My Shopping List Can Beat Up Your Shopping List!

Over the last few years I've had the same request from friends and coworkers as soon as they hear my grocery shopping weekly budget is only $60.  They all want to see my reciepts.  Well, reciepts are one thing but I think the far more important piece of paper I can show you is the list I make. 

Big Daddy and I had an (almost) teenaged wedding, and after awhile the old folks did indeed wish us well.  Young as we were, we made a lot of mistakes.  The first was putting Palmolive in the dishwasher the very first night we moved into our first apartment after our honeyoon.  (Side note: bubbles and Little Mama do not mix well.  I have filled MANY rooms thanks to my habit of abusing Mr Bubble.)  That mistake was bad, but one of the most harmful to our newly-joined checking account was this item:

Now, the list items are CLEARLY all essentials, there's no problem there.  The real issue is the lack of forethought into the shopping venture.  This isn't even the shopping list of a woman with a meal plan, it certainly isn't the list of a woman with a shopping budget!

THIS is the list of a woman with a shopping budget!

Behold, my actual, honest-to-God shopping list for this very week.  Every single penny of my budget is accounted for.  Inlaid formulas calculate every item's tax, coupon savings, everything.  The budget is split into my 5 main food categories so that I am sure I am buying balanced.  As you can see, I will be getting approximately 32 pounds of produce, 6 pounds of meat, 4 gallons of milk, a pound of natural cheese, a dozen eggs, 2 loaves of bread, a pound of honey, a pound of butter, and 4 pounds of rice for just shy of $60.  That includes tax, and a whopping 5 coupons.  Not bad, eh?

Every single Wednesday when the loss leaders arrive in my mailbox I clear out the spreadsheet from last week, get out my lovely pink coupon folio and sit down at the kitchen table to plan my budget.  I go through and find all the items in every loss leader that is tasty-looking and under my budget limits ($2/pound for meats, $1/pound for produce, a minimum of 50% off any non-essential processed items, cheapest available for staples like milk, flour, honey, etc.) and load them into the spreadsheet.  Once they are in I am able to delete and add as needed, change quantities to take full advantage of sales, and add coupons in.  

A bonus to the spreadsheet is the ability to price-match in the stores  For example, if I go to Aldi first to picck up the milk advertised in the loss-leader and notice a non-advertised price on strawberries that beats the advertised Kroger price, I will buy those strawberries right there in the Aldi.  Often I have come home having spent less that I originally budgeted this way. 

I still use the old piece of paper on the fridge to list staples we are out of and a few special requests from Big Daddy, but they get transferred onto the spreadsheet come Wednesday. 

Is the spreadsheet more work than slapping a quickie list on a cutie-pie paper list?  Yes indeedy.  Will you ever leave the grocery store having gone over budget or without an essential? NO YOU WILL NOT!  This spreadsheet took some time to set up, but it has saved me SO much money and time!  Give it a try for a month and see if you ever go back!

Happy penny pinching!

This Must Be the Introduction to the Opposite Sketches!*

How many of you heard that story about the woman who planned her family's meals a year in advance as a way to take control of her family's finances?  Well, if you haven't, then here is the story.  Basically, this woman started planning every meal for every day of the year as a way to save money.  It's the old "make a shopping list based on what you will cook this week" theory, only on crack.  People assumed I loved this story.  It flooded my email inbox and my Facebook wall. 

Watch out now, cause Little Mama is about to BLOW YOUR MINDS!

Are you ready?

I NEVER, EVER PLAN ANY MEAL MORE THAN TWO DAYS AHEAD OF TIME, AND I NEVER, EVER SHOP BASED ON A MEAL PLAN. 

The exception of course is holiday meals, 'cause if I ever set a Thanksgiving table without turkey, stuffing, cranberry relish and fried apples, Big Daddy would consider it grounds for divorce.

Here's the thing, I tried that "shop to cook" theory years ago, but it simply is too constricting.  I like to cook on a whim, I want to open the pantry and be creative.  I want to be able to change plans when Big Daddy comes home late or that dead mouse the dog dragged in after lunch killed my appetite for meat.  I found that what looked good on paper on Sunday very, very often did not feel good on Thursday.  I felt like I was trapped.  I can't imagine that what looked good on paper in January will still feel great in sun-soaked July.

Far-planning meals deprives you the opportunity to try new dishes out, or new ingredients you find on a shelf at a rock-bottom price.  In order to stay frugal, you stick with the few ingredients you know will be cost-effective.  Basically, you are eating the same boring stuff all the time. 

The year-long meal plan lady said that she used to do a lot of compulsive shopping and wasting of food, and that they ate out a lot.  Certainly, making a meal plan is a good way to get some control, I'm just saying, it shouldn't end there.  Shopping to the meal-plan is a lot like hard-core dieting, for most people it works only until the novelty wears off, then you fall off he wagon.

