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Newbie

March 12th, 2011 at 02:51 pm

This is my first attempt at blogging. I have kept journals in the past but that was way back in my college days. I am going to use this to try to keep myself accountable for trying to save money. We are currently a one income household, except for the DH's unemployment that should last hopefully through the end of the year. He saw the writing on the wall so we were prepared for loss of his job. He started school part time the last year of his job and now he is a full time student and should finish up next spring. The only debt we have is our mortgage and we have that at a payment that I can send extra each month. Our problem is mainly spending, well over spending at the grocery store. I just don't know why we can't get that one together. We have been living by a save, save, save mentality for a couple of years now and we have just over 60K in savings, CDs, and money markets but we just can't seem to get the grocery store down. We should be able to save money each month but that darn grocery bill just kills us. For the 2 of us we spend on average over $150 a week! That is combining the 2 differents stores (walmart & local grocery store) and all cleaning, toiletries, and food. I just think that could and should be lower! I also would like to set up an account that is just for property taxes and insurance for our cars and our home and vacation home rather than use money in savings. The money saved at the grocery store could pay for at least one of these. Even $25 a week would take care of our car insurance for the year! I have read for many years now different blogs and have seen that people have done great debt repayment and savings and I am hopeful that this will work for me too!

Posted in Budgeting, Debt, Food / Groceries, Personal Finance, Retirement, Saving Money, Shopping | 11 Comments »

11 Responses to “Newbie”

  1. momcents Says:
    March 12th, 2011 at 03:43 pm 1299944625
    1299944625


    Welcome, and you are totally right that the $125/week is high. I do that with a family of 7, a dog, a turtle, two fish, two birds. I don't shop at Aldi's. I do it primarily at Sam's Club ($85 a week) and then about another $25 per week at Jewel or Dominick's for staples and loss leader sale items. We eat out once a month using coupons at about $30 a visit. I buy the paper items at Target using coupons and doubling up with a $5 gift card on purchase.

    Good luck! I think you can easily trim that.

    I should add that I'm a SAHm and cook from scratch.

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    March 12th, 2011 at 03:54 pm 1299945272
    1299945272

    Welcome to SA!

  3. LuckyRobin Says:
    March 12th, 2011 at 04:31 pm 1299947492
    1299947492

    Welcome. Have you tried meal planning? That's been the biggest thing for me in getting our grocery bill back under control. Set up a week's worth of meals based around what you have in the freezer and cupboards and fill in with the extra ingredients from the store. Write down what you need on a list and stick to it. And only going to the store once a week or once every two weeks can help cut down how much you spend as well. The more often you go the more money you will spend.

  4. Ima saver Says:
    March 12th, 2011 at 05:06 pm 1299949619
    1299949619

    Welcome, glad you have joined us!

  5. Jane Says:
    March 12th, 2011 at 08:59 pm 1299963599
    1299963599

    Welcome! Sounds like you are off to a great start with the managable mortgage and savings! Have to echo LuckyRobin- I notice a big difference in my grocery bill when I plan meals before shopping, and I find myself wasting less food by forgetting it until it goes bad. Store brands and eating less meat has alse been a huge help. You can definitely do it!

  6. Jerry Says:
    March 12th, 2011 at 09:38 pm 1299965894
    1299965894

    Being able to save that amount and manage the insurance bill would be a great first step, and there are plenty of tips on these blogs that can help to lead you in that direction... good luck and welcome!
    Jerry

  7. whitestripe Says:
    March 13th, 2011 at 01:44 am 1299980689
    1299980689

    welcome to SA. We spend around that amount each week too, for me, DH and my 15yo sister who lives with us. i live in australia and we do not have coupons, cost of groceries is much higher here than in the US too. In saying that, good ways to cut costs I have found are: buying in bulk (as long as you don't buy too much and it expires before you use it), stocking up when items you use are on special, eating smaller portions, making double batches & freezing meals, cooking from scratch, buying some generic brands, buying produce that is in season & locally grown, reducing your consumptions of snack foods, junk foods, pre-made foods & sodas, and using natural cleaning supplies like vinegar, eucalyptus oil, bi carb etc. a lot of these will not only benefit your wallet, but also your health & the environment.

  8. mjrube94 Says:
    March 13th, 2011 at 03:33 am 1299987200
    1299987200

    Welcome! I'm sure you'll find lots of great advice here...

  9. crazyliblady Says:
    March 20th, 2011 at 10:39 pm 1300660792
    1300660792

    Welcome to SA. A grocery bill is not entirely your doing. Food costs have increased in the last year or so, however, there is a lot you can do to get the cost down. For example, don't buy a lot of prepared foods like canned soups, tv dinners, etc. Figure out what ingredients you need to duplicate that kind of meal. Search online or in cookbooks for recipes and make a lot of your food at home. Make up a week or two of meals for meals like lunch and supper and freeze them in containers. You will need to allow some time to thaw a meal. Then, toss it into a lunchbox to take to work or school or heat up for dinner. Having food already available to eat and just needs to heated will make it much less tempting or go out or get food delivered. It will save you literally thousands of dollars.

    $60K in savings is terrific. I have a lot trouble getting money into savings so it will stay there. How did you do it?

  10. crazyliblady Says:
    March 20th, 2011 at 10:43 pm 1300660989
    1300660989

    Another thing I would add is to make a shopping list up ahead of time. Include on it everything you will need to make your breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for the next week or 2 weeks. I make an inventory of all the food and household items I have in the house and estimate what I will need for the next two weeks based on our planned meals. I also include on my list notes about what I don't need so that I don't forget and buy more of the thing I don't need.

  11. jkay93 Says:
    March 23rd, 2011 at 10:46 am 1300877185
    1300877185

    @crazy I am a saver by nature but we just really buckled down and put every little bit of money that we could in savings. It has helped by depositing it in CDs where it is locked in and we know there are penalties if we take it out. We had prior warning of my husbands job situation and paid everything off (which was a vehicle loan and a home equity loan) and then once those were paid off we paid ourselves. We also paid ourselves what we used to spend in cigarettes....we quit smoking over 3 years ago....and boy does that add up! Over $3000 a year! Boy that was such a waste of money! I really love reading how people find ways to save money....but our next big goal is to pay off the mortgage which is around 108K but that will have to wait until DH is done with school and gets a job.

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