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My #1 Tip for Trimming Grocery Spending

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If you’ve read my blog, you’ve probably heard me say that our bills may not be negotiable, but our grocery receipts usually are. When finances are tight, often the only area we can control is our food spending. My #1 tip for trimming grocery spending is an easy one: Serve simple, frugal, scheduled meals. Don’t let a small grocery budget make you think you can’t feed your family well! Please welcome Heather from My Overflowing Cup for today’s post.

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31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending: Day 1

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Do you feel like your grocery spending is out of control? I am hosting a 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending challenge. Every day this month, I will post one simple challenge to help you get control of your grocery spending. I promise you the challenges will not be overwhelming, but instead simple changes and habits to change the way we shop for groceries. First, we need to determine how much are you currently spending on groceries each month.

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How to Slash your Grocery Spending in 31 Days

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There is one place to look for extra money that maybe you haven’t considered–your groceries. If you don’t know what you spend each month on groceries, I encourage you to keep a tally for a month to give you an idea. You might be surprised and realize that YES, it would be possible for you to slash your grocery spending and still eat well. Slashing your spending doesn’t mean you’ll be noshing on ramen noodles either.

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Day 17 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Store Brand vs. Name Brand

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Day 17 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Compare Store Brand vs. Name Brand. Buying store brand products is one of the easiest ways to save money on groceries. Personally, I purchase a lot of store brand products and it is a strategy that you should consider too as you’re trying to slash your grocery shopping. My main grocery store is Giant Food Stores and I have rarely had a problem with the quality and/or taste of Giant store brands.

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Day 23 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Bread Outlet Stores

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Day 23 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Shop at a Bread Outlet. They regularly stock English Muffins, sandwich thins, flat bread, kaiser rolls, hamburger rolls, hotdog rolls, tortillas, baked goods, snack foods, and more at prices of up to 50% off or more of the grocery store price. The best sale price I’ve seen at the grocery store is about $2.99, so the price is pretty good at the outlet store! 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending

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Day 21 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Weekly Recap

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Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. The post Day 21 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Weekly Recap appeared first on Family Balance Sheet. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery SpendingToday is Day 21 and I’m recapping the week’s menu and my shopping trips. This Week’s Dinners: Monday : Pasta with clams & fresh tomatoes and spinach & strawberry salad.

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Day 9 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Grocery Apps

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31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. Today is Day 9 and your assignment: Save money and earn cash back with grocery apps. If you have not tapped into cash back grocery apps , you are missing out on easy money. I was resistant at first to try grocery apps, but my tune changed when I was able to transfer a total of $25 from ibotta and Savings Star to my Paypal account after I gave them a test run. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending

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Day 19 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Save Money on Meat

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Day 19 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Saving money on meat. Meat is one of the more expensive items on a grocery list, so I’m always trying to get more bang for my buck in the meat department. I have an eagle eye for yellow stickers and I scour the sales flyers, but there are many other ways I save on meat that will surely help you slash your spending in the meat department. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending

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Day 15 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Plan this Week’s Meals

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31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. Meal planning is really the cornerstone of smart grocery spending. When you walk in the grocery store with a plan, you will avoid duplicate and impulsive purchases, but walk away with enough food to get you through until your next planned trip. You’ll spend about 30 minutes each week planning your meals, but that time will make your grocery trips go much smoother. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spendin

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Day 11 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Avoid One Use Disposables

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My grocery budget doesn’t just include food, but also household goods, paper products, and cleaning supplies which unfortunately can take up a chunk of the budget. Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. The post Day 11 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Avoid One Use Disposables appeared first on Family Balance Sheet. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending

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Day 20 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Stock up on holiday sales

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31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. Today is Day 20 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Pre-Holiday Grocery Sales. Grocery stores completely capitalize on this and offer super low prices on holiday favorites in the weeks leading up to the holiday. Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending

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Day 8 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Plan this week’s meals

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31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. Meal planning is really the cornerstone of smart grocery spending. When you walk in the grocery store with a plan, you will avoid duplicate and impulsive purchases, but walk away with enough food to get you through until your next planned trip. You’ll spend about 30 minutes each week planning your meals, but that time will make your grocery trips go much smoother. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spendin

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Day 2 of 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending: Organize your kitchen pantry

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Welcome to 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. I can hear your sighs of dread now, but trust me, disorganization = disaster when it comes to our grocery spending. Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. The post Day 2 of 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending: Organize your kitchen pantry appeared first on Family Balance Sheet. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending

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Day 6 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Shop the Clearance Section

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31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. Don’t be afraid of the clearance section at the grocery store. At my main grocery store, all of the clearance is marked with bright yellow stickers. Find out your store’s policy on clearance groceries being stacked with manufacturing and store coupons. Shopping the clearance section is essential for slashing your grocery budget. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending

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Day 14 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Weekly Recap

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Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. The post Day 14 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Weekly Recap appeared first on Family Balance Sheet. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery SpendingToday is Day 14 and I’m recapping the week’s menu and my shopping trips. This Week’s Dinners: Sunday: We went to our favorite local pizza/sub shop for lunch with my parents and grandmother.

