Tuesday, March 1, 2011

We spend HOW much on groceries???

A few months ago, I started using my bank's online financial planning software, which lets you set a budget for certain spending categories and track how well you compare to your budget. It's awesome, except that it shows you how much money you're actually spending, which, for me, is usually somewhere between alarming and terrifying. We spent nearly three times our grocery budget in February, which is 4 digits worth of spending. Yes, 4 digits. I am still in denial about this, but I looked everything over several times and it must be right. So, now I'm cracking down and making some serious changes. If you have ANY suggestions, please, help me!
Ways we are cutting down on our grocery bill (or trying, at least):
1. No more pop, chicken nuggets, grape tomatoes (these are my favorite but they're $3.50 a package!!!) or other expensive/exotic produce, or lunch meat.
2. No brand name anything without a coupon.
3. We're buying all diapers through Diapers.com. I just got 500 diapers for $50!! And free shipping!
4. No pre-packaged snacks (fruit snacks, Little Debbies, potato chips, etc.) or drinks.
5. We eat leftovers until either they're gone or they're moldy. Like, so moldy that you can't even cut around or scoop out the moldy parts.
6. Two choices for lunch: leftovers or cereal - that's it.
7. Get the bigger/bulk size and freeze it (example: there's a good deal at Fareway right now on ground beef - 10 lbs. of 93% lean ground beef for $2.69.lb.).
8. Fewer side dishes (rice, potatoes, veggies). No one likes them except me anyway.

I'll keep you updated. If we don't improve in March, I'm going to start looking for recipes for gruel...

1 comment:

  1. Please don't invite me over if you start eating gruel...
    Have you seen that show about the crazy coupon people? You can save tons supposedly by "couponing". These people go nuts with internet coupons & doubling, etc. I don't know if stores around here have double coupon deals, but I think it is worth the effort to find the coupons & use them.
    You are super smart. I'm sure you will be down to 3 digit grocery bill months in no time.

    ReplyDelete