2nd Attempt

Ok, so busy weekend with it being Easter weekend.  I ended up working Thursday morning, then did my grocery shopping right after work.  Came home, had to put the groceries away then start cleaning in prep for the company we had coming over the next day.  By the time Saturday (yesterday) hit, I was beat from the past week and a half.

I'm still not meeting my goal, but trying to see where my costs are coming from that are taking me over.  This past week my grocery bill was $115.05 (including taxes).  Lower then the previous week, but still higher then my goal of $100.

With this week's trip, I ended up spending $7 on Easter treats for the kids, obviously not a normal expense, but wanted a little something for the kids to go searching for this morning.  And yes, I went the cheaper route and tried to buy things that literally cost about $1 each, so no bigger items.  I also had to pick up laundry detergent this past week.  Normally I can go a few months without needing to buy detergent since it can last a while, but what I had was getting lower anyways, and with the recent bout of stomach flu we just went through here, I ended up doing a LOT more laundry then I normally do.  Not fun!  Luckily though, the stuff I normally buy was on sale for about $10 so I did save a bit on that.

While I haven't really had the time, or energy, to really study my grocery bill to see where I can cut back more, I did start thinking about what could be causing some extra expense that most people normally wouldn't have.  I live out in the country, which means I'm not on city water or sewer system.  That's great in the sense that I don't worry about a water bill, but since we have well water, I have other things to worry about.  One of those things is, depending on what's going on in nature, my well water, and therefore drinking water, could end up contaminated with bacteria.  Since this house didn't have a UV light or a reverse osmosis system (systems that can help clean up the water to make it safe for drinking), when we moved in last year, we started buying large jugs of water to use as our drinking water.  We could install the systems, but unfortunately, they can be pricey up front and we didn't have that kind of money on hand to do.

This is obviously an expense not everyone has, and if we were fortunate enough to be on city water (or have the proper systems installed in this house), then I'd have a little more luck keeping in my budget.  As it is, I'll do my best to see what I can do to make this work, and try to keep you informed of how I'm doing.

Also, based on freezer levels, I may need to get my meat rations this upcoming week, though I may see if I can hold it off for one more week.

The First Attempt

I apologize for the delay in reporting how my first shopping trip went.  I actually got home from work last Wednesday evening to find out my daughter had come down with the stomach flu.  Since then I've been dealing with that particular joy as it hit first daughter, then son.

So, to catch up since I'm coming up on another shopping trip, I'll fill you in on what happened.

After finding out what I had on hand, my next step was to create a menu plan for the coming week. Since I was running a bit behind this past week, once the menu plan was done, I went through my shopping list and added whatever might be needed to create the meals.

With my shopping list on hand, I then went through store flyer's to start my price matching.  Now, normally I take my time going through the flyer's, but this past week, I was sleep deprived and out of time from having been taking care of daughter.  I did my best though, and I also went through the coupons I had on hand.  I sometimes search online for coupons as well, but again, on a time crunch this week.

Now, when I went grocery shopping, I will admit I broke my own rule and bought a "meat" item during this past trip.  Based on what I had in my freezers, I estimated I wouldn't need to buy any meats for at least 2 weeks, but this upcoming Friday is Good Friday and we normally eat fish on that day.  Since my kids prefer the breaded fish, and I noticed a store had one of the pre-breaded fish on sale for only $4, I decided to take advantage of that.

After all was said and done, I spent $118.99 after taxes, on last week's groceries.  Not what I wanted, but not a bad start, especially since I needed to buy diapers and 2 of the spice mixes I use in my regular cooking had run out and I had to stock up.  I'll also admit that I went outside my list and bought some items that I do normally buy, but weren't necessarily needed last week, because they were on sale.  I'm not one to turn down a sale.

I'm working on my menu plan tonight for the upcoming week, and I hope to price match and coupon search tomorrow.  I'll let you know how I did this week.

Step 1...

Ok, if you've read my last post, you know that I'm trying to cut my grocery bills down to $500 monthly, spending only $100 on groceries a week (not including meat), and once a month, spending $100 specifically on meat.

Since this takes a lot of planning to keep a grocery bill down, I had to start off by organizing and taking an inventory of my freezers (yes, I have 2).  So today, I started in the less full chest freezer and marked down everything I considered raw and everything that is ready to eat.  This is how I prefer to organize my freezers, but someone else might prefer another way.