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Day 5 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Create back up meals

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31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. When I get in this lazy …let’s go with exhausted…mood, I have been known to call for take out, or pick up a pizza, or make an impulsive trip to the grocery store. Your assignment is to plan some basic back up meals of your own and put those ingredients on your next grocery list. Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily.

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Day 7 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Weekly Recap

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31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. The post Day 7 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Weekly Recap appeared first on Family Balance Sheet. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery SpendingToday is Day 7 and I’m recapping the week’s menu and my two shopping trips.

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Day 3 of 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending: Organize your Refrigerator/Freezer

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31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending. Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. The post Day 3 of 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending: Organize your Refrigerator/Freezer appeared first on Family Balance Sheet. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery SpendingToday is Day 3 of the challenge and your assignment: Clean and Organize the Refrigerator and Freezer. YAY!!!

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Day 10 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Plan a Freezer Cooking Session

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How Freezer Cooking Save you Money and Time: There is some time involved upfront with grocery shopping and prepping the meals for the freezer, but it saves considerable time when you are planning your weekly menu and the night that you are serving the freezer meal. It also prevents me from making impulsive trips to the grocery store or calling for take out. Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily.

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Day 22 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Plan this week’s meals

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Day 22 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Plan this week’s meals and shopping trip. Meal planning is really the cornerstone of smart grocery spending. When you walk in the grocery store with a plan, you will avoid duplicate and impulsive purchases, but walk away with enough food to get you through until your next planned trip. The goal is to make just one grocery trip a week, so be very thorough.

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Reduce Your Grocery Spending Without Sacrificing Quality | 31 Days to Find $1000

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If there is one line item in everyone’s budget that can get out of control it is groceries. It is so easy to walk into the grocery store with an idea of what you will spend, walk out with a bill that is double and get home to discover that you have nothing to eat. Groceries can get out of control fast, but all it takes for you to get your grocery spending in line with your budget is PLANNING. Reduce Your Grocery Spending WITHOUT Sacrificing Quality.

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Day 18: 9 Easy Places to Find Grocery Coupons

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Day 18 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Coupons! Coupons are an easy way to reduce your grocery bill. The good news is that coupons are very easy to find and you don’t need to spend loads of time clipping them to slash your grocery spending. There are two types of grocery coupons and it’s important to know the difference between the two. 9 Places to Find Grocery Coupons. Grocery Apps. I love grocery apps.

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This Week’s Grocery Recap 05.28.16

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Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. The post This Week’s Grocery Recap 05.28.16 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery SpendingThis Week’s Shopping Trips: I misplaced my receipt for the shopping trip below, but it was in the high 80’s. I also stopped by BJ’s and picked up a 12 pack of Annie’s Organic Mac-n-cheese and a 13.5 lb bag of baking soda, total spent $18.60.

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How to Save Money on Groceries

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Are you spending more at the grocery store lately? Rising prices are affecting everyone’s bank account, and groceries are leading the way. Everyone is trying to figure out how to save money on groceries! How to Save Money on Groceries.

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How to Use Pinterest to Save Money on Groceries

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This post is Day 12 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. I have caught myself spending way too much time perusing the pins and boards in awe the laundry room as big as my living room and the Frozen birthday party ideas that must have taken 4 months to plan, but for the most part it has been a huge asset in my money-saving tool box. How to Use Pinterest to Save Money on Groceries. Pinterest is A Gold Mine for Money Saving Grocery Tips.

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Day 4 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Budget: Pantry Challenge

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31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. This week’s meal plan should already be complete–that was Day 1’s assignment–so we will use these meal ideas on Day 8 when we plan next week’s menu and grocery list. Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. The post Day 4 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Budget: Pantry Challenge appeared first on Family Balance Sheet.

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Day 16: How to Stop Food Waste in the Kitchen

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Day 16 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Avoid Food Waste. If you’re following along with the 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending , then you will remember, disorder = disaster. Could it add up to a month’s worth of your groceries? Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. ** Source. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending

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Introducing the 2014 Grocery Budget Challenge

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Are you spending more on groceries every month than your budget allows? Would you like to reduce your grocery spending? Are you an impulsive grocery shopper? The grocery bill can get out of control for me if I’m not careful. In fact, when I looked back on our spending in 2013, I was surprised at how much we spent on groceries–about $7600 for the year or $634 a month for my family of four.

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How to Save Money on Groceries

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Looking for ways to save money on groceries? Groceries is one budget category that can get out of control very quickly. However, groceries is also an easy budget category to control, but it takes some planning, skill, and organization. Personally, if I don’t make a shopping list and plan my meals, my grocery budget is toast. These are strategies I use weekly to keep my grocery bill in line with our budget. How to Save Money on Groceries.

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Day 25: How to Save Money on Produce

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Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery SpendingFruits and vegetables are such an important of our daily diet. So it’s important to. Smart Tips to Save Money on Produce. If organic produce is important to you, joining a CSA will be a very cost effective option. garden. Look for Marked Down Produce. Buy In Season. local farmer’s markets. You Pick. freeze when on sale.

