Now this is not about to be a confession, "I am a food hoarder", but I realized recently how much food and money we were wasting in my house. Every time I would come home with a load of groceries I would see how much food we actually had in our cabinets, most of which, I am embarrassed to admit, had been sitting there for quite a while. So, last weekend before I made my weekly shopping list I purged my kitchen. There were items in there that I would constantly say to myself, "Oh yeah I still have 'that', I should use it soon". Well, little did I realize it but I had been saying that for a while because some of the items you see in the picture above expired last year...eeeek!
Now, everyone I am sure can open a cabinet or their fridge and find an item or two that has been sitting there for a while, whether it be expired or not. I know that I am not the only one out there, but with our financial state not so great I have no excuse but to be better about what is circulating through my kitchen. So, I have made it my new mission to only buy what I truly need and each week when planning meals, I need to take a look at what I already have and also what may be expiring soon then plan my meals. Duh!..I know right? Common sense....I fall short of this some times.
My other goal, which right now I am having trouble with, is to be using more coupons and watching sales. I envy my fellow mom friends who can find the best bargain on just about anything. Those extreme couponers that you see on TV, yeah they may be a little obsessive, but there are definitely tips and tricks to be learned by even the average frugal mom. So this is my plea for help. I need help learning how to plan my weekly shopping around sales, deals and coupons. My pathetic attempt to search the web for coupons came up empty this past weekend. I was looking for specific items that I had on my list...didn't work. Even my husband will tell you that I squeak when I walk so if some how I could be shown the right way to do it then I know I could be saving my family a lot of money. I would appreciate any advice I can get.
Ok, so this box of Swiss miss has been sitting in my cabinet for atleast as long as we have lived in my house, 2 1/2 years. It could also be from before we even moved in here. The problem is no where on this box can I find any kind of date, whether it be from when it was packaged or expires. Does this mean it never expires? Needless to say this box is now residing in my trash barrel, but I found it very odd to not find an expiration date on it. Even water has an expiration date these days!
I shop on Monday or Tuesday nights and I take a look at what we already have in the house. Then I go through the circular and plan my shopping list and dinners for the week based on what's on sale. With the help of pinterest and google I am doing much better at coming up with recipes. We also have restricted ourselves to take out 2 nights a week at the most and everything else has to be food that I bought at the store.
ReplyDeleteI also try to avoid impulse buys. I have to really think critically, will we/should we eat that? If I have any doubts I skip it.
I also want to start using coupons for things like bathroom items, paper towels, etc.
It's a learning curve but it pays off! We also decided to stick to a grocery budget and whatever's leftover after shopping goes into savings.
I would love to hear other people's tips and tricks too!
I try to use coupons, but then I forget to bring the coupon file in the store and I'm usually in too much of a hurry to go out to the car and get. LOL!!! Even with using the coupons, make sure you only use coupons on items that you know you will use. Don't forget coupons are also an invitation to buy something you don't need or may not use and people buy it just because it's such a good deal. Couponsuzy.com is a good website to use for coupons. Just try to avoid cutting the coupons that might be that invitation to buy things you don't need. You can save a good amount of money as long as you plan accordingly.
ReplyDeleteI have no loyalty to a certain grocery store, so I look through all the flyers and go with the store that has the best deals on what we need. Walmart will always have the lowest prices on dry goods/can goods, their produce and meat department isnt as good as a regular grocery store. couponsuzy.com is good place to search for coupons. And I always comparsion shop the buy 1 get 1 sales. For example Shaw's will have that sale on ice cream and it will be 5.99, where at Walmart will have the same ice cream regularly priced for 3.00. Meal planning always helps so you don't get buy stuff you don't need. And lastly, buy generic, no one can tell the difference between generic butter and land o lakes. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteThere are a ton of coupon site, but I would recommend becoming friends with The KrazyCouponLady on FB or checking out her website. She will keep you informed on deals at grocery stores and places like CVS and Walgreens. She also has links directly to coupon sites. I am still working on keeping a budget and actually using stuff I have in the cabinets. I have found things in the house that I know I took from the last place we lived and moved it over when we built the house! We, as a society, use way too much. Good luck!
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