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June 2012 Moms
hollyg1920
member
groceries-a vent
hollyg1920
member
Is anyone else trying to stick to a budget?
I swear when I made my budget a few months ago I thought $600 was an adequate amount for a grocery/household items budget but I dont think we have stayed within that budget even once.
Everything keeps going up in price....milk, juice, eggs, diapers etc. I swear in one week the price of capri sun went up 50 cents.
We don't even eat fancy....tacos, bazed ziti, chili dogs. For what I spend you would think we eat filet once a week....lol
However, I am excited that they are building an Aldi down the road from walmart...hopefully I can get staple items there and save a bit of money.
Is anyone else like WTF did I buy when they hear the total at the grocery check out?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: groceries-a vent
YES! I hate grocery shopping. I have to admit, I am not a big bargain shopper. If there is something on sale that I normally buy, bonus. But I don't drive all over the city to save five cents on a can of soup. So there were years where I couldn't even tell you what I paid for something, I just knew if there was a sale price under it when I bought it.
I've been trying to stick to a budget and I keep a running total in my head as I shop, but sometimes I think, "Seriously? For THIS?"
Nursed without dairy, egg, soy, peanut, treenut, fish, shellfish or beef for over a year.
Currently tandem nursing dairy, egg, and shellfish free.
DS born via emergency c/s after 20 hrs of labor. DD successful VBAC!
Learning Liam
Yes! I feel your pain completely!
We have a budget of $150 per week for just the two of us plus the two cats and the dog. We're fine on weeks when we're only buying food (we try to limit meat intake to 4 days a week to save money) but the moment we have to add in toilet paper and kleenex and pet food and litter and what not we're completely over budget. Sad thing is, we were originally doing it at $100 per week a year ago but decided to up it.
The extras like paper towels, toilet paper, pet food, etc get me every time. That's when I tell myself, "Well if I exclude those things, I was in budget..." as if I could somehow choose not to buy them.
DS - Born 6/17/12
DS#2 - Due 2/11/15
I'm a very good budgeter... Staying ON budget is a whole 'nother story!!
Just a couple of tips I have learned:
1. make sure you're budgeting enough money - it's all fine to say you can eat on $50/week, but if that's not realistic you will blow your budget every single time.
2. Decide whether eating out is "entertainment" money, or "food" money. If it's food money, make sure you're budgeting enough.
3. Either keep a running tally in your head, or take a calculator with you to the store. And always round up. So if something is 2.49, make it $3 in your head.
As long as I do the above (just recently had to up the budget and go back to tallying in my head) I stay on track okay. It's just being disciplined enough to do it all the time that's hard!
A gallon of milk at Costco is never over $3...I think right now its $2.50...
This is what I do whenever I can. I just clip coupons from the paper most of the time. Sometimes I print online coupons. It doesn't take long if you know where to look. I try and buy store brands and I never buy anything that's not on sale. I will wait until it does if I have to. (I have waited weeks!) If I see a really good sale I stock up. I think I have 4 months worth of pasta in my cabinet right now. We buy chicken in large quantities when it's on sale and freeze it in portion sized ziploc bags. I also buy stuff in bulk at BJ's, which accepts coupons. We live in NY where things are not cheap, but I try and shave off every penny I can! It's worth a little work.
I had actually the complete opposite happen to me. I went grocery shopping this past weekend and had my cart so unbelievably full I could barely push it let alone fit anything else in it and it was HALF my budget and I bought every item I had on my shopping list plus some extras.
I'm also a single mom though so it's just me and my son eating so we only grocery shop once every two months except for the basics and the fresh fruit/veggies each weekend.
I shop Target groceries (better quality and same price if not cheaper than Aldi) and I'm astonished and how many good deals they have when you keep your eyes open. Most of their name brand stuff is actually cheaper than their generic store brand.
Any way you can cut out some of the "extras"? Not TP or pet food, but things like paper towels or paper plates? We use paper towels once in a great while, but in general, we stick to cloth napkins, using a dishcloth or dishtowels to wipe stuff up, and we have a rag basket as well, if needed to clean up messes that might stain our cloth napkins or towels. So we rarely buy paper towels and napkins. And similarly, we 99% of the time use real plates and flatware, and just put it in the dishwasher - again, we rarely buy paper plates, cups, etc., which helps cut down on costs.
Love ALDI! The key is to not only make a list and stick to it, but also meal plan. List out what's needed for each recipe and the amount, and then figure out how much you will need to buy. That way you only buy as much as you'll use. This does take some practice as it really depends on your personal usage (I like a lot of shredded cheese on things like tacos, DH likes a little less.) The larger size of an item (like sour cream) may be cheaper per ounce, but if you only wind up using 8 oz of a 16 oz container, that's wasted money.
Super OCD people could also make a spreadsheet in Excel and then sort by quantity to make sure your amounts add up