Guest Post by Kathy from The $30 Weekly Grocery Challenge
How did my $30 budget start?
My husband and I knew early on that when our little girl was born, I would stay home with her. But we also knew that by doing so we would have to greatly modify our budget for 1 income. It then became a challenge. What all could I get for $30? Oddly, it actually became fun to see what I could get each week with $30. Although it is no longer a necessity to have such a strict budget, I am so accustomed to only spending that amount and utilizing coupons that I continue to do so.
The very first step is to determine what your budget will be and what it includes.
While my budget is $30 a week, this will not work for everyone. You need to determine what works for your family while keeping in mind any special needs that your family may have. My $30 budget includes: groceries, cleaning items and personal items. It does NOT include: diapers or eating out. They have a separate category in our budget.
How am I able to stick to my $30 budget and do I ever go over?
I stick to our budget by utilizing coupons and combining them with sales. By doing this, I can often get items very cheap or free. This allows me to spend more of my $30 budget on meat and other perishables such as fresh fruit and vegetables. Do I go over budget sometimes? yep! There have been weeks where I have been out of town, been sick or had an otherwise hectic week and was not able to plan appropriately and went over budget. But as a general rule, I stick to my $30 budget.
Can someone just starting out only spend $30 a week?
Again, let me say that $30 a week works for our family and may not work for yours. It should not be your standard as you need to find what works for you. We are able to spend $30 a week and have more than plenty but your needs may be different. When starting out, I would not automatically try to drop your budget drastically if you don’t have to. I would set small goals such as cutting your grocery bill by $10 or $15 and decrease it a little more each week.
What steps do I need to take to reduce my grocery bill?
1) Use coupons
2) Combine coupons with a sale to maximize savings
3) Go grocery shopping with a plan. Have your list ready so that you know exactly what you need
4) Menu plan-make a list of what you will be eating for that week
What is stockpiling?
Stockpiling is when you buy more than 1 item because you are getting it at rock bottom prices. By combining sales with coupons, you can often get cheap or free items. When this occurs, buy several. And several is defined as what meets the needs of your family. The larger the family, the larger number you will want to stockpile. By doing so and creating a stockpile, you will never have to pay full price or even just a sale price for an item. This has been a very helpful tactic in reducing my grocery bill. Over time, you will have created such a good stockpile, that you will not have to purchase these items as you need them but can just pull from your stockpile. If you are getting things like toothpaste, shampoo or spaghetti sauce for pennies, think of the budget you will have remaining for items that are more difficult to get for cheap or free. You will have that money you would have otherwise been spending on those items remaining for fresh produce, perishables or meat. While the idea at first may seem odd to buy 4 tubes of toothpaste when you only need 1, it will make more sense when you need that item and do not have to go out to buy it and pay full price. You can merely “shop” from your stockpile that you got for pennies on the dollar!
Kathy blogs at The $30 Weekly Grocery Challenge where she highlights all the best deals and helps readers get the most for their dollar! She and her husband reside in southern Virginia with their 1 year old daughter and love to travel.
