1 day ago
Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts
Our family has never paid more than $200 per person per month for groceries, and we are often well under that amount. Whenever I mention that to people, I get questions about how we manage to spend so little on groceries each month. In this post I am going to give you all my tips and tricks for saving money on groceries. If you aren’t doing any of these currently and start applying them all, I feel pretty confident in saying you will save money!
However, I am very aware that each family is going to have their own unique dietary circumstances. Regional grocery prices vary, and that also plays a role. Each family also has family advantages and preferences that are going to play into the grocery budget.
For example, our family has a deep trunk-style freezer and an ancient extra fridge in the garage that allow us to buy in bulk, and you might not have that (though I feel strongly that deep freezers are a good investment). Our family has five kids but only one of them is a teenager so far. We might tick up our grocery budget as more of our kids reach the bottomless-pit stage. Our family also buys very little red meat because we hunt for our meat, and that’s cheaper. If I had to buy red meat, I’d tick up our total grocery budget by another $100 a month or so.
Still, I do very much believe that if you apply these strategies faithfully, you will save a noticeable amount of money, regardless of what other restrictions you might be working with.
Let’s Make An Agreement…
Before we start, I just want us to all understand that saving money on groceries is all about choices and trade-offs.
There are some challenges we all face in grocery shopping that are outside our control, but there is a lot that we can control. As you read, you will be evaluating your own values and deciding where you are willing to spend extra money and where you want to try to save. If you decide to spend where I would save, it’s not that one of us is right and one is wrong. These are just the choices we are making for ourselves and our families, and it’s okay if they are different.
For example, our family chooses to not buy organic. If it’s important to you to buy everything organic, you are going to spend more money than me. That’s just the way it is. Each of us are making choices about how we choose to spend our money, and neither one is inherently better than the other. If we are both comfortable with the trade-offs we are making, we can just set the moralizing aside and focus on the money-saving strategies! This is a no-judgement zone from me, and I would like it to remain a no-judgement zone in the comments as well. Agreed?
Ways To Save Money On Groceries
I’m going to cover basic strategies in this section - some of them so basic the average reader may roll their eyes, but I want to cover everything. Some of these points will be expanded into additional articles, but alot of them you could apply right away. Find a couple that you aren’t already doing and try to implement them, remembering that it takes a while to build or change a habit.
1. Buy Generic Brands
It is truly amazing the price difference between brand-name and generic brands, and this is across the board. I’ve compiled the price of basic old-fashioned oats for you as an example:
Quaker Old-Fashioned Oats, 18 oz. - $3.69 at King Soopers
Kroger Old-Fashioned Oats, 18 oz. - $2.79 at King Soopers
That’s almost a dollar you could save on just one item at King Soopers by buying generic, and that’s not even taking into account current coupons which could reduce the generic brand cost further. If you can save an average of a dollar per item buy buying generic, that could add up to a significant amount of savings.
And I’ll tell you a little secret - the generic brand is almost always the exact same thing as brand name. Sometimes the generic brands are even packaged in the same factories as brand-name items!
There are occasional items where you may find that the brand name is cheaper, and if so, go for it.
There may be items where the generic and brand name products are noticeably different, and you may sometimes prefer the brand name product over the generic version. I would encourage you to see if you can change your tastes to accept the generic version. Give the generic a few months and see if you still care about the difference. If you really decide that the brand name is worth the extra cost to you for certain items, go with peace and buy that brand name. At least you have weighed the options and are making conscious decision instead of letting brand names be the default.
How I Do It: I almost never buy the brand name version of anything, unless there is no generic version, or unless I notice the brand name is on sale and happens to be cheaper. My Exceptions: Oreos, Malt-O-Meal Mini Spooners (semi-generic), and laundry detergent.
2. Shop At Cheaper Grocery Stores
Not all grocery stores are created equal, and if you want to save money on groceries, you need to put aside your prejudices and choose your grocery store based on average prices.
