Ok, I think I must be somewhat of a blog-owning junkie as this is my THIRD blog! Feel free to check out my others as well at passionatemotherhood.blogspot.com and fitgirlwannabe.blogspot.com
Hubby and I took a long look at our budget last month and decided that we have some adjusting to do. Up til now, he has done ALL the grocery shopping. I didnt do a good job of meal planning or pantry checking and routinely sent him to the store 4-5 times a week.
For the months of October and November, we averaged $330 a week at the store! This DOES include non-food items such as paper towels, batteries, cat food....and we ARE a family of 7 with allergies, but still, I was SURE I could do a better job.
I have, this last month learned more about price matching and 'couponing'. I have gotten our average, for the month of December down to $230ish a week. VERY pleased with that. I do however think I could go lower. I am aiming for $200 or under as a soft goal and $175 or under as my hard goal.
I hope to post tips here, coupon deals, giveaways (and links to giveaways), menu plans, etc etc etc....
Please remember that I am a newbie at this so I can use all the help I can get! I have a few (or 10) favorites sites that I have been visiting and I hope to share those here.
Thanks for stopping by!
About a year or so ago Jimmy found a cookbook at Half-Price Books called $3 Meals (which in today's economy they are more than $3 but they do use reoccuring items from the pantry quite often). I haven't cooked seriously with it until a couple of weeks ago...before that I was using Menus 4 Moms sporatically. Menu planning definately helps- I am must say that without it my spending is all over the place and I'm constantly having Jimmy stop at the store...with it I'm much more organized! Good Luck and God Speed!
ReplyDeleteYep, doing a fine tuned menu has REALLY helped as well as making sure I check the shelves and paper product stock before making a list =)
ReplyDelete