*NOTE: This budget is for shopping/food/gas only, or expense that I can control fully. I’m not including fixed expenses (mortgage, utilities, medical bills) because they’re fixed and honestly pretty boring to talk about. My TOTAL spending is not reflected in this budget. “Food & Dining” = Eating Out + Groceries *
Blown Budgets:
1. Food & Dining (this category is eating out AND groceries together)
I only ate out $60 worth of food! I am in the red this month because of groceries. We barely ate out.
2. Groceries
OH my word I spent SO much money on groceries this month. After making green smoothies and regular fruit smoothies at least 5x a week the fresh produce and my surge of cooking at home has blown this budget out of proportion. I tried to stock up on meats and fish… I froze them… but now here I am at the end of the month with just two little pork chops & some ground pork left in the freezer. And I had bought TONS of ground meats and chicken thighs. ALL GONE NOW. We also did stock up on some pantry items, but still. Living with Justin means food disappears FAST! Wooh! I guess I should hit up Costco more often now but it scares me to buy too much food and waste it. Fruits disappear so fast because Justin and I are making smoothies constantly! I’m so surprised at how much we spent, but looking at the numbers, it’s all there and accounted for.
3. Gas & Fuel
4. Home Decor
- I splurged at an estate sale. I bought 2 bamboo chairs for the patio, a giant agave plant in a metal planter, moss balls originally from Pottery Barn I think (instagram here), some little hammered gold bowls for jewelry and whatnot, 2 glass lamps that were originally over $400 (instagram here), and some more plants. A home stager was going out of business thus the crazy finds (instagram here). - $145
- Target pillow on clearance – $8.13
Overall budget:
$-300
The Verdict?
Uhm… how can I spend less on groceries?! Haha.
Next months plans:
- Clean up, donate…. I was originally thinking of blog sale but I may just go the Crossroads route because its faster.
- I’m selling my snowboard for the same amount I bought it in 2009! $120! I hope it goes through… the deal should be done by next week. Yay!!! $120 to spend on groceries. LOL.
- The 7th will be our 2nd year anniversary. Time flies!
- Still have to organize our stuff since Justin has moved most of his things in. The garage is a mess!
♥ E&I
My husband and I had a Costco membership but we rarely took advantage of it because it’s just the two of us. But I recently got a small Danby freezer (I think it’s 1.5 or 1.8 cubic sq feet…about the size of a bar fridge) and it has been SUCH a moneysaver. It was under $200 but has allowed me to buy bulk pretty much everything. It’s been a big saver not only in terms of bulk discounts but time and gas costs. Other items I mainly buy at Walmart, taking full advantage of price matching competitor flyer sales. Other tips:
-Only buy what’s on sale!! This makes a HUGE difference.
-Buy frozen fruit and veggies at Costco esp when it’s off season and super expensive fresh
-Calculate unit costs…sometimes smaller packages are actually cheaper than bulk when on sale.
-Coupon and price match
-Cook cheaper meals…lots of books on this or simply replace one meal with a cheap pasta dish a week.
I’m in Canada and groceries AND gas is more expensive but we spend around $150-200/mth in groceries a month by doing the above.
Thank you for your input!
<3
I’ve found Reddit.com/r/Frugal to be helpful, though the people there can sometimes really go overboard.
Produce is always such a killer–but a day without fresh fruits or veggies isn’t something I’m willing to sacrifice, either. When I lived in the Bay Area, I found trying to go out to a farm stand was the best deal. Expensive produce is literally dirt cheap. For example, I often purchased avocados (where I live now averages $5 for 2) 10 for $1.50. I think this is a huge money saver.
Best of luck!
We almost always blow our grocery budget every month, and we don’t even eat out that often (a couple times a month). We are always looking at flyers and try to buy as much as we can when it’s on sale unless we really need it. Looking at flyers constantly you’ll eventually become familiar with what goes on sale often. I’m always wanting to try new recipes thanks to Pinterest, so this probably doesn’t help our budget either, but I’ve had good meals thanks to my food pinboard!
What do you use? I want to try this budget thing out.
Mint.com
Thank you