Living on Less

Farm Fresh Food

One year ago the business I worked for closed and I had a choice to make.  I could file for unemployment and look for another job or I could stay home.  I chose the latter. I was ready to do something that I had always wanted to do which was to be a homemaker.

It was a decision that wasn’t made overnight as I had several months’ warning of the possible closure and loss of my job, unlike many people who have gone to work and been told on the spot that they were being laid off.  I did know that in order to live on one income I had to make some drastic changes in my attitude to money.  I’m not going to be misleading as my husband has a good job and makes a good income.  However, no matter what your family income is, it takes quite an adjustment when you lose a big chunk of it.

Since this is a weekly column, I will be sharing what I have learned and how being frugal has helped our family to live on less or in my case, to live on one income.  I should make one thing clear, being frugal and saving money is hard for me.  It isn’t in my nature.  I like to buy stuff and spend money so I have had to really work at this.

As soon as I knew I was losing my job, I began to look at the areas of our household budget that I could reduce spending.  The first area that I looked at was groceries and in many households this is the area where you can get the most savings immediately.

I make up the majority of our meals from what is on sale which leads me to Rule Number 1:  know when a sale is a sale.  Just because something is listed in a grocery sales flyer, does not mean that it is a good sale price.  I started to track the prices of the majority items that I purchased and by doing this I gained an advantage in my grocery shopping.  I know when, for example, peanut butter is at a great sale price and only then do I purchase it and in bulk.  You can keep a “price book” and list the majority of items you buy at a store and their price and you will gain this knowledge over time.

I take my grocery receipts each week and enter them into a spreadsheet that I have created for tracking grocery prices.  I enter in the item description, the date, the store name, the item amount, whether it was a sale or not, any coupons or store discounts used and finally the total amount spent.  From this spreadsheet I am able to easily keep track of my grocery spending, keep track of prices and also track when items go on sale.

This leads me to Rule No. 2.:  buy items on sale in bulk.  I have found that certain items go on sale every few weeks so I purchase these items in bulk when they go on sale with the intent of purchasing enough to get me through to the next sale.  At first this may be a little overwhelming, but if you are careful about what you purchase in those first few weeks and plan your menus from the sales, you are able to free up some money to put towards your bulk sales purchases.  Each time there is a great sale, buy some sales items in bulk.  If you are able to free up a few dollars each week towards bulk purchases, you will save a lot of money in the end.

The key to saving money on groceries is to plan ahead, make up your menus from what is on sale, know your prices and buy in bulk.  Right now I can tell you the sale prices of hamburger, chicken, steak, peanut butter, cheese, bread, cereal and more.  I buy the majority of my groceries at a rock bottom sales price and I buy in bulk.  I have a pantry set up in my basement that has quite a sum of canned goods, cereals, flour, sugar and more.   I also have a freezer full of meat.  Because I have a stocked pantry and freezer, I can, if need be, only buy perishables and live entirely out of the pantry and freezer for several weeks.  When an extra expense arises, I can divert any budgeted grocery money to that expense and use up the contents of our freezer and pantry.

All of this was possible by knowing when a sale is a sale and by buying in bulk and it was accomplished on a reduced grocery budget.  Using these two “rules” alone has lowered my grocery bill, but I have a third rule which is to use coupons matched up with sales to get the most for my money.

Next week I will discuss using coupons, organizing your coupons and “The Grocery Game.”

If you have any questions, please e-mail info@oskynews.org.