Sticking to your grocery budget can be challenging for a lot of families.
But it’s so important if you want to cut your spending so you can pay off debt and achieve financial freedom.
Today, I’m giving you three simple strategies for sticking to your grocery budget.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that in 2015, we had a hard time sticking to our grocery budget.
In fact, in January 2015, we spent more than $1,000 on groceries when our actual budgeted amount was only $500.
No bueno!
But by March, we’d cut our grocery spending to just over $500, and I had a reader ask how we did it.
I wrote this blog post to explain how we did it.
So far in 2016, we’ve been able to keep our grocery spending under $450 per month.
We’ve had to be focused and diligent, but we know that by doing so, we’ll be able to reach our financial goals a lot faster.
Here are my top three tips for sticking to your grocery budget:
- Stop buying whatever is on your list when you reach half of your budget, and then be very diligent about buying only those items you need until the end of the month.
This tip alone has helped us stick to our budget. - When you get home from the grocery store, review the items you purchased and pay close attention to the items that cost the most.
When you’re getting close to reaching your budget, those are the items you’ll want to put off purchasing until your budget is replenished in the following month. - Keep your meals simple.
I’ve been following the Paleo diet for over a year now, which can be super expensive. That’s part of the reason we spent more than $1,000 in groceries in January 2015. Plus, we eat mostly organic food, and that definitely adds up.To be able to continue eating healthy while keeping our grocery spending low, we’ve opted to keep our meals simple.For me, I eat eggs or meat with a side of veggies and sauerkraut for almost every meal. The kids eat oatmeal almost every day for breakfast. And my husband takes leftovers to work for lunch. We don’t make fancy meals that require a lot of ingredients.We figure that we can do that when we’re 100% debt-free.
If you follow these strategies and find that you’re still having a hard time sticking to your budget, then maybe it’s time to up it a little and decrease your spending in other areas.
We’ve worked hard to be able to get our monthly budget down to $450, and we know that anything less would be unreasonable for our family. And right now, our kids are only two and four so they don’t eat that much. When they get bigger, we’ll definitely have to increase our budget.
So give yourself some grace if you’ve got more mouths or bigger kids to feed.
Here’s a bonus tip:
Get really clear on what sticking to your budget will allow for you.
[bctt tweet=”Get really clear on what sticking to your budget will allow for you.” username=”MonicaRLouie”]
Maybe it means that you can buy another pair of jeans or save up for your son’s birthday party.
Maybe it means that you can start saving for your daughter’s college fund or give more to your favorite charity.
Or maybe it means that you can pay off more debt so that when you’re debt free, you’ll be able to do all of those things and still have more money for the fun stuff.
When you get really clear on why you’re sticking to your budget, it will be so much easier to make the necessary changes in order to do so.
Our Most Popular Articles
If you want to see the real world success associated with budgeting, consider these articles:
Alice and Scott Paid Off $200,000
Ron and Thu Paid Off $137,000 in 7 Years
Generate Passive Income With Paribus
Yes, You Can Pay Off Debt When You’re Behind On Your Bills
Have you joined our free private community on Facebook yet?
I invite you to join me in our private Facebook group called Your Debt Freedom Family, where I share more tips like this. We’ve got a fantastic community of people who are kicking debt to the curb so they can break free and live life on their terms.
I’d love to see you there!
Keep moving forward toward your goals. You really can live the life you dream about!
I love the tip to stop spending when you’re halfway through what you’ve budgeted. Going to try that!
Great! Let me know how it goes!
Honestly, your posts are totally inspiring. Grocery shopping has really been on my mind lately, especially being a food blogger. It’s hard to balance needs vs. wants with me. One thing I actually employ is the small basket at Fred Meyer. If it doesn’t fit in the cart, it doesn’t need to be purchased right now. Also, I really love the video! It’s so engaging!
That’s an awesome tip! And I appreciate your kind words! I’m so glad you liked the video!
Such great tips here! I agree with Erin – I raid my freezer at the end of the week when a lot of the fresh food is getting scarce. That helps prevent food from being wasted and keeps me out of the grocery store!
Perfect, Catherine! I’m always disappointed when we have to throw out food because we didn’t use it in time. Wasted money and nutrition.
The freezer really helps me to keep a budget in the kitchen – I’m always freezing leftovers, and using vegetable scraps/bones to make a good stock.
Great ideas here! When we first started our plan to become debt-free, we were obsessed with crockpot freezer meals. They’re so convenient and really helped us save on our grocery bill!
This goal is actually a dream of mine – but I’m generally no the grocery shopper in the house. What advice do you have on having family members agree on, and stick to complimentary financial goals?
Great question, Jim! I wrote this post that may help: https://www.ourdebtfreefamily.com/how-to-get-your-spouse-on-board-with-planning-your-financial-future/
Keeping my grocery budget in check is actually something I really excel at. I always follow the New Seasons and Fred Meyers sale ads as guides, I make dishes with crossover ingredients, and I don’t buy processed snacks.
Those are great tips, Meredith! Thanks for sharing!
I probably have a larger than normal food budget since I cut on other things like buying clothes. I do have certain tips for even saving money dining – I often take advantage of lunch or happy hour prices, and because meals out are often big I bring leftovers home for a second and even third meal sometimes! I also make big casseroles that are multiple meals worth.
Yes! We’ve been trying to take advantage of happy hour and lunch prices when eating out too. And we looooove leftovers. Saves money and cuts down on time in the kitchen!