My grocery budget in the past has always been $400 a month. This year I am hoping to cut that by at least a $100 a month. We will see if that happens or not. Either way it is a challenge I am gonna try to reach.
For the month of January I spent $411.13. $11.13 over my normal budget :( After further looking over my receipts I come to realize I spent $160.88 stocking up on good sale prices I saw through out the month.
For February we should do much better with the budget. I plan to do my grocery shopping this week for most of the month.
We just had a Costco open up 7 blocks from our house. My biggest obstacle in keeping my grocery budget low will be keeping my husband out of that store. He is fascinated with shopping there :(
In January I did not take my grocery money out in cash to spend. This month I have already withdrawn half of the cash from our account and I plan to withdrawal the rest this week. Whatever is left in cash at the end of the month I will deposit into our car fund.
I am really hoping that my meal planning has helped to pay off. Now I just need to be weary of buying to many sale items even if they are at a good stock up price.
Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI hope that keeping cash only for food shopping helps you. I know those warehouse stores are dangerous, as it's hard to get out of one without spending at least $100. lol
My husbands problem seems to be buying stuff we would not normally eat. Oh the the big quanities also.
DeleteYou're doing great - I'm super impressed with what you spend. I'm trying to keep our grocery spending at $500, & it's really hard.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we shop primarily at Costco, but go through a ton of fruit & vegetables, so it makes sense for us. Some of their prices are very competitive, but only if you'll use the huge quantity, of course. Might be worth a tour with your price book just to compare.
I actually did a walk through already with my price book. You are right somethings they had the better price on. Our problems or actually my husbands is with buying stuff we would not normally buy just because it seems like a good price. Also, what the heck does the think we are suppose to store a 50 lb bag of bread flour in lol. Yes we will use it in about 6 months probably but now we are gonna have to buy something to store it in also :(
DeleteI'm so impressed with the $400 figure! Costco will be more expensive as I can attest to that. We are members of BJ's and buy mostly meats there. I've been doing quite well at CVS for my household products, but occasionally I'll find a deal at BJ's.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I changed my blog address. It is now midlifemommusings.com. (You have to update your blogroll with this address to see new posts. :)!)