3rd and 4th trip to the grocery in January...

Posted on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 10:45

It is time for me to record another weeks worth of groceries....we had a middle of the week trip because we have a friend thats mom is dying we had to bring her lunch and dinner last week..which was extra money and groceries...we did buy somethings for us to...grande total for the middle of the week trip was $82.00

Okay..now to this weeks groceries...I decided to buy in bulk for many things such as toothpaste, toilet paper, soap, laundry detergent, and fabric softener...we bought these things at Walmart we also bought cat food, guinea pig food, viatimins, and a few female items the total at Walmart came to $116.71  we should not have to buy many of these items again until next month.

Now groceries we went to Kroger bought 75 items the most expensive was $39.00 blood pressure cuff. I know that sounds like a lot but we checked at our local drug store and the cheapest there was $54.00 we felt like got a deal for $39.00.  Grande total for this trip was $226.31. My husband gets paid twice a month..the way our bills are we have one check that we get to keep most of the money and that was this check...we should n't have to get much at the store this coming week.

I bought an extra bag of chicken and I really could have used a few packets of porkchops but we could get by with what we have now:) So the Grande total for all three trips this week  $82.00 + 116.71 + 226.31= $425.02 Yikes!

That should be enough for a month? We spent 1/5/10 $156.02 , 1/10/10 $113.63 and now 1/16/10  $226.31 plus our extra trip $82.00 = Grande total for groceries only.......$577.96  now add our Walmart trip  of $116.71........Total for the Month:  $694.67 That is alot of money for just food and household items. I am going to have to find ways to cut this in atleast half?  I am going to go through my cabinets and freezers to see what I already have and ....try not go go this week well maybe bread and milk?

Many Blessings,

Renee

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Posted by jrejhkids on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 11:31 - Link

I know it is hard to cut the cost of grocery and household spending. I think the things that help us is that we raise our own meat, veggies, and fruit.

Have a great day with your family.

~Cheryl

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Posted by Laura on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 01:02 - Link

David just raised our budget to $900/month, that's for car fuel, food and household goods. It's an increase of $200/month... But I realized that the foods we eat don't have coupons available most of the time, same with our household items. On the things that don't matter (dish soap, cleaners, pasta, eggs, etc.) I buy whatever is cheapest to compromise on the more expensive things (burt's bees haircare, clear care contact lens solution, angel soft tp, etc.).

We eat well, my pantry is full so if I had to miss a week of shopping I could. We tried cutting the budget but hubby complained because his favorite snacks and meals were gone, so he decided he'd rather spend more to eat what he wants since we don't have frivolous habits we spend money on. It will just take us longer to reach our savings goal, but with me working now it won't be much more time.

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Posted by gabbie427 on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 02:20 - Link

It takes time, planning, sale shopping, etc. but I know you can do it. I was like you at one time, and we spent WAY to much in my opinion on food and household supplies. We spent over $400 about every month!

Now we spend $200 most months and some months if the freezer is fully stocked, I can get away with $150. We started stocking up on items we know we are going to always need, like toliet paper, batteries, and light bulbs. Then we stocked up on food items that we use the most, buying items on sale when we could, using coupons here and there, but mostly buying from stores that have cheaper prices, and buying mostly generic.

We stopped buying paper towels and I made cloth napkins. We stopped buying disposable plates, cups, etc. and started using real plates and washed them. LOL And we make out a menu for the month and buy what we need and don't keep going back to the store.

We found that shopping every 2-3weeks works better for us, but I have shopped for the entire month before and it was so nice not to have to make trips to the store as often.

Our pantry and freezer were nicely stocked recently that we did almost no shopping for the month of January!! And this month, we are using up our pantry items and just filling in where we need to.

Good luck on getting your grocery budget down. My best advice it try try try and try again. You will get the hang of it. The best thing I ever did was set a specifif budget and used only cash when I went to the store. I didn't even bring the checkbook or debit card!

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo