Tuesday, 30 October 2012
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How Do You Shop?
Since my husband has taken his new job, we've taken a serious pay cut. He did some summer work but the extra pay from that has stopped. So now I'm looking at ways to cut our spending budget.
On average, we spend between $450-500 on groceries, including home supplies like toilet paper and soap. That's for a family of four (and a cat) and shopping primarily at Walmart. We do have two local grocery stores, but prices are outrageous. We also have a dented can store that we check out about once a month or so. So basically we make two trips a month to Walmart, driving about an hour each way. I shop once a week locally for perishables like fresh produce and milk, unless it's Walmart week.I try to do the majority of our cooking from scratch. I make our own bread products and desserts. I don't buy convenience foods like prepackaged frozen meals or precut produce, no boxed meals or potatoes either. We don't buy junk food: no chips, sodas (pop)/flavored water, Little Debbie cakes, or anything from the candy aisle. We buy lean means (like chicken and turkey), chicken thighs and legs, and lean hamburger. No pork and beef (other than hamburger) only for special occasions. I don't buy canned foods very often, and occasionally canned soups like cream of chicken and mushroom but I foresee that coming to an end if I can learn to make my own. Our veggies are frozen but I'm hoping that next year I'll be able to have a garden to provide our own.
When it comes to household products, I don't buy commercial cleaners or laundry soap, except for dryer sheets. I buy multipurpose ingredients to make my own cleaners/laundry soap or make them from basic cooking items like vinegar and baking soda. We do buy disposable diapers, though. The only cloth diapers I have ever been able to find are the kind that you have to use pins for but I'm considering learning to make my own for the next baby. We also buy cat food/litter and fish food. And anything in bulk, if it's actually a better deal, is always good.So I'm curious, how do you shop? How often and where do you go? What do you buy, what do you spend, and what size is your family?
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About the Author
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- From: greene_lily@xanga
- About Me: I'm a stay-at-home mom of two small children, a cat named Only, and a score of fish. I'm happily married to my high school sweetheart, celebrating 10 years of friendship and love. We're expecting a baby girl in January 2013. I love to sing, dance, and learn about old-school home keeping methods. We're into homeschooling, homesteading, and learning about Messianic Judaism. I'm a little strange and enjoy a bit of weirdness every now and again. Hope we'll hit it off and find something in common!
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Comments (14)
Sounds to me like you're doing very well. Since I live in a farm situation I don't shop the way you do, but you seem to be doing very well.
Pretty good for a family of four. I know single people who spend $200 on food/groceries alone per month.
I've found that the grocery budget is the hardest to cut, because it's something you need (especially while pregnant!), and you can't control the prices. You sounds like you're doing great. We have a $300 a month budget for 2 of us, and that allows some wiggle room, and also for us to buy in bulk at Costco for certain items. I found that the most efficient way to cut grocery costs was to change our diet to less meat and less dairy. Those are two of the main budget busters, and you can eat healthier with less of either in your diet. I shoot for one vegetarian meal a week, and we don't drink milk (we switched to almond milk, which is cheaper than milk, bought in bulk from Costco) or eat cheese on a regular basis. Just those switches saved us a noticeable amount. We also only eat chicken, fish, and turkey. Beef is when we eat out or have people over.
I've found it way easier to cut costs in other areas, like bills! No cable tv, turn the water off while brushing teeth etc, only keep on lights in the room you're in, house is several degrees warmer/cooler at all times... Keeping those monthly costs down helps us the most.
Have you found a homemade version of soap for the dishwasher that works? We just tried one, and it didn't clean the dishes at all. We were really hoping for something less expensive than the gel we've been buying.
Not sure what diapers you've been looking at, as I've been researching them for awhile now and haven't come across any that need pins! Check out http://www.diaperswappers.com/
Sounds like you're doing well. Have you implemented Wal Mart's ad match policy? Although the other stores are outrageously priced, they do tend to have great sales on produce, meat and whatnot that we Wal Mart shoppers overlook. Just last week when we went to buy pumpkins, the cashier automatically ad matched for us. We got 4 small pumpkins originally selling for .75/lb for .10/lb, and ended up only paying $1.00 for them. Also, cutting back on other things can put more money in your pocket for groceries. Are they any bills you can reduce or eliminate? For example, we only have local channels on our tv, and although it sucks not having much to choose from as far as tv goes, it does save us a lot of money.
Hmm, it sounds like you are doing pretty well. I think part of it might just be the cost of living where you live because we do almost the exact same thing, but I am also able to buy extra to put back for our emergency food storage.