Ready to eat was anything pre-made, frozen veggies, frozen fruits, breads and such and desserts.  Basically anything you really didn't have to do much to, to prepare. All my "ready to eat" stuff was put into my upright freezer.  And yes, the OCD part of me actually organized all the shelves into certain categories to try and help make things easier to find as well.  We'll see how long that lasts.  My raw foods were anything that takes a bit more work, or were just bigger items.  These were things like stocks for soups, raw, uncooked fish, meats that need seasonings (pork chops, chicken, roasts, ect), you get the idea.  All "raw" went into my chest freezer.

I listed pretty much everything that is in there on a piece of paper and will be transferring all of that info onto dry erase boards.  At this point, I am really grateful to my Realtor who has sent us handy dry erase boards with magnets on the back these past 2 years.  This way I can keep them on the freezers while marking off what I've taken out or added, as we go. 

Now that we have that taken care of, I know I'm ok for meats for a bit and will try to use up what I have before I buy any more. 

My next step is to pull out my Dollar Store dry erase board that I sectioned off for each day of the week and start menu planning based on what I currently have at home.  By the way, when I menu plan, I do tend to leave a day or two open for left-overs, so I really only have to plan for 5-6 days based on when my next expected shopping trip will be.

A New Challenge

Since my last two posts have been about me not posting too often, I'm hoping I can try to change that, and offer something a little more interesting.

Last night I posted on my Facebook wall to my friends that I was up late price matching and coupon searching in prep for my grocery trip today.  I mentioned that while there were other things I'd prefer to do, I had managed to keep my grocery bill below $200 for over a month now and I planned on keeping it that way.  Since it was late and I was already tired, I didn't realize how it came out sounding and a couple of my friends actually asked how I managed to feed a family of 4 on only $200 a month.  I wish, obviously I meant that my bill was less then $200 weekly, but their question got me thinking.  Is it possible to get it even lower?  How would I do that?  Do I accept this challenge I've now presented myself with? In the words of Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris on How I Met Your Mother), "Challenge accepted!".

But lets be realistic here, I've got a family of four, and things aren't exactly cheap.  $50 a week while trying to not only feed my family, plus make sure they are getting healthy meals, while still picking up the extra stuff (shampoo, diapers, soap, OTC meds, ect), is not something I think I'll be able to do, at least not right now.  But can I still cut my bill down even more while still keeping healthy meals on the table.  I think it's possible, but it'll mean a lot more planning.  Oy!

After thinking about it, I decided I need to separate my bill into 2 parts; meats, and everything else.  If you've seen the cost of meat, you know why I decided meat had to be separate.  Buying meat alone drives up my bill, and that includes any fish I purchase.  I don't think I'm going to include the cost of eggs as meat (though some may disagree), and you'll understand why in a moment.

So, here's my plan, once a month, I'll spend $100 on meat alone and stock my freezer, one of the reasons I'm not including eggs in with the meat.  I considered just buying meat as I go and trying to keep track of what is spent, but it's too easy for me to loose track or accidentally go over, so I figured a one-time bill is easier.  This also allows me to start meal planning far in advance based on what I have on hand.

Since we have to obviously have the other food groups in there (not to mention normal other expenses such as TP), to start off, I'm giving myself $100 a week to spend on the rest of my groceries.  I could try for lower, but, well, I'm nervous about even accomplishing this.  I will obviously need to be good and start menu planning again, but even $100 a week for a family of 4 seems a little intimidating.

If I do this I could be lowering my monthly grocery costs from approximately $800 a month, to $500!

I'm not sure if I can do this, I might fail horribly, but I do plan on trying.  I will admit something, I'm at a bit of an advantage here, I obviously have some things already frozen, and while my fridge doesn't have a freezer, I have a chest freezer hubby and I bought shortly after we were married, and during our last move, we inherited an upright freezer from the previous owners of our house.  Both of these will work to my advantage when it comes to space needed to freeze the meat, and also any meals I make and freeze to eat at a later date, like my yummy chicken pot pies!!! Also, for those who follow the show Extreme Couponing, I can't do that.  I live in Canada and our coupon laws are different, so while I do plan on continuing to use coupons to keep me in my limit, I'll be limited in what I can use.

Since I've already done my shopping for the week, I'll have to start my experiment next week.  Looks like I've got some planning to do!

Not gone

I know I've been MIA.  Aside from dealing with the never-ending sicknesses we've had since the beginning of December (oh the joys of daughter starting school), I also went back to work part-time.  Since that part-time work is also shift work, we've all been adjusting to the changes.