Then two years ago I did a series on saving money on your grocery budget based on myself and other moms I met with at a preschool moms coffee at church. You can read them here.
http://gadman4.blogspot.com/2011/05/saving-money-on-your-grocery-budget.html
http://gadman4.blogspot.com/2011/05/making-most-of-your-grocery-budget-part.html
http://gadman4.blogspot.com/2011/06/saving-money-on-your-grocery-budget.html
But I have had to make a couple of major changes to the way I shop, mainly because I have boys. And the older they get, the more they eat. And I know it will only get worse. So you will notice in my first blog that I did most of my shopping once a month at Walmart. That has changed. I can't get most of my stuff once a month anymore because when the boys open the full pantry or fridge, the food is gone in three days, regardless of how much is in there. You buy it, they will eat it. So now I shop every other week or sometimes once a week. And for the past few months I have done most of my shopping at Randalls. Local people might tell you that its expensive there, but if you shop based on sales, its no too bad. So I check the Randalls' sales and make a list of things we need from that, then make my menu and rest of the list based off the menu. I really love when you spend $75, you get a $10 coupon to spend the next time, so when I go the next week just to get a few things, its almost free! The pluses to that is that its really quick because my list is much shorter since I shop more often. It doesn't take me as long to make my list since I'm not out of as much stuff. I am buying more of the things that are on sale. And my grocery budget is spread out over the month so I can have some left over at the end of the month. I have spent so much less the past few months. Of course, its hard to say how much of that is my new way of shopping and how much is me not cooking as much since baseball season and then summer entered the picture. That will be put to the test in a few weeks when football season starts and I cook almost every night.
The other major change I've made is not buying drinks. We haven't bought soft drinks since Christmas. J wanted to lose some weight at that point, and he would drink a 6 pack of Coke every day. And once I phased those out, I started buying less juice too, better for the kids. So now I just buy milk, lemonade packets, and water enhancing drops when they are on sale or I have a coupon. We are drinking a lot more water and saving a lot more money!
Summary of how to save money: menu, list and sales, and coupons if you have time. You can do it! Let me know if you have other ideas!
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