So, I was inspired by my friend Kirsten's blog post, about how they got out of debt, thanks to Dave Ramsey's advice. I actually ordered the book and am anxiously awaiting. It better be here tomorrow, because it's been over a week since I ordered it. Anyway, we're really good with saving money, but lately haven't been so good with our outgoing expenses. We only have a mortgage and a car loan. We've decided we want to pay off our car loan as fast as we can. Well, it's actually been our goal since the beginning, but we've yet to really implement it. :)
One area that seems to be problematic lately, has been food. So this month, I've have been EXTREMELY careful with how much we're spending on food. I decided that all we could spend is $300. Theoretically, I wanted to spend $100 at Costco, then $50 a week. The Costco trip covers a lot of the substance to our meals, that will last all month. At Costco we bought a large bag of chicken breasts, 5 lbs of hamburger, cheddar cheese, string cheese, mozzarella cheese, organic strawberry jam, and pure maple syrup. Dan did the Costco trip and bought some beef jerky and a few other things, so our total was actually $137. When it comes to food, there are some things worth paying more money for. We buy the pure maple syrup and it's around $12. Yes, it's expensive, but we use syrup a lot and it's not worth it to me to buy the fake stuff that is basically just high fructose corn syrup. The organic jam comes in a really large jar and is about $6. And it's SO good.
It would have been easy to say, oh well, we'll still just spend $50 each week. But I'm sticking to my guns and that left us with $163. But I had actually already made some grocery purchases at the beginning of the month, before I made this decision. So basically that left us with $28 a week for food. Basically, we just buy produce and dairy. We have food storage of pasta, flour, etc.
So I'm proud to say that we've been able to do it! It's been a little hard and I really had to be careful about what I bought. It was helpful that my phone has a calculator on it, so I could keep track of how much I was spending (until I dropped it halfway through my shopping trip today and the battery fell out!) as I put each item in my cart. Doing it that way really kept me in check and made me think about what I really needed. I also really shopped the sales. I normally do so anyways, but this month I've been better about it. Luckily, Vallarta (grocery store) has some amazing sales on produce, so that's been very helpful.
What probably made this whole goal really feasible, was we made a menu for the whole month. We normally do a weekly menu, but Dan wanted to do a monthly menu, so we did. Planning out the whole month was actually a good thing, because we could incorporate the beef and chicken we bought (sometimes the chicken stays in the freezer for a long time) and have a good look at what meals we wanted for the month. Then, each week I went shopping, I just looked at what was on the menu for the week and wrote down what I needed for each meal, which usually wasn't a lot, then added produce and dairy items.
Because we over spent early on, it's been a "necessity only items" each week. My goals for next month is to stock up on food storage items. We've gotten really low on our canned goods. What I'd like to do next month is again, $100 at Costco for bulk/staple items, then $50 each week. Since I've realized that we can actually live on about $30 a week, I'd like to buy food storage items every week. For now it would be canned goods, pasta, crackers, oil, etc. Stuff that I usually have stocked up and don't buy on a weekly basis.
What I've learned so far, is:
A. I really like this whole minimum amount of money to spend on food each week.
B. It gives me a guideline and honestly, it makes me feel more in control of the money I spend.
C. It's a great way to make sure you're not putting money in one place, when it could be going to another place. i.e. car loan.
D. With the money amount I've chosen for our food, I haven't starved and still eat well!
Are there any tips that you use for grocery shopping to save money and not over spend? Heaven knows it's so easy to grab this item and that item and before you know it, you've spent more than you mean to! Any methods that you use? I'd love to hear them!
Fairway Fashion: Elevated Golf Style for Women
4 weeks ago
3 comments:
This post made me so happy to read! I'm so happy for you guys! I've realized that we, for our family of 5, need about $400 each month. I go grocery shopping only twice a month and create a meal plan for two weeks at a time. I, like you, write down the ingredients I will need for those meals within those two weeks. I buy my main/bulk items at Costco then my dry stuff from Walmart, produce from our local mission market and dairy from Stater Brothers. It's a long day but worth it. I keep track of how much I've spent at each store. It doesn't matter if I go over $200 in one trip because that just means I have XYZ left for the next two weeks. The goal is $400 for whatever I need in that month for food. I think what you're doing is fabulous. Meal planning, having a list of EXACTLY what you need and not buying anything that's not is key. Coupons are always a plus and I try when I can to clip them but I'm not the best. But we always have enough and I never go over my amount.
I'm SOOOO excited for you to get the book and read it! You'll be amazed at how much you can actually put away and live without while trying to pay off something. Keep me updated on what you think while you're reading it!
We also make a meal plan and every week we have one leftover night. It keeps us from wasting any food and saves us money on that meal. Since Paul is in school and I no longer work we have a meager budget of $120 a month. That includes not just food, but toilet paper, diapers, soap, etc. I wish that we were sacrificing to pay something off! But I think school for Paul and me staying home to raise James is worth it.
I use a lot of coupons. Shortcuts, cellfire and coupons.com have saved me a lot of money. I joined a co-op for our produce and when meat goes on sale we try to adjust our budget (take from the next week's budget) to stock up.
Twice a year we spend $150 at the case lot sales to stock up the pantry full of staples. That really helps me be able to stick to the budget.
Another thing I do is look for people on freecycle who are giving away extra produce from their gardens (since we live in an apartment) and preserve the food. It hasn't been easy and I admit that I am really looking forward to the day when I can have a little bit bigger budget. But until then...we aren't starving.
does this budget include diapers and baby stuff?
Post a Comment