Dave and I have gotten pretty good at using a budget (this does
not mean we are perfect!). This definitely has not always been the case - before we got married neither of us did a good job of keeping track of our money. But while we were engaged we started to focus on keeping track of money in and money out, setting goals, etc.
By now budgeting isn't necessarily "new", but it's something we're always wanting to stay on top of, reevaluate, and look ahead at. In the past, we had more of a cushion that we could sit on if we went over each month. So while we set a "goal" for groceries, we often went over it and it didn't really matter, because the end month budget still worked. Typically the grocery budget is where we tended to overflow the most... I'm not sure what this says about us! We're good eaters?
With a house payment now instead of rent we have a whole new slew of costs - insurance, upkeep, furniture, utilities, etc., and we don't has as much room to go over. We set a goal for September:
spend $60 or less each week on groceries. Easy enough, maybe, but we looove produce and I love trying new meals. I also love grocery shopping and grabbing what sounds good, without thinking TOO much what the running total in my cart is.
But the past two weeks I've been grocery shopping with more purchase. I try to grocery shop with specific recipes and ingredients in mind, rather than recipe ideas.
I keep a mental tally in my head of what I'm spending. (This has probably been the biggest change - and the most helpful.) I've been shopping early Monday morning and I try to spend $50 or less, to allow $10 for random things I might need to pick up during the week - extra fruit, a missed ingredient, etc.
Last week's groceries came out at $52.19. This week's grocery trip came out at
$46.99. I already know I'll need to buy a few things later this week - ingredients for the s'mores pie and some fruit - but I have a cushion of
$17 to allow for that! For $46.99 we got:
- whole wheat flour
- animal crackers
- oatmeal
- 1 28oz. can diced toms
- 1 28oz. can tomato sauce
- 1 12oz. can tomato paste
- garlic salt
- vanilla extract
- 3lbs. yellow onions
- 1 green pepper
- 2 bags spinach
- 1 garlic bulb
- 2 zucchinis
- 3 tomatoes
- 3 bags of frozen corn
- 1 bag frozen spinach
- 2 pounds strawberries
- 1 bag of popcorn kernels
- 1 pound brown sugar
- 2 gallons apple juice
- 1 gallon milk
- 4 pounds bananas
Currently I grocery shop at Walmart. I don't love this. I go freakishly early (6 or 7am) in order to beat the crowd, which makes it more doable. I fight guilt at shopping there, knowing some of the controversial issues around Walmart for its environmental/social impact. But it's the cheapest and right now, it's where we go, for better or worse.
I go to Kroger for produce. After a string of bad experiences with Walmart produce (apples that had brown cores, peaches that were mealy) I switched to Kroger. I might get grapes or strawberries at Walmart, but for the most part I try to get my produce at Kroger, where it might cost a little more, but I'm getting better quality.
And for random things like quinoa, which Walmart doesn't have, I hit up either Kroger, the co-op, or a local bulk food market.
Do you follow a budget? What's the area that's hardest for you to stay "true" on?
And from a blog standpoint, is a post like this helpful? I don't mind posting our weekly buys for a little bit as we figure out our new budget if it's helpful to others out there!