So what do I do?  I shop to stock rather than shop to cook.  I buy balanced, a fifth of my budget in the dairy, a fifth on meats, a fifth on vegetables, a fifth on fruit, and a fifth on staples and convienience foods.  I buy what's in season, what I can get on deep sale using coupons and loss-leaders, and what is unexpectedly at a discount in the store.  I stock up on whatever is cheapest that week, and keep my mind open.  MOST IMPORTANTLY, I KEEP MY PANTRY, FRIDGE, AND FREEZER STOCKED AT ALL TIMES!  A couple of times a week I will poke around and see what's there, and I come up with meals.  It also ensures that I use up all the leftovers.  After all, the second rule fo tightwadery is

Thou Shalt Not Waste Anything, EVER!

After shopping to stock for awhile, you start realizing that you don't need meal plans, you have complete control of your kitchen and you already know what is in there!  You don't need a piece of paper to tell you what to cook, because you have enough practice cooking you can just go in there and whip something up.

This is not a new concept, it is what our foremothers did when they came across this country!  Trips to town for staples were few and far between, milk and eggs depended on who was having babies, and meat depended on what got shot on the way home.  You kept the larder and the pantry stocked because it was senseless not to (what if a blizzard hit?  Can't run out for that one can of cream of mushroom you forgot to pick up!) and you cooked what you had.  Creativity and practice saved the day adn fed our families. 

Reclaim your heritage!  Shop to Stock and throw away all the meal-plans!  You'll thank me, I promise!

Lord, I'm getting all worked up over here!  Time for a White Russian and a nap!

*you 80's babies know what I'm talking about, but for those poor souls unfamiliar with Moose, Alasdair and Alannis before she was ironic, check this out, ay?

Excuse Me, Your Kitchen Seems to be Hemorrhaging Money

Did you go grocery shopping last week? How much did you spend, $100, $150, maybe even more? How did you feel when you paid the clerk? Did you think the price was fair? Did you swipe that debit card and feel good about it? Or did your heart beat a little harder for a second? Were you surprised by the total on the little screen? Does thinking about that total spark a little fury in your heart? It should. Would you like to know how much I spend per week on groceries?

$60. For a family of 5. Really.

Let’s do some math. $60 a week / 7 days = $8.57 a day. You know those television shows and cookbooks that market $10 meals? They got NOTHING on me. Try $2.85 a meal average. You’re reading that right, folks.

Now are you feeling a little furious over your grocery bill?

Good.

You’re probably asking yourself, HOW?? HOW DOES SHE DO THAT?? It’s quite simple really, I work at it. For seven years I have cut back and made changes and tried new techniques until I found what worked for my family. It took me about five years to figure out what works, but it’s been working for two years now.

I live by simple guidelines, which have allowed me to slash our weekly grocery budget from $100 a week for 2 people to $60 a week for 5 people, and we actually eat healthier and tastier foods

 than we did when we were first married.

1. PICK A BUDGET. Either pick a percentage of your take-home pay or 90% of the amount you spent last week. Each week, drop the budget by 10% until you reach a point where you really feel you can’t go any lower. I go further and split my total budget into different categories, but that is fodder for another posting.

2. SHOP TO STOCK YOUR KITCHEN, NOT TO COOK SPECIFIC MEALS! Almost every budgeting book I have ever read has advised you to plan your meals, then purchase only what you need to make those meals. That is utter nonsense. If you do that, you will not be able to take full advantage of sales or clearance items, you will eating very monotonous meals, and you will not be eating in season food. Which brings me to the next tip

3. BUY LOSS LEADERS ONLY! Every week, the local grocery stores send out ads, called loss-leaders by those in the know. These are full of items, especially meats and produce, that are in-season (and therefore plentiful) which the grocery store is selling at a DEEP discount as an incentive to get you in then door and waste money on the rest of the store, which is either regular price or in some cases, marked up. Stocking up on loss-leaders ensures a constant supply of quality food at low prices.

4. SHOP BALANCED: In another posting, I will go over my very scientific shopping list, but it is important to know now that if you buy balanced, you will eat balanced. Split your total budget into 5 catagories, MEAT, FRUIT, VEGETABLES, DAIRY, and PROCESSED or HALLS (the food on the shelves in the center of the store). Spend an equal amount of money in each category and you will find yourself always able to make balanced meals.

5. LEARN TO COOK: This should go without saying, but if you can cook things from scratch, you can spend less on processed foods and more effectively shop your pantry. It isn’t hard. The internet and the library both have wonderful tutorials and recipes available 24 hours a day for free. Utilize them.

6. STOP WASTING FOOD! You’d be surprised to find how much food is getting wasted in your kitchen. We’ll go over that more in detail later but for now, just make sure to use your freezer and move those leftovers to the front of the fridge so they don’t get overlooked.

Give these tips a try on your next shopping trip, and watch your bill drop. It just takes practice!