How did I determine our grocery budget?

That is the question of the day. How did I determine the dollar amount of our grocery budget? Well... I chose $400.00 for my family of five. How did I choose it? Well... First let me tell you the grocery spending habit I had created in our home and the changes I had to make.

I am a foodie and for me going into a grocery store is like going in hungry, which is sooo wrong. The first rule is never go shopping when you are hungry. The other problem I had was I would start to plan meals going down the grocery isles. Big mistake. I was like Oooh that sounds great!! Aahhh, that sounds delish, in the cart it would go. There was no menu plan (written down) and that was one of my biggest problems. The other big problem was that I was wasting food. It is a shame to throw food away due to spoilage.

So, when I used to get home from my grocery shopping trips I found I'd be missing items to complete the meals. Then I would have to go back to the store for a few items and then came back with more items than I intended to purchase. I would also change meal ideas and then back to the store for other stuff. Then there was eating out too many times. I would guess that my grocery spending was well over $800.00 a month. I have no firm amount, due to DENIAL and was scared to really come to grips with it.

So, I decided that if I didn't change my ways I would end up going to F.A.A. (Food Addictions Anonymous) or S.A.A. (Spending Addiction Anonymous). LOL If these groups are real I apologize in advance. I was only poking fun at myself. I was out of control and in severe denial.

In order to change my ways I had to have a plan. These are the things that I would have to tackle and put to work.

1) Get Organized!
2) Take Inventory of Pantry, Freezer and Fridge.
3) Write a Menu Plan with items on hand.
4) Don't be Wasteful. Find ways to use food to eliminate spoilage.
5) Determine a Weekly Grocery Budget.
6) Grocery shop only once a week.
7) Award my Family/Myself if I stayed on or below budget, by putting leftover grocery cash into our vacation/Christmas fund.

My goal in the next 10 weeks is to live simply on the stockpile I have in my pantry and freezer. I am only to purchase the basics like dairy and produce. I am not purchasing processed foods and mixes and am trying to make homemade if at all possible. I've been canning, drying fruit and stocking up for winter. I will be journaling along the way and will determine what works, what challenges I had to overcome and what changes I will have to make.

Now.. How did I come up with $400.00 a month? Well it was what I thought was about half of what I was spending. I guess I could have tried to lessen the amount too, but I'm taking baby steps. This is an experiment for me, we'll see how I do. I'm not sure if it will be feasible after the 10 weeks once the stockpile is down, it will help me to be creative and coupon clip too. But for now there is a goal in mind and I like a challenge.

Be Inspired to Challenge Yourself!

Grocery Budget and Menu Planning

This week I officially started my Menu Planning. I want to restrict myself on my grocery budget since, we spend way too much. I am scared to really know the dollar amount. In my budget I am allowing $100 a week for my family of five. My goal is to spend as little of that $100 a week as I can and whatever I don't spend on groceries I get to put that money into our vacation fund for December. We plan to go to Leavenworth, Washington for their Christmas Festival, German style.

Since I have been stocking up my pantry, my freezer and my stockpile in the garage, I probably will only need to purchase perishables like milk, eggs, fresh produce and some bread, etc. I have been canning, drying sliced fruits, and preparing quick fix freezer meals. It has been a lot of work in the kitchen and little sleep some nights but it sure will pay off this Winter. With the economy the way it has been heading I feel that this Winter and possibly Spring will be quite tight on the budget. I have been preparing for this for some time and hope that I have acquired enough of the necessities as we will need. I may sound like a squirrel stockpiling for Winter, but I would rather be prepared for any hurdle that may head our way.

I plan on getting back to homemade food from scratch and not store bought/commercially made if at all possible. I will start baking some of our bread, making my own pie crusts, pizza dough, granola bars etc.. I intend on being more frugal in other areas in our home and budget too. Menu planning will help keep me on track and help simplify my budget, meals and inspire me to think before I purchase.

I hope that you are inspired too, to think ahead for Winter and Spring and get your home, pantry and freezer stocked.

Refunds, Rebates and Hassles

Today I gathered up all of the items that have been needing to be returned to the stores that I purchased them at. I don't know why but I dislike having to stand in line and return items. I like the cash back, but not the hassle and time it takes. Remember I have to take my two little sweet cheeks in and out of their car seats each time, not to mention having to keep the two also preoccupied, happy and the occasional diaper change.

So after making my returns at Fred Meyers, Walmart, Bi-mart, and Fashion Bug I had about $96.00 in cash. That is always nice. Then my next stop was to Costco to redeem my 2% check back of annual purchases. That was $86.00 plus returned an item for $20.00 So I had a little over $200.00 in cash to spend.

So how should I spend it? Well I could have spent it on clothes or something for the house but no that wasn't needed. So I used the cash to help stock my pantry and freezer for the winter. I bought several big family size packages of meat at Costco and will divide them in separate freezer bags in the morning and a bought couple of cases of diapers for my sweet cheeks and they went in the garage on the shelves in my stockpile. At Walmart I picked up some sale items that would come handy later. I also stopped at a local farm in town and purchased two cases of fresh picked peaches and gravenstein apples, Yummo. They too will be heading to the freezer once they are prepared and sliced. Oh, I forgot to mention that I picked up a free pizza at Costco while I was there. I received the pizza coupon when I referred my Dad in June. Dinner was done, no cooking no mess to clean up, Yippee!

One of the hassles happened after making my Walmart returns and purchasing my groceries. As I was leaving I happened to notice that I was overcharged on a few items. Nine items actually. Stovetop Stuffing was .68 cents a box so I bought six boxes thinking ahead for Thanksgiving etc.. since my local store in town charges almost $3 a box. Well I was charged $1.68 a box. Then I bought three packages of OM natural turkey and ham at $2.50 each, but was charged $2.98 each. So I had to wait in line again at the customer service desk and get another refund of $7.44 I guess I'll have to watch my items being rang up better or at least make sure that I check my receipts closer. Not bad for a few hours of returns. I guess it was worth the hassle.