As one can imagine, our family lives on a limited budget at this time. Residents aren't rich and unemployed mamas aren't either. ;) (Matt gets so mad at me when I call myself unemployed, but I mean I am!)
As I look over our income and how to make it stretch, I ALWAYS come back to how much money we spend on groceries. We spend SO much money on food (well...and toiletries and paper products...that's all groceries in my book)! We definitely don't do a lot of eating out so I know that's one reason that our grocery bill is high, but for a family of three our grocery bill is usually around $600 a month! Is that really high?! Maybe I'm wrong and that's normal. Fill me in folks!
So I decided to start at least trying to coupon, and it's actually made a small difference. I think I usually save $20-40 a month using my little coupons. No extreme couponing yet...but I've been known to jump in with both feet in the past so I'll never say never.
I decided the other day to get on pinterest and finally read all of the grocery budget reducing tips I had pinned and learned a few things. Here's the break down for you:
1. People are crazy. There are people who are willing to go to serious lengths to save a buck. I really want to cut down our grocery bill, but I don't think I'm ready for what it takes! One blog I read said that their family of four has cut their budget down to $200 a month. Amazing right? Then it says that they have decided that cheese is a luxury item and one that they can live without. WHOA! Hold the door. Cheese is not a luxury. Cheese is a necessity. What would my life be without cheese? (My thighs...well they may disagree.) Then I read another one that said you should ALWAYS use coupons (ok...I'm feeling you) and that you should never pay for them (ok...still on board).. This blog then said that you should just ask family and friends for their coupon inserts from their Sunday paper or maybe go to Starbucks on Sunday and collect all of the coupon inserts from the abandoned newspapers or look through the trash for them. For realz? I am not digging through dumpsters unless I've lost John in one. And who has time to go by Starbucks to rummage for coupons? These bloggers deserve every penny they save at the grocery store. They're like the navy seals of money saving!
2. Menu planning is a must to save money at the grocery store. I am a menu planner because I HATE having the "whatcha want for dinner?" conversation. I did pick up some good tips about always starting your menu based on what you currently have in your pantry and then looking through the sales papers to see what is on sale and how you can incorporate the discount items into your menu. Those were both good things to remember to do when menu planning.
3. Stock piling some items may not be as crazy as I originally thought. I have always said that I would never by ten tubes of toothpaste because I'm not a hoarder, but I did read a blog that changed my mind about that a little. Just a little though. I can now see that if a grocery store is having a 10 for 10 deal on toothpaste and you have some coupons and can get that toothpast for free, you should. You are always going to need toothpaste and if you can get it for free by buying in bulk why wouldn't you. I'd be willing to do this for toiletries, but not food. I try my hardest to not eat too much food with a super long shelf life!
So I'll fill you in on whether or not I'm able to get the grocery bill down or not! And if you see me digging through other people's trash cans for coupons, please shake me.
Share any tips that you have...unless you think cheese is a luxury. ;)
Keep it real y'all!
Hi Jenni! A few grocery tips I learned while Brian was in grad school:
ReplyDelete-Try to eat a few meat-free meals per week
-When you do buy meat, buy it as "whole" as possible. The less cut up the meat is, the less it costs. We once bought a full round end of a cow and chopped it up and froze it. Voila--red meat for a semester! It's a lot of work, but it'll make an honest meat-eater out of you because what you buy looks a lot more like the original animal. Plus the process of cutting it up is so nasty that it will inspire you to eat more meat-free meals--more money saved!
-Do some grocery store price comparisons. Prices vary wildly based on where the store is located and what chain it is a part of. I was able to save at least $50-$75 per month, without sacrificing quality, by driving across town for groceries rather than using the store near campus!
-Stick to only milk for drink purchases (if you get juice, serve it with 50% water)
-Stick to cheap staples like apples, bananas, and oranges for your main fruit, giving the more expensive fruit "treat" status (then again, you're in FL...maybe all fruit is cheap there?)
Hope that helps, and happy shopping!!
If you shop at Kroger, you can add online coupons to your Plus card on Kroger.com -- Much easier than clipping out and keeping up with a bunch of paper coupons. It's a small help, but a help nonetheless.
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