A Look at My REAL Grocery Budget

I thought it was time to tell you what my "real grocery budget" looks like. 

 

  You may remember that my husband was recently diagnosed with end-stage heart failure.  This led us to drastically reduce our expenses by 25 percent.  

That's when I came up with the grand scheme to try to reduce our normally pretty slim grocery budget.  The June Grocery Budget Challenge was born!  

I challenged myself to purchase all the food for my family of seven for just $320 for the entire month! I did it!  I finished with just over $10 left in my food envelope.  I learned a lot!  We all did a happy dance together and I told you the important lessons that I learned. 

Let's Look at the Numbers:

 

My budget during the challenge:  $320

My normal food budget:  $400

That monthly food budget does not include:  our CSA subscription.  

A couple of notes:

1. I normally have a family of five.  But, during June our oldest son was home from college and our middle son's Southern Belle was visiting from Mississippi.  So, during my June Food Budget Challenge that already slim budget was S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D even further.

2.  We pay $600 a year for our CSA subscription.  I save $50 a month throughout the year so when January arrives, I have several hundred dollars available to pay cash for our CSA share.  That's why the cost of our CSA box was not figured into my June food budget challenge.  Clearly, for about six months of the year we do  benefit from receiving a bushel basket of fresh produce every single week.  You might even stretch the point to consider that some of that food is put by for winter.  So, there are some residual benefits, even during cold weather months.

2.   I tried to make the budget challenge a reflection of our 25% reduction in income.  Because my food budget is already really low, I felt that cutting it by 20% was a pretty ambitious goal.  I will admit to you that it was tough!

How does it feel now?

Now that I have $80 more per month to spend, I feel like I am super rich!  I don't get that feeling very much.  LOL!   I still remember the feeling of standing in the middle of the store and wondering if I had enough money that week to buy a extra bunch of bananas.  As a result,  I am still remembering to count every penny. 

 I want to offer hope to those who are living under the median!

 

  Transparency and honesty are both really important to me!  

 

 I don't offer arbitrary advice.  I tell you my experience.  I tell you when I've screwed up.  I tell you when something awesome happens and we give each other a round of high-fives.   I give you real life tips that were born in the trenches of living under the median.

I will continue to do so with the hope that you, too, are enjoying being on the journey with me.   

 Leave your comments, thoughts, and tips below.  I'd love to hear from you! 

 

I want to work through hard spots with you and I want to know when God blesses your socks off by meeting your needs in totally unexpected ways. 

Don't Miss Any of Our Posts!

Follow me on Facebook at:  https://www.facebook.com/underthemedian/ 
Sign up to receive my posts via e-mail by filling in the "follow by e-mail" link on the main page.  

Do all to the glory of God, 

Hope