Sometimes the price at a less expensive grocery store may be better than even a sale price elsewhere. Let’s look at our oatmeal example from the last section, shall we? Here I’ll compare generic prices at three different stores:
Walmart Old-Fashioned Oats, 18 oz. - $2.66
King Soopers Old-Fashioned Oats, 18 oz. - $2.79
Target Old-Fashioned Oats, 18 oz. - $2.89
Safeway Old-Fashioned Oats, 18 oz. - $3.49
You’ll notice that Walmart is at least 13 cents cheaper than the next option, a whole 83 cents cheaper than if you bought the same item at Safeway!
You may think these differences are petty, but I assure you, across the fifty different items you might buy in one grocery trip, a few cents here and there does add up to a decent amount of savings. Let’s compare eggs, for another example:
King Soopers Eggs - $2.79/dozen
Walmart Eggs - $1.97/dozen
Now, depending on where you live, you may hav more limited grocery store options, but I would encourage you to expand your travel for groceries if it would make a difference. You don’t have to shop at the grocery store closest to you. You can combine trips to make driving for groceries more economical.
How I Do It: I live in a rural community, and technically my closest grocery store is Safeway. But I don’t shop there. I pick up groceries another 25 minutes down the road at Walmart whenever I happen to be headed to town anyway. I buy almost everything at Walmart and Sam’s Club, which I find to be the cheapest grocery stores within an hour of me. There is a King Soopers and Dollar General a little closer if I need to make a quick stop for 1 ingredient, but I would never do a full shopping trip at those stores.
As an aside, I’ve had many people comment to me how they can’t stand the environment of Walmart. They want a nicergrocery shopping experience. If that’s your choice, that’s fine; remember, everything here is about trade-offs. If you want to pay more for a better experience, that’s your choice, just be aware there are cheaper options out there.
3. Cost Per Ounce Matters
Remember, saving money on groceries often comes down to cents, which adds up to dollars. The reason we buy generic is because of the savings of cents per ounce. But we can also save per ounce by buying in bulk.
Let’s compare oatmeal again (we will use King Soopers to make the point here):
Kroger Old-Fashioned Oats, 18 oz - $2.79 (15 cents/oz.)
Kroger Old-Fashioned Oats, 42 oz. - $4.49 (11 cents/oz.)
Quaker’s Old-Fashioned Oats, 160 oz. - $7.98 (5 cents/oz.)
As you can see, it is much less expensive to buy even the name-brand oats if I buy it in bulk! But even if I don’t buy in bulk, I save almost a third of the cost if I buy the larger size at King Soopers.
If it’s an item that you know you eat alot of, or if it’s a shelf-stable item, see how many cents per ounce you can save by buying a larger size. Think in percentages instead of cents if it helps you quantify the savings. If I buy oatmeal at Sam’s, I am getting 66% off the regular, non-bulk price at King Soopers. If you do this for multiple items, it actually adds up to alot of savings by the end of the month!
How I Do It: Unless I am a couple days until pay day and trying to keep the actual dollar amount low, I always check the price-per-ounce and buy according to that. I may spend more for one grocery trip, but I will save in the long term.
That leads me to my next point…
4. Buy In Bulk (When It Makes Sense)
I just showed you how much you can save by buying in bulk with oatmeal. Let’s try comparing a few more items.
505 Green Chili - $3.92 each (at Walmart)
505 Green Chili - $3.33 each (3-pack at Sam’s)
Peanut Butter - 12.1 cents/oz. (at Walmart)
Peanut Butter - 10 cents/oz. (at Sam’s)
Frozen Chicken Breasts - $2.98/lb. (at Walmart)
Frozen Chick Breasts - $2.70/lb. (at Sam’s)
Hummus - 27.2 cents/oz. (at Walmart)
Hummus - 14 cents/oz. (at Sam’s)
Some of these differences might not seem like much, only a few dollars here and there. But remember, if we do this for as many items as we reasonably can, the savings do add up at the end of the month.
