It is January which means, perhaps I ought to think of a new years goal or resolution. This year it's grocery shopping. I've decided to finally make some sort of budget. Which leads me to a few questions:
What is the average amount a family approximately my size spends?
Is couponing really worth it if you are trying to get a lot of fresh stuff?
What do YOU put in your cart?
Where do you shop mostly?
I'll go first.
I spend probably about a grand a month, including household items.
I don't coupon much, although every so often I try. It just seems like so much effort and maybe I am doing it wrong, because I don't see a big bottom line difference.
I buy a lot of fruits/ veggies fresh, fancy cheeses, meat, yogurt, organic milk, peanut butter, bread, lean cuisines for work, and diet coke. These are my staples. This is why I spend so much.
I shop everywhere; haggen, Safeway, QFC, Fred Meyer, Costco, and a local produce stand.
So, I'm going to try and come in around $500 per month. I'll adjust as necessary after I get a better feel for it. I tried to go online to get some coupons for some of my favorite fancy items I can't give up, like fage yogurt. Well there were no coupons so instead I entered a contest on their website for a trip to Greece and then got a fage craving and went and got a lot more.
My grocery bill might suffer, but I'll admit defeat on that one while soaking in the sun on Santorini.
So, what is in YOUR cart? Send me some pictures! I'll be taking some next time I go shopping.
1 comment:
Excellent plan you have here. So here's my thoughts on coupons. The people on those coupon shows spend approximately 30-40 hours a week (they are unemployed or stay at home moms, from what I've seen have very small children or older kids, not toddlers) on searching and researching for coupons / deals. It's a freaking full time job. So, what I do, is make sure I have a rewards card esp to QFC, because the more you shop there, they will send you coupons to get things for FREE! No joke. I do all my shopping there. Then just check out sunday news paper for coupons and the mailers that get sent out. Use those and work no harder than that to get coupons on good stuff. Plus, they don't send them out for fresh stuff, so you'll only save on toilet paper, soup and other items like that. And if you shop costco they have coupons as I hope you know. So yea, don't waste too much time is my thoughts. It's handy and nice but why give up time you don't have, and could be spending with your beautiful girls.
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