As for diapers, you may be able to buy one of each type (flat, prefold, hybrid, pocket, AIO) used to see what you like. Imagine prefolds from Nicki's diapers fastened with snappis and using Thirsties Duo diaper covers is a cheap set-up that cleans easily and is user friendly. I have found from making my own fitted diapers that even I use material from flannel sheet sets from Goodwill that I would have broken even just buying prefolds and covers. If you are expecting a baby soon, it is much easier to spend $20-$30 dollars a month on cloth diapers or just set that amount aside until you can buy a complete starting stash so you only have to pay shipping once.
Wow... I need to do what you guys are doing.
Cloth diapers were a real saver when I was young, back in the day. And I know it's not necessarily something you want to do, but shopping for clothing at second hand stores can be very inexpensive. My adult daughter shops several of them, and then comes home and swaps out sleeves, collars, etc., to make the outfit more hers. Don't know if you said it and I was too dull and missed it, but the kind of heat you use makes a huge difference. If you are able to cut back on that, put sweat suits on everyone, saving on utilities can make a real difference.
@PreMommy@xanga - No, I haven't found a dishwasher soap that worked well. Our local grocery has an off brand powder that works really well, better than the more expensive brands and it's really cheap too. Since we've moved to a new house out in the country, we've saved a TON on the water bill. We now have a gray water lagoon instead of the city processing the water. Even with a family of 4, washing laundry, and running the dish washer, our water bill only comes to $30/month. (we were paying about $100 living in town. woot!) We don't have cable but we do have Netflix at $8/month. I think right now it's mainly changing our life-style a bit and paying back student loans that is causing the penny pinching. I guess I was just feeling that $500/month for groceries was a lot.
@Pollypinks@xanga - I'm really missing the consignment shops from our old town. We don't have a single one in any of the surrounding towns here. Our old town had a great one that offered $2/bag sales every Wednesday for kid's clothing. We'd actually go on Tuesday and pay their prices, which were comparable to cheap yard sales, just because there was a larger selection in better condition than on sale day. The closest decent consignment shop is Goodwill, about an hour and a half away. I still don't really have to shop for clothing for us very often because I have a large family and we pass around the old clothing. My husband is at a loss there because no one else is the same size he is. (We're all slender framed and he's more football player shaped.) The heating system we have is brand new, in fact our landlord just installed it last month, we haven't even gotten an electric bill from it yet. It's a propane furnace, so that adds extra cost, but it's an extremely efficient one. So I'm hoping it'll be easier on the bills than the old one was.
Sounds like the new furnace is a win win situation! Hope you see the difference soon.
I wish I had the time to do all of that, nursing school is time consuming :(. My shopping is pretty simple. I've been a vegetarian for nearly a year and am now starting to make the transition into vegan so, lots of fresh fruits/veggies. Some snack foods. Pastas. Rice. Beans. Although I do buy vegan/vegetarian frozen foods to make for dinner sometimes. But, because I'm on a tight budget and only grocery shop MAYBE twice a month, I unfortunately have to buy a lot of canned food and such. =\ I'd also like to start a garden.
@PreMommy@xanga - <3 Mmm, almond milk!
@misslei11@xanga - My cousin is considering becoming vegan. Right now, she's not really eating dairy or eggs, as they upset her digestion. She's going to try to cut out the meat consumption completely. Do you have any suggestions to make the transition easier?
@greene_lily@xanga - Hmm well, when I went vegetarian I did it for health reasons so I just cut out the meat cold turkey (no pun intended >_>) but, if she's having an issue cutting it out I would say start with the red meat and pork, then go to the turkey, then the chicken, then the fish (if she eats it). As for cutting out dairy products, Almond Milk (Almond Breeze vanilla! sweetened!) is delicious and healthy. A lot of the margarine brands are vegan, I get the smart balance light with flaxseed oil (it says its vegan on the back). I haven't found any good fake cheeses yet so I haven't cut that out. I've heard Daiya cheese is amazing and I'm going to try to get some tonight. If she bakes a lot, you can used a mashed banana or applesauce to replace the eggs and I actually like the substitute better in baked goods, makes it moister.
Something I would suggest to her though is to take Slow Release Iron pills, because you can't really get your needed amount of iron just from plant materials, and it sucks when you get your period, you can become pretty anemic if you are bleeding heavy. (sorry if TMI). Also tell her to buy vitamin B12 as that is rarely found in plant matter, I think some seaweeds have it but, I'm not entirely sure.
Also let her know that the first week going meat free is going to suck, you will feel tired, and just unwell but, I think if she makes the transition slower it won't affect her as much. After the first week or two you'd be surprised at the amount of energy you suddenly have. Most grocery stores have some great meat alternatives, I buy the Morningstar brand foods and they are all awesome :)