A Money Saving Tip!

I’m so overwhelmed with all the love and support I’ve received since my last post. I have amazing friends and family and I wanted to thank you for being there for me throughout my struggles. It’s my hope that through sharing my life’s ups and downs, I can inspire and encourage others to push through their own struggles and succeed. Thank you all so much!

One thing that my husband and I have been trying to do is save money. We’ve been very good about budgeting since we got married. We have looked at our budget and have come up with a few places we could trim some of our spending so we can save up faster for our future house.

We found that we could definitely save on the amount we spend each month on groceries. One thing I started at the beginning of the year was meal planning. In January and February we saved $100 on average. That’s a lot of money when you are saving up for a house! (That would be a savings of $1,200 a year!) One month I didn’t create a meal plan and ended up spending almost $200 over budget because I didn’t know what to cook, so we ate out more. That is not good, health and budget wise! So I thought I’d share with you the way that I plan out meals.

First, I make a list at the end of the month of what we have left over in our fridge, freezer and pantry. Then I go through the weekly ads for our local stores. One of my favorite places to shop is the local farmers markets. I always get great deals, delicious produce and I get to support our local farmers!

After going through the ads and what we have left in our kitchen, I look at recipes in cookbooks and on Pinterest. I look for recipes that will help me to use up the food that we have left in our kitchen as well as the food that is on sale in the ads.  This past month I decided to make it a “Pinterest recipe” month. Every night except for a select few (like Taco Tuesdays) I’m going to make a new recipe from Pinterest.

Next, I make a list of what each recipe requires. I look at what we have in the kitchen and write down the things we don’t have and need to complete each recipe. Most of the time I cut the recipes in half because there are only two of us, that was I avoid dealing with tons of leftovers (which we usually don’t eat) and have just enough for the two of us. That also saves a lot of money. You can also make the full recipe and freeze the leftovers for another dinner in the future.

After I write down the items we need I make a list for each store I will shop out. Sometimes I shop at three or four different stores in order to get the best deals. I used to use coupons, but it is really hard to coupon well with all the restrictions here in Southern California! I find that I save a good chunk of money if I shop at different stores for specific foods. I know that this could be inconvenient for many people, but I’m lucky to live within 5 miles of each store I shop at.

 I buy everything we need at the beginning of the month, except for produce. I buy produce bi-weekly. By buying the produce bi-weekly we use it all up before it goes bad and then we’ll have fresh produce for the next weeks.

After I go shopping, I cut up the produce, meat, and other products up and put them into bags with the amount that I will need for each recipe. I also write which recipe they go with on the bag. This allows me to avoid wasting food. It also helps to cut the amount of time that I spend in the kitchen cooking. Sometimes I get home late and it helps to have everything all cut up and measured out so I can just throw it all together and have a meal prepared in no time. The left over veggies or fruit I have from prepping, I either put them on our salads or I’ll freeze them and use them in smoothies.

I’ve found many recipes that I have tested from Pinterest in past months that are delicious. I plan on listing the recipes that I’ve enjoyed here on my blog for others to try. Once I have everything ready I create a calendar with what we are having each night for dinner. This has helped us out so much by saving money as well as time. If you have any questions or need help with meal planning I would love to help you out!