Changes…
August 9, 2009 by admin
Filed under Faith's Posts
Hubby and I have made some changes in our life. We are working on paying off our credit cards and we have a big motorhome trip planned for May 2010 that we also need to save quite a bit of money for. So one of the ways that I am helping to accomplish that goal is by not going out to eat as much, spending more time at home, and watching what we spend on groceries each week. I have started keeping track of my grocery expenses for the month of August, and I will compare that to the month of June (as we travelled most of July, so that wouldn’t be an accurate month to compare to).
One way that has really helped cut expenses is a website called thegrocerygame.com It’s awesome! You get to try it for free for 8 weeks… and then it’s only $10 every 8 weeks for membership after that. So far it has saved me hundreds of dollars already!
Week One: We ate at home 95% of the time… breakfast… lunch… and dinner. I spent $88.00 on groceries. Normally we would have spent that just on going out meals, let alone groceries. I count that as money well spent! And I still have quite a bit left in my freezer and pantry from this shopping trip to use for later!
Week Two: I spent $120 today (and saved $90). I was able to find some real bargains using the grocery game website shopping list. Some examples of great bargains: a bag of cat treats for 25 cents, a bag of cat food for $1.99, Pert Plus dandruff shampoo for $1.49, toothpaste FREE, flour tortillas FREE… See I told you it was an awesome sight!
For anyone that is interested, sorry to those who are bored by this particular blog entry LOL, I will let you know how I’m doing each week… and will give you a final figure at the end of August as to how much I spent and how much I saved! As you can tell I am really impressed with this site and can’t believe how much I’m saving! I’d recommend it to anyone…
I was shocked when I started writing down how much I spent on eating out and groceries! It really is an eye-opener! But it helps so much to know, no doubt about that!
The thing with coupons is people end up buying stuff they normally wouldn’t buy, so there’s no savings. I found that it’s actually cheaper to buy fresh greens than pre-packaged frozen or pre-cut bits. It takes a minute or two more to process them yourself, but it’s way cheaper.
I have heard some people have that problem with coupons, but I don’t. I only cut the ones I know I would use. Then I wait till there is a really good sale on those products, and then use the coupons to save even more. That is how I’m getting my toothpaste at 25 cents or even free! Wait till there is a $1.00 sale at Fry’s on toothpaste, use my $1.00 off coupon… FREE!
So I’m stocking up my pantry and bathroom with stuff I know I will use now or in the future and paying very little for it…
And yes I agree buying fresh veg/salad is so much cheaper than buying bagged… and it tends to go further…