We made it!!
This challenge was so eye-opening, encouraging, challenging and down-right fun to do!! It really has made me look at food differently, our budget differently and myself differently. What a joy is was to start something and finish it with pretty darn good results!!
Our goal for the month was to shrink our usual $400/month grocery budget to just $100.
And I got OH. SO. CLOSE.
Here’s what it looked like:
Week 1: $29.05
Week 2: $39.94
Week 3: $21.84
Week 4: $32.17
Total: $123.00
$23 over—Boooooooo
But…..
As much as I DID NOT want to go look at that Clearance meat that was beckoning me, I gave in. That is what set me over the top. It was absolutely the deal of the century, though, so I really COULD NOT pass it up. You wanna know the deal??? You know you do! I got:
20 pounds of ground beef for: $6.45!!!
32 cents/pound!!
Yes, folks, you read that right—TWENTY!!! Now, I know you’re probably thinking, ahem, that does not equal the entire $23 you were over! True. So true. I also got sucked in to some amazing produce deals, as well, that I just couldn’t pass up either. ( I seem a theme, here!!)
But, take a look at this. This is my actual program that I use to track all of our finances. (It’s quite an amazing, handy tool—-www.quickenonline.intuit.com—-it’s totally free, totally easy to use, and totally awesome!! This page show my goals for the month that I set for myself: $100 for groceries and $100 for eating out. If you’ll notice, it shows I went $23 over on our grocery budget, but take a look at that Eating Out goal, we were $62 UNDER budget!! It just goes to show that MENU PLANNING really does make a difference all around!
All in all, the challenge was so great, and has made me really take a closer look at what we spend on groceries!! Goodbye $400/month, hello……a LOT less!!! 🙂
I can’t believe we’re already into February, but here we go!!!! It’s time for our Once-a-month-Freezer-Cooking-Day! I’ll have a post on that soon. But, for now, here’s our Menu Plan for the week:
Monday- Homemade BBQ Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes (freezer), Corn
Tuesday- Hamburger Patties (freezer), homemade Sweet Potato Fries, Smoothies
Wednesday- Spaghetti w/homemade Spaghetti Sauce, Green Salad, Cheesy Garlic Bread
Thursday- Shredded Pork Tostadas w/all the fixins
Friday- Homemade Pizza
Have a blessed week, everyone!!! And, stay tuned for my plan for our Once-a-month-Cooking Day!!
Adventures of an Island Mom 
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