$4,000.00 Groceries

I am sitting in my kitchen making my grocery list for this week, and once again stressing over money. I am making a mental note to myself to get my grocery budget under control in the coming year. I am a control freak, so why not channel my natural abilities in a way that will benefit my family? I have searched the web for ideas on how to be a tightwad grocery shopper. As much as I would like to spend less then fifty dollars a week I don’t think it will fit my lifestyle. So I looked at my income and my expenses and came up with something that works for my life. Other people who are able to spend just pennies on a meal, have a resource I don’t have. Time. So I started looking at my life and decided to set some goals that work for me. It will be a work in progress. I need to strive hard to reach my goals and change them if I realize its not working. If they work, I need to set the bar higher.

My Goals:

1. Spend only $4,000.00 in 2008 for groceries.

This is going to be harder then it looks. This works out to $75.47 a week. To my dismay I realized that there are actually 53 weeks in 2008 with leap year. (At least for my budget). I get paid bi-weekly. Recently I mentioned to our financial secretary that there are 27 payrolls next year. Which means because I am a salaried employee, my annual salary will be divided into 27 paychecks instead of 26. So much for my raise. I grumbled a little, then realized there was no way to change this fact. I decided I was very thankful for the raise I received, and very blessed to have the job I have. “Deal with it” I told myself, and decided to take control and move forward.

2. Decide what my grocery budget will include. I feed four people out of my grocery budget. I pack lunches for my son and husband every day, and for myself two or three days a week. This includes breakfast for the three of us as well. My daughter is a college student who lives at home and attends the local university. She typically eats lunch on her own. Either at work (she works at a daycare), or she picks up something after school. Dinner seems to be my downfall. Our schedules vary greatly and there are only a couple days a week where we all eat dinner together. I am painfully aware that we eat out too often. My husband generally pays for these meals out, which is usually his choice. Sometimes, I treat. Sometimes, when the check comes he will hand it to me and say “Your turn”. I really can’t afford to pay for meals out. Especially not for the whole family. If its just Chip and I, I don’t mind so much. His expenses are generally fixed each month. I pay the bills that tend to vary and know I cannot continue to pay for frequent meals out. I will address this part of my budget in a later post. For now, I am going to look for ways to make easy attractive meals at home that fit our budget. Chip likes to eat our, but I am sure that he will appreciate the increase in cash in his checkbook as well.

I have decided that my grocery budget will include breakfast, lunch and as many dinners as possible. If Chip decides to eat out and is willing to pay the check, that’s fine, that’s his decision. I have decided however, that I will do everything I can to bring our food budget under control. This decision means I will have to stretch my grocery dollars further in order to include more meals. I also need to remember to include paper products, clothes detergent, dog food, and cleaning supplies. At this point I am not sure this will work. I may decide to adjust my food budget and work on setting up a household budget which would include these items.

3. Coupons Over my 21 plus years of marriage and running my own household I have found that the coupons in the Sunday paper seem to vanish a little more every year. As I teen I used to help my mom clip and save. My dad gave her a set amount of cash each week and whatever was left was hers. She was a pro at stretching her food bucks. Sure coupons are still there, but I find that I use them less and less. Maybe its because store brands have improved so much that I generally don’t buy name brand. I still check the flyers each week for items I will use. Some weeks I use them, some I don’t. Next year I will try a little harder. Yes my time is valuable, and I might only save a couple bucks. I just try to take a few minutes each Sunday to pull the coupons and clip any I think I might use. I have a small drawer where I keep my coupons, and before heading out to the store, I browse through them for any I might use. I find that many require you to buy more then one of each item. Sometimes I find that a bargain, but usually not. Cereal is a great example. Many times the store has boxes of certain brands on sale for $2.00 or less, but I have to buy two with the $1.00 coupon. I think that two boxes of cereal for $3.00 or less is a pretty good deal. This usually provides my husband with breakfast for about a week and a half. You can’t buy a value meal at a fast food restaurant for less the $3.00. Actually you can’t even buy a cup of coffee at some retailers for $3.00. Obviously I haven’t mastered “thrifty” grocery shopping. I do however think I am a bargain hunter. Over the coming year I will share my small victories and mistakes here. My biggest goal with coupons is to clip enough each month pay for the daily newspaper. My husband can’t seem to live without it. It costs about $16.00 a month. I can reach that goal.

The grocery store I shop at locally offers a loyalty card with great offers each week. I faithfully read the insert in my Monday paper each week. Frequently the sale items coincide with coupons I clip from the paper so I can compound my savings. Each store has a kiosk where I can swipe my card and a page of coupons are printed out. Usually the coupons are for items I buy on a regular basis. Many times they are for store brands I use. I usually save between $.50 and $2.00 each week with these. I shop at a locally owned grocery store chain owned by a Christian family in my city. I could probably shop at some of the larger chains and save money on more items. I have decided its important to me to support a local business. They return a large amount of their profits into the community. Some of their programs allow the customer to determine which charities receive their donations. I might have to work harder to reach my goals, but find that my values come first. I know myself. Somehow, I spend more money at the larger chains. Maybe its because there are so many “cheap” items. My grocery store offers lots of good bargains, and I plan around them. It adds variety to my menu and makes me feel good to support a company with these values.

4. Look for more resources

What are my resources? Well, I will have to think about this one. Coupons are certainly one. The bank my husband and I bank at is owned by the grocery store we shop at. I receive $10.00 coupons from the bank on a regular basis good for any purchase in their stores. This certainly helps my weekly budget. Sometimes I will use these coupons to have a really lean grocery bill. Other times I use them to stock up on extra meat or staples. It depends on what my pantry looks like. I usually try to compound the savings with extra coupons. My goal this year is to work harder to find new ways to save. This includes using coupons if they are for items I will buy anyway.

Look for free food. No, I am not encouraging dumpster diving. When I think about it I can stretch my food dollar by graciously taking leftovers when we eat at my parent’s house. My mom always cooks too much food, and they don’t want the extras. I have more mouths to feed and it may just go bad in their fridge before they can eat it all.

Do you have co-workers who always bring in extra veggies each summer because they had no idea that plant would produce a thousand cucumbers and just can’t look at another one? Take them! This is a healthy and free way to stretch your food dollar through the summer months. You can chop up green peppers and store them in the freezer for later. They are great in spaghetti or meatloaf. Learn how to pickle. Your friend will feel better because their veggies are not rotting in the garden.

Use the internet to search for new recipes. I love to watch the Food Channel for ideas. Sure some of the recipes are out of my league and the ingredients would blow my budget. I just look for ways to use cheaper items to make these great recipes. Their website has a really good search feature where you can find almost anything you want. I will be sure to post any great discoveries here. I do find, however, that there are plenty of very practical meal ideas as well. Just look for things that work for you and your life. That’s the goal.

5. Spend less then $4,000.00 in 2008.

As I am writing this I am mentally trying to figure out how in the world am I going to only spend $4,000.00 a year on groceries, I am thinking I really need to spend less. I figure that I have to start with a number that I can work with. I am hoping that the longer I work at this the better I will become at becoming the frugal grocery shopper I want to be. I guess I will learn over time whether I can do this or not. My hope is that it will spill over into other areas of my life and spending habits.

Another reason I want to spend less is to allow for special occasions. My family takes a beach vacation every August. This requires extra grocery shopping and shopping at stores I am not familiar with. I tend to spend more when I am not familiar with a store. Maybe its something about being on vacation that makes me be a little more compulsive about my purchases. Either way, if I can save a few dollars a week during the first seven months of the year, I can afford to spend an extra $25.00-$50.00 during my vacation on groceries. To take it a step further, I may even be able to pay for a meal or two out. We do have a few restaurants at the beach we visit each year. I want to be able to pay for one or two of those meals. Our vacation is something we are not willing to give up. If it requires a few sacrifices during the year, I am willing to work hard to meet this goal.

The holidays. Another time of year I like to have a few extra bucks is the holidays. I like to do some extra baking. I give some away as gifts. I like to buy a spiral ham to enjoy over the holidays. During October and November I try to buy a couple of ingredients each week so I don’t have to spend a large lump sum in December. This adds extra stress to an already stressful time.

Join me this year as I look for ways to meet these goals. I will be sure to share my victories as well as my failures. I am sure I will have weeks where I spend too much and have to find a way to get back on track. Hopefully this will not happen often!

Watch for my results in the new year.

Ronnie
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