A Christmas table for 5!

As many of you know, before Jamie and I moved overseas it was just the 2 of us.  Well, the 2 of us plus Punkin and Budder.  It’s so weird to sit and think back to 4 years ago and how different our lives were.  And yes, at the end of this month it will be 4 years since Jamie got on the flight for Singapore. Crazy that it’s been that long, right?  Anyway, I followed 2 weeks later.  We were living in the first house we ever owned, were members of a country club, had plans to put a back deck on the house and were starting to think about buying a new car.  We were enjoying the life of a successful couple in their mid – late twenties and kids were not even on the far ends of the radar.  My how things have changed!

For example, before we moved to Singapore we spent about $100-$120 every 2 weeks on groceries.  That also included any cleaning items, laundry detergent/dryer sheets, toiletries, dog items, etc.  On a very expensive month, we might have spent an average of $150 for 2 weeks.  That wasn’t very often!!  And it’s not like we spent loads of money eating out either.  I cooked as I do now.  Well, we’ll say I cooked a full meal 3-4 times a week and we had leftovers or ate out the rest of the week.   Now I cook 4-5 meals a week, so a slight difference.

So, let’s fast forward to present day.  Jamie recently told me that for the last several months we have been averaging $1200 a month on groceries.  Yes, let me repeat that so it sinks in…$1200!!  That’s like, a mortgage for some people!!  I am now spending over 3 times more in a 2 week period than what I was spending just 4 years ago!!  Now, when we look at our lives today versus 4 years ago there have been changes.  For instance, we now have a growing 2 year old that we didn’t have before.  The girl obviously gets her appetite from her Daddy, because she can eat for days!!  How many 2 yr. olds do you know of that can eat 2 sandwiches for lunch?  Without the crusts mind you, but still 2 whole sandwiches!  It does explain why as of a few weeks ago I have a 3ft tall 2 yr old!  Maybe this is normal?  I don’t have anything to compare it to so I guess I really don’t know.  What I do know is that I don’t eat two sandwiches for lunch, so to me it seems a bit excessive.  Okay, back to my grocery dilemma.

We have also been in different locations.  In Singapore I would spend about $300-$400 SGD every 2 weeks.  For this discussion we’ll just say $400, so $800 a month.  In US dollars that’s about $625, give or take a bit for the exchange rate.  When we moved to Perth we expected it to be cheaper.  It wasn’t.  It was about the same, maybe a bit more.  After Kylie grocery cost went up even more.  To be expected.  I breast fed for about 3 months and then had a frozen supply for a few weeks more but after adding formula, stuff to make baby food, yogurts, diapers, etc. things went up.

When Jamie made our ‘guide for estimated expenses’ for this year he looked back at last year’s cost and adjusted everything accordingly.  He increased groceries to $800 per month, taking that number from our monthly average for 2011. As you can see from above, I am blowing that out of the water!  Kylie is still in diapers, but formula and baby food has been off of the list since she was 1.  We can even assume that what I spent on formula and the baby food items have been 100% replaced by snacks and food items just for her. Not likely but let’s go with it.   Where in the hell is the other $400 a month coming from???  I just don’t get it.  We are a family of 3 with 2 dogs.  For the life of me I just can’t figure it out!  Shopping her is nothing like shopping in the US either.  There are no Pop Tarts, no chocolate caramel popcorn, NO PIZZA ROLLS or BAGEL BITES or CINNAMON ROLLS!!! Seriously, for goodness sakes there are no good snacks!  Okay, this has started going in a direction that I didn’t plan, so I’ll quickly get back to the point of this post.

I can come up with no other logical explanation except that maybe we just eat a lot!  So, if you plan on inviting us over when we’re home for the holidays just consider this your fair warning.  Even though we are only a family of 3, you should plan all meals and food related get-together's like we are a family of 5!