with food and gas come out of $120 in cash DeFelice withdraws each week to put toward what she calls "operation expenses." The groceries are just one piece of that spending puzzle.
In other words, this isn't some kind of grocery budget challenge — it's someone's real life.
Read on for DeFelice's complete grocery list for the month of September, along with a summary of everything she ate. Click on the totals to review her videos, including receipts, on Instagram.
Week 1
- Bananas: $1.19
- Granola bars: $2.18
- Pot stickers: $7.98
- Broccoli: $1.85
- Chocolate chips: $1.99
- Frozen lemonade: $1.68
- Sprite: $1.86
- Orange juice: $2.14
- Sales tax: $0.29
- Total: $21.16
This week started on Labor Day weekend, and DeFelice had a day out with friends for which she prepared a vodka slush, mixing the lemonade, Sprite and orange juice she purchased with liquor she already had. She also made "energy balls" from oatmeal, peanut butter and honey she had on hand, along with the chocolate chips she bought.
Breakfast for the week was oatmeal, granola and banana.
Potstickers and broccoli were combined with previously purchased rice for the week's lunches.
Dinners were a little more cobbled together. DeFelice had leftovers from the previous weekend's potluck, an $11 takeout rice bowl, an $11.85 meal out with a friend which yielded leftovers for the next night, and a couple of meals while hanging out with family — both at her brother's birthday party and at a Saturday hangout with her parents.
Week 2
- Slider buns: $2.84
- Cotton pads: $2.19
- Shrimp: $5.77
- Spinach: $1.63
- Turkey: $3.48
- Bananas: $1.23
- Colby jack cheese: $1.99
- Apples: $5.13
- Avocados: $1.16
- Frosted shredded wheat: $2.94
- Milk: $1.58
- Eggs: $1.54
- Sales tax: $0.18
- Total: $31.66
DeFelice knew there were a few meals she wouldn't have to cook this week. On Wednesday night, she went to a comedy club with friends and bought dinner out. Thursday was a work-funded happy hour with pizza for dinner. And on Friday she attended a wine and cheese night with friends and had the proverbial "girl dinner" of assembled snacks.
The main breakfast that week was cereal and bananas. For lunch, it was turkey and cheese sliders with avocado and apples. A shrimp rice bowl with spinach was on the menu for dinner.
Week 3
- Frosted shredded wheat: $2.94
- Bananas: $1.19
- Apples: $3.31
- Plastic storage bags: $1.78
- Tomatoes: $0.19
- Colby jack cheese: $1.99
- Onions: $0.66
- Bagged salad: $3.98
- Tortillas: $2.44
- Chicken tenders: $5.09
- Garlic: $0.60
- Turkey: $3.48
- Rice: $1.77
- Sales tax: $0.15
- Total: $29.57
DeFelice didn't have to plan for lunch on Tuesday this week, as it was Taco Tuesday at work.
She made breakfast tacos for herself on the weekends, bookending weekday breakfasts of cereal and banana. Other than her taco lunch, DeFelice stuck with sliders with either salad or apples. The dinner of the week was a chicken burrito with rice, onions, tomatoes and garlic.
Week 4
- Bananas: $1.36
- Soap: $1.98
- Frosted shredded wheat: $2.94
- Pasta: $1.12
- Spinach: $1.63
- Tortillas: $2.44
- Apples: $3.20
- Tomatoes: $0.33
- Yogurt: $3.69
- Broccoli: $1.39
- Mozzarella cheese: $1.99
- Salt: $0.64
- Garlic: $0.60
- Milk: $1.86
- Chicken tenders: $5.03
- Sales tax: $0.16
- Total: $30.36
This week, DeFelice got a donut breakfast as well as dinner covered on Wednesday thanks to an event at her office. She also spent $30.69 for dinner and drinks out with her friend at an Oktoberfest celebration on Saturday.
With the exception of the donuts, DeFelice had either breakfast tacos or cereal and bananas for breakfast.
She spent $10.80 for takeout lunch on Sunday. Other lunches included turkey pinwheels with yogurt and an apple. The week's main dinner was chicken pesto pasta with broccoli.
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