It's time to rethink, recalculate, and save with Simple Grocery Deals!
Throughout this site, I will share the strategies that I used to reduce our budget monthly grocery budget by almost $500 over the past few years. There have been several attempts at starting a budget and I often struggled to stick to a reasonable budget. Whether you are looking to start a budget or rework an existing one, Simple Grocery Deals can help you create a plan that works for you and your family.
Simple Grocery Deals is a grocery shopping blog that will help you successfully navigate the aisles of your local stores while saving time, money, and a little sanity, too!
Quick Facts About Me...
- We have 4 kids; b. 1999, 2006, 2011, 2012
- I've moved 14 times since first moving to NYC in 1991.
- 7 of those moves are after starting a family.
- Got our first car in December 2001!
- Our first child is at college! (as of August 25, 2017)
- We have 1 car, a 2007 Toyota Sienna with 81,000 miles!
Changing How I Shop has been a journey...
Over the years I felt like I was constantly shopping. However, it wasn't so bad when I could walk to the stores. Living in and around NYC, it was easy to shop on the way home from school and work, buying only what you could carry. That way of shopping continues as our family grew. Living within walking distance of a Trader Joe's, Stop & Shop, it was easy to pick up what I could carry and fit under the stroller, on the way home from dropping our oldest at school.
While I worked on the budget and was reducing the amount of money I spent on groceries slowly, I still lacked a shopping plan. I realized that I had to change the way I shopped in December 2015. I became that parent with the unruly children running up and down the aisles of Whole Foods that other shoppers looked at and rolled their eyes while thinking: (a) their children behave while out shopping; (b) their children are older, at home, or at school; or (c) I just reaffirmed one of their many reasons why parenthood may not be for them. I almost wish I could see the store's security footage from that day. By the end that trip I was exhausted and knew things had to change.
In 2016, I decided to start shopping on Saturdays. This is a schedule I followed for over a year. I shopped every other Saturdays after I dropped our oldest at the library. I was off to shop Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, and Costco at 10:00 AM and bring the groceries home before 1:00 PM. It was a bit chaotic but it worked for most of 2016. Although, with a few birthdays and sick kids earlier this year I shopped a few times during the "off" weeks.
Creating my shopping plan has been a long and challenging journey filled with several missteps through the years. With multiple stores and online marketplaces competing for our dollars, finding the best prices can take a bit of work but I didn't feel so bad spending extra money on organic produce and nitrate free deli meat every week. I would buy enough food to eat what we wanted to each shopping trip. Do I really need to eat a half or whole (depending on how sleep deprived I was) Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Bar a day? Probably not. In the past, I paid full price because I really wanted it that week. When we lived further away from some of our favorite stores, I would overspend.
To learn how I started my budget read the following post.