I make a monthly menu. And as I make the menu, I jot down ingredients that are needed for each meal that I generally wouldn't buy this time of year (for instance, bell peppers). I have a magnetic pad on the fridge that serves as the shopping list, and I put the week's shopping requirements down on each page. Usually I only have three or four things on each page for the week, and more often the list includes meat that I don't have. I do stock up on things when they are on an amazing sale. So I know, for example, that I have no need to buy chicken breasts any time soon.
I am finding that one of the keys to meeting my grocery budget goals for the month is staying OUT of the grocery store. And I have, last grocery shopping was 1/6. I probably could've waited until today to do the grocery shopping for the week, but I was already heading out to the gym and the grocery store is on the way.
Didn't have much in the way of coupons. However, I bought stew meat, milk, chocolate milk, biscuits, crackers, and misc and spent $44.73. I saved $11.42.
Today I am picking up some fresh produce. I ordered a Bountiful Basket earlier this week. It's 20 servings of fresh fruit and veggies. Spent: $16.50.
Check out Bountiful Baskets, they always have the coolest produce! And compared to the grocery store, it is far cheaper and FAR fresher.
Total for the month:
Spent: $387.96
Saved: $60.89 or 14%.
Budget amount for this payperiod: $400. Will make it, hurrah!
Need to up the amount saved and decrease the amount spent. It's a work in progress.
Onward!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Week 1 Grocery Budget Challenge
I am all done with the stock up shopping (Costco) and the Albertsons and Winco shopping. This is the big grocery shop for the month. For the rest of the month, I'll get only what we absolutely need or what's on such a great sale that I can't pass it up.
I used only cash from the envelope for these shopping trips. It was really scary going to Costco and paying cash! But I used my calculator faithfully and had Costco coupons.
At Costco, I bought Ziploc bags, cat food and kitty litter, berries, bacon, creamer, tampons, moisturizer, and tampons.
Spent: $173.87. Saved: $17.50. (In previous trips, I would've spent $200 and saved much less)
At Albertsons, I bought meat and salad dressing and the like.
Spent: $61.04. Saved: $29.39.
Today, I hit Winco for the spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, yogurt, and produce that made up the last of my shopping list.
Spent: $55.62. Saved: $2.88.
Also bought milk, cheese, and produce from Boise Milk (LOVE their milk and the delivery is divine.)
Total spent so far this month: $326.73.
Total saved so far this month: $49.77, which is 15%.
Total left in the budget for this payperiod: $73.27.
Budget for the month: $600. Unfortunately, this does represent a number that is less than we have been spending. I am going to ratchet this down slowly. Next month's budget will be 10% less, and so on until we are spending no more than $400 for a month's worth of groceries (cleaning supplies, food, kitty food and litter, dog food and treats).
It is a work in progress. But how glad I am to have started.
I used only cash from the envelope for these shopping trips. It was really scary going to Costco and paying cash! But I used my calculator faithfully and had Costco coupons.
At Costco, I bought Ziploc bags, cat food and kitty litter, berries, bacon, creamer, tampons, moisturizer, and tampons.
Spent: $173.87. Saved: $17.50. (In previous trips, I would've spent $200 and saved much less)
At Albertsons, I bought meat and salad dressing and the like.
Spent: $61.04. Saved: $29.39.
Today, I hit Winco for the spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, yogurt, and produce that made up the last of my shopping list.
Spent: $55.62. Saved: $2.88.
Also bought milk, cheese, and produce from Boise Milk (LOVE their milk and the delivery is divine.)
Total spent so far this month: $326.73.
Total saved so far this month: $49.77, which is 15%.
Total left in the budget for this payperiod: $73.27.
Budget for the month: $600. Unfortunately, this does represent a number that is less than we have been spending. I am going to ratchet this down slowly. Next month's budget will be 10% less, and so on until we are spending no more than $400 for a month's worth of groceries (cleaning supplies, food, kitty food and litter, dog food and treats).
It is a work in progress. But how glad I am to have started.
Budget Envelopes
Payday was Friday and I spent some time yesterday and today putting money into my envelopes.
We are doing the envelope budget system. I've read about this for years in various frugal living sites (here's a description of it: The Envelope System).
It's pretty easy: you figure out budget categories (which we have been doing for ages), and put cash in the envelopes for those categories.
We aren't doing this for everything in our budget. The house payment, utilities, car insurance, and the like are paid online like we've been doing.
