My New Year's resolutions were to utilize menu planning each month & to use $150 cash for grocery shopping. As the month is coming to a close I'm happy to report that I met one of those goals quite easy, unfortunately it was the menu planning, not the $150 grocery goal.
After my initial shopping trip & mid-month perishable replenishment, I had $11 left. Unfortunately I made a HUGE couponing mistake at Target & ended up stocking up on Plum Organic purees for a not so great price. Not only did I miscalculate the amount the store coupon would take off, but I also miscalculated the manufacturer's coupon & over spent by $21.12. Sad, sad, sad.
To make matters worse, JC stopped by the store to get milk this week & came home with another $20 of stuff. Ugh, husband. Good thing he's so dang sweet & helpful. THEN, today we spent $9 stocking up on Biore products because I had coupons that were expiring.
That brings our grand total to approx $200 instead of $150. On the upside I was able to stock up on extremely cheap Biore, Kashi, gingerbread cookie mix, el pato, grapefruit juice, & carrots. I'm hoping that our overspending this month will balance itself in February. Despite our overspending, we still ate at home more & spent less than usual. How did you do on your financial goals this month?
Wow! I can't believe you can keep a goal of $150/month! That is our WEEKLY budget!!! Do you have an eating out budget? Or are we seriously enormously overspending?!
ReplyDeleteWe don't eat out almost at all, definitely don't budget for it. We use our "fun money" on that, if we need to.
Annie,
ReplyDeleteLast month was my first month with the $150 goal & I went $50 over, so I don't know if I will be able to keep that goal.
This month I went shopping & we're already down to $23 left for the month. I think as long as I stick to menu planning from our pantry we should be ok, but we'll see at the end of the month.
We do going out to eat separately from the grocery budget. We eat out with friends every Sunday, so we've tried to eliminate eating out on our own. I'm hoping we'll try to get that down to $100 a month, but we'll see...