$60 Challenge

I like to think that I always get the biggest bang for our buck. I honestly hate spending money. But, even more I hate wasting money. Last year I began cutting coupons - extreme couponing? No! But, I coupon enough to know that I was over paying for groceries seriously. I think overall it's hard shopping and cooking for just two people. I swear no matter what we do we always have left overs and we always throw food away at the end of the week.

B and I are trying to cut back expenses, mostly because we have a mile long list of things we would like to do to our house and I would much rather invest in our home than our bellies {unless it's my belly and only if it is housing a baby, which ain't happening right now, so it's time to cut back}.

So after seeing how much we spend monthly on food, including groceries, eating out, lunches out, etc I quickly realized we have a major spending problem. Even though I love to cook sometimes it's just easier with a busy schedule to grab something out. We need to get in a routine and stick to it which seems to be difficult for B and I sometimes.



Starting this week, I have imposed a monthly budget of only $240 for us on food (not including our weekly date night) - which averages out to $60 a week. I started this week by shopping our pantry, fridge and freezer first. Then I planned out our weekly menu which included breakfast, lunch and dinner all week. I didn't have any good coupons to match up to sales, so this first week I had the challenge of staying within our goal without coupons. Yikes!

I took my reusable bags and my quarter and headed to Aldi's. When B and I moved to Indiana we were lucky enough to move 5 minutes away from a very clean very nice Aldi's. After Aldi's my second trip was to Kroger, which is only a light up the street from Aldi's on my way home. Between the two stores I spent $63.97. For the first week on our new budget, I think I did good.

Our dinner menu this week includes the following:

Monday: Sausage gravy & biscuits with scrambled eggs (we do breakfast for dinner at least once a month)
Tuesday: Baked chicken with green beans and seasoned brown rice
Wednesday: Grilled pork chops with grilled sweet corn and greens
Thursday: Chicken enchiladas
Friday: Left Over Buffet
Saturday: Date Night {Out to eat}
Sunday: Jambalaya with sausage and chicken

Do you use coupons and/or meal plan weekly? Do you stick to a grocery budget or do you wing it each week with whatever you want to eat? Do you have an Aldi's near you? If so, do you shop there? I would love to hear how you get a hold on the grocery store bills!