Like many others my big downfall is grocery shopping. Two growing young men to feed and I find myself totally disorganised on the shopping front. One week I menu plan, organise a home delivery, no impulse buys all sorted. Other weeks - like now - there is a long weekend approaching and we are down to nearly nothing, which means I will pop into local supermarket on my way home from work and spend £30 - on what ?
May and June will be tight, with utilities bills and car servicing. But having done a budgeting spreadsheet for the next year, this is going to be my final lean patch, by the beginning of July I'm going to be 75%out of the overdraft. August and September look decidedly less red and more pink :) I know I need to start an EF, but every penny is claimed until early Autumn.
So the only way to ensure I get this right is too stay on top of the grocery budget. Do a week in advance and stay that way.
I see plenty of menu ideas on the web, I am a real foodie- so lets get it on !
Perhaps you could fund your EF with "other" money. Personally, much of my EF has come from selling items no longer needed, odd jobs, and when I budgeted a certain amount for something and spent less. My goal is $2000 and in about 3 weeks or so I have saved $550. It might be a slower way but every little bit helps.
ReplyDeleteWhen we started our journey to debt free, I wanted to head off in so many directions at once. I made a list (oh how I love my lists!) of strategies I wanted to implement, and then picked the easier ones to start with, like no buying coffee outside the home, and making our own. Then after a couple of weeks, I started stocking up (a little) on things on sale like sugar or shampoo.
ReplyDeletetake things one at a time, and you will get where you want to be. Go slow, it reduces your risk of failure.
Thank you, both good ideas. Little Lamb, I do agree that the little extras I make from surveys, ebay sales etc could have their own little piggy back, perhaps online rather than real time.
ReplyDeleteAntie, funny how I do this anyway, always have backups of household essentials, toothpaste, olive oil etc...but I guess I could do the same with the freezer favourites .
thats great that your getting the overdraft down and you've got the spending all planned out!
ReplyDeleteI wish I could get into menu planning but I never seem to be able to stick to it.