Today I am going to share a little about how we save money on our grocery bill every month.
Our budget it super tight, we spend around $350 a month for the five of us. That includes toiletries and such. First thing that I did over a year ago was to stop buying paper products. I no long spend half my budget on paper towels or napkins! We use kitchen towels to clean up spills and we use cloth napkins at the dinner table.
I also make my own laundry detergent, I use this recipe here. It says it will last a family of four a year, I made my first batch in June and I am going to need to make another one in December. So even though it didn't last quite as long as I had hoped it really is still a cost savings for us to spend about $30 to last us 6 months.
Another way I spend less at the grocery store is making a monthly menu. We get paid every two weeks, so that is when I do my grocery shopping. I only buy enough to last the two weeks, so menu planning is a MUST for me. Our menu also does not consist of fancy food. We eat meatloaf, sloppy joes, tacos, spaghetti, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and right now LOTS of homemade soup! Yes I know not the healthiest menu, but our budget is tight and I try to fix foods my kids will eat so we don't waste!
When making my soups I fill the crock pot full and make it stretch! Meaning I might add a little extra water to it. One crockpot full of soup will give us at least 3-4 meals. So we eat it once then I freeze the rest into 2-3 containers. So at no extra cost I have extra meals ready to go in my freezer! I plan those into the menu for that month or the next as well.
My favorite "secret" weapon right now... ALDI! That place is awesome for saving money. I was a total skeptic for a long time, because I couldn't do everything in one place. Until recently I would have had to drive an extra 20 minutes to another town to go to Aldi. Last year though one opened up right next door to our Wal-Mart! Do you think I went right away, nope! It wasn't until this summer after begin convinced by friends to at least try it. And you know what, its awesome! I can get a full cart with about 2 weeks worth of food for $80! Where at Wal-Mart I was spending at least $100 or more just on food! If you have yet to try Aldi, I urge you to at least try a few things. There has only been a handful of items that we have not cared for, but everything else there has been great.
I don't coupon, I don't look at add because quite frankly... Aint nobody got time for that!!!
What does your family do to save money? I am always looking for new ways to improve my grocery savings, and I would love to hear from you.
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