Grocery Budget: Simple Mama Style

I've had several friends ask how I manage our grocery budget (especially living on a teacher's salary). So I sat down and thought about what I do each month to keep our grocery budget under control (besides complain when someones eats eats too much of a particularly expensive snack. Yes, 2 Lara Bars at a time is too many!!) So here are some of my secrets:

1. Make a grocery list.

Every time I've gone to the store without a list it has been disastrous. I always buy way too much snack food and end up with nothing to actually prepare for meals. So, plan your menu and make a list before you go!

2. Stick to the list.

Sounds easy enough right? Make a list. Stick to the list. No brainer. But when you take 2 young children and a husband who loves to eat with you to the store, this simple tip suddenly gets complicated. Sigh...This is when I had to train my family a little bit here. Sometimes I give in (because you have to pick your battles!) but most of the time I really do stick to the list. Unless...

3. If it's on sale and you know you'll use it , buy it!!

Even if it's not on the list. Buy it! Please buy it! You're actually saving money if you go ahead and buy that extra virgin olive oil that's on sale even though you still have half the bottle left at home. Trust me on this one.

4. Shop the ads.

The grocery sales run Wednesday-Tuesday in our town. So every Tuesday afternoon I rush to my mailbox to find these little treasures waiting for me! 

The new ads for the week.

We eat a lot of meat and fresh fruits and veggies so I buy the majority of our food at a wonderful little market called Sprouts. Most everything else I buy at Walmart (paper goods, certain snacks, toiletries, etc.) And this is where those wonderful little ads come into play. I glance through them for items that will be on sale. If it's something that I can buy at Walmart (and the sale price is cheaper than Walmart) then I take the ads with me to price match. If the ads have an item on sale and it's something I can't find at Walmart (like Nitrate-free bacon) then I go to that grocery store and stock up. I've been known to buy like 8 packages of  Nitrate-free bacon at Market Street and freeze it. It will last us forever and I usually save up to 50% on it! So don't throw those ads away!! Give them a little glance...it just takes a sec and could save you some serious money on things you are going to buy anyway!

5. Go to the store once a week (if possible).

My husband gets paid once a month. So I try to go to the store about every 7-8 days. I don't have a set "grocery day." I just don't. (This may surprise some of you!) I just try to plan my menu for up to 7-8 days and shop for everything at once. I find that I spend more if I'm rushing to the store every other day to grab 1 quick thing (because it always turns into 5-6 things!). 

6. And finally...Give yourself some wiggle room.

I've learned this one the hard way recently. We have a set grocery budget, but we were always going over by at least $50-$75 every month. And yep, you guessed it. I was totally stressing about it! So we decided to rework our monthly budget to allow for the grocery budget to fluctuate a little. And let's face it, groceries are just more expensive now...especially when you try to eat clean like we do (more on this later). So we had to be realistic about it and made the adjustment to allow for a little extra in the grocery budget if needed. (PS-This does NOT mean that we eat 2 Lara Bars at a time. Just saying.)

So there you have it. My little secrets on how we eat clean AND stick to our grocery budget. Now go dig through your trash to find those ads you threw away!!