Is it really that hard?

[ORChick]

ok a question here......

i am beginning mystery shopping again and alot of mystery shops are reimbursement shops right so meaning this....

say i get a grocery store mystery shop and i have to spend say 10.00 in groceries but they reimburse the entire 10.00

is this all foods because i get mystery shops for mcdonalds EVERY WEEK and the kids usually eat the fast food that i get from mystery shopping as after school snacks and its free because it is reimbursed

I've never heard of Mystery Shopping; can you explain it?

Also, I think this exercise is more or less as you want to describe it. If you do a lot of this Mystery Shopping, and were able to do that even if you were in a Welfare type situation, then perhaps this would fit into your scenario.

I put a high priority on the food we eat (DH had cancer a few years ago, which put that priority even higher than it already had been). I don't even keep track of what I spend for food, though I am a comparison shopper, and a label reader. That sort of thing would not work for this Welfare experiment, obviously, so my intention is to shop for the quality that I prefer that we eat, but also keep track of what it would have cost me, if I were in reality limited by a Welfare check. But my choice as to how to play this game needn't be yours, and probably shouldn't be. I imagine that every family that does indeed receive Welfare also has different priorities, and chooses what to buy accordingly. As shown by Rhoda Bruce's post above.

 

[moolie]

I just started a journal for this experiment, called "Moolie's "is it really that hard?" journal where I've posted the current contents of my fridge, along with a basic list of spices and baking ingredients. I will find out the prices for everything and add them.

 

[hwillm1977]

I think I'd like to give this a try too... it would be interesting just to have a record of what we eat and what we spend on food in a given month, even if we don't manage to do it entirely on the $35/person/week budget.

 

[Bettacreek]

That's what I figure... Why not try it? Even if you don't quite hit the budget, you probably just saved yourself some money, plus possibly learned some new things/ways to cook. Win/win if you ask me.

 

[Denim Deb]

I had planned on starting a new thread w/rules, but you guys pretty much have that taken care of already! One thing I'd also like to see is cheap meal ideas, things that are easy to make, and aren't junk food! I'm not sure when I'll be able to start, it may not be until fall. It's going to depend entirely on whether or not I get this summer job. If I don't, I'll start sooner. If I do, I'll have to wait. I just won't have time to cook. Hubby will be-and he spends more on food than I do!

 

[Denim Deb]

Oh and another thing, you don't have to go on the assumption that you have nothing if you don't want to. I'm sure that the majority of people who get assistance have at least something in the house.

 

[hqueen13]

yup 5.5% state wide on "food or food ingredients" and then things like soda and prepared food state wide is 7% HOWEVER the local tax can be added to both (its not usually added to basic grocery but can be to some items depending on how "basic" it is ect) and so you can pay up to an aditional 2.75% ontop of those depending on which county your in.

the sales tax is counter balanced by the removal of other taxes, but yes, you pay tax on your food wether your eating chicken with a side salad, a tv dinner or cheetos and cola for dinner...youll pay tax on your grocery bill, from what im told TN is one of only a handfull of states that tax your groceries and from what im seeing based on other localities snap benefits TN has the one of the lowest benefit amounts country wide for food bennies...so they give you less money to buy food with and then charge you more for your food by adding the sales tax too!
fun huh?!

NC taxes food as well. I was shocked when I went to the grocery store in MD when I moved, and bought a few small things and it really was the price marked!
I believe that NC's used to be 6.5%, but it may be higher now. That is why my mom often organizes herself to make the trip to SC for groceries and gas when she can.

 

[Bettacreek]

PA charges taxes on some food items (junky crap), but most of the staples are tax-free (bread, milk, etc, etc). Candies and I believe sodas and that kind of thing are taxed.

 

[elijahboy]

there is like hundreds of companie

you apply on their website to be a mystery shopper

then you have access to their job boards...they list jobs daily....fast food test driving cars...convenience store checks.....just all sorts of good stuff

they set a fee they will pay you and a reimbursement for example
mcdonalds
they pay 12.00 to go their and report on your service via a report on their website
then they tell you what to order and they reimburse you in about 3-6 weeks after the shop is totally complete

ok a question here......

i am beginning mystery shopping again and alot of mystery shops are reimbursement shops right so meaning this....

say i get a grocery store mystery shop and i have to spend say 10.00 in groceries but they reimburse the entire 10.00




is this all foods because i get mystery shops for mcdonalds EVERY WEEK and the kids usually eat the fast food that i get from mystery shopping as after school snacks and its free because it is reimbursed

I've never heard of Mystery Shopping; can you explain it?

Also, I think this exercise is more or less as you want to describe it. If you do a lot of this Mystery Shopping, and were able to do that even if you were in a Welfare type situation, then perhaps this would fit into your scenario.

I put a high priority on the food we eat (DH had cancer a few years ago, which put that priority even higher than it already had been). I don't even keep track of what I spend for food, though I am a comparison shopper, and a label reader. That sort of thing would not work for this Welfare experiment, obviously, so my intention is to shop for the quality that I prefer that we eat, but also keep track of what it would have cost me, if I were in reality limited by a Welfare check. But my choice as to how to play this game needn't be yours, and probably shouldn't be. I imagine that every family that does indeed receive Welfare also has different priorities, and chooses what to buy accordingly. As shown by Rhoda Bruce's post above.

 

[ORChick]

yup 5.5% state wide on "food or food ingredients" and then things like soda and prepared food state wide is 7% HOWEVER the local tax can be added to both (its not usually added to basic grocery but can be to some items depending on how "basic" it is ect) and so you can pay up to an aditional 2.75% ontop of those depending on which county your in.

the sales tax is counter balanced by the removal of other taxes, but yes, you pay tax on your food wether your eating chicken with a side salad, a tv dinner or cheetos and cola for dinner...youll pay tax on your grocery bill, from what im told TN is one of only a handfull of states that tax your groceries and from what im seeing based on other localities snap benefits TN has the one of the lowest benefit amounts country wide for food bennies...so they give you less money to buy food with and then charge you more for your food by adding the sales tax too!
fun huh?!

NC taxes food as well. I was shocked when I went to the grocery store in MD when I moved, and bought a few small things and it really was the price marked!
I believe that NC's used to be 6.5%, but it may be higher now. That is why my mom often organizes herself to make the trip to SC for groceries and gas when she can.

Oregon has no sales tax, on anything . It was a shock at first, after moving here from CA, to pay what was on the label, and nothing extra (A nice shock, but still ...). NOW it is a shock when we go back to CA. (But, I haven't noticed, but others say that the state income tax is higher than other places. Since we went from *working* in CA to *retired* in OR it is kind of hard to tell if there is a difference.)