This week I am going to share my story. I know it’s in bits and pieces around the blog but I thought I would put it all in one place for you. We are always evolving and learning and adjusting to new circumstances so I know parts of it have changed over the time we’ve been doing this blog!
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Here is my wonderful family at a recent picnic. I blog here at BeCentsable and also at Adventures in Preschooling and for my family at A Little Bit Nuts!
My family: My husband and I have two children (ages 3 and 16 months), two dogs and, for the next year and a half, we are sharing our home with my sister-in-law. Part of the arrangement is that we take care of all of the grocery shopping and cooking. Both of my children are gluten-free and we try to buy as much organic and all natural foods as possible! I stay home to me Mom and and family CEO (but that’s a relatively new situation for us) and we’ve come a long way in just 18 months to live on one income – something neither of us really believed possible.
Where I’m coming from: One year ago you would never have seen me clipping or using a coupon. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to save money, it was just not something I found beneficial. Along with millions of other shoppers, I felt like I was always clipping and filing but never really saving! Now, I wouldn’t set foot in a store without a coupon and I find myself telling people “it’s not about needing to save money, it’s about realizing that you can!”.
Planning: this is my area for biggest improvement! I love to be organized but I don’t always get there. Finding some quiet time to sit down and plan my menu, my grocery list, find coupons…that’s my ultimate goal each week. I menu plan two weeks at a time now and we are pretty good about sticking to it. I start with the sale ads and create my full grocery list and then work my way to the menu planning. I used to do it the other way….
Shopping: this is my area of greatest improvement! I used to hit the store 3-4 times a week and randomly pick things up that looked good. I did not care for Walmart (we still have issues but I am seeing some redeeming qualities) and I did not always have or remember a list. When I started shopping with a purpose I would usually go to 3-4 stores in one night. I’ve since narrowed that to Walmart plus CVS-Walgreen’s. I price match at Walmart and I really like that. It’s taken me several months to decide that was the best option for me.
We also participate in an organic food coop, Bountiful Baskets, order flour from Better Batter (for GF baking for the kids) and shop at Sprouts every two weeks to pick up additional produce and some of the foods we can’t find elsewhere.
Struggles: We struggle a lot with finding the kids’ snacks at a good price. I would say this typically costs us 10-15% additional…that’s a lot in one place! We are also STILL recovering from our move from Kansas City to Phoenix. We just got our second refrigerator again so this week I was able to stock up on meats, freezer foods and more milk which will help a lot! Having more room for meat should cut our grocery bill back a lot all on it’s own!
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We’d love to share your story! If you’d like to be featured here contact us! Blogger and non-bloggers welcome.
Now it’s time for you to share your successes for the week! Leave a link or a comment below!
