Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Resolution Update: The Shopping

I have to say this is one of the resolutions that has made the biggest difference in my life. It's given me more time and relieved daily stress. I don't know why it takes me until I'm 40 to learn simple things, but it does. Here's my new system:
1. Sunday evening I plan a menu for the week. I admit that I don't necessarily follow. Sometimes pasta just doesn't sound good or whatever. But, I know that I have 6 or 7 meal plans w/ the ingredients in the house. No more 4:30 PM panic. Also because I plan Sunday evening, the family is around and I can take suggestions.
2. I have appreciated the tips on orgjunkie.com
and I like her printables
because of their simplicity.
I print her Menu Planner Template on the front page and her grocery list template on the back using a single sheet of paper.
There is a grocery list on the Menu Planner, but I use that for my other stops. My family really likes the wheat sandwich bread at Bun Basket so I had that on my list.
I like the Grocery List because it makes it fast! I go isle by isle instead of wandering around the store forever like I used to.
3. I am able to save quite a lot of money. C is now taking lunch from home everyday which he told me will save us $1,200 this year! That's big! In addition to that, he says he's too old for even Subway and the idea of the other fast food places around his work is very unappealing. We are too old for fast food on any kind of regular basis.
4. My shopping list doesn't look very large. There's a reason. I try to use and rotate my food storage and so a lot of the ingred. for my chosen recipes are in the storage. But, I spend about $40 replacing and adding to my storage by looking for good deals on items we need and use. This week I bought 2 cases of diced tomatoes and a case of beans at Bowman's case lot sale along with a few other random items equaling about $40. This is helping the build up the storage quickly and giving me added peace of mind.
I know I should have learned this 20 years ago, but I didn't. Still, I'm glad I've learned it now.

3 comments:

Maria said...

Tiffany- I try and do this as well. It makes such a difference! I also try and plan out 2 weeks in a go so I only have to go to the store 2 times a month for a big shop. I have also started couponing and it has saved us so much $$ as well as build my food storage! I love the templates though and am happy to know where to get them! Thanks so much.:)

Janice said...

You have motivated me to be better at this. We are eating out less but I still have the 4:30 pm panic but it is at 10:00 am because unless I know what we are having by 10:00 am, we usually end up eating out.

Jennie said...

I love it Tiff. We must be on the same wave length. We are doing the same things around our house. Back to basics, right? :) See you soon.