Great Grocery Success!

We've started a new system of tracking our expenses in this household. When we purchase something, we place the receipt in a big folder. Then, at the end of the month, I calculate the expenses and categorize them. We then see, at a glance, how much we've spent. There are websites to help with this, such as mint.com, but they have flaws. I don't like to use them because they don't provide an accurate picture of your finances. Here's why:

• expenditures are not always categorized correctly
• debit purchases do not appear immediately
• purchases at whole foods are not necessarily food and etc...

Anyways, I just like doing the calculations by hand. This month, I really strapped down and wanted to see how little I could spend grocery shopping. As of today, I've spent $150.00! I don't think I'll have to spend more than $20 this month...that would be $170.00 for the entire month! Half of that (at least) was organic. It just goes to show you, that a little planning (and a lot of eating leftovers) goes a long way! This was including my special Valentine antipasto platter and all of our Valentine treats.

I think I will write a post on grocery strategies to keep the bill on the down LOW, but I wanted to come on really quickly and share how everyone in Boston can have the same grocery success that I've had this past month! I fed 2 people 3 meals a day and entertained for dinner at least twice. That's an average of $42.50/week. Nice job, Taylor!