It was a week full of traveling, work, and Christmas celebrations!  I was able to stay under budget and stock up on some goodies, including produce and other fridge & pantry products!  I am thankful that South Carolina does not have any tax on groceries, this is very beneficial when I am trying to stay within the grocery budget down for our family.  Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.

Ingles Groceries:

• $12.77 at Ingles for 1 fresh Cantaloupe, 1 bag Grapefruit, 2 bags Brussel Sprouts, 1 bag Broccoli, 1 bag carrots, 1 bag Peanuts, 1 jar Claussen Pickles, and 1 container Honey Ham.  (Everything I bought this week at Ingles was on sale, marked down, or on clearance.  All the produce including the huge bag of grapefruits were marked down to $0.99 cents! The ham was marked down and is perfect for making lunches, the Claussen pickles are my husband’s favorite pickles but I rarely buy them because they are so expensive but since they had one marked down I snagged one for him this week!)

Dollar Tree Groceries:

• $1.00 at Dollar Tree for 1 loaf Nature’s Own White Wheat Bread

Whole Foods Groceries:

• $2.14 at Whole Foods for 2 jars Tikka Masala Curry, 2 jars Korma Curry, and 2 jars Jalfrezi Curry.  (Used a coupon, part of a gift card, and they were on sale this week especially since I typically do not shop at Whole Foods since it is across town!  I was  SUPER excited to get six jars of curry for only $2.14.  Our family enjoys having curry every few weeks so this will come in handy, plus we have family coming to stay with us who loves curry too.  The only thing that I was really disappointed to see was that Whole Foods no longer carries the curry packs like they used to, either way I was still happy to get these for a little over $2!  The lady in front of me spent $194.00 which is more than my budget for the entire month on just a few things in her basket and the lady behind me wanted to know how I got all of this for so little.  Thankful for an opportunity to save AND share with others.)
  

This week I spent $15.91 on groceries.  Even though I was under on my budgeted amount for the week I was able to stock up on some items at the same time plus it allows me a little extra to spend next week if I find a great deal.  I was thrilled to stock up on produce as well as other great fridge & pantry items this week.  Now I am hungry for a “curry” dinner!  🙂  I hope that next week is better week and we can come under budget!

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.