Personal Grocery Challenge

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July Grocery Budget Challenge!!

Here we go again! New month = starting over in the budget! I love it when the month starts over because you get a chance to wipe the slate clean and start all over again!

I challenged myself last month to only spend $300 on groceries for the month of June, and I ended up spending $ 296.69. I came in $3.31 UNDER budget! Woohoo! I’m so proud of myself! I’m definitely going to do it again this month!

Here’s what I have planned to help me stay in/under budget:

  • since I make most everything from scratch, coupons don’t do a lot to lower my budget, but I’ll use what I can
  • continue to bake/make as much as possible from scratch
  • continue to plan a weekly menu
  • continue look for marked down items such as fruits, veggies, dairy items, dented cans, etc.
  • shop at home first
  • make do with what I already have on hand
  • use it up and wear it out! let nothing go to waste!

I’m also going to challenge myself to make sure and post pics and the breakdown of what I buy so that way I can keep up with my spending even better. So keep watching this month and let’s see how well I do! Why don’t you join me?! How low can you go this month?

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Personal Grocery Challenge – Week 4

This week, I had $34.14 left out of my $300 grocery budget for the month. I needed milk and was lucky enough to find 4 half gallon jugs marked down to $0.99/each! How cool is that?! I’m very thankful. We’ve already gone through one, but I’ll check again tomorrow or Saturday morning to see if there are any others! I also had to buy some more allergy meds because we’re out and something has my allergies kicked back into high gear. The only other item needed this week was more green tea for my dear husband to drink. When he gave up drinking soda, he switched to green tea, which I happily buy for him.

Items bought:

  • 4 half gallons of milk – $0.99/each
  • 2 (24 ct) bxs gen. sinus & allergy med. – $ 3.85/each
  • 4 Totino’s pizza – $1.50/each
  • 1 bag chips $2.00
  • 3 gal. green tea – $2.98/each

So, my total spent (with tax) for the week comes to $30.83. Not too bad! That leaves me with a balance of $3.31 for the month! As long as I’m very careful, I’ll come in just under budget! Sorry I don’t have a picture. Hopefully, I’ll remember to take one next week.

Don’t forget to check the The Grocery Chart Challenge to see how everyone else did this week!

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Personal Grocery Challenge – Weeks 2 & 3 Update

Last week ended up being a bit crazy. I ended up not feeling well for a couple of days, so that always throws things for a loop. We also found out that we were going to be hosting our small group from church this Sunday evening so I had to plan for that. I did not go shopping for that until Sunday afternoon, which was a good thing since they were tossing the idea around of not even bring food, which would not have been a good thing since the kids would have been starving! LOL

Anyway, I did my shopping on Sunday and, since we were unsure of the number of people that would be there this time around, I bought a little more than normal. But, I was still under budget. I also bought some cereal last week which my local store was having a very good deal on. After it was all said and done, my total stood at $249.66.

This week, all we need is milk. So total spent this week is $16.20. I bought 3 gallons of milk, 3 lb bananas, and 32 oz. container of yogurt. My monthly total stands at $265.86 for the month. This leaves me $34.14 for the remainder of the month. I’ll have one gone to AWANA camp which will make a big difference in the amount of food and milk consumed this next week.

I will continue to try and improve my spending and my grocery purchases, but I feel that feeding a family of 5 for $300 or less will be a great start!