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Saturday, February 9, 2013

Budgeting 101 Series: Monthly Groceries & Household Items 300 Dollars


Want to Learn how to Spend Less Each Month?
Want some budgeting tips or ideas to save less and get better deals?
I always do and hopefully all the work I have done to get my budget down,
will help you in some way.

So through a series of posts I will walk you through our family budget and the little tips and tricks we use to save us money.

Introduction:
Monthly Groceries & Household Items $300 a month
This budget includes Food, Cleaning Supplies, Diapers & Wipes, Beauty Supplies, etc.

And let me begin by saying, we live a fulfilling and enjoyable life and we don’t go without much.
We are a family of 4. (One in diapers.)
We cook normal food, &  we do “spurge” in some areas : 
I only use butter, we like to use  fresh produce and Chia and Quinoa in my cooking. 

No, I'm not a fancy Couponer. 
I use some coupons (a few each shopping trip) but I am not a fancy couponer and 
I DO NOT base my monthly costs by them.

So How Do We Do This?
Here is a simple overview of what I do each month.  In the proceeding posts I will go into detail about each of these areas and how to make the most of your budget and ultimately your money.

1.     Routine and A Plan 
By planning my meals out, I know what to buy & how much, we don’t waste as much and we don’t
“convenience cook or shop”
I know my meals, so I know what to stock up on when it’s on sale.

2.     Shop twice a month
Less trips means less extra spending.  It’s surprising how the little extras add up. 
It also means you use up what you buy, less waste.

3.     I price match

4.     Where do I shop: 
       We shop at primarily at Walmart & Winco

5.     We buy store brand on most items.
(Yes, there are some things I only like name brand, but most options I find are almost as good.  
In fact I recently converted to Great Value Oreos…they are almost an exact match.  It’s worth a try!)

6.     Stick to the Shopping List
Shop quick and to your list, the longer you stroll the isles the more things you feel you “need.”

7.     We don’t eat expensive foods.
I don’t buy fancy cheese, or fancy organic meat.  
  (But I don’t  buy cheap cuts either)

8.     We cut back on junk food.
It adds up the cost fast and the calories. I wish I could say we don’t eat junk food, but we do.  
We just eat less.  I buy them on sale, many have coupons, and again using store brand. 
I don’t use them in lunches.  We use a few boxes of crackers and few bags of chips a month.  
My kids eat animal crackers, gold fish, and pretzels for extra

9.     Cosmetics and Beauty:
I buy drug store brand make up, hair products, etc.  Some are store brand.

10. Baby Products and Diapers: 
      I buy store brand,  unless there is a better sale, but usually the store brand still wins. 
       (Amazon can have some great diaper deasl)
Formula?  Well, I mainly nurse by babies,  (It saves TONS of money) but I use formula for a back 
up and some conveniences…I sign up for Enfamil, Similac, etc. samples and they also send lots of coupons. 
  I also buy store brand as well.  

Keep Checking back for the rest of the Budgeting 101 Series 
for more ideas and ways to save money!

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing this!

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  2. I am always looking for a way to save money at the grocery store, whether it is couponing, or just purchasing sale items. I just discovered a local grocery store with the best prices around, the only problem is that they do not provide bags to take your groceries out of the store in. After browsing online I found a folding shopping cart, which helps me a great deal in transporting the groceries from the store to my car. Has anyone else found a store like this?

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  3. Thanks for sharing! One of the things I have been trying to do, is to get some extra cash to pay some of my bills. One of the things my husband and I are trying to save money on is groceries, so this will help some. I also got some structured settlement loans, and I think that will help too. Thanks again!

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