Now, there are occasions when buying in bulk may not be less expensive, so back to our earlier point, always check price per ounce!
Some other times it may not make sense to buy in bulk are when you know you will only use a small amount of an ingredient, when you are buying things that will go bad quickly, when you are working with limited fridge space, or when there is a very negligible difference in the bulk price (less than a cent per ounce).
How I Do It: I check to see if there is a bulk option whenever it makes sense, and it’s almost always at least a little cheaper - and sometimes, as in the case of the oatmeal, it’s a significant percentage off. I pay for the Sam’s Club premium membership, which gives you cash back for every purchase you make, which you can then apply toward paying the membership fees whenever they come due - so I only end up paying $40-60 dollars each year ($5 or less per month). The savings from buying in bulk do outweigh that small fee in the end.
5. Think In Terms Of Price Per Meal
When you are planning out meals, I recommend thinking of how much a particular meal is going to cost per person.
For instance, I can feed everyone in my family spaghetti and meatballs for about a dollar per person. That’s a great, cheap meal, and we eat it a few times per month! On the other hand, I’ve calculated all the ingredients for something like lasagna, and it comes out to about $4.20 per person, four times as much. If we ate meals at that price every time I cooked dinner, we’d be spending much more on groceries each month. I save those more expensive meals for special days, or limit them to once a week.
Another thing you can do is think of ingredient substitutes or similar meals you could do for less. For example, spaghetti pie is a meal that tastes very similar to lasagna, and it uses similar ingredients - but because it uses cheaper meat and less cheese, it only costs about $1.70 per person.
How I Do It: I aim for the majority of our dinners to fall between $1-2 per person. Lunches and breakfasts typically cost less than that because of buying in bulk.
6. Try To Limit Pre-Made Items
In general, it’s going to be cheaper to purchase ingredients and make your own items than to buy pre-made foods. This is especially true for pre-made/frozen meals and baked goods.
For example, I can make a loaf of sourdough bread for literally a few dimes worth of flour and salt (as opposed to buying a loaf for $3-5)! I could make up to two dozen cookies for around $3 worth of ingredients. Even the one frozen meal I do buy often - frozen pizza - I probably could make for less from scratch than if I bought it pre-made.
I’m not saying there is no place for pre-made meals, because there definitely is. It would take alot of time to make pizza from scratch, and we usually eat pizza as a last-minute decision when we have a movie night, so I’m willing to pay for convenience sometimes. But if I paid for convenience all the time, that could really add up. We try to make things ourselves as much as possible. It usually tastes better than store-bought, and it saves money.
How I Do It: I stock my pantry with ingredients, instead of fully made items.
7. Shop Online And Do Grocery Pickup
We truly live in an interesting time, and one of the perks of living in 2025 is that we have the option to have someone else do the shopping legwork for us. I can’t tell you how much time this saves!
The money-saving ramifications might not be immediately obvious, but it does end up saving money in multiple ways as well. Here are the benefits:
-I can schedule pickups around times I am already going to be near the grocery store, which saves me gas money.
-I can check my pantry to see what I already have before checking out online - so if I already have it, I don’t accidentally re-buy it.
-I can check multiple grocery stores for each item to make sure I’m getting the best price - for instance, I was about to check out with my 5 dozen eggs at Sam’s, but I checked Walmart and saw they have 5 dozen eggs for a dollar less. That’s a dollar saved!
-I have time to sit and consider my grocery total before checking out, and I can contemplate what items I could eliminate or swap out to stay within my budget.
The only drawback in shopping this way is that it provides less opportunity to model smart shopping habits for my kids, which is something they would get more if I took them with me to the store. I am thinking of remedying this by picking one kid per month to sit next to me at the computer and walk through my process.
How I Do It: I mostly shop at Walmart and Sam’s. At the beginning of each month I take my time crafting a grocery order and schedule it for pickup when I will already be going to town. Walmart has free grocery pickups after a certain dollar limit, and Sam’s has free pickups if you have the premium membership (which is more cost-effective because of the money-back deal I mentioned above).
