Milking the Budget
My strategy for getting food budget under control without sacrificing quality, Fair Tradiness, Organiciness…or cheese… will be have to be simple…narcoleptic cat simple. I know myself…I won’t be clipping ads from papers or keeping track of coupons for 7 cents consistently…I need something much more streamlined, organized, and consistent…and did I mention narcoleptic cat simple.
The Plan…
1. Collect receipts for a month of all food
2. Compare prices between stores…especially for the basics
3. Create an *envelope, repurposed from junk mail/bills of course, for each store I shop at with a list of the items that are found cheapest in that store, along with the price. If I happen to have a coupon for that item or store I can slip it into the envelope. Clip the wad together. Wallllllaaaaaaa. Moron proof budget organization!
*(I use the used envelope method now for my general shopping list…very helpful. Great reuse before recycle too!)
I think even I, the leader of the organizationally challenged, could do this and have it be effective. I have already discovered by glancing over the receipts that by consistently shopping at Trader Joe’s for some basics over Stop & Rob,the local Quickie Marts, or my health nut shops I could be saving quite a lot of money without sacrificing the core quality issues.
Organic Milk…$30 savings per month
Organic Fair Trade Coffee…$16
Organic Yogurt…$5
So simply by being more organized about my shopping I could be saving $51 dollars a month..over $600 a year on 3 measly items! That’s a lot of stinky cheese. Hmmmmmm stinky cheese. The potential savings thrill me and at the same time make me say…WTF have I been doing all this time? Ok…enough focus on my financial incompetence… back to my happy place……cheeeeeese. Now whatever will I do with all this extra money in the budget?