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The Final Grocery Budget Challenge Post

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Back in January I introduced the 2014 Grocery Budget Challenge. I really wanted to reduce our grocery spending for my family of 4 from the average of $634 a month in 2013 to a budget of $450 a month in 2014. It was a bold goal to reduce our spending by so much and I knew I would have to be very diligent with my meal planning. So I started the challenge to be more accountable and to be creative with our meals and grocery shopping so that we do not over-spend.

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Grocery Budget Challenge | February Meeting

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The Goal of the Grocery Budget Challenge is to be creative with our meal planning and grocery shopping so that we do not over-spend. Lately when I see my bill at the check out, I’m shocked at how few groceries are actually going home with me. O n the 30th of each month, between January and November in 2014 , we will meet here to discuss our challenges and successes for the month with our grocery budget. Action Step 1 : Plan your grocery budget for March.

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Day 24: How to Save on Organic Food

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Day 24 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending: Save on Organic. I work weekly to adhere to our grocery budget, so I am always looking for ways to save money on organic food. It is possible to buy organic foods even on a strict grocery budget and here are my best tips. This is a fantastic way to buy locally grown organic produce directly from the farmer and usually at prices below what you’ll find at a grocery store.

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Day 13: How to Batch Cook Ground Meat & Sausage

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This is day 13 of 31 Days to Slash your Grocery Spending. Meat is one of the more expensive items on my grocery list, so when I stumble on a great deal or markdown , I stock up. Also bookmark the 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending category page so you can check in daily. 31 Days to Slash Your Grocery Spending Freezer Cooking

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Grocery Budget Challenge | July & August

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The Goal of the Grocery Budget Challenge is to be creative with our meal planning and grocery shopping so that we do not over-spend. Lately when I see my bill at the check out, I’m shocked at how few groceries are actually going home with me. On the 30th of each month, between January and November in 2014 , we will meet here to discuss our challenges and successes for the month with our grocery budget. How I Spent $425 on Groceries in March.

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Grocery Budget Challenge | September & October

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The Goal of the Grocery Budget Challenge is to be creative with our meal planning and grocery shopping so that we do not over-spend. Lately when I see my bill at the check out, I’m shocked at how few groceries are actually going home with me. On the 30th of each month, between January and November in 2014 , we will meet here to discuss our challenges and successes for the month with our grocery budget.

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Free 2013 Grocery and Coupon Savings Spreadsheet

Couponing 101

One very important part of couponing is tracking how much you are spending and saving. Hopefully you have a general idea of how much you spent on groceries pre-couponing, but even if you don’t, tracking your spending can be extremely beneficial. I have created this awesome and SIMPLE spreadsheet to use to track your grocery spending and savings! You need to save your receipts every time you buy groceries.

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Free 2012 Grocery and Coupon Savings Spreadsheet

Couponing 101

One very important part of couponing is tracking how much you are spending and saving. Hopefully you have a general idea of how much you spent on groceries pre-couponing, but even if you don’t, tracking your spending can be extremely beneficial. I have created this awesome and SIMPLE spreadsheet to use to track your grocery spending and savings! You need to save your receipts every time you buy groceries.

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Ten Paper Products To Cross Off Your Grocery List | Kitchen Economics Link Up

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Are you looking for more ways to trim your grocery bill? Try replacing some paper products on your list with cloth and re-usable products that you probably have around the house and you will not only reduce your grocery spending, but you will also reduce your waste. Even though we try to use cloth grocery bags, we still end up with some plastic. Are you trying to run a more 'green' household?

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3 Monthly Expenses to Reduce Without Feeling a Sacrifice

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Groceries. In 2013, our average monthly grocery spending was $635. I knew I could do better, so in January 2014, I made a commitment to reduce our grocery spending, but not sacrifice the quality of food and meals that I fed my family. Since January, our average grocery spending has been $450 a month just by being more disciplined and diligent with my planning. Are you looking for more ways to cut your monthly expenses?

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8 Action Steps for a Frugal February!

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The goal of Frugal February is NOT to feel deprived, but rather to find creative ways to get through the month without unnecessary spending. 8 Action Steps for a Frugal February: 1 – Write a budget/spending plan for February. One month in for the year!

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New to Couponing? It Doesn't Have To Be Extreme

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My humble coupon case: If you are new to couponing or even the subject of saving money on groceries, watching TV shows, like Extreme Couponing on TLC, can be overwhelming or intimidating. I guess it is possible to buy hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of groceries for pocket change, but nobody needs 62 bottles of mustard.or I use coupons but they are not my only method to reducing our grocery spending. Grocery Budget Saving Money - In the Kitchen

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Our 2023 Financial Goals

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Plan our Spending. By planning our expenses each month to predict cash flow, I hope to avoid impulsive purchases and reduce some spending. After our mortgage, grocery spending is our next largest expense. I spent about $870/month on groceries.