In our family, we've opted not to budget strictly. We pay ourselves first (to retirement accounts), then try not to spend everything that's left, so that we can send some more to savings. But every couple of months I try to tally a few months of expenses in certain categories to make sure things aren't getting out of wack.
My grocery shopping and cooking habits changed a lot in September, so I just ran those numbers. Smugly, I was sure that my regular shopping trips to the bigger store with the better prices, and my lower consumption of meat, and cooking from more basic ingredients, would be good for the budget. Well, I was wrong. Groceries went up more than 20% compared to July and August.
I did stock up quite a lot during this shopping and cooking binge, and I think we're not going to need meat or dried pasta for a while! So hopefully October will be better because of that. But other than simply being more mindful about treat foods and too-frequent shopping trips, are there any other painless tips out there to reduce a grocery bill? I think I'm going to re-start my price book in order to keep better tabs on cost vs. value...I am pretty sure I even have a pay-for app for that, in fact.
My grocery shopping and cooking habits changed a lot in September, so I just ran those numbers. Smugly, I was sure that my regular shopping trips to the bigger store with the better prices, and my lower consumption of meat, and cooking from more basic ingredients, would be good for the budget. Well, I was wrong. Groceries went up more than 20% compared to July and August.
I did stock up quite a lot during this shopping and cooking binge, and I think we're not going to need meat or dried pasta for a while! So hopefully October will be better because of that. But other than simply being more mindful about treat foods and too-frequent shopping trips, are there any other painless tips out there to reduce a grocery bill? I think I'm going to re-start my price book in order to keep better tabs on cost vs. value...I am pretty sure I even have a pay-for app for that, in fact.
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