Groceries and Necessities

Groceries, Clothing, and Other Supplies

When preparing your budget, it is essential to plan accurately for the food, hygiene items, clothing, and other necessary supplies. You can take advantage of flyers, coupons, and Student Discount days to better support your budgeting goals, but do not plan a budget guaranteeing student discount and coupon shopping.

Groceries

There are a variety of grocery stores, farmers markets, and community gardens in Nova Scotia. Access to grocery options will greatly depend on your community.

Sometimes there is not a grocery store in your community, and you will have to plan your transit to and from the grocery store. Some communities have multiple options for grocery stores with minimal travel. Ensure you are planning appropriate budgets for transportation to and from where you will purchase your food.

Prices and discount days for students will vary depending on the store and location. Students typically spend $300 per month on groceries. Ensure you are being realistic with your budget and planning to purchase food that will make you feel full and healthy.

Hygiene & Other Supplies

Many hygiene and cleaning products can be purchased at grocery stores or pharmacies. The price will vary dependent on the brand of choice.

If you are living with roommates and sharing cleaning products, it is important to know how you will share products and purchasing to allow for a better budget. When you first plan your budget, it is recommended to assume you are the only one responsible for all the hygiene and cleaning supplies, including laundry detergent, bathroom and kitchen cleaning supplies, recycling and garbage bags.

The upfront cost of cleaning supplies may be more expensive than the cost of continuous maintenance of the supplies. If you live with roommates and are not responsible for cleaning products monthly, you can put the extra budgeted money into your unexpected expenses budget to support you if anything urgent arises.

Online Marketplaces

Online marketplaces like Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace are great for finding secondhand items. Often you can find the same item in different stages of use and different price ranges. When using online marketplaces, be aware of scams. Never send money to the owner of the item without first seeing the item in person. If you are going to purchase higher priced items, like electronics, plan to bring a friend, and try not to go alone.

It is also important to carefully review the items you are purchasing, and being cautious about what you purchase. For example, be aware of some furniture and mattresses, as some communities in Nova Scotia have a higher likelihood of bed bugs than others, and you can be held financially responsible if you bring Bed Bugs into a rental space.

Thrift Stores

There are many budgets friendly places to purchase clothing. Many communities have a variety of thrift stores. Thrift stores are stores that have gently used clothing, and home goods. There are some larger chain thrift stores, with multiple locations across the province like, at places such as Frenchy’s but many communities have a variation of Frenchy’s.

A note on Winter Clothing

In Nova Scotia, the winters are on average -15 degrees Celsius but can get lower than –20 degrees Celsius in some areas (without windchill). It is important to buy appropriate winter clothing, and ensure when buying winter jackets, you are buying a jacket designed for the winter and not the warmer fall months. They can look very similar. Students typically spend $200 on winter clothing.

Wearing layers, called ‘layering’, and wearing good fitting clothing is important. An example of proper layering would be a base layer, like a long-sleeve cotton shirt, a mid-layer, of a warm sweater, and an outer-layer of your jacket.