Grocery Woes - Month 2

Well, Wasouf consumer spending this month was down in some areas, and up in others. Unlike last month, in April I kept track of all expenditures, instead of just groceries. Here's the breakdown:

Edible Groceries $460.23
Paper $2.49
HBA $163.53
Other $578.15
Restaurant $59.25
Gas $114.84

Okay, edible groceries are down 14.2% from last month, which was a personal goal of mine. I'd have liked it to be down a little more, but now we have more room for improvement next month. There is some solace that we took advantage of some great loss-leaders at Meijer and have some large, cheap cuts of meat stashed in the freezer.

Paper and HBA were also down as expected.

The "Other"catagory is a new one. This encompassed all of our miscellaneous purchases. The reason this is so high is that Yasar put quite a bit of money into getting the garden going. Between plants and peat moss, the garden this year has already put us behind around $100. Fingers crossed that it will produce at least that dollar amount of fresh tomatoes, cukes, radishes, carrots, and onions.

Also in the "Other" catagory was doctor's copays, some summer clothes, and gifts. And, hold on to your hats - we actually bought $140 worth of PAINT! Yes, everyone, we're finally getting rid of the boring white walls!

As for the "Gas" catagory, this was the one that made my eyes widen. I had no idea we spent so much on fuel, especially since we only live about 3 miles away from the business! Hopefully this will also remain steady for the month, with gas prices here currently at $3.69/gallon, and $4/gallon on the horizon, we are looking for ways to consolidate errands and conserve gas.

Goals for the month of May:

• Seek out cheaper ways to "eat clean".
• Grocery shop once per week, no more.
• Take advantage of the beautiful summer season, picking berries and visiting the farmer's market.
• Eat out no more than twice.

Oh, one more thing. As a bonus from a Living On A Dime purchase, I received an e-book from http://www.menuplanningcentral.com/. They have this novel idea to reduce grocery spending that we'll be trying this month. What this website advises is to write out a week's worth of meals your family enjoys (breakfast/lunch/dinner/2 snacks per day), detail the total ingredients needed, and go through your supplies to see what you already have. From there you make your shopping list. Yeah, I'm with you....DUHHHHH! But I've always been building meals off the grocery ads, and maybe this idea will make our trip cheaper, as well as reduce the overflowing pantry to which I'm genetically predisposed (chuckle here, you'd understand if you saw my parent's basement).

Wish me luck!