I normally do my grocery shopping early in the morning on Saturdays. I peruse the sale flyer on Thursday when it comes out, match it up with what I need, make my list, and off I go.
This weekend was different. Why? I didn’t go grocery shopping. At all.
Well, I did go to the Farmer’s Market for some fresh fruit and veggies, but I opted to not hit up the grocery store. Why? Because I was already $10 over my grocery budget for the month. I can’t exactly say what put me over the limit, as there were no big splurges anywhere this month, but all those little bits and pieces add up.
That said, I’m not going to starve this week. I’ve got enough food in my house to cover me for the week with no problems. Sure, I’m going to run out of yogurt for my cereal and have to use soy milk or just make eggs instead. Not a big deal. I’ve got lots of frozen leftovers in the freezer that should be used up (I really need to learn to date things when I put them in the freezer so I know exactly when I cooked them – I know I made this stuff over the summer, but I don’t know when). I’ve got beans I can cook and pasta and some frozen chicken breasts.
I’m set.
And next weekend, I can start into the September grocery budget. I think I’m going to try to be a bit more careful this month, see if I can keep it under budget for once. Groceries are definitely my budget downfall, but since I’m aware of that, I should be able to fix the problem.
For ways to cut down on your food bill to avoid my mistakes check out these articles.
Analyzing My Spending – Food Costs
Easy Ways to Save on Groceries Without Coupons
Disappearing Grocery Budget
Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:
In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance. It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information. It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck. While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.
While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.
Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.
So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan. I needed to budget. I needed to know what I was spending my money on. I needed to prepare for the future.
I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way. I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.
I’ll bet you’ve gone over your budget just because everything has gone up so much in price. It’s amazing how much things have increased. I was looking at my budget this weekend trying to figure out where I can cut in other areas to allow for the increase in grocery costs. That’s great that you have enough in your cupboards this week to make it through with out having to go to the store. I love little victories like this! 🙂
Leanne, you’re right there. I’m amazed at how much prices have gone up. Even 25 cents here and there really starts to add up, which is frustrating. I’ve increased my grocery budget somewhat to deal with the increased prices, but I think I’m going to have to be even more careful with comparison shopping.
My daughter and I went to the neighborhood market today. She wanted me to make her mac and cheese to go with her tuna lunch for tomorrow. I reached down for the store brand mac and cheese and I noticed it went from .33 to .50. I looked at the Kr*ft and it was .48 instead of the .68 it normally is. I was amazed.
Do you index your budget to inflation? In my case, I don’t really have a set budget but I track my food expenses to make sure nothing dramatically gets out of line.
The prices of groceries are so expensive now. It’s frustrating to see so much money go to less and less.