Do you have a budget? Most of us do. They include items like car payments, mortgage, credit card bills, and most definitely groceries. But do you have a separate budget for groceries?
A what?
Most people do not think to actually make an itemized budget for their grocery shopping. However, it is not only a great financial tool, but it will also help you cut down on unhealthy foods, and will help you stick to your grocery lists!
A few days ago, my wife wrote up a budget on Google Docs. And I must say, I am quite impressed!
As you can see, she did a great job of categorizing items and applying a set amount, as well as laying out how often the items are purchased.
Such an easy task, yet such a huge helpful tool!
What's more, you need to be able to stick to your grocery list! Never, ever go to the store without a list. You are much more tempted to make impulse buys this way. Even with a list, impulse buys are still a hazard. Also, try not to go to the store hungry!
A great way to make your grocery list correspond with your budget is to write the amount you plan to spend on the particular item, next to that item. See below.
Doing this, we were actually able to get MORE groceries for LESS. We ended up saving $13 than what we usually spend on the month's first week of groceries.
Now that's what I call a good job budgeting and saving!
iPhone App: A great app for shopping, that I like to use, is called ShopShop. Super simple, and super FREE.
July 2nd, 2011 at 02:29 pm 1309616949
July 2nd, 2011 at 03:16 pm 1309619760
Last night, she grabbed some frozen sausage that we kept forgetting we had. It was actually a breakfast sausage, but it was great with what we had!
First of all, she usually has a tendency to make too much for just the two of ours, so we typically have leftovers. Problem is, we rarely eat those leftovers, or she forces herself to eat it for lunch and doesn't enjoy it. So, she instead used portions this time. 1 cup of pasta (1/2 cup ea.), half a jar of pasta sauce (1/4 ea.) and 1/4 of the dinner bread. We were satisfied, not over-stuffed, and it tasted delicious! She added the breakfast sausage in with the sauce, as well as onion, mushroom, spinach, and some seasonings.
She is great!
July 2nd, 2011 at 07:42 pm 1309635746
A friend of mine cooks sausage or hamburger and uses half in a meal and then freezes the rest so she can just add it to a sauce as needed.
I often have breakfast for dinner, so I don't go by labels as breakfast sausage per se. We've heard that called brinner (breakfast + dinner). I make quiche' often -- it's a reasonable meal and not a lot of it is leftover. With a salad and some toast, it is pretty filling, but not overwhelming.
It's wonderful your wife is such a great cook!
July 3rd, 2011 at 08:37 pm 1309725426