Hi friends! Long time no talk!
It’s time for a little chat because you know how I like to share random things I struggle with, especially if I figured out a solution! Here it goes…
Month after month I would tell myself,
okay this is the week I will stick to my grocery budget! This is the week where I will stay disciplined and not buy random items that my family doesn’t neccesarily need.
Month after month, I would blow it. Every household is different but in mine, I do all the grocery shopping. It’s how we (Matthew and I) prefer it to be but it does take discipline, planning, and organization.
As a couple, we budget every month and like to know where exactly every dollar goes. Every dollar has it’s purpose in our eyes. Some would call us too strict or say that we need to have more fun. The way we see it is we are smart now so down the road we can fulfill some of those wants we have. We are not exactly advocates for debt and believe in saving and saving and saving. Call us old school or crazy but honestly, we are happy with budgeting and staying diligent with it as of now! Any Dave Ramsey fans out there? Gosh, we love that man!
Anyways, back to groceries! I felt like I was failing in my part of budgeting better and sticking to it. I kept telling myself this is a need, not a want, when it came to a food or cleaning item. But it wasn’t because time and time again some of our food would go to waste or that cleaning item would sit in the same place for a month never used.
This month, I got fed up! Enough was enough. So I made rules and a plan.
Grocery rules:
1.) My grocery goal is $150 per week at the most.
$150 is my budget per week including drinks and a meals for Matthew, Myself, Oliver and Olivia. I understand everyone’s budget goal will be different, thats perfectly okay! Work it out for what is best for you and your family.
2.) Kroger Pick-up Online.
I favor and primarily shop at Kroger although I do make the occasional trip to Aldi. I started to use Kroger Pickup. It’s phenomenal because you can go online, add groceries to your cart and pick what day and time you want to pick them up! However, what is even more amazing is that you know EXACTLY how much you are spending, down to the last penny. There is no guessing or awkward putting items pack in the store because you are worried you went over your budget. Now in the beginning, I struggled utilizing Kroger pickup online because I use to view it as being lazy (eeeek!) but it’s not because I do not want to drive to the store and do it myself. Thats not the reason. It genuinely organizes me so I am picking only items we need for that week. Want to know something crazy? It has already cut our grocery expenses in HALF. I mean what would you do with a couple extra hundred dollars a month? There are so many options! You could put it towards savings, debt, car expenses, your childs college fund, to give to someone who needs it more than you…I mean the list could go on and on.
Also, I would just like to say for those of you who do like to go to the grocery store and pick out your own stuff, I get it because I am the same way. Another option is to go onto Kroger Pickup online, select everything you need for the week, get the exact cost, print off your grocery list and bring it with you to the store. That way you know exactly what you need, how much you will spend, and it will be less likely you throw other random items in your cart. Why? Because it’s not on the list!
3.) Saturday night I plan, Sunday I shop….or simply pick it up!
Saturday, I plan out our meals for Monday through Friday and add all the items I need to my Kroger pick-up list online. I also add in any breakfast items, snacks, baby food we may need and of course milk. I do not look past that week at what we might “potentially” need. I strictly focus on the week ahead and that has helped me so much from overstocking up on items therefore overspending.
4.) I try to only spend $130 intitially on my big grocery haul because I find that there are always one to two items I forget and will purchase later in the week. For example this week on Sunday I spent $132.00. Monday I realized we are almost out of bread! No problem, I will quick run to the store later to get that one item while still staying within the budget!
5.) Organization.
I write down my families weekly meal plan before I even go onto Kroger Pickup. I stay organized!
A fun outline I found on Pinterest gave me ideas on dinners for the following week and this was how it was laid out.
How to not get stuck in a dinner rut!
Dinner Theme Ideas:
Monday: Meatless Monday
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday
Wednesday: Asian
Thursday: Sheet Pan Dinner
Friday: Homemade Soup
Saturday: Italian Night
Sunday: Slow Cooker
My dinner plan for this week:
Monday:
Turkey Burgers and brussels sprouts as the side
Tuesday:
Taco salad topped with ground turkey
Wednesday:
Pasta night. I got some wheat pasta, marinara, and shredded cheese. So simple.
Thursday:
Grilled cheese (using wheat bread) and tomato soup. Asparagus as a side because I just want to get some vegetables in for the day!
Friday:
Sheet pan dinner. I decided to try out this new recipe I found called, Sheet pan Teriyaki Salmon & Veggies. I’m so excited for this one!
