I don't watch you but the grocery budget
is one of the hardest ways to stay under budget under control without going crazy
going over budget and it is one of the highest aligned items in our budget
today we're going to go over different ways different tips different tricks on
how to cut your grocery budget easy ways multiple different tips you can grab one
here grab one there and hopefully reduce your grocery budget hey friends welcome
to freedom in a budget I'm Kelly my channel is all about living life well on
a budget and your budget does not be constricting let you not do anything no
it gives you freedom freedom to do the things that you really want to do with
your money so today we're going to talk grocery budgets I have been working
really hard over the years on different tips different ways to reduce your
grocery budget ours used to be out of control it was crazy and then for a
while I was only eating like pasta and butter because I was so in debt and
paycheck to paycheck and everything and now we were able to live a really great
full life eat lots of great whole foods and fruits vegetables and different
meats and everything and so we can do it all under $200 a month for two of us
which is awesome so let me go over lots of tips like I said at the beginning
don't don't take all of these like that's gonna be way extreme pick one pic
to pick a couple that you can do an apply right now and then maybe in a
couple months pick a couple more and apply them don't try and go hog-wild and
go from $1,000 a month on your groceries down to two hundred no that's not gonna
work so just pick a couple here and there alright so the first one is don't
compare your journey to other people this is something that I really
struggled with a lot in the beginning and honestly it's something that I feel
like is a struggle right now in the debt-free community I see so many people
putting their stuff out there and kind of shaming other people for spending
more on their budget and I don't want my videos to come across in that way at all
that is not my intention I am NOT trying to brag about my grocery budget or
anything like that but I want to share with you different ways that you can
reduce yours so things like rotisserie chicken or prepare to cut verts and
vegetables I used to be very against those like know I can cut my own on
and I may be miserable and hate cutting onions off that is like the worst task
in the world it's cutting onions I hate it but I used to be so against ID and be
like no I can save so much money by getting the whole bags and doing it
myself why would I waste my money and pay three times more in paying the the
pre-cut fruits and vegetables or the rotisserie chicken when I can cook a
whole chicken by myself or just clip chicken breasts or whatever it is no
that is a waste of money but I find that rotisserie chicken it keeps you from
going through the drive-thru because you're tired and don't want to cook
dinner and you can just throw rotisserie together on top of a salad or something
like that and that's gonna save you money I think that's a better option so
I would rather pay a couple dollars more for the rotisserie chicken the
convenience rather than having to cook chicken in the oven and all this stuff
and prepare it versus going out the drive-through so keep in mind things
like that where yes you may be paying a little bit more Inc for convenience but
in the long run it's gonna save you from going out to eat or just having a frozen
pizza or whatever it may be or even frozen pizza okay that's another
great one it was in pizza yeah that could be expensive but it's better than
takeout so different things like that just to find those little ways to cut
your budget next one is money-saving apps this one is a huge one but you have
to be careful with them I have found that there's apps that I have used in
the past where you have to use certain items in the app and then I find myself
buying those items when it wasn't on my grocery list it wasn't something that I
would have bought anyways and you had spy like two or three to get the dollar
off like that is a total waste of money especially when you can buy generic
cheaper than you would have of doing it with the app so be very careful about
that my favorite favorite favorite one is fetch rewards they are amazing and
what you do is you scan it your grocery seat you like how I just had that way
you scan it your grocery receipt and then it automatically has all the
different rebate items that are in there you don't have to pre clip your coupons
which is amazing and everything's in there so you just scan them and it's so
easy and Skyler is playing in the closet so if you hear cat crying that's what it
is so you just scan your grocery seat and
it automatically picks up and then if you don't have something on the list you
still get points for it as well and then you also get a referral code so that
when people use your referral code and sign up you get points as well so for
just signing up you get 2000 points which is equal to $2 then you can redeem
them for gift cards I have gotten hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards
through fetch rewards which is amazing so not sponsored by them working on a
sponsorship not yet so I'll have that for you guys on the screen and then down
below so fetch Awards is great another one is ones like we're just gonna
casually drop these next one is Ebates Ebates is amazing it's a plugin that you
can do and then every time you go to like Amazon Bed Bath & Beyond they're
different places like that a little pops up would you like to activate three and
a half percent cash back and say yes please and then they also have ones that
you can link to your card and then if we're in the store like Best Buy it'll
automatically do that for you as well so Ebates is amazing you can cash back you
get discounts you get coupon codes they're awesome you get $10 for signing
up so I'll have all this down below in the description box for you but find
different ways that you can save money on things that are already buying but be
