Two Weeks of Shopping - Two Weeks Under Budget
The past two weeks, I’ve managed to come in significantly under budget on grocery shopping. Which is no big mystery - my parents visited for a week, so one of those two weeks, we ate dinner out a lot of the time courtesy of my parents. My parents like to treat us to dinners when they are here - we’ve tried to dissuade them but then they just get irritated so we’ve learned to defer. Not that I mind all that much. I was surprised that the second week came in under budget as well, for my parents had left and I was buying dinner food as well, but I think it is just a residual effect of less food being eaten from my pantry and fridge the week before. However, I have worked hard the past few weeks to make a specific and detailed list and stick to it completely, which has also helped. I have been looking through circulars, planning meals based on what’s available the cheapest, and also using a few coupons along the way.
My budget for each week is $80, which is my normal grocery budget of $85 minus $5 a week I subtracted when I bought several months of protein bars at a huge discount. I do buy protein bars when I have good coupons, but otherwise, those are absent from my grocery spending for another month or so. Two weeks ago, I spent $67.58, and last week I spent $59.35. I stuck to my list completely for both weeks, which helped keep my spending to a minimum. I now have about $130 left in my grocery budget for only one week left in July, so I am pretty hopeful that we will meet our grocery budget in July. Which is good, because June was kind of a disaster. :) Yay for grocery budget snowflakes!
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July 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
$130 should be something you can manage just fine.
Congrats on two weeks under budget and here’s to many more such successes!
July 24th, 2008 at 11:53 am
i don’t have a set grocery budget but i feel like i’ve spent a lot this week stocking up on sales. i’m hoping the next few weeks will be cheap cheap cheap.
and my relatives are the same way about treating us. we don’t see them often so now i just let go and let them buy. it does seem to make them happy!
July 24th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Now that the garden is in, my goal is to NOT go at all to the grocery store for a month. (No kids at home) This is for 3 reasons: 1 - Don’t spend the money. 2 - Eat the fresh produce and fruits while they are fresh from the garden. 3 - Use up the older meat in the freezer, so that there is room in the freezer for what I can’t eat fresh and doesn’t dry well.
So far I am 2 weeks into it, and doing well. I have enjoyed some rather odd combinations of dinners, according to what is ready to pick that evening in the garden - but it has all been enjoyable - and Fresh!