Your Grocery Bill

[FarmerChick]

I only had 1 and I loved the disposable diapers.

I laugh at all the stories Mom tells about having 3 in diapers....we were all 1 year apart. So when Rich finally got out of diapers Mom said 2 was a blessing! HA HA

She did all cloth...and yes she said we stunk up the house..HA HA HA...and the work with the cloth washings kept her jumping big time......honestly, I would not want to try that old time method..LOL

 

[the simple life]

I definitely didn't care for it myself, its hard too when you are so busy, why add to the workload by washing diapers if you don't have to.
Its fine for others but I sacrifice alot and disposable diapers weren't going to be one of them.
They make those diapers now that are suppose to be earth friendly and biodegrade, so even better.
I hear ya on your mom, its funny when one gets out of diapers you are like yippeee only two kids to change all day!
Loved it when they all toilet trained, and the youngest was trained really early so I told my husband we should give her a bonus or something for saving us money.

 

[BrookValley]

Oh, no love for the cloth diapers!! I only diaper in cloth. My son is 15 months old and we've only ever bought maybe 2 packages of disposables, for road trips, etc. I love my cloth diapers! It doesn't take me much time to wash them. Now if I had 2 or more in diapers, yes, I might change my tune!

There really aren't any good earth-friendly disposable options. But there are the lesser-of-two-evils options, for sure. Seventh Generation makes a more biodegradable diaper, but it still has the yucky toxic absorbent gel stuff. And then there's the gDiapers. Ew. Don't get me started on those. They are supposed to be flushable and compostable...they're really a disaster, and there's nothing environmentally friendly about them. There are a few other options out there, but I haven't seen them in our local stores yet.

Formula...That is crazy expensive! I breastfed. Still am, actually. It's worked out very well for us!

So, we didn't use formula and off the top of my head I think we've spent maybe $250-$300 total on diapering stuff. We also use cloth wipes, and I don't think that we'll need to buy any more cloth diapers for the babe. The savings there has helped us immensely.

I'm on a mission now to really buckle down and keep track of how much we spend at the store and reduce it as much as possible. It's become a game, and I'm really digging it. So far for the month of September I've spent $240. That's for me, my husband, and our little one (who obviously isn't accounting for too much of that yet). I probably won't have to spend too much more for the rest of the month--maybe just some produce and a few things that we might run out of. I'm expecting to keep that total under $300 for the month--at least, that's my goal. Last month I spent over $400 for the month, and that just wasn't cool!

Now I will shamefully admit that this past week we have eaten out a LOT. And I did not include that in my grocery total. We rarely eat out, I guess we have just been busy this past week and let it become easy to rely on...Chipotle is a big downfall of ours. We've also hit Panera twice, one of the local Mexican restaurants, and, er, Dunkin' Donuts more times than I care to admit (their iced coffee is like crack for me, darnit, I can't quit the stuff!!). This is highly unlike us and we won't let it become a habit--but I hate to let it happen all the same. I like to save eating out as a treat, not as a regular occurrence!

 

[FarmerChick]

Loved it when they all toilet trained, and the youngest was trained really early so I told my husband we should give her a bonus or something for saving us money.

********HA HA HA
I hear ya---the child deserves a bonus..LOL
the faster out of those diapers the savings is big on that grocery bill..LOL

 

[FarmerChick]

BrookValley
I have that problem too....eating out. I can go forever and not eat out and then boom, it seems like every meal is on the road somewhere. I hate when that happens. Travel for this, eat here, have to run and buy tractor parts far away, eat there....LOL...or just a day of local errand things I do in a circle to save gas, well, er, I blow that money on eating out cause it is easier..LOL

Then all of the sudden we don't eat out for a long time again????? Who knows this crazy pattern we adapted too but I have to cut those heavy eating out times cause the money is too much on the budget. Eating out can be so expensive so fast even when we share food or get the special or ?? Just seems the cost of that restaurant ticket goes higher and higher..LOL

I am just like you right now. I am seriously thinking of taking $80 ONLY and shopping. Just buy what exactly is needed for meals and see if I can do it for us and Nicole (3). I believe I could. I tend to buy 2 or 3 of something if on sale, saving money YET spending alot of money per week. So I thought if I just buy what is truly needed for the week I would think I could hold it to $80 easily......Hmmm...I shall see...LOL

the grocery game is fun and INSANE at the same time..HA HA HA

 

[heatherv]

and, er, Dunkin' Donuts more times than I care to admit (their iced coffee is like crack for me, darnit, I can't quit the stuff!!).

lol! I too am addicted to iced coffee (though haven't tried D.D.'s) I do know that you can buy Dunkin Donuts brand coffee at the grocery store now! Brew your own, and put it in a container in the refrigerator. When you're cravin' some, pour over ice! Or if you know you'll be running errands and will be tempted to stop and get one, make one ahead of time before you go, and put into an insulated cup! I've done that all summer, b/c if I didn't, I know I'd stop and buy one! Now I'm cravin' one! Oh, I go ahead and flavor mine how I like it before putting it into the container in the fridge. Then I can just pour over ice and it's immediately ready. DH has become addicted now that I'm making them at home, he likes mine better than getting them out... we don't like ours real sweet like alot of places make them.

Now about the diapers subject... ugh.. I am sooo glad that our 2yo was an early potty trainer! She's baby #5 in our family. I used cloth diapers for first 3... but then when baby #4 was born, life was too crazy, and DH was makin' good money, so I went to disposables most of the time. Then had two in diapers when baby #5 was born and that was not fun on the budget! She was day trained at 14 months, and fully potty trained at 17 months. She's 2.5 now and for the past couple months has regressed into bedwetting at night. I will not buy pull-ups (at least I keep telling myself that) but soaking through training pants and having to wash sheets/blankets/sometimes pillows every day to every other day is getting annoying. I keep hoping she'll get over it, SOON!

One thing I do when grocery shopping is always check the clearance racks first! I have gotten some great deals there! (esp. when you can get the item/s w/ a coupon) I got cereal for .40 C a box recently.

Also, our restaurant supply store has a clearance rack that businesses order items and they either don't want/need them, or it was the wrong item ordered and the store doesn't carry those items "on the shelf" so they discount them pretty good! I've gotten some good deals there! It's bulk purchases, but prices can't be beat!

 

[mgibbzzz]

I make my list and try to figure out what everything will be. I'm usually pretty good at getting the right total. I take about $10 extra and take only my list, cash and couplns. That way I'm not tempted to spend more/buy more than what is on my list.

 

[FarmerChick]

taking cash is a good way to stay on budget.....I got into the habit of swiping my credit card at the market...ugh...that surely can make that bill go higher and higher cause ya know you have unlimited money and that is not a good thing, it truly is not unlimited...LOL

I stopped doing that! Now it is cash and it makes a difference on how I fill up the cart....good point about cash!

 

[the simple life]

Unlimited money! I want that card.

 

[me&thegals]

One thing I try to do from time to time is really force myself to "shop" out of the pantry, canning shelves and freezer. Otherwise, I get stuck in buying more than I need just to make a certain few recipes I want to make. It helps to force myself to make substitutions or other recipes instead.