How I Spend $40 a Week

I frequently hear people complaining about grocery shopping. A common complaint is that people hate that they have to spend so much every week on food. They'll gladly hand over $100 a month to pay for their premium cable, but they feel their wasting money at the grocery store because once they eat the food it's gone and you always need more.

I guess I have a different view. I think it's totally possible to eat well without feeling like you've just written a mortgage check over to the grocer. For me it's fun, I enjoy looking at my receipt and seeing how much I've saved. I love it when I get a cart load of food and only have to pay $20. That's kind of why I started this blog. I feel like couponers get a bad rep sometimes, like if you use coupons and shop smart than your family must be eating junk all the time.... surviving on hamburger helper and frozen pizzas. And that is just not true. I find coupons for things like organic milk, bread, eggs, fruit, vegetables, even meat sometimes. And it's really not that hard.

For me before I started this project, I was probably spending about $70 a week. To a lot of people this probably seems like a small amount, but it worked for us. But I knew I could do better. So like you've read, I decided to challenge myself. It took me a while to decide on an amount. I wanted a number that was possible, but still difficult. I also wanted it to be something that anyone else could do, if they put a little effort into it. So $40 a Week Mom was born.

Now, if you only have a bottle of ketchup and gallon of milk in your fridge, you're probably not ready to start the challenge. You need a well stocked pantry to be able to do this. By well stocked, I don't mean you have enough food to feed a large army, but you should have the essentials on hand. I try to keep the things I know my family will use in stock so that I'm not forced to go out and pay *gasp* full price!! I don't have a ton of space, l have a normal fridge (the kind with the freezer on top) and a pantry the size of an average closet, so I tend to keep 2-3 of my favorites in the pantry. And I keep the freezer full. Your families essentials are likely different than mine. I try keep things like rice, white sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, canned chicken stock, beans, and baking ingredients on hand. That way I don't have to buy them every week, and I can wait till there is an awesome deal and stock up.

A key to getting the best prices is to combine coupons with a sale. That way you can save even more. It's easy for me to get things for free or for pennies this way. I do sometimes get things for free that my family will not eat.... tuna, pasta, ect., I still buy it and pass it along to others who would use it. I spend about an hour a week looking at the store circulars in my area, finding coupon matchups, and writing my list. I buy 2 newspapers per week, and I'm also starting to buy All You magazine for all the coupons in it (available by subscription and at Walmart only). To me spending that time really pays off. I easily save $75 a week in coupons, well worth the time I spent.

I'm still trying to perfect my $40 a week plan. It's taking some getting used to. I find myself thinking more about each purchase, trying to make sure I don't go over. And that's what I wanted, I guess. I wanted to be more aware of what I was buying, more aware of my spending, and I guess it's working...