Another week (actually 2 weeks in 1) of doing Groceries $40 for 4. It was a busy week of catching up after being away and since I had been traveling I did two weeks worth of grocery shopping this week. It felt great saving some of the grocery shopping cash since I was doing two weeks worth of shopping while stocking up on some items for our pantry. I mainly stocked up on diary items and fresh strawberries (we ate some, flash froze whole strawberries, and made some amazing Strawberry Jelly) this week. Below are my grocery shopping adventures for the week!

Groceries from Bi-Lo:

• $8.86 at Bi-Lo for 3 Gallons of Milk (each with a $1 or 2 – $1 Coupons on them), 2 packs of Cheese, and 2 packs of Yogurt. Plus I used a $5.00 Coupon Off a $10.00 Diary Purchase.

Groceries from Hunter’s Farm and :

• $8.50 at Hunter’s Farm for a gallon of Strawberries.  We picked the strawberries ourselves at Hunter’s Farm in Easley, SC, we definitely got our money’s worth on these with two little ones helping pick and eating a few strawberries in between picking!
• $8.00 at Sandy Flat for a gallon of Strawberries.  My sweet friend, Ashley from Reflecting on the Simple Things In Life, picked these up for me already since she is closer to Taylors picked so we  could make some delicious Strawberry Jelly!

Groceries from CVS:

• $1.78 at CVS for 2 – 2 liters of Mountain Dew.

Groceries from Bi-Lo:

• $17.23 at Bi-Lo for 2 gallons of Milk, 1 carton of Eggs, 1 Whipped Topping, 2 packs Danimals Yogurt, 2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup, 2 cans Shredded Chicken, 3 bags Shredded Cheese, 1 box of Lipton Tea Mix packs, 1 box of Propel packs, 1 box of  Snapple packs, 1 box Elbow Macaroni Noodles, 1 bag of Sucralose Sugar,  2 boxes of Laci Le Tea packs, and pack of 3 fresh Zucchini.

I am excited to be back doing our Groceries $40 for 4 budget again.  This week (2 weeks in one) we spent $44.37 on groceries so it was a pretty good week considering it was two weeks worth of groceries.  It was still hard to go $4 over the $40 amount but we need a few items for our fridge and pantry.  I was able to stock up on a few extra items this week, including some diary goods and I froze a couple more gallons of milk since they are discounted.

It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.

Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.