Saturday and Sunday we have a rehearsal dinner and wedding so no cooking for me this weekend, wahoo!
*I’ll update this post with all the recipes I used after we complete this week. That way I have photos to attach to everything!*
What I planned for this week is not some intricate dinner plan. It took me ten minutes to decide what to make for each day and every recipe is simple. I’m making something that the food prep will fit into my babies naptime or I barely need to prep at all! It takes a little longer to go online and select each item but it’s worth it. Taking an hour total to sit down and plan out my week meal wise has been so beneficial to our family budget and our bellies are pretty happy too (:
Is there anything you do within your family to cut cost on groceries?! I would love to hear your tips & tricks! I am a total budget nerd, shareeeee with me!
Love love love! My accountant brain loves budgeting, but I definitely do the same thing at the grocery. I never thought of doing it online to keep me in check. Thanks Rachel! Budget on!
Yessss! It has helped my so much! I felt like in all the other categoriesof budgeting I was doing well but just kept blowing it on groceries!
My husband and I started following Dave Ramsey about two years ago and it has helped us tremendously now that we are married! We use this app called Every Dollar and that has also been helpful! We want to start a family soon, but are concerned about how we can still save/pay off student loans and manage having kids. What did you do to prepare for kids financially?
Hey Emily! So we started Financial Peace and then got pregnant like three weeks into the class! At the time we were still paying off student loans, we were also pretty nervous about the same stuff you guys are! We just started saving saving saving. Look into the Dave Ramsey baby steps they are super helpful (:. I would alos recomend taking the actual financial peace course because it keeps your motivated! Plus, you meet other people going throuhg the same transition with budgeting and saving. However, I will say that when we found out I was pregnant we became… Read more »
I definitely love to stick to a budget! Makes you feel so accomplished!! It’s the meal planning that’s hard! 😂 I feel like it takes a couple weeks to get a flow going. Totally worth it!!
Yes! The meal planning has been by far the hardest part for me! But man it feels good saving and not spending an arm and a leg on groceries!
I’m absolutely obsessed with budgeting & everything Dave Ramsey!! We buy a lot of our things from Costco that we know we’re going to use like frozen stir fry veggies + fruit, eggs, Dave’s killer bread, oats, Almond butter, & protein powder for example! It’s a little more expensive initially, but long term it saves us so much money!
Yes! We love Costco! We get all our diapers from there (:
So you’re going to laugh but I’m really great at budgeting with EVERYTHING but at the grocery store. I’m a really picky eater and I eat all of my meals at home. So I struggle to restrict myself to a set budget when it comes to the grocery bills because the last thing I need is to cut food from my meal plan when I really need more food, if that makes sense?!? So I went to the Kroger website today to see if it would help me in the long run and honestly I don’t think it will because… Read more »
Lindsay! hahaha oh man! So first off props to you for being DEBT FREE! YOU ARE A ROCKSTAR!! As far as budgeting on groceries go, I think it’s okay to splurge in one area and it sounds like you are careful in every other aspect…and I mean you can’t not eat! The only other thing I would look into is maybe buying some of your groceries at Aldi? I went there today to get my eggs, milk, cheese other necessites instead of Kroger and I saved just because Aldi is cheaper in general. I go in between Kroger and Aldi.… Read more »
Thanks so much for sharing! As a new mom as well, I have found things add up so quickly and if I don’t have a plan I end up emotional grocery shopping and getting too many things we don’t need— haha! Love your tips and “theme” nights! We are huge Dave fans and am happy being “weird” and sticking to a budget!
BEING WEIRD IS COOOOL! hahaha (:
Omg I am the queen of emotional shopping. That’s what I did practically this whole year. Not to mention I just kept using the excuse that I was too tired or didn’t have the time to plan and budget. I totally get it. Budgeting is hard but we got this momma!
I’m a budget nerd also!! I love it!
Girl YAAAAS. I get like a budget high when I make it through the month behaving and not overspending!
I don’t plan meals until I see the grocery store ads. Soneyibes you get fantastic deals at Aldi – reduces items near use by date – might cause a meal change. But, I’m old & have lots of time – I’ve done this when my kids were at hone too
I went to Aldi today and got some items and it was so much cheaper than Kroger! I prefer getting my meat from Kroger though I do not know why I’ve had bad experiences getting it from Aldi ):
Thank you for your helpful tips! I am going to try it!