We have categories that are going into electronic envelopes also. We are saving a very small amount each month, that gets transferred from my checking to my savings. I am going to add the following to the savings account: auto insurance (so we can pay in full every six months instead of monthly, and avoid a monthly fee), savings for car and motorcycle registration and motorcycle insurance, and savings for the sewer/trash payment that we make every other month. No more scrambling for these payments. For the auto insurance, I'm putting into savings the amount I would be putting into the insurance payment. For the car/motorcycle registration and motorcycle insurance, I just added the items and got a total, divided it by 12, and that's the amount that is going into savings. The sewer/trash is easy enough, but putting aside $55 a month seems so much easier than paying $110 or so....for some reason.
The items that are going to be paid with cash are: groceries, gas, entertainment, health care, and clothes.
I must admit that it has not been easy to pay with cash for groceries so far. I shopped at two different stores today. One of them was Costco. Of course I spent the usual amount there, but having to count it out in 20's was a whole different experience than swiping the debit card.
We bought gas at Costco also, and had to use the debit card. I'll just repay my debit card with cash from the envelope.
It is simply a way of being mindful, I think. I had to keep careful track of what I was spending at the store so I could be assured that I had enough cash.
And it's kind of scary looking at my bank account that has been pretty depleted from the cash withdrawal.
On the other hand, I feel all kinds of powerful. And that, bottom line, is why I'll keeping doing this.
Onward!
We are doing the envelope budget system. I've read about this for years in various frugal living sites (here's a description of it: The Envelope System).
It's pretty easy: you figure out budget categories (which we have been doing for ages), and put cash in the envelopes for those categories.
We aren't doing this for everything in our budget. The house payment, utilities, car insurance, and the like are paid online like we've been doing.
We have categories that are going into electronic envelopes also. We are saving a very small amount each month, that gets transferred from my checking to my savings. I am going to add the following to the savings account: auto insurance (so we can pay in full every six months instead of monthly, and avoid a monthly fee), savings for car and motorcycle registration and motorcycle insurance, and savings for the sewer/trash payment that we make every other month. No more scrambling for these payments. For the auto insurance, I'm putting into savings the amount I would be putting into the insurance payment. For the car/motorcycle registration and motorcycle insurance, I just added the items and got a total, divided it by 12, and that's the amount that is going into savings. The sewer/trash is easy enough, but putting aside $55 a month seems so much easier than paying $110 or so....for some reason.
The items that are going to be paid with cash are: groceries, gas, entertainment, health care, and clothes.
I must admit that it has not been easy to pay with cash for groceries so far. I shopped at two different stores today. One of them was Costco. Of course I spent the usual amount there, but having to count it out in 20's was a whole different experience than swiping the debit card.
We bought gas at Costco also, and had to use the debit card. I'll just repay my debit card with cash from the envelope.
It is simply a way of being mindful, I think. I had to keep careful track of what I was spending at the store so I could be assured that I had enough cash.
And it's kind of scary looking at my bank account that has been pretty depleted from the cash withdrawal.
On the other hand, I feel all kinds of powerful. And that, bottom line, is why I'll keeping doing this.
Onward!
Dietbet!
I am doing a 4 week diet challenge on DietBet.com
Haven't seen DietBet.com? Do check it out. It looks like a lot of fun. I'll be updating regularly on my progress.
So, how it works: You find a game on DietBet.com. There's tons of them right now. You sign up for a game and put $ in the "pot." Then you take a picture of yourself weighing and a picture of the scale. Then you lose 4% of your body weight in four weeks (or however long the game is). Everyone who loses 4% of their body weight wins! The "pot" is divided up amongst the winners.
While I chose a moderate game with a $25 contribution to the "pot," there are all kinds of games on the site.
Here's the one I'm doing: Fitknitchick's DietBet.
I tell you what, the only way I'm losing this game is if I don't lose weight. If I lose the weight, I'll get my $25 back, and maybe a little more. And the "pot" for the game I'm in is $4900!
It feels very shallow of me to lose weight only for money. But I'll take it. I need to lose 28% of my body weight overall, and I aim to have 2013 be the year I finally do it.
More to come on this.
Haven't seen DietBet.com? Do check it out. It looks like a lot of fun. I'll be updating regularly on my progress.
So, how it works: You find a game on DietBet.com. There's tons of them right now. You sign up for a game and put $ in the "pot." Then you take a picture of yourself weighing and a picture of the scale. Then you lose 4% of your body weight in four weeks (or however long the game is). Everyone who loses 4% of their body weight wins! The "pot" is divided up amongst the winners.
While I chose a moderate game with a $25 contribution to the "pot," there are all kinds of games on the site.
Here's the one I'm doing: Fitknitchick's DietBet.
I tell you what, the only way I'm losing this game is if I don't lose weight. If I lose the weight, I'll get my $25 back, and maybe a little more. And the "pot" for the game I'm in is $4900!
It feels very shallow of me to lose weight only for money. But I'll take it. I need to lose 28% of my body weight overall, and I aim to have 2013 be the year I finally do it.
More to come on this.
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