Comments on: My Mind is Made Up…My Grocery Bill is Going Down…

By: Tricia

Tricia — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:53:11 +0000

Thanks supermom_in_ny!

By: supermom_in_ny

supermom_in_ny — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 11:50:43 +0000

The forum is difficult to join. momys.com is a forum for large families. They are usually Christain and homeschoolers..but not always. I will try to copy and paste the entry. It is pretty long. If you join, just look in the frugal ideas topic.

I’ll get back to you…

By: Blogging Away Debt » Blog Archive » I Just Love the Limericks at the Festival of Frugality!

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:23:50 +0000

[...] “Tricia’s grocery bills are too high So she’s found some new tips she can try She lists some of the best And then links to the rest Giving many ideas to apply.” [...]

By: Tricia

Tricia — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 01:02:49 +0000

Stephanie – Unfortunately, I do not have an ALDI. I know of them from living in a city for a while and I shopped there often. In my neck of the woods, there isn’t much for great discount stores. Not even a Sam’s Club for bulk goods.

Supermom – Do you have a link to that woman’s post? I am trying to figure out what’s wrong with my comment box in IE. It works fine in other browsers and I am stumped.

Thanks to you both for stopping by!

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:52:58 +0000

My best grocery budget tip is ALDI. If you have one there use it. Make a menu and a list and stick to it! Another thing I do is to only buy meat on sale and then rarely use it as the main dish. I also try to sneak in a vegetarian meal here and there. Meat is expensive! I love the hillbilly house wife website. You can link it from my blog.

By: supermom_in_ny

supermom_in_ny — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 16:20:23 +0000

Whoa! I spend less and I have 7 kids. The trick is saving money on the meat, poultry and fish. If you can cut back on the expenses such as cookies, snacks and such..then you’re half way there. Trust me, when there isn’t much money to work with…one becomes very creative! There is a family of 13 kids and 2 adults that live on $400. in groceries a month. She posted the breakdown of their grocery budget on the forum. Let’s say it was very creative!

Good Luck!

PS: I couldn’t see the whole comment box, so I don;t know if I made any typing errors. Sorry…if I did!

By: Tricia

Tricia — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 21:52:28 +0000

Wow Maggie – I just checked out your site. You are going for double challenge and that’s great. Keep it up – you’re doing great!!

By: Maggie

Maggie — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:05:24 +0000

Well, I know as one half of a childless couple that my demographic is not the same as yours, but I’m doing a 12 week grocery budgeting experiment right now in my blog.

The goal is to do a full physique transformation (drop ~15 lbs and 8% body fat) for $40/week, including gym fees, equipment like shoes, required supplements/vitamins, and enough groceries to eat SIX healthy meals a day. I subtracted the cost of the non-food items and services at the start from my $480 grand total, and was left with just $21.29/week for groceries for myself.

So far I’ve been able to stay on track, though a huge bulk purchase of chicken breast and staples that last a few weeks/months in week 1 bumped my first bill up to $77. Weeks 2 and 3 have come in at around $15 and $9.

I fully expect to stay within my grocery budget of ~$250 for 12 weeks worth of food. And I bet that I eat a lot more than most women do during the course of a single day, too, LOL.

My usual monthly spending on groceries for myself and my boyfriend is $200-$240. He usually eats lunch on the road, so count about $140 for his lunches (paid for from his own account), but I prep and eat almost 100% of my meals from purchased groceries. My personal dining out budget is only $25/month, and I rarely use it. We tend to spend under $30/month on shared dining out meals.

If I could convince my boyfriend to pack his lunches, I am pretty sure I could cut that $140 he spends down to $70 or less.

I’m working on it.