Groceries. Our budget was way out of whack for April. Much of the month was spent piece mealing (no pun intended!) our food supply. We spent almost 30% more on food this month due to poor planning. I have no real excuse other than shame on me. G-man splurged on dinner the other night which didn't help the situation...but seriously, it was already blown before that.
With this said....the cupboards were bare. Bare is actually being generous.....my poor kids would open the fridge and ask where the food was. When your daughter asks if a jar of marrachio cherries is a snack because it is the closest you have to fruit....that is a sad state of affairs.
So...we went to Sam's Club today. We have decided not to renew our membership (which expires in about a month) because we infrequently go there. It is kind of out of the way, and we only go when a serious restocking trip is in order. You all ready for this....
Household products: $23.64
Personal care: $57.88
Meat: $91.24
Fruit/Produce: $7.34
Other groceries: $229.53
Total before tax: $409.63
Yeah, I know that is ALOT to spend in one shot. But this will probably last us at least 2 months (minus perishables that get restocked weekly...aka, milk, bread, etc). I keep trying my hand at couponing, and while I save some, it isn't alot. Maybe 10-15%. Sam's doesn't take coupons, so all of this is the retail price of the items. But, I did pay for this in cash (well....debit card to our checking acct....). No credit cards!
I am realizing that 1) my children are starting to eat more, 2) doing Weight Watchers ends up costing more than just the monthly fee....the food can be more expensive when you are buying those speciality things, 3) Poor planning really does wreck the bottom line.
Well, at least that is out of the way. The meat was all large bulk packages that took me 45 minutes to break up into smaller portions. I still have some to put away....but I am wiped out!
Planning for grocery shopping is KEY. But it is so worth it.
ReplyDeleteI dumped Costco years ago once I started combining coupons with grocery sales. When you do that, Costco/Sams is no deal.
The secret is, stockpile when things are on sale. If salsa is buy one/get one free, buy as much as you will use until the next sale. (This takes some time to figure out.) Never pay more than 50 cents for a double roll of toilet paper (and you can do much better than that). Get to know your prices and your stores. If the newspaper that week has a ton of great coupons, buy multiple papers that week. I could go on and on.
I always save at least 35-40 percent each week, and I buy a lot of fresh fruit.
It takes a little time, but as you get better at it, it doesn't take as long. Plus, when you plan ahead, you usually end up eating healthier too!