A Month of Savings: Part 4

 

About a month ago my friend Michelle and I embarked on a plan to help save 50% on her grocery bill.  She's a super busy full time workng mom to 4 beautiful girls, and time and money are always in short supply.  Like most of us drowning in the waters of the current economic crisis, cutting bills and overall expenses is essential.  Aside from cancelling cable and cell phones, the grocery budget was an obvious starting point.

We designed a plan that included meal planning, coupon clipping, and building a stockpile.  If you'd like to catch up to speed, you can review the past posts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.  

After a whole month of working the plan, the final results are in: she shaved about 33% off her grocery bill in the first month!!  She went from spending $1,000 a month previously to just $669.00 this last month!  I am SO proud of her for working the plan as best she could (we live 1,200 miles away!) and for really giving this whole idea a shot.  Her reflections on this experience:

1. Menu planning is an essential part of adhering to a grocery budget

2. Coupons need to be paired with a sale in order to get the best final price

3. Brand loyalty is a thing of the past!

4. Building a stockpile is helpful, but hard to get started on a budget

5. When time is an issue, planning your shopping trip is KEY

6. A total grocery makeover is possible, but takes time

7. With a little effort, anything is possible!

I'm very excited about her progress and I'm pleased she's come this far.  We're working on shaving her budget even more, so I'll post a little update next month on how that's going.

I have had many people ask to be the next in line for a grocery makeover, so I'm going to offer to help someone else!  If you'd like to be the next participant, please email me at erica@5reasons2save.com with your name, family size, current grocery budget, and contact info.  In order to do this, we'll need to spend a little time on the phone working out your familys' needs, likes, and favorite meals.  It's a little time consuming to get started but I guarantee it'll be worth it when you see your grocery bill next month!  Please let me know by Monday March 8, 2010 if you'd like to participate.

Thank you, and I look forward to working with someone else!