HOW TO REALLY SAVE $$$ ON YOUR GROCERY BILL!!!

I love Pinterest!

It's a great source for things from holiday menus to homemade cleaning supplies to how to save money on your grocery bill!

My biggest pet peeve when it comes to Pinterest is when I see something I pin it and when I go back to look at it, it's not all that it's hyped up to be.

The one that really bugs me the most is spend $50 a week on groceries for a family of 6!

Yeah, the problem with that is they only have dinner in those groceries... what about toilet paper, diapers, formula, laundry detergent or even breakfast and lunch?

Another problem is that they all seemed to find every coupon they need. My family must be picky because the foods they like don't make coupons... EVER!

I have searched many of these blogs that are supposed to save you money on groceries, but I have found nothing that really works for my family.

So, what was I to do?




Ever heard the expression, "You have to spend money to make money"?

Well, I believe it's the same thing when it comes to saving money on groceries.

Wait. Spend money to save money on groceries?

Yes.

You have to build up your storage in order to save money in the future.

For instance, when I found out I was pregnant with Kid 1, I started buying diapers and wipes. By the time he was born I had plenty of size N, 1 and 2 diapers. I didn't buy diapers or wipes for almost 6 months. I tried the same thing with Kid 2 and only made it to 3 months, but still 3 months without having to buy any diapers is a nice relief.

When I got pregnant with Kid 2, I decided that I wasn't going to go to the store every week with 2 kids under 2! So, while pregnant I began buying meat in bulk. I headed over to Costco and spent $150 in meat and had enough to last me for 5 months worth of meals. Now, we don't eat meat every day, but about 4 times week. And remember, there are only 3 of us eating here.

I bought:

80 lbs of chicken breasts for $80 (Yeah, we like chicken!)
10 lbs of ground beef for $20
6 lbs of ribs for $14
6 lbs of stew meat for $20
36 Nathan's Hot Dogs for $12

 I went back a couple of weeks later and bought some other things we use often:

4 boxes of Bisquick for $23
4-2 packs of spaghetti sauce for $32
3 packages of 8 boxes of spaghetti noodles for $24
4-2 packs of cereal for $32
2-2 packs of strawberry jam for $16
2-2 packs of peanut butter for $16
1 pack of 46 oatmeal packets for $10

And then I did one last trip to Costco and bought some household cleaning items and supplies.

I bought:
2 laundry detergents for $40 (we do 4 loads of laundry a week, so one bottle lasts us for 20 weeks)
2 boxes of swiffer dusters for $25 (each box has 24 dusters, I dust once a week. 2 boxes last me more than a year.)
2 packs of the scrubbing bubbles shower and sink foamer for $14
2 packs of Lysol toilet bowl cleaner for $14
1 pack of Bounty paper towels $18 (this will last me for 6 months)
2 packs of Charmin toilet paper for $36 (this will last me about 3 months)

Then I did one trip to Walmart with $150 and bought beans, rice, soups, cookies, chips, cake mixes, brownie mixes, frostings, vegetable oil, sugars, flour, ketchup, mustard... you get the idea!

Each time I went I only spent $150. For a total of $600 in 8 weeks, I had enough food and supply for at least 5 months.

Then I had to buy diapers and wipes and formula! Here is the biggest $$$ for us.

There is no easy way of buying these things. We usually buy them at Babies R Us. They use to do a buy 10 boxes of diapers get 1 free. They don't anymore. ARGH!

But I usually spend $40 on diapers for kid 1 a month (hopefully potty training starts this weekend then we'll save some more money!) and $20 on diapers for Kid 2 a month. A big box of wipes $15 and 4 tubs of formula for Kid 2 will $80. $160 just on baby stuff for a month. I can't get around it unless I cloth and that's just not me. :(

Other than the baby supplies, I can usually spend about $50 - 65 a week on groceries, you know dairy, bread, personal hygiene items, but ONLY AFTER I spend the initial buying.