A blog friend wrote to me over the weekend, asking for suggestions for managing a shrinking grocery budget. Without going into details of my friend's situation, I replied, "yes, this is something to which I can very much relate."
About a week ago, I found out that our income would be cut significantly. We have about 2 months advance notice, but I believe that this is no time to delay implementing changes. So, for the foreseeable future, we have cut our food-only grocery budget to $125 per month. To give perspective, my grocery spending had hovered around $225 to $250 per month for the last year. Essentially, right now we have to halve this area of spending. When we sat around talking and asking ourselves if we could do this, the answer was that we don't have any choice right now. So, yes I believe that with God's help, we can do this. What I said to my family was that there would always be plenty of food in the kitchen. It may not be their first choice, but it would be healthful and as delicious as I could make it.
In the coming few weeks, I'll share some of the changes that we have implemented to help reduce our costs. The first is something that has been evolving in our house over the past year and a half and will now be an official part of our plan. You may know, my young adult daughters live at home. Both of them are working currently, and as such, they each have some disposable income. They buy their own "special" foods. If they want a food item that is not on my regular list or within my budget, they know to buy it themselves. This may be chips, chicken nuggets, all-beef hot dogs, pizza rolls, or a particular brand of cookies. They pay for it, and it is theirs. Yes, our cabinets, freezers, and fridge have packages labeled in Sharpie with names, and we all respect each other's property. I believe that this has been a really good experience for them. The two of them are learning to shop smartly and weigh whether or not a particular food-want is truly worth it. So, that was one of my first suggestions to my friend, as I know she has a 17-year old at home who has a part time job. Giving pizza, burger, soda money to her teen could be something that she could let go of. When I was a teen, if I wanted something that my mother wasn't planning on buying for the family, it was up to me to buy it for myself with babysitting money in the early years and part time job money later on.
How we stand right now -- we pretty much depleted our surplus stores of food in February, so I'd say we are close to the position of any other family with a sudden loss of income. I have shopped at 2 of the 3 stores in which I plan on shopping for the month of March and have spent about $87 of the $125. I came across an unheard of price for ground beef a week ago, at 85 cents per pound on mark down, with my Senior discount and stacked with a coupon. This is my stock-up item for the month. I bought 21 pounds at that price. Choosing one especially low-cost item for the month and stocking up on it was my second suggestion to my friend. Had it not been for the ground beef, I would have chosen a 50-lb bag of pinto beans as a stock-up item. I'll save that for next month when my budget is replenished.
Speaking of -- I must go tend to my pot of beans. That's all for now. Hope you are well.
