January + Grocery Goal$
I guess blogging wasn't among my resolutions, huh? We've just been reallllly busy!
Sitting down for a minute to reflect on January, the longest month of winter. The world is looking so gray. BUT we did have a lovely sunny and warmish day yesterday! I don't really mind winter, but it does seem to drag on. The kids and I get bored and antsy. We have been blessed with very good health so far.
Winter can be cozy, too. It feels right to light more candles and brew another pot of fresh coffee. We make popcorn and cuddle under blankets and read more. And Behn and I have a tradition of every January, on cold winter nights, watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I LOVE this tradition and look forward to it every year.
Anyway, I wanted to elaborate more on one of my goals. We are really trying to rein in our food spending by planning, eating all our leftovers, and shopping wisely. It is hard. I have read blogs of women whose food budgets are like $200 a month for a family of 5. What?! How?? I'm not sure yet if I'm going to disclose our actual budgets here on the great wide internet, but we shall see. In any case, our budget is quite small and we will not be buying much alcohol and eating out will be very rare (which is already is).
So, here is the plan:
Sitting down for a minute to reflect on January, the longest month of winter. The world is looking so gray. BUT we did have a lovely sunny and warmish day yesterday! I don't really mind winter, but it does seem to drag on. The kids and I get bored and antsy. We have been blessed with very good health so far.
Winter can be cozy, too. It feels right to light more candles and brew another pot of fresh coffee. We make popcorn and cuddle under blankets and read more. And Behn and I have a tradition of every January, on cold winter nights, watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I LOVE this tradition and look forward to it every year.
Anyway, I wanted to elaborate more on one of my goals. We are really trying to rein in our food spending by planning, eating all our leftovers, and shopping wisely. It is hard. I have read blogs of women whose food budgets are like $200 a month for a family of 5. What?! How?? I'm not sure yet if I'm going to disclose our actual budgets here on the great wide internet, but we shall see. In any case, our budget is quite small and we will not be buying much alcohol and eating out will be very rare (which is already is).
So, here is the plan:
- Buy in bulk. I am a member of our local wholesale store, so at the beginning of the month, I am going to spend some money upfront stocking up on butter, bread, cheese, some snacks, mac 'n cheese, maybe some meat, canned tomatoes, and other items that just cost more in individual bits at the local grocery store and that we use often.
- We will eat our leftovers. No wasting food. (We are doing well with this, so far!)
- Less goodies. We totally need to eat less sugar anyway, so I'm going to bake less (which means I need to buy less sugar, flour, eggs, etc).
- Make more from scratch. I made a lot of changes last year in this way, and will continue to do so. We switched from boxed pancake mix to homemade mix, from bagged popcorn to popping it fresh on the stove (tastes better, too!), canned cream of mushroom soup to homemade, etc.
- Double recipes and freeze the seconds.
- Garden well this year, and hopefully have a good yield.
We are also tracking each and every time we sneak through the Chick-Fil-A drive through or call in Chinese takeout. We really, truly don't do this often, but it's amazing how quickly it adds up. I know you're thinking, 'duh.' But have you tried it? Writing it down every single time you spend money getting a latte or a sandwich? And don't even get me started on a 'nice' restaurant where you have to sit down and pay a tip. It's crazy expensive. And I LOVE, LOVE eating out, so I'm a little sad.
We are really praying to be wise and careful and see a difference in our budget. It's hard to eat healthy on a budget, but it is important to be good shepherds of our bodies and our money. Really, it all belongs to God. And we want to honor Him and become more generous givers. I will be posting our monthly reviews to keep myself accountable and to track our progress.
What are your grocery cost saving tips?
What are your grocery cost saving tips?
I am with you on this. We go through seasons where we are really good, but the last year or two we have not been as good. I do shop at Aldi for most of our stuff - that has been our biggest savings - but even their prices have gone up in the last couple of years. I also use a savers card at the grocery store because I am not organized enough for coupons. And for me I do better IF i bake/make the goodies because if not, one of us will say, "Do you want to go get ice cream/coffee/donuts?" ha! Homemade chocolate chip cookies are a money saver over the alternative for us. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't know how people do it under 200 a month - I wish I did.
Ah my sister was just telling me how great Aldi is! I wish we had one! I use the savers card, too, and sometimes the store I go to (Food Lion) prints me coupons, but other than that, I'm not a good couponer either!
DeleteI've been thinking about writing a blog post(s) about how our family saves money at the grocer store. Maybe this will help me to stop being lazy and actually start writing.
ReplyDeleteYes, let's hear your strategies!
DeleteYes! We are so guilty of spending more than we need to on groceries! Ugh. One thing though that does help keep me accountable on all budgets is a site called mint. Free and they also have a free mobile app. It makes keeping track of everything so much easier!
ReplyDelete