Our Frugal Life.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are attempting to live a more frugal life since I am staying at home with Kylie. A few people have asked me how it is going, so I thought I would share...

Overall, we have been spending less money and sticking to our budget as best as we can. Although the frugal life is a bit more stressful, I like the challenge of staying under a certain dollar amount at the grocery store or when we go out to eat. In order to stay within our ideal budget, we have made 4 major changes from when I was working:

1. We disconnected our cable. This saves about $50-$60/month.

2. We exercise at home rather than at a club. This saves about $30-$80/month.

3. We each have a monthly "allowance" for fun activities. Once that is gone, it's gone. This saves about $200-$300/month.

4. We have a monthly grocery budget. Since June, I have actually cut our grocery budget in half. This includes big ticket items such as diapers, formula and dog food. This saves about $300-$400/month.

The grocery shopping has been tricky, but I have finally gotten it down to a science. The most important parts to this are taking the time to plan ahead, cut coupons and be a disciplined shopper. Here's how I do it:

1. I go grocery shopping approximately every 10 days or 3 times/month. The day before I go, I spend about 30 minutes planning.

2. I make a meal plan for 7-10 days based on what I already have in my pantry/fridge, what is on sale, and the coupons I have. For example, if pasta is on sale and I already have meatballs, I would do spaghetti and meatballs for a meal.

3. I often use the ingredient search on All Recipes to come up with meals...It is a lifesaver!

4. To keep it simple, I have a pretty similar breakfast each morning, and then either soup and salad or a sandwich and salad for lunch. So the only meals I really have to plan for are the 7-10 suppers.

5. I usually end up making 5-6 different suppers. For the other meals, we will eat leftovers or a frozen meal for one supper, go out to dinner or order in for one meal, and make one easy meal such as frozen pizza...That covers the 7-10 days.

6. After I have a meal plan and a grocery list based on those meals and other needs (i.e. toilet paper, toothpaste, diapers, dog food, etc...), I look for coupons. I have a folder full of coupons, as well as a few internet resources (listed on the bottom of this post) that I use to find coupons. I use only coupons for items that I already have on my grocery list...I never add an item to my grocery list because I found a coupon for it.

I carry my coupon folder with me at all times in case of an unexpected store stop! :)

7. I try to stack coupons as much as I can. This means using a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon on the same item. Sometimes if you get really lucky, you can even stack those with a sale. I find sales by checking a couple of blogs (also listed at the bottom of the post). Couponing saves me $15-$30/shopping trip or $45-$90/month!
8. I try to avoid depending on brand names too much. I have started to buy Target Brand (Up & Up) for almost everything. It is way cheaper, tastes the same to me and there are better coupons out there for those items. Of course, I will always buy Diet Coke and Lean Cuisine...It's okay to be brand dependent sometimes, right!?!

9. Lastly, I always go to the grocery store with a certain dollar amount in mind...Some people even take cash so they don't go over budget, but I do okay with the debit card. As I shop, I add the prices together so I know how I am doing. If I go over my budget, I make myself put unnecessary items back...Added Bonus: This has also helped us eliminate snacks and junk food!

That's it!

I'm always looking for other ways to cut costs and be more frugal. If you have any other frugality ideas, please send them my way...

Coupon Resources:

1. Target - http://coupons.target.com/

2. Smart Source - http://smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=5S2ZUA6PWPEPO

3. Coupons.com - http://www.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=14602&zid=yf73&nid=10&bid=0912190954833327bd521713

4. Weekend edition of the Rochester Post Bulletin--$1.50 at most gas stations

Blogs (At the bottom of our blog on the blog roll):

1. Money Saving Mom

2. A Little Simplicity