OK. Before you lose all faith in this blog, in us -- consider that since we began our slashing grocery bills quest a little over a month ago, we've saved over $120 (approximately). That being said, we had a slip-up this week, mostly from laziness. Partially from overindulgence. And most definitely from lack of planning.
Here's the ugly truth in black and white:
And here's the story:
First, we can indeed deduct some amounts from this bill. We bought our beer for the week (as we mentioned in another post, beer comes from our "entertainment" fund), and that was $10. Some toilet paper, $3.50. But that's only dropping the total down to $68. Yeah, it's still (awesomely) better than when we started out, but we were averaging almost $15 beneath this total -- and still eating large, so to speak.
$15 is $15. And as we've grown older, made our own money, and paid all our own bills, every dollar counts.
I blame our situation mostly on poor planning (lack of, really, as mentioned above). We typically grocery shop on Sunday. This week, we waited until Wednesday! Which leads me to another admission of guilt: We also visited the store Monday to buy ingredients for "dinner" and spent about $30 buying random stuff. Add that to our $68, and you may see now why exactly we've failed for the week. Grand total: $98 -- approximately $45 over budget.
Back to the "real" grocery shopping day: We didn't make a list until right before we left for the store. After I had gone running and was ravenously hungry. I wanted treats of all kinds -- so throw the "one treat a week" policy out the window. We also bought lots of dairy products because we were simply craving them at the time. I can't stress enough to go shopping (and plan for shopping) on a full stomach. Your mind will be far less crowded with all the foods your body is craving, and you'll be far less inclined to want to purchase treats all at once.
In the scheme of grocery bills, this week's wasn't too entirely bad. It's more the lack of control we displayed. It's more the laziness and absence of care that went into shopping. What's worse: Though we bought many ingredients, because we didn't plan out our meals for the week, we don't have foods that necessarily match to make meals. So, the issue is complicated further.
I won't go on. What's done is done. And all we can do is work toward a better week next week. Have any of you had a total grocery bill fail? A particular total that embarrasses you? Ever feel like you left the store with a ton of food, but with -- ultimately -- no real planned meals (think radishes and peanut butter and brie)? Leave us a comment or email us at neverhomemaker@gmail.com.
And if you'd like to read our journey from start to now, check out the following posts:
- Slashing Grocery Bills: We're Going Strong
- Eating Well Need Not Cost a Fortune
- Slashing Our Grocery Bills: Progress
- Slashing Our Grocery Bills: Even More Progress
And if you haven't already -- go check out this month's Blog Love Fest. It's a special edition because we're not only sharing the links in a list this month. We're creating a categorized blogLOVEroll. For all the gooey details, just visit the BLF post.
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9 comments:
One of my worst habits is buying lots of ingredients that don't really go together. Vegetable-wise, this can usually be remedied with a stir fry, but sometimes I'm just stuck with lots of odds and ends at the end of the week.
Planning definitely helps.
I think you guys are doing great; everyone slips up from time to time! I happened to notice you guys mention toilet paper regularly on these posts; do you buy it in small packages? I have found that an uber large package lasts us months and months and saves us big time in the long haul...
Is it weird that I just inquired about your TP-buying habits!? Is that too personal!? :-)
I'd love to be able to get down to that $81 total you have there. I'm curious as to how much produce you guys eat, because I just spent $54.00 on produce alone and that's what you've been spending on your entire grocery list. How do you do it?!
Don't feel bad Ashley, I did this this past weekend and I think I've gone over by like $30 so all in all we spent $145 in groceries. Like you though, we had bought vitamins, toilet paper, deodarant, and other non-grocery items. We also had a ton of coupons and caught a lot of deals which was also the problem.
The grocery store we shop at runs their sales Saturday to Sunday. Well I had the ad for up until last Saturday which was what I shopped out of but for some reason never got Sunday's out. So this week I saw the new ad and about died!! They were having their huge 10 for $10 get 11th free deal. So needless to say, I had to go back yesterday and get some more good deal stuff.
Of course, I justified mine by saying that I will spend less on groceries next weekend since i've already stocked up on a lot of stuff.
P.S.
I've been trying to eat healthier too and fresh fruits and veggies are never cheap!! Darn that packaged cheap food!!
Allie S. -- Glad to know I'm not the only one. But it sure makes for a frustrating week!
Erin -- Hahah the TP issue. I actually debated over whether or not to include that because, like you said, I mention toilet paper often. We have been buying the small packages -- need to go bulk. Thanks!
Laura -- We buy a lot of produce, too. But we started looking at the prices and buying the cheaper produce. For example, we loved getting green peppers, but the price shot up. We also like certain kinds of apples. Now we stock up on bok choy, napa, and other, cheaper produce items. I'm not really missing the fancier stuff. Next time you're at the store, see if the produce you're buying is more expensive than other stuff. You may be surprised!
Jen Lainy -- I do that, too. Justify. But what I find is that I usually don't buy less the next week! I just consume more :) Hahaha. And see my note to Laura on produce . . . it really helps. <3
oooh the cardinal sin of going grocery shopping while hungry. I've done that one too many times and have now learned to eat dinner BEFORE going to the store. Our bills are usually at least $30 less when we eat first, but sometimes we slip up.
It's ok, you're still doing great on the saving! Moments of weakness are to be expected, right?
As someone who loves to cook and can be kind of a food snob, I don't mind spending a little bit more for quality food and ingredients. My fiance, however, could not be more on the other end of the spectrum. He survived his first year of college eating only ramen noodles and whatever was on sale and that 'buying the cheapest thing possible even if it means eating fortune cookies for a week' has not left his brain even though he makes more than enough money.
I am in charge of all the shopping so in order to try and curb my overspending, I got a Visa Buxx card, which is a debit card parents usually get for their teenagers that they can transfer a ste amount of money too and the teenager can't go over that amount. I budget about $60/week and add the money on at the beginning of every month. I sometimes find myself not having enough at the end of the month and paying for the extra things myself. So I do occasionally spend more than the budget, but it has definitely made me pay more attention.
Am I the only one who thinks $90 for a whole week of groceries for two people isn't that bad? lol. We usually spend about $40-60 which is a LOT less than we used to spend before we started planning out meals in advance and shopping at ethnic markets. BUT that doesn't even include our lunches, which we eat out everyday due to the nature of our jobs (we work out at client locations where it isn't really kosher to bring lunch and put it in their fridge) or our date nights or alcohol (I consider this a whole separate budget category :) )...lol.
I think if that is including lunches too you are doing awesome! But maybe that is just me. :)
Bre @ http://theredbungalow.blogspot.com
Don't be too hard on yourself. We have fluctuations, and some weeks when you're stocking up or replenishing certain items put your bill over average. Nothing wrong with that, you just bounce back next week.
Being mindful of your grocery budget is like a diet. If you are super hard on yourself, or too strict you're likely to set yourself up for long-term failure.
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