8. Shop Only Once Per Month
This is a strategy I use that I know saves me a decent amount of money each month.
The reasons why may not apply to everyone, but what I find is that whenever I make a trip to the grocery store (or place a grocery order), I always end up spending more than I originally intended. I might be hungry when I’m ordering and add a few more treats than I planned. Maybe I’ll think of a certain (more expensive) shampoo I wanted to try, and I end up adding it. I might think of something that’s running low; maybe I could wait to buy it until next month, but because I’m shopping and thinking about it right now, I go ahead and buy it.
These incidental or impulse purchases can really run my total up, and once I’ve thought of buying something it can sometimes be hard to talk myself out of buying it. And this happens every time I go to the grocery store. By limiting my trips to the grocery store each month, I limit my opportunities for impulse purchases, and thus save money.
How I Do It: I always get questions about this when I mention it, so I will be devoting a whole other post to it soon. Put your questions in the comments and I will make sure to cover them when I write that article.
Most of the previous tips are things to think about before shopping…here are a couple to think about once you have the food home.
9. Reduce Waste And Eat Leftovers
You can plan to make a little extra dinner in order to have leftovers for lunch the next day, and that is going to be less expensive than making a whole other meal for lunch. Keep an eye on the food you already have in your fridge and make it a goal to not throw anything out. If you make a double meal, you can get two dinners out of it - and once again, for some meals that’s more cost effective than buying and making a smaller amount.
For instance, with my recipe and how much my family typically eats, making enough chili for two full meals (instead of one and half) is a difference of one more extra-large can of chili beans - which is only about $2.98 at Walmart. So we can get an extra meal for less than a dollar more per person, just by planning to make extra.
How I Do It: I plan to eat leftovers either for dinner or lunch within one week; after that it might not be safe anymore. For some dinners I make extra and count on having meals of leftovers, so some meal ingredient costs will count for two meals for the whole family, further reducing the price. The less you waste, the more money you can save.
10. Be Frugal With The Snacks
Snacks between meals can add up to quite alot of extra costs, so I recommend being very aware of what kind of snacks you are buying and how expensive they are. If you find your family snacks multiple times throughout the day, you can also work on changing your snacking habits, and that will save money.
Think about the kinds of snacks you are buying, and whether you could get more bang for your buck by buying items a different way. We don’t eat alot of chips (because they are expensive!), but when I do buy chips, I buy a box of individually-packaged chips from Sam’s club. This might seem contrary to some other things I’ve said, but here is why it works: not only am I getting a better price in bulk (56.9 cents/oz. for a bag at Walmart, as opposed to 41.3 cents/oz. at Sam’s), but having pre-portioned bags will stretch the chips further and prevent excess snacking, which will ultimately save money.
How I Do It: I think hard about how many snacks I can get out of each snack-food purchase, and how much I’m paying per snack. I have to with five kids! I don’t encourage alot of snacking in between meals, and I don’t snack a ton myself. My kids might have one snack mid-morning and one mid-afternoon, and I buy things that are cost-effective for us. Snacks that I have found to be a good value are mini carrots with hummus, pretzels, animal crackers, veggie straws, trail mix, and cheese sticks. I buy all of those in bulk. When we want something sweet, I also make our own treats (brownies, apple pies, cookies, fudge) instead of buying pre-made treats, which is much more cost-effective.
As I was preparing to write this post, I asked my husband if he would let me take over his fraction of the grocery budget for an experiment. He likes particular, high-protein food items, and he was doing his own shopping so he could pick out the exact items he wanted. He is a pretty smart shopper, but he doesn’t go to the extra label-scrutinizing lengths that I do.
He humored me though and gave me his usual shopping list. This month I bought all of the things on his list, using the strategies that I shared in this post, and hauled all the items home. He looked at the two boxes of food and said it was probably more than he would eat in one month - and I had bought it all for half the cost that he usually spends! So I know these strategies do work - it takes a little extra effort and brain power, but for our family it’s worth it.
