Saving Inspiration

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One of the titles that inspired my saving money at the grocery store effort was Your Grocery Budget Toolbox by Anne Simpson.  I appreciated her focus on how to buy the healthiest food possible based on your budget. (I think if there were a Trader Joe's nearby, my grocery list would look very similar to hers.) Nutrition is a vital component in managing my Fibro symptoms, and I'm not willing to sacrifice all quality for the bottom line. I also like how her method acknowledges that coupons can be useful in saving money, they are not the basis for keeping your food budget under control.

She too is a proponent of Once A Month Shopping (OAMS), but makes weekly forays to get fresh produce and dairy. I may try this myself as I'm not sure I like the limits of buying produce once a month, at least until it is CSA season. DH didn't mind doing the weekly grocery shopping, so I'm sure he would be willing to continue with the job.

At any rate, check it out if you too are trying to stretch your money dollars. You can get some of the information in the book from her blog as well!

Saving Money at the Grocery Store

New year. New ideas. I've got plans, Baby!

Naturally, these plans cost money. It may surprise you to learn that I don't rake in big bucks as an early childhood educator. Big bonuses and hefty raises are not part of my foreseeable future, so in order to get the things I would like I need to stretch the money that does trickle in.

During my winter break I indulged in reading about saving money on groceries. The grocery store seems to eat a frightening amount of my paycheck, so it seemed a logical place to start. A common theme amongst the titles I read was the concept of Once A Month Shopping (OAMS). The theory being that we tend to spend money on unnecessary things each time we go to the store. The fewer times you go to the store, the fewer unnecessary purchases you make. It requires meticulous planning, an iron will, and some space in which to store your food. It sounded completely crazy, so of course I just had to try it.

Knowing my ability to over plan and over complicate, I made a menu for the month and jumped right in while I had the time and energy before classes resumed.

It was physically more challenging than I had anticipated. Those shopping carts can hold A LOT of food, and they can get heavy! It didn't take much more time than it takes me to do a weekly shop. (Fortunately I had the foresight to leave Turtle at home with DH, which helped speed the whole shopping process up considerably.) I can't imagine doing this on my own on a bad pain day. I expect once I get the hang of this I can plan well enough to delay the shopping a few days if I had to without running out of food.

It has only been a week, but it feels like we have barely made a dent in the food I brought home. So far, I have noticed that I am more conscious about making sure we are wasting as little food as possible. This may explain why it feels we have eaten so little of our stockpile -we're getting more miles out the food we prepare! The truly interesting time will be the end of the month. Will I have to break down and go to the store before the month is through, or will we be able to tough it out?  Stay tuned to find out!

What do you think -is OAMS something you would try?

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