very careful that you're not going to go and buy more things that you want it
just to get the discount that is a thing that I personally have fallen into I've
caught myself buying things we like oh but this one I can do this and get that
and then I end up spending more just to get a little bit of cash back so be
careful about that next is rolling over groceries this is a big one and it is so
helpful in food waste and eliminating that you don't want food waste I hate
when I have to throw out food it's just such a pet peeve and it's just the worst
feeling because I worked hard to pay for that food so make sure that you are
rolling over groceries so I personally do my meal plan once a week some people
do the whole month of meal plans that's great but for me I do it once a week so
the reason is for the beginning of the week I make my meal plan I do everything
then on Friday I go through and see what I have leftover see what what I have in
there and then see what I can do to roll it over to the next week's groceries so
if we're in it's real-life example this past week I
made buffalo chicken casserole with rice cauliflower it was amazing and I had
some leftover so I didn't want to just eat it plain like it happened and I was
like this would make a really good quesadilla so I took it I already had
oleh wraps in my fridge so I put it into the OL a wrap and I fried it up or not
fried up I cooked it up on the skillet with had some sour cream with it and it
made an amazing quesadilla so I already had the the tortillas on hand I didn't
have to buy those and then I had leftover so that way it's not going to
waste because let's be honest after five days eating in row you don't want to eat
it on day 6 and 7 so what can you do to repurpose it or say you have tortillas
you know you have enchiladas on you know one week and then what can you do with
the next week okay let's make some wraps that would be really delicious we can
have some some really yummy delicious crisp fresh wraps or you know say we
have I don't know steak leftover what can you do with the steak what can you
do with these items to roll them into next week's grocery list and then it's
less items that you have to pay for next week which is a win win next up is check
your grocery receipt before you leave the store or at least before you leave
the parking lot there have been so many times where I get home
skiing my grocery see and veg and then realize that they overcharged me they
double charged me for an item until I want to go back no no I don't want to go
back and then it's like the whole awkward don't you just bring your
receipt do I have to bring the whole groceries like I want to bring all those
groceries back to the store so that they can count okay you had these items you
just end up saying forget it it is what it is and you take the you know couple
or loss and hopefully it's not a large item like two steaks or two you know
really expensive items I think the last one I had was Wister sheer sauce at
Publix and I walked there and then it was sweating hot and I did not want to
walk back and I was like it is what it is it sucks and it was a big bottle too
which really stinks this next one is one that I've actually struggled with a lot
and it was really hard for me to wrap my head around but shopping in bulk is not
always cheaper yeah I grew up going to Costco as a family and we always just
bought in bulk because that was that she option right well no not always make
sure you're checking cost per ounce so that is why I have a little she that I
just made this in Excel and this shows me how much everything is cost per ounce
all these amazing they break it down with the little price per ounce or price
per unit right on the on the list with on the grocery tag which is amazing but
not always or sometimes you want to know ances or pounds of whatever so I've gone
through here and I shop at Aldi and Costco those are my two plain places
that I do grocery sometimes Walmart if I needed like a specific item that Aldi
does their Cusco does in half but typically I think there's only one time
on here where Costco is cheaper yeah the only time that Costco is cheaper on this
list is for mozzarella cheese these are water like the basic items that I buy so
at Aldi it is a 16 ounce bag for 329 which is 20 cents per ounce or at Costco
it's an 80 pound bag it's different bags 80 pounds hotel for $12.99 which is only
16 cents per ounce so that one is cheaper but let's see like so like have
an app that's an excellent both of them are 32 ounces Aldi is 195 which is 6
cents per ounce Costco is 32 ounces for $2.99
which is nine cents per ounce I keep this list with me and then as I find
more items that I would buy it either or then I will take a picture of my phone
and I can add it to this list at the bottom here there's some that I have
just one of them but I don't have the other one so for like olive oil I have
olive oils price for Aldi but not Costco and then for bacon at Costco as price
but not all day and I just need to go and update those but I have this with me
at all times I could do it on my phone but in like a Google Docs or something
but I don't know I just have it printed out and I just keep it in my purse as
you can see it's a little worn and torn but this is a game changer and then when
I'm there I'm like oh that's not gonna be cheaper oh is it or I'm like let me
check my handy list and if it's something that I'm like if you about and
I think I maybe if in the future I'll write it down for it so that I know but
guys shopping in bulk is not always cheaper that is a huge marketing thing
that places like Costco Sam's BJ's they do
to trick people because so many people just have that mindset of buying in bulk
is always cheaper no not always expecially new shop at
places like Aldi not always cheaper next tip is redefined dinner I grew up in a
household where everything had to be very I don't know just traditional of
dinner so we always had to meet we always had to start and we always had a
vegetable every single night for dinner and that was something that I just grew
up with so when I became an adult that's something that I traditionally always
did as well always meat starch vegetable and then I
started thinking about I was like hmm let's let's switch this up a little bit
I can have breakfast for dinner widget breakfast foods are so much
cheaper than traditional extinct or chicken or potatoes all that so I can
redefine that and have breakfast for dinner once or twice a week and save so
much money or things like meatless Monday typically the most expensive
thing on your plate is going to be the meat so meatless Monday is a great way
to mix it up as well find different ways that you can incorporate alternative
dinner items to save money Meg's you know that I have to say this but have a
budget have a budget when you are going to the grocery store whether you're
shopping at multiple stores or in just one store for the week or for the month
that is going to save you so much money in the long run because say you're going
over a little bit each time that's gonna add up quick and make sure that you are
logging your receipt on your budget every couple of days that is one of the
biggest complaints and I don't why I'm going on a budget tangent but we're
going there so having a budget like so many people they just hate logging
receipts hate everything you guys know I love Excel I have my Excel budget down
below for you guys in the description but I'm in there every couple days if
I'm logging my receipts every two or three days it only takes five minutes it
is so fast if I wait to the end of the month it's gonna take an hour or longer
it's gonna suck and I'm gonna hate it and I'm gonna start to dread it but from
in there every couple days super easy and then also doing that it keeps me in
check it keeps me in line so if I'm you know halfway through the month and I'm
at like a hundred and seventy five dollars of my two hundred dollar budget
I only have twenty-five dollars for the last two weeks of the month holy crap
we're eating from the pantry we're eating rice and beans
but if I'm in there every couple days I can gauge it I can know when we're going
over budget and that doesn't even have to apply to just grocery budget but any
budget category that you have so having a budget is so important and if you want
to be really diligent like really hardcore if you go over your allotted
amount say you have $100 for this week for your family and you're at like 105
you're picking something to send back you're like I'm sorry no put that back
what are you doing cash envelopes or card data that can still apply well
people do that with cash envelopes but you can still do it with it card and
it's gonna make a big difference in your grocery budget we got some more tips
coming but if you like these videos please give this video a thumbs up it
really helps with YouTube's algorithm it helps me know what videos you guys like
and if you're finding value in it I hope they subscribe and join the freedom and
a budget family so comment right along with the tips next is only go once a
week or if you can even get up to like once a month that would be amazing but
every single time you go to the store you're typically going to be buying
impulsion I'm post buys I know I do and I leave a little room in my budget when
I'm doing my list but those impulse buys they add up if you're going to the
grocery store for everyday I know people that do that I have people in my family
that do that they go to Publix every single time that they want to eat dinner
and yes that may be something that fits their lifestyle and you know it's the
way that they always do things but those impulse buys they're gonna add up quick
so if you can get on a habit of only going once a week or even once a month
every two weeks that's gonna save you even more money so many people love
places like Walmart grocery pick up where you can see those and they can
really help prevent impulse buys that is an amazing way to do it I personally
don't spend enough at Walmart to do Walmart crochet pick up and all do so
much cheaper so I don't use it but I know some people that swear by the
grocery pick up at Walmart so definitely check into it if they have one in your
area next up is learn your sales cycles this one is huge and it takes a little
bit to get used to it but you're going to start to learn if you're really
studying them and in the stores every single week of how things go on sale I
know that I can stock up on item four you know three four five six
weeks and then by the time that the item runs out it's going to be on sale again
so that you're not having to buy things that aren't you know on sale because
you're in a pinch so leave a little bit room in your budget for those stock up
paintings I know some people that have a separate budget category that's ongoing
or a sinking fund for stock up items so that they can buy them when they're on
sale if they have room in their pantry or freezer whatever it is they can get
the best price which is awesome but also knowing like when your sales are going
to be turning over so for us on Aldi it's Wednesday so I know that I can go
in on Tuesday and get some really good deals on meat because they're marking
them down for the new sale starting with the next day and they want to get rid of
some of that so it's a great way I just we just got a sprouts in our area which
I'm not the biggest sprouts fan it's beautiful it's gorgeous but it's a
little pricey for me but did you know that for sprouts on Wednesday it's
double add day so their weekly ad goes on Wednesday to Wednesday as well so on
Wednesdays you can get the previous week's ad and next week's ad all on
Wednesday which is really cool so learn your sales learn how your stores work
that's a really really great way and so many stores now have the apps you can go
online so it's not like you have to get this circular in the mail anymore you
can go right in line and find the sales next up is why is all these so cheap I'm
going to give you all the dirt all the juice on why Aldi is so cheap I'll see
you in the next video Hey
