The purpose of beginning this blog was to show you ladies who may be interested how to effectively make a menu, shop from it, and save money! This truly works, if you can be vigilant about it. I started doing this when I first got married and have stuck to it ever since. When we moved to California it became especially important, as the cost of living here is so much greater than where we had come from. The economy hasn't helped either. Sticking to this routine has really helped.
My system is to make a menu for two weeks at a time. This works for me, having three small children I try to avoid the grocery store as much as possible. "Wow, you have your hands full" is getting more and more annoying. Doesn't it look like I know that? While sweat rolls down my brow, chocolate chip is smeared all over my jean, resembling something way more disgusting than chocolate chip cookie Noah is trying to climb out the cart, Nikolas keeps pulling the sale price stickers off all the shelves, and Genevieve is running wild down all the aisles. I think by now I have realized my hands are full. So I only grocery shop twice a month. Each pay day. Granted there are short runs in between, for milk or bread or other random items I run out of. Shopping twice a month saves money on it's own. When you are really keeping track of how much you are spending and sticking to a strict budget, shopping in one big clump is the way to go. Rather than going to the store every few days to get this or that. I have noticed that when I do this, I end up spending quite a bit more.
A quick word about grocery shopping and list making before I go onto the menu. Like I said, I am the least organized person in the world, but when it come to the grocery store, I am strategic. This comes from shopping with no-listers one too many times. There is nothing more annoying or boring than strolling through the grocery store aisles trying to figure out what to buy. I would much rather do my food shopping and stroll through aisles of beautiful shoes! So I draft a list off my menu add other staples necessary to the household, and then I make the final list. What another list? Yes, I get a little list crazy when it comes to grocery shopping, but I am telling you even this saves money! As I rewrite my list, dividing things into categories (i.e...produce, meats and cheeses, canned goods...) It gives me an idea of how much I am getting and it gives me a chance to omit things that don't seem necessary the second time around. I also organize my list according to my store. Which sections come first. So that when I go into the store, I can start at one end and finish at the other. This also enables my trip to be quick and efficient. And so that Matt only calls me once instead of four times telling me that the kids are destroying the house and that they must have rabies because their behavior doesn't normal.
Since going strictly cash on our household budget, i also add everything up as I go. I know, now you are thinking wow, this girl is seriously OCD. Woah, maybe I am when it come to my grocery thing. But then again having a little regiment in my crazy life maybe keeps me sane. It is the one thing that always stays the same. So yes, a little OCD is allowed I think. By adding things up as I go, I mean writing the price of each item on my neatly organized list, and then adding the categories as i go. This was an absolute necessity when i went for the first time with only a certain amount of cash. Having no way of paying anything extra than what I had. This is a really good way to keep your self from spending to much.
GO CASH!!! When Matt and I decided to make a strict budget, we sat down together and wrote down everything we spent money on. I nailed it down to a tee. I knew how much I traditionally spent at the grocery store, and then I made lists of other items I bought. Diapers, shampoo, laundry soap, all that. I was even able to figure about how much each thing cost. Shopping for these things so often will do that to you. After all the lists were made, and the amounts were decided for each group, we got envelopes and assigned them their categories. Add cash, and you have got the envelope system. Thank you Dave Ramsy. It only works, if you remove all other forms of money from your wallet. Credit cards, debit cards, check books. This way you don't have the temptation to spend more. Sometimes i go to the store and catch a really good sale and have money left over. I did budget myself for miscellaneous things. Like stopping for a drink at sonics, or getting lunch on the way home form the park.
