Matthew Steeples shares his “yellow stickered” spending splurge just as it is revealed the average British family spent an extra £50 on groceries in January 2021
This morning, just as the Guardian shared news that the “average British family spent [an] extra £50 on groceries in January “[underpinning a] £1 billion surge in supermarket spending,” I found myself with a £95 bill for a quick shop at a small Waitrose store in Brompton Road, London.
Despite living alone during this latest lockdown, I – like the rest of the population it plainly seems – find myself making “spontaneous Waitrose trips” now due to being unable to go to restaurants. I saunter in intending to buy just a pint of milk and a bottle of wine perhaps, but end up leaving with goodness knows what.
The perils or, to my plainly muddled mind, delights of finding yellow stickered items is part of the ‘problem.’ Discovering a bargain brings joy to my somewhat dull days and aside from buying the odd chocolate bar for the poor homeless residents of ‘Tent City Knightsbridge,’ I truly cannot justify such sporadic spending on things I truly don’t actually need.
Unsurprisingly, the Guardian also reported that the majority of the increase in supermarket spending in January came from booze. They reported that whilst hideous no-alcohol beer rose “by 12% in the month” but that “alcohol sales surged by an even stronger 29%, or £234m, as the closure of pubs and clubs led to increased drinking at home.” Cheers to that!
Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.