I know this is alot of information. Some of you already do some of these things. Pick one or two that you aren’t doing and see if you can implement them!
If you have not been shopping this way at all, trying to apply all this at once might be overwhelming. Look through my points and choose just one or two things to practice this next month. Once those couple things become a habit, you can add a couple more in.
Another post will be coming soon with tips on how to shop once a month.
If you have any specific questions, put them in the comments.
If you have any additional money-saving tips to share, I would love to hear those as well!
A few weeks ago I shared the reasons why I decided to do a no-buy project. With the Christmas sale season coming up, temptations will abound, so this is a good time for me to review and share my personal no-buy rules here, for those of you who may be wondering what that looks like.
First of all, I think some may term what I'm doing as more of a "low-buy" than a "no-buy". I'm not refraining from purchasing anything at all for the next three(ish) months, but I am refraining from buying certain categories of things that are a particular problem for me. I think the great part about doing a project like this is that you can adjust the rules to whatever is going to be the most impactful and practical for yourself. So these rules won't fit for anyone else, but they do apply to what I want to work on with my own buying habits. I'm sharing them here as a way to give you some ideas of the way a no-buy or low-buy could look, in case you find yourself wanting to try something like this. Sharing also gives me a little accountability, and a place to review my own rules!
Without further ado, here they are:
Things I Can Buy:
1. I can buy things for my kids. I will be keeping this rule as long as I can stay reasonable about it - if my shopping habits in this area become a problem I may adjust later.
2. I can replace makeup, skincare, or household products that run out or that break. The key to this rule, is that I have to be completely out of that item! I find myself often buying new products before I'm completely finished with the old ones, and I end up wasting product, so I'd like to completely run out of something, to the point that I can throw it away, before I purchase a new one.
3. I can buy supplies for creative projects if I will realistically use those items within the next month. I would like to shift some of the satisfaction that I sometimes find in shopping into more productive avenues, so I will allow myself to buy craft supplies, yarn, embroidery thread, etc. However, I don't want to end up with a whole cabinet of craft supplies that I have never used, which is why I added the qualification that I must use those things within a month! This will give me a healthy pressure to actually get started on my projects too, instead of feeling overwhelmed and procrastinating.
4. I can buy gifts for others. This was obviously a concession that had to be made.
5. Photo organizing and framing things are okay. One project I would love to finish is getting photo albums updated and some of our pictures/art framed, so this is one area that I will allow myself to still spend money.
6. I may buy home organization things, if I've decluttered the area in question first. I would like to work on cleaning out some neglected corners of our house, and get more organized during this period when I am hoping to not add as many new things to our home. If I find that I need some organizing items in that process, I can buy those.
7. If I receive any cash for holidays or birthdays, I may use that money how I wish. This is a like a little pressure-release valve that I think will help me to be successful, but the fact that I can only buy certain things with gift money will help me be thoughtful about what I purchase.
Things I Cannot Buy:
1. No clothes. This is the biggest area I am trying to restrict over the next year, and I explained that a little more in my last post.
2. No candles. Excuse the cliche here, but I definitely have had a "scarcity mindset" in the past when it comes to candles. I find a scent I like, and I feel like I need to stock up before it's discontinued! In the process, I have amassed a pretty good candle collection, and I absolutely don't need to buy any more candles until I've used up my stash (and that could take me quite a while, since I actually don't burn candles as often as I always think I do).
3. No makeup or nail polish (except replacing empties). I want to completely use up an item before I buy a new one, and I'm not buying extra "fun" makeup or nail items at all, just replacing basics (like mascara or topcoat).
4. No extra skincare. By extra skincare, I mean anything that I am not currently out of. I want to completely use all items I've already purchased, and all the free samples I've amassed over the years, before I purchase a replacement.
5. No perfume or lotions. I don't know how exactly, but I always seem to have a cabinet full of Bath And Body Works lotions and body sprays, and I need to use what I have (and get rid of the ones I don't use anyway)!
