How Do You Get the Most Out of Your Dollar?

I thought of a new one...My husband cuts his own and Aiden's hair...Since my hubby is really picky about his hair getting long, it saves us about $11 every 2 weeks! He's been doing this for about 4 years now.

Debra-I'm not a black Friday shopper, instead I'm a day after Christmas shopper. If I need Christmas items I don't buy them during the year...I just make do without and I buy them at Target the day after Christmas. This year we got stocking holders (we used nails this season), more Christmas lights for the tree and lots of wrapping paper.

We buy our meat in bulk too. We actually bought a second freezer since we always have so much on hand. It helps that dh's family in years past has bought a pig at the fair and they have it butchered and give us free meat. I think they've stopped doing that though, so no more freebies...it was nice while it lasted. We buy a lot of our dried goods in bulk too and shopping at Walmart instead of Kroger ended up saving me nearly $30/week on groceries. Thankfully my family isn't very picky about name brands...although there are some things that just aren't as good, for the most part I can buy the store brand food.

Baby stuff...we will have to buy a lot of new things for the new baby. There are a lot of things that would have made my life easier if we'd known we would need them. I love the book Baby Bargains...they get feedback from parents and rate every baby item imaginable...It helps you know what items are worth the splurge and which ones aren't.

Coupons-Hubby is a coupon freak. I can never remember to use them in time, and it seems like a lot of times I spend more using coupons (b/c I have to buy name brand items) than I do just going with store brand items...so I don't make these a big priority.

Planning meals-That's interesting that it's so much better when you plan meals, Mikki. I've been so ill for the past month that I haven't been planning meals, we've just been piecing on things. We still have $500 left in the grocery budget this month! (Not that we won't use that elsewhere with all of the Christmas spending we did Undecided). So for us, it has been better not to plan meals and just to randomly find food each night. Of course I've been too ill to go to the store, so there isn't much spending going on at all. So that's probably what helps.

We also just do with less. I noticed that everyone around me gets their kids so much for Christmas. We had a very modest Christmas compared to most people I know--and it doesn't feel modest to me because I grew up in a home where money was thin. So I guess it's all about perspective.

That is so great, Mikki.

Eric and I do something similar. We buy our meats in bulk at Sams. For example, we can buy 6lbs of chicken for $11. Since its just the two of us, we only eat about 2 lbs per meal (a meal = one night of food + one night of left overs + a lunch) When I get the 6lbs package, I divide it into 3 ziplock freezer bags. I season one bag with pepper and italian dressing(for alfredo pasta), another with brown sugar, orange juice and soy sauce (for thai chicken), and the other with different types of seasoning pepper (for peppery chicken caesar salad). I label the bags and toss them in the freezer.

When I cook, every other day, I just cook the chicken and add a side. Barely any preparation required. The day I cook, I also pull out the next meal so that it can thaw out in the fridge.

I have a list of meals for pork, beef, chicken. I love to use the slow cooker too! This saves me time and money, which is my favorite combination.

Debra

It was actually my husbands idea, and he kept getting onto me to start writing out menu plans for the month.  We were spending more than $1000 a month on food and we needed to make some changes.  Of course I was reluctant, and didn't see where that would help.  Also I figured it had to cost that much with 7 children (3 being teenage boys) eating every day.

I changed my opinion when the boys moved out and we were still spending over $900 a month on food!!!  I sat down and started planning meals for each pay period, we are paid every two weeks.  The meals really were dinner, lunch is more of a free for all so I didn't plan the actual meal, but the types of lunch food I wanted available and how much of each item, (i.e. 4 loaves of bread, 4 cans of tomato soup, etc.)  Breakfast was the same, were we going to have pancakes, oatmeal, cream of wheat, and how often, then buy the appropriate amount of required items.

Dinner was written out very clear (our most expensive meal) including the protein, starch, veggie and side!  Then I would write out my store list as follows:

hamburger (3lbs)
Steak (1)
Shell noodles (2 boxes)
corn (4 cans)

and so on down the list so I purchased EXACTLY the amount I would need to prepare each meal.  We still have our add on items, fruits, cereal, salsa and the like, but the meals were very well planned.  After 3 months of saving receipts I realized by doing this simple process before writing my store list reduced our grocery expenses by almost $300.  That is HUGE!!!  I was convinced and I have done it that way ever since.

I believe this reduced so much because it completely eliminates buying the wrong items, and then having to run out and get extras for a different meal.  It also, obviously, reduces impulse buying for things just because.  The other thing I have done in regards to shopping is select a couple of stores to shop at. 

We have Food 4 Less here where I can get all my non perishables much cheaper than any where else.  This includes the name brands (my husband will not eat generic anything)  So once each pay period I head over to Food 4 Less and purchase the bulk of my food, and then to Staters (our local grocery store, that is cheaper than vons, Ralphs and Albertsons) to buy the meats and dairy.  This took another $50-$80 off our grocery bill, depending on which pay period.

Our monthly grocery bill now runs between $400-$500 each month.  A little prudent planning can put a couple hundred in your pocket without very little effort!

Mikki Hogan Publisher of UniqueParenting.com