So am I the only one that ALWAYS feels broke shortly
after payday?? Yes? Anyone?
Well because I am sick of being broke I am (finally)
taking charge. I have gone over our finances and made a budget for our family
to stick to; one of the biggest things we needed to cut back on was food.
The hubster would buy lunch every day because we are too lazy to make it which
is about $6-$10/day… no no boo boo, and of course I would go to the grocery
store and spend way more than I should on stuff we didn't need.
I have finally figure this out: I go to the
grocery store, most likely Wal-Mart with both of my boys. They are chaotic. Lovebug
can’t handle being in stores, his body freaks out. Turbo takes advantage of my
attention being on shopping and keeping Lovebug contained in the cart while he
is climbing out/throwing stuff/kicking me/whining and he in turns acts out by messing with his brother/jumping around/running into things/begging for everything. So now I have
these two wonderful darlings creating chaos and instead of high-tailing it out
of there, I subject myself to this torture by prolonging my shopping and go
down every aisle looking at needless stuff thinking how much I could use that
item to organize my chaotic life. Purchase said items and leave with $200 worth
of junk, one night’s dinner and some snacks. THIS IS MY LIFE!! Still the only one?? Yes?
So I am vowing to
do better. And doing better is only fun if it looks CUTE! J
I made up my budget and gave myself $200 for
groceries a week. Yes, I know that’s still a lot but I've got to work myself
down. I also allotted $100/month for beauty and cleaning items.
I made this cute binder to make my grocery shopping
easier. (I bought this really cute purple binder at Walmart for a couple of
dollars and I had everything else on hand) I used 12x12 scrapbook paper of my picking, made up the labels on Word and glued it on, then stuck it inside the binders clear sleeve. So pretty now!
The first thing in my binder is a clear zipper bag
to hold my stuff:
- highlighters (I buy most of my food at Walmart-yellow highlighter, and my fruits/veggies/chicken/deli meat at Publix-pink highlighter)
- calculator
- pens
The sheet directly behind that is a copy of my
weekly dinner plan so I remember what I am making in case I forgot to add a
side to the meal in my shopping list or something. I just made the dinner plan
on Word. I wanted to add color to it so it was pretty but the hubster accidentally printed off a
million papers and used all of my colored ink. waaa
 |
| I added tabs to the next couple of sections. |
The first tab is my grocery list. I got this from Organized Meg. She has some really cute AND free lists so go check her out! I love that it is sectioned off for me and most of it is written in already- who has time to write all of that EVERY time?! I highlight everything I need and then as I get it, I check
it off the list. Here is where my highlighters come in handy. I highlight the
stuff I am getting from each store in a different color. This makes it easier
than writing stuff separately or forgetting what I already got!
The Second tab is Notes. I just have some loose leaf
paper in there. I write down items in a store ad to see if it’s a better deal
than Wal-Mart. They price match and you don’t need the ad. So writing it down
helps me remember so I can tell the cashier! Nothing fancy, just a quick note. J
The third tab is a price book. Most of the time things
are cheaper at Wal-Mart. But not always. I have not started my price book but I
am going to. I will keep a list of the stuff I buy regularly and the price from
Publix, Wal-Mart, Target, and Winn Dixie. That way when there is a sale, I will
know the best price for it and where. This will also help with price match. I
downloaded this price book sheet from here.
The last tab in my binder is Coupons. I do not do a
lot of couponing. I don’t find a lot of coupons for the things I am buying and
it is pointless to buy something just because I have a coupon for it. For me anyways.
But I do find coupons I will use sometimes so I store them in these plastic
baseball card sleeves. Pretty handy to see and flip through to find what I
need.
The last tab in my binder is Coupons. I do not do a
lot of couponing. I don’t find a lot of coupons for the things I am buying and
it is pointless to buy something just because I have a coupon for it. For me anyways.
But I do find coupons I will use sometimes so I store them in these plastic
baseball card sleeves. Pretty handy to see and flip through to find what I
need.
So now that I have a cute binder to tote with me to
the store, I KNOW I will be able to stay on budget! J
Oh yea, the hubster is off one weekend day a week so
I have been getting up early and heading to Wal-Mart ALONE!
Earphones in, binder with me, I ROCK these
shopping trips now! And I come in each week under budget!! WooHoo!!!
