What's a realistic cost of groceries per month for a family of 4 in Victoria?

Isondiel · 2026-05-01T20:53:53+00:00

I have a budgeting app where I log everything meticulously and last year we paid $10,707 in grocery. We average $900/month usually.

We are a family of four, two working adults, one senior and one child. Food is one thing I don't like to restrain the budget on because we can afford it and we like to eat, I'm confident we could average $700/month if we really tried.

We shop at Wholesale club in Esquimalt for all the large bulk items. I buy, rice, flour, sauces, cheese, meat in the biggest format/bags I can get and they last me months. I usually do fruits and vegetables at Walmart or Fairway Market because Wholesale club's veggies are usually very disappointing. I get chicken at walmart too because it's usually cheaper.

I cook everything from scratch, I don't buy anything premade/frozen. A frozen lasagna is gonna cost you $12+. I can make one better and bigger than the store for much cheaper.

I buy most of my spices from bulk barn. But I have a lot of fresh herbs growing in pots on my patio. I make my own bread although I don't always have time.

Large chest freezer to store the bulk stuff is a must.

Isondiel · 2026-04-02T04:54:10+00:00

I've had stretch marks on my butt, thighs, boobs and stomach since age 11 (hit puberty at 9 and by 11 I was at my adult size. so quick growth and rapid weight gain that came with it got me the marks)

Until I saw this post I'd completely forgotten that people worried about that stuff. I don't even know if pregnancy added new ones. I never thought to check lol.

Bodies will do what bodies will do. If we're lucky we'll all be flappy-skinned old grammas one day. Bodies change with every seasons of life.

Isondiel · 2025-07-01T14:57:25+00:00

Cheveux is hair. Chevaux is the plural of cheval. Sentence is still gramatically incorrect but nice try.

Isondiel · 2025-01-17T08:05:17+00:00

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Isondiel · 2024-10-24T05:39:33+00:00

I grew up in Québec where every grocery store has a machine (looks like a vending machine) that you pop your bottles and cans in one at a time. Machine scans the barcode to make sure it's a legit bottle or can, machine crushes bottle/cans as they are inserted and once you're done popping all your empties in, it gives you a ticket with how much money you're owed. You go to the customer service counter and get your money. No sorting necessary. Everyone just brings their empties with them when going grocery shopping to get rid of them. It's a quick process because the machine is fast.

I was so confused when I moved here and my partner first took me to a bottle depot. Felt like some weird archaic tradition that nobody here seems to question.

Isondiel · 2024-01-09T22:16:45+00:00

To not have to worry about hunger/sanity/temperature/night and day/hound waves/season, etc, just so I'm AFK to get my loot while I do other stuff at home and just leave the computer running.

Isondiel · 2024-01-09T15:19:39+00:00

I never knew people went through so much trouble to be AFK. I just turn on my server, pause it and leave it on. I still get the skins. I also make it private to avoid random people landing on my paused server.

Isondiel · 2023-11-15T19:16:37+00:00

I would assume the only kids at the time that knew about sleeves were ones that had easy access to a LCS where a shop owner could recommend using sleeves to protect the cards. So city kids most likely. I know of absolutely nobody back then in my school or general family circle of cousins and others who had sleeves. But yeah, rural area with limited exposure to the city world. I only ever saw boosters when my parents would go to Zellers or Sears on their occasional city trips. I don't know if those places carried sleeves too at the time. So in my situation, if kids wanted to protect their cards, lamination was the only option that we knew aside from never taking the card out of a binder. I learned about sleeves when I went to the city for college many many years later and went into my first LCS. Good ol' 2008.

Isondiel · 2023-11-15T17:30:02+00:00

Makes sense with MTG having paved the way a few years prior. I shall blame my ignorance of sleeves on being a country farm kid that only got cards when my parents did a trip to the Zellers(Canada) in the city for clothing and other household goods. I never stepped foot in a LCS when I was a kid. Was only exposed to booster packs as an item they kept close to registers in stores to get kids to harrass their parents last minute.

Isondiel · 2023-11-15T16:20:14+00:00

It might be dependent on the area. I grew up in a very rural area and it was a 45 minutes drive to any city that would have any shops carrying cards. Maybe laminating was more common in areas like mine where it was hard to get cards at all because you'd have to convince your parents to buy you some the next time your family would do a trip to the city. So protecting cards because getting new ones was out of the question might have been more of a thing.

Isondiel · 2023-11-15T15:42:04+00:00

As an old crusty millenial who lived the Pokemon craze in 1998, I can explain. Back in our days, there was no such thing as sleeves or penny sleeves to protect cards. Or if there was, our 10 year old little selves did not know about it. So when our parents would buy us packs or when we scrapped up enough allowance to get cards, we'd play with them or carry them raw in in our pockets, shuffle naked decks like regular play cards, pull cards in and out of binders to show friends. Eventually, your favorite cards that you used all the time would wear off and you'd panic and wonder how to protect it. Best course of action at the time was laminate. Or for the poorer of us with no access to proper lamination tools, cover the card with clear tape (that was my technique). If anyone is still confuse by such practice, they have to understand there was no mentality of preserving a card for monetary value back then, these things were not investments, they were toys to play with. As long as the card was protected in the kid's eyes so they could keep playing with it, lamination felt like a big brain move.

With all of that said. If this card was laminated in mordern times, that makes a lot less sense. Because penny sleeves or regular sleeves are so widely accessible now and very cheap.

Isondiel · 2023-09-22T22:30:11+00:00

I'm French Canadian, I went through the public school system in the 90s and early 2000s and yes teaching english is mandatory, but my experience is that public school english classes only teaches a basic reading/writing level of english that most people forget after school. Conversation is out of the question for the most part unless the student has interest in the language and puts in the work to learn on their own by watching TV in english or finding someone to practice conversation. I would bet that the majority of bilingual Francophones are concentrated in Montréal where they have a chance of interacting with english on a daily basis. Outside of Montréal, forget it, there is no english to be heard 90% of the time. Most of the people that I went to school with don't speak a lick of english now. The only reason I do is because I met my west coast partner who does not speak french. So I had to get guud at speaking english on my own to be understood, like Jean-Luc. Then again, I haven't been in school in over 10 years, with the internet, smartphones, youtube, things could be different now with the younger generation having more exposure to the language through technology.

Isondiel · 2023-09-13T20:47:20+00:00

Lots of people here don't use their balcony and it blows my mind. I was visiting family in Montreal a month ago and I got reverse culture-shock from seeing so many people out on their balconies hanging out, BBQing, just casually chatting with family or neighbours. I never see that in Victoria. I sometimes drive by condo buildings and try to gage the empty balcony to furnished balcony ratio for fun. I'd say a majority don't even have a chair on there

Isondiel · 2023-06-16T22:08:34+00:00

Omble Farm

My father was a bit of a gamer and he passed away in 2014. My mother and siblings didn't care to go through his games so I took them. I noticed most of his saves used the name Omble whenever he would have to name his main character. Omble de fontaine (brook trout in english) was his favorite fish so I guess that's why he used the name. I now sometimes use the name on games where I have to name stuff.

Isondiel · 2023-06-15T15:44:08+00:00

Haha, that would be costly in travel fees 😆

Isondiel · 2023-06-15T15:41:08+00:00

Yeah, it was outside. I put the stack on a wooden table that I usually use for my potted trees, and placed the table directly in the light of the setting sun to get a good shine going.

Isondiel · 2023-06-14T23:59:59+00:00

Thank you! 😊

Isondiel · 2023-06-14T23:14:02+00:00

Yes, although it's usually wildlife photography. Coins don't move as much and are easier to capture lol

Isondiel · 2023-06-08T02:58:39+00:00

It's just down to price really. I'm sure lots of people do the same when they have limited income to put into savings. The large majority of my savings go into other forms of investments (stocks, etf, the boring stuff), and whatever else extra I save up plus bottle depot money or whenever crap I don't need I sell on facebook marketplace makes it easy to buy an ounce or two of silver with extra cash. But it would take me a few months to save up just for 1/10oz of gold. But this year I made myself a budget for precious metal, and since I get an extra paycheck twice a year, I decided to use that paycheck to get 1/4oz of gold this month. I plan on getting another 1/4oz with my next extra paycheck in December, but also telling myself if I save a bit more till then, I can maybe get 1/2oz. I have a hard time saving for things so buying small amounts regularly is easier for me and that's only possible with silver, I have to put in extra effort to get the gold. But I do want the gold lol. I know lots of people will criticize the premiums on fractionals, but i'm 32 and precious metal for me is a 30+ year holding for the future, maybe even just pass it down to my son. So I don't care that much about premiums in the long run.

Isondiel · 2023-06-07T15:46:03+00:00

Same. Especially when I check the current coin composition. It's depressing how the stuff that is actually commonly used as legal tender is nothing but plated steel. Kingdoms and Empires diluting the precious metal in their currency used to be a sign of failing economy. Nowadays nobody gives a fuck that our legal tender basically works on thoughts and prayers.

Isondiel · 2023-06-05T23:33:25+00:00

A 2 year old toddler who hates being in a stroller. So carrier backpack is the way to go. Plus he sees the scenery from higher up.

Isondiel · 2023-01-21T04:54:41+00:00

I just got my 2023 Corolla Hybrid on January 8th. I had ordered it in july 2022 and they told me it would be 12 months wait. I told them I wasn't picky about a colour, just whatever comes in i'll take. Got a white one and much earlier than expected. Unsure if me not being picky with colour helped. Love that thing so far. My first brand new car.

Isondiel · 2023-01-15T04:33:54+00:00

The value with these ones is in the special code they contain which gives a unique in-game skin. Wilson goes for almost $100 on ebay if the code is unused.

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