Grocery Budget Update

It's been a little while since I posted about how I'm doing with my grocery budget. I find that it is a lot of work to take pictures of each shopping trip and post about it each time so I won't be making a habit of it. I don't want my blog to be all about grocery store deals either. There are plenty of wonderful blogs that have that subject covered!

Since going back to really using coupons, I've been able to get so much more to stock my pantry. I've also been much more aware of what I'm adding to my grocery cart.

I'm still working on having everything planned out. This past month, I've done pretty well.

One thing I've noticed that helps me to stay within budget is to have very detailed lists with sale prices and coupons I have for each grocery store I'm visiting. On my last grocery trip, I only bought what was on my list at each store. At a few stores I found items that I needed marked down. I purchased them even if it wasn't on the list for that store but was cheaper than I had planned and then crossed them off my lists.

Aldi has great everyday prices but other grocery stores sometimes have sales that beat the Aldi prices by far. I'm making a habit to go to Aldi last and get the staples that I couldn't find cheaper elsewhere. I use Aldi prices as a guide for how much I will pay for a particular item.

The downside to using a lot of coupons means that I'm bringing more processed foods into my house. We are still eating pretty healthy but more processed foods than I would like. I am still working through that !

I admit that coupon shopping is a fun pastime for me. I enjoy seeing what coupons are available each week and then matching them up with sales to get things at the very lowest prices! I have so much fun going to CVS every week, too. So for now, I'm continuing to use coupons and still buy as much healthy foods as I can!

My rule is that I will buy the best I can afford on my budget. Sometimes that means organic and sometimes not. I just do what I can! I keep taking more baby steps towards a more natural and healthy lifestyle.

So that's what's happening in the grocery department around here!