6. No curriculum (unless I evaluate and discuss with my husband first). This is a big one for me, because I can always justify a new school-related purchase, and there probably will be times when I think we need to get something over the next few months. My brake on these items is going to be that I need to discuss the purchase with my husband first and see if he thinks it's necessary or a good idea - only if he gives the green light, will I be allowed to purchase curriculum items.
7. No decorative home goods. This is another area that I need to reset. I don't want to buy any decorative items like pillows, home decor, throw blankets, etc. However, I will allow purchases of practical items that we are out of or actually need...for example, I can buy new nice-scented cleaners, if we've used all our other cleaners first, or I can replace things like towels or sleeping pillows if they've worn out, etc. But I will be trying to be strict with myself on those things too.
Special Rules:
1. At the end of each month, if I have any leftover money, I will save half of it, and I am allowed to use the other half to purchase books. This will give me a little leeway on books, with some pretty set limits.
2. Truly free things are okay. I occasionally get a no-purchase-necessary coupon for certain items, and if I really don't have to spend anything to get the freebie, I can do that.
3. I will check in at the end of every three moths, evaluate how I did, and see if I need to tweak any of my rules to be more or less strict. With the short time I've been doing this challenge, I can already see that if I need to make any adjustments, it will probably be needing to make my rules more strict. I think the next month or two is going to be particularly difficult leading into the holidays since I may be able to justify certain purchases as gifts, etc. This has already been a challenge, so I may be tightening these rules as I go to make sure I stay consistent and can be successful at this project! But if one area really does turn out to be somewhat impractical for whatever reason, the three-month evaluations will allow me to find a rule that works better.
Overall, I'm hoping to do some form of a no-buy for the next year, while allowing adjustments along the way - we will see how it goes!
I hope seeing my rules stirs some ideas for yourself if you are considering a no-buy, and I hope you'll root for me as I try to stick to these rules over the coming months!
You probably read that title and immediately thought about Confessions Of A Shopaholic, didn't you? When I think of that movie, I think of that scene where Rebecca Bloomwood is sitting among a pile of shopping bags after a spree of uncontrolled, compulsive spending. I think of the scene where she tries to buy the scarf with maxed-out credit cards, and runs over to a hot dog stand to get enough cash to finish her transaction. I think of her selling everything she owns to pay off her ridiculous credit card debt.
But there are other ways that purchasing new things can take on an undue importance in a person's life. Perhaps it won't involve mountains of shopping bags and credit card debt, but subtler ways that it disrupts someone's priorities. Small ways it can lead to disordered loves.
Now, I had been thinking about doing a no-buy project for a long time, but not very seriously. I recognized a long time ago that I sometimes use shopping as a self-soothing habit...if I'm having a particularly difficult month, it's more likely I'll end up buying something I wasn't really planning. After my fifth baby was born, I really wanted to do a no-buy project, but I knew realistically it was a silly time to attempt something like that. My body had changed alot, and sometime while I was pregnant the styles drastically changed as well. I needed clothes that fit me, and I knew I was going to truly need to make some purchases to update some things in my wardrobe. So I didn't do it then.
But when I watched that video last month, everything she said really resonated with me. And I thought, Why not try a no-buy project now? I wanted to share a few reasons that I decided to finally jump in.
1. I would like to spend less money.
Lest you get the wrong idea, no, I don't have any credit card debt. I don't buy things if we don't have the money to pay for it. Shopping is not some sort of compulsive addiction for me in that way. I'm judicious in the prices I'm willing to pay for something, I have alot of frugal habits, I get alot of good deals. I don't overdo it financially.
However, I know if I reined in those few areas where I am personally tempted to purchase too much (clothes, books, housewares), I could save us a good amount of money, and use that money for other things that mean more. I'm excited to see how this experiment will alter my budget.
2. I would like to be more intentional with my spending habits.
This is how my shopping usually goes: I go through pretty decent chunks of time where I don't buy much at all. Maybe I'm more aware of my budget or have a savings goal, maybe I have just cleaned out my closet and remember that I have too many clothes already, maybe I just feel generally satisfied with what I have for a while.
But then inevitably, after a few months, I'll get a bit of a shopping bug, and I'll spend a chunk of money all at once. Usually this bug hits me at the beginning of a new season, when I want to update my house or wardrobe for the changing weather. It's almost become a habit for me to expect to buy a few things before a season change.
I don't like that I have this habit formed to the point where I start to feel dissatisfied with what I own, like clockwork, as a new season arrives, and I start to think I need to "update" things. This is not intentional decision, it's subconscious, and I don't like having something subconscious controlling my spending habits that way.
I want to become very thoughtful and intentional about buying things that will truly add to my wardrobe and home, instead of buying because of some subconscious urge to "freshen things up". This is part of the internal awareness I need to develop surrounding shopping. I think doing a no-buy year will help me learn about when and why I feel that urge to get something new, so I can be more intentional in the future.
3. I want to be more aware of, and learn to resist, marketing schemes.
Companies have fine-tuned the science of getting consumers to buy, with a multitude of psychological tricks. While I am decently aware of when I am falling for those tricks, I want to learn to see them with my eyes even more wide open, and become more proficient at resisting them! If the previous point is learning to develop awareness of my own patterns and temptations, this will be learning to recognize temptations from without, and learn how to overcome those.
4. I want to fine-tune my style.
I think I have a pretty good sense of my style already, and I do enjoy experimenting with my style sometimes (and I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with that). But the fact that I have accumulated so many clothing items indicates I could stand to be a bit more picky in my purchases. Instead of having a closet with too many clothes, I would like to have a smaller closet of clothes that really work for my style and figure and make me feel confident and satisfied with what I have. Taking a break on buying new clothes will give me space to really explore my closet, figure out the things that I like the most, and hopefully curate my style to a point that I'm excited about what I already own, instead of only getting excited when I have something new.
5. I want to stop using shopping as escapism.
As I mentioned above, I know that sometimes if I'm a little bored with life, or having a bad month emotionally, I am more often tempted to add a little interest to things by buying something. It's exciting to get something in the mail, it's exciting to have something new to wear or read!
But when I start to use that new-things excitement to soothe myself or escape something stressful, I know in my heart I'm not turning to the right thing. I should turn to the Lord to be my comfort in those stressful moments, I should learn to develop a heart of gratitude and appreciation for what I have instead of allowing myself to get bored with it all. I don't like that I've put "things" in a role that they were never meant to fulfill. Scripture instructs us to hate sin so much that we would even give up our eye or hand to stop sinning (Matthew 18:9) - if something is taking a sinful place in our lives, we need to cut it out, throw it away. That's what I'm trying to do with shopping. It has the potential to become a form of idolatry, and that's serious.
6. I want to order my affections rightly.
Sometimes we buy too much stuff because our priorities - our affections - are out of order. I would never say I care about things (things!) more than Christ - but when I give shopping an undue place in affecting my mood or attitudes, in my thoughts or my budget, I'm not loving the Lord as well as I'm called to. Material things can become a distraction from what I'm really supposed to be doing, from virtues I'm supposed to be developing (self-control, thankfulness, putting the needs of others first, etc.). I think eliminating that distraction for a while will help me reset and bring my actions more in line with where my priorities lie.
You might remember that in 2021, I gave up social media for a year. I deleted all the apps for the major platforms off my phone, I deactivated my accounts, I took a firm detox.
It was a hard, emotional year in alot of ways. My eyes were opened to deeper sin issues than I even suspected when I started out. I had to wrestle with alot of regrets for wasted time and messed-up priorities. I had to come to terms with the fact that social media was occupying an undue place in my life and relationships, and it was painful to come face-to-face with the selfishness it had fostered in my heart.
At the end of the year, I hesitantly came back to a couple platforms, but