Saving Money on Groceries

I love to shop at my favorite store for groceries: HEB if I could promote them professionally I would, I love that their stores are not too big, I love they have lots of discounts and sales, clearance bins, and their store brands are always the best prices and they have everything I need to buy from groceries, to shampoo, toothpaste, and dog food. So, I try to save money and time by doing 90% of my families grocery shopping at HEB.

1. Find a store that you love and go there most of the time to save money and time

I have a magnetic paper list that I write down each item that we need through the week and I complete the list for my shopping trip on thursday.

2. Plan ahead

I make a second list with all the published on sale items through my stores online circular and then

3. Be organized

I rewrite my shopping list with the sale items i plan on buying and I do it in order of my stores layout, i start with fruit and vegies so that's always at the top of my list and I end in the middle with sodas and frozen section and so that's at the end of my list. This will save you lots of time shopping.

4. Stick to your list and to your budget

My weekly food and household budget (not including diapers) is $60 every other week and $80 every other week the extra $20 is for meat and misc.(filters, bathroom items that are usually only purchase every month or less). So my monthly budget would be $280. Twice a year I stock up the freezers and will spend my whole budget for the month in one shopping trip. That was this week and I spent: $256 to stock up our freezers with meat and pantry and for the next 2 weeks I will only spend 1/2 of our normal budget or even less for weekly purchases such as milk and fruit that can't be freezed or properly stored. I did freeze milk once and it was all icey and i tried freezing fruit and i didn't like the outcome i prefer fresh fruit and milk not frozen. I do freeze bread and lots of meats though and pizza dough.

5. Know your prices and your stores sale rotation
for example I know that whole chicken fryers are on sale for .89c once a month so i wait for that sale to buy 2 whole chicken fryers and never spend more than $6 for a whole chicken. I also know that the lowest price for berries is .89c so I buy 2 or 3 at this price and freeze them for when the prices are higher. Keep a list of all the lowest prices so you know when to buy and when to stock-up and normal prices this will help you alot.

6. don't be loyal to a certain brand. I buy what's the best price and accept for my hair products and my husbands toothpaste we buy what's on sale and cheapest price not brand-name. sometimes we get brand-name but only when it's cheaper than the store-brands.

7. extreme couponing isn't what it seems. i've watched the show, i studied the programs, i tried and tested them out and if you try to save money this way you will need to be a total addict and spend all your time clipping coupons and trying to match them with sales to get stuff for cheaper/free it's not worth my time. I'd rather be spending minimal time in and out of the store and that time is more valuable spent with my family. this is my personal opinion and from my personal experience on trying this method.

8. I only use coupons that are available in the store, I don't clip coupons. I'd rather buy the off-brand for a consistent savings over the brands with coupons occasionally and usually you're getting more product for your money.

9. When comparing prices, also compare price per ounce- the size of the product with the price, take a calculator to do your own calculations. Sometimes the bigger items are not cheaper than the smaller ones they might be the same price per ounce and even sometimes the smaller product is cheaper per ounce than the bigger ones. One example is tuna fish: 2 smaller ones for .75c is cheaper than 1 bigger one for $1.99, so I buy 2 6 oz tunas for $1.50 for 12 oz, instead of 12 oz for $1.99.

10. Don't be overwhelmed it takes time to learn how to save the most money on grocery shopping. Take notes and keep track of everything and overtime you will memorize your stores prices.

11. To keep track of your total cost when shopping write the price of each item you put in the buggy, take your calculator and put stuff back if you go over your budget. Don't be ashamed to have to walk away from a buggy I've had to do it many times at wal-mart and i've had to put back alot of stuff at heb when my total was way more than what i had to spend.

12. If you need to for a time take in the total amount you have to spend in cash so you are forced not to spend more than that. it's a humbling experience worth it to save your family money and stay on budget.

visit my other blog for Home School Moms:Home Schooling 4Him

Make sure to read the very first post: How to Live Debt Free with Christ

How to Save $50 a month on Cable

We saved $50 a month by cancelling our cable and switching to a roku device. I also recommend A ROKU device allows you to stream Netflix from your wi-fi and save the $50 or more a month for cable, you can also listen to music and watch other channels through the ROKU for only $50 at wal-mart or other stores, or you can pay $5 or less a month for 2 years is what we pay and then you own it through northland cable. 

Chromecast is another one that’s $35 and allows you to stream youtube to your tv, great for kids educational videos  and music. Now they also have an Amazon device for streaming movies from amazon which is $99. 

I have a list of what my toddler boys are watching from Netflix you can check out to see if it's worth the $10 a month. What's on our Netflix List

How do you save money around your home? I'd love to hear from ya.

God Bless! Kim

Make sure to read the very first post: Intro to Saving Money

Visit: 100 Ways to Save $100 a Year

Save $100 a month on Family Fun

For fun with kids here’s a few things we do and they all cost $10 or less for a family of 4: 

1. go bowling on $1 day with coupons for a free game we pay $5 that includes the quarters we use, my husband and me owns our own bowling shoes we bought on ebay for less than $20 each pair.which also saves money, 

2.eat out at McDonalds from their $1 menu and let the kids play on the inside play area we can spend about $10 

3. Sonic has specials ½ days on shakes and drinks we go for the shakes when they are half off and go to the one where they have an outdoor play area it's about $5 for 4 x-small shakes, 

4. take the kids to a different park each week and explore together as a family and bring a picnic, some kites, and bubbles and it will cost less than $10 for a day of fun

5. take them to the movies and go to the game room and play a few games make sure you set a budget limit and stick to it our boys love the game room at our theater. You could also go to the matinee or if you have $1 theaters in your town as an alternative to saving money or make some popcorn and watch a movie on netflix. 

these are some cheap fun ways to entertain the family. 

 

visit my other blog: Home Schooling 4 Him

Make sure to read the very first post: Introduction to Debt Free Living With Christ

How to Live Debt Free

FREE Resource #2:

Read this post first if you haven't: Introduction to Saving Money


If you want to know how to live debt free you are first going to need to know how to manage your money in an organized way that allows you to keep track and plan ahead of what money you earn and what money you spend this is called a Budget. I want to first praise God and Honor Him for helping me create this budget and sticking to it for my family. I am a homeschool Mom. I've been using this budget for about 2 years now and it's helped me alot stay on track. I'm considering creating Youtube videos that will be a step by step tutorial soon. I'll keep you posted!

How to Create a Budget:

Step 1: Make a list of your monthly bills in order of date due, with the balance owed. That’s 3 columns, with the title: (current month) Monthly Bills and update each month.

Date Due:	Bill Due:	Amount Due & Bal.:
1st	Credit card	$40-bal. =$200
4th	City bill	$80
6th	Electric	$150

Step 2: Take a separate sheet of paper or spreadsheet page and title: Month of  Budget at the top. Create 4 equal Columns. These will be titled by the week of your paycheck if you get payed bi-weekly make 2 columns if you get payed monthly one. First you enter your income, next of most priority is giving God His tithe and offering 10%+ we always take this out of the check and then with the total figure our budget. Prioritize: gas for car, food, diapers & formula, add home items such as t.p. and dish soap to your food budget anything you’re getting at the store like cat food, laundry soap, etc. this should be about the same every week. Next you have priority bills: what can wait, and what will have a late fee if a day late? Pay those first: loans, credit cards first, next is utilities these can be paid about 2 weeks later than the due date for city and electric, the cable internet at least ours is 3 days past due date, each bill should tell you when’s the max date before a late fee or cut off date, sometimes a $5 late fee is necessary to make your check stretch. Rent is next and ours can be payed 3-4 days past the due date we’ve payed all we could say $400 of $550 on the due date and next paycheck payed the balance without having to pay a late fee, but we never pay later unless absolutely necessary. You want to keep a good reference with your renter, creditors, etc. If you have to choose between paying a credit card or rent obviously pay your rent until you can catch up but don’t take out another loan to pay off the one just take the $25 late fee and pay the extra the next month or when you can. Here’s an example: this is for someone with a weekly payday on Friday.

Weekly Budget

4th	11th	18th	25th
Check: $500	Check: $456	Check: $475	Check: $456
Tithe/offering: $60	t/o: $50	t/o: $55	t/o: $50
Balance: $440	Bal. $406	Bal. $420	Bal. $406
Gas: $40	Gas: $40	Gas: $40	Gas: $40
Food: $100	Food: $80	Food: $80	Food: $80
Rent: $150	Diaper: $20	Rent: $150	Rent: $100=$550
City: $80	Rent: $150	Car loan: $150	Water: $45
Cell: $80	Credit card: $25	Credit card: $40	Car insurance: $50
-$10        Total: $450*	Total: $315 +91	Total: $460 -40	Total: $315 +91

Okay, for our rent I always divide by 4 and save that amount to get the payment of $550 a month. Make sure to add up total in each column to make sure you don’t go over the amount of your income balance.* In the example we are (-$10) or $10 over so you will need to adjust or make sure it can be covered from your balance which you can add but I suggest not adding so you don’t spend that money so you never spend over what’s in your account and you always have a positive balance. You could also just tithe but we always give at least a small offering of a few dollars or $5 and missions of $10-$20 a month. Tithing is important as a Christian and is necessary but that’s between you and God. I can testify He’s always provided when we tithe and I don’t question when He wants us to give someone some money I do it eagerly and obediently and when we’ve been in need people have blessed us sometimes before we had the need. Praise God! He’s showed me how to handle my money. Now it’s important to get those credit cards and loans paid off and don’t live off of them or you always will. Learn to live within your means and be content. This is what I’m learning as we pay off all our debt. If your income is less than your monthly needs then it’s time to pray for a raise or a second job or a better paying job, pray for what you need and watch God provide. Also, you may need to change your spending habits, switch to the cheaper brands, make your food at home, go on less trips to save on gas, learn to save money at the store, use coupons, shop at H-E-B they make it easy to save money, buy used at yard sales. You also need to save for emergency use such as car repairs- put aside any extra money and designate what you are saving it for and keep it in a savings account or in an envelope in safe keeping, (to date we haven’t been able to do this) but every time we've had an unplanned expense we've always had the money for it with my husbands pay check. Plan ahead so that you are in control of your money, also put aside money for entertainment purposes and try to keep $20- $30 in the bank each month. Switch to a free checking account; don’t pay money you don’t have too. Pray for wisdom, knowledge, and discernment in all your choices and God will lead the way for you to have a joy-filled life all the days of your life. Read the word every single day and pray for God’s plans.

Intro to Saving Money

Free Resource #1:

How to break the debt cycle n live content on-purpose. That's what my family is trying to do as a home-school mom with my hubbies income alone. we have now 10K in debt mainly student loans and another 7k in hospital bills, it's going to take being content to get this paid off, no beach trips instead we're going to stay in town and enjoy our back yard, local parks, and $1 menus at mcdonald's and 1/2 price shakes at sonic occasionally with lots of home-cooked meals. i'm struggling with this but i know that with God it's possible and we will be debt free! i know and have faith. being content is the answer. I thank the Lord for showing me this and giving me wisdom to make frugal choices so we can home school and be debt free too. Praise the Lord! How many moms agree?

The Lord has helped me so much with creating a budget and with shopping more wisely. He's put a desire in my heart to be thrifty and save money. He's given me the resources needed to learn how to make homemade laundry soap and cook meals at home. With the Lord all things are possible!! This blog is dedicated to Praising God for His Help in becoming debt-free. Only God will be glorified on this blog and He alone is my helper. We have come a long way in paying off our credit card debt and once we have all those payed off we can use that money to pay off our 2 big student loans which unfortunately most of the payments are going to interest. If you are considering taking out a student loan my best advice don't do it! It's taken me 4 years to pay only about $2500 by paying the minimum payment.

I've tried following the Dave Ramsey program and it didn't work and wasn't realistic for my family. I've also tried couponing the extreme way and different ways and that didn't work at all the way some of these woman portray it to. I do use coupons for cereal primarily and toothpaste. We use almost all off brands for everything accept my shampoo/conditioner I use Garnier or Suave with coupons if they are available and I do not stock up for the year accept on vitamins which I buy at CVS b1g1free.

Before my Salvation and faith in Christ I couldn't write or publish a book, I have published 2 now. Before Christ I never thought I'd be married and I didn't want to have kids. I now have been married for 4 years and love being a Mom to my 2 boys. I never cared about saving money before, in fact I would buy the expensive organic and health foods and now I love saving money on everything and buying at yard sales. I hope that this blog on being debt free with God's help will help and encourage someone.

Next, I will share How to Live Debt Free

Please also visit:100 Ways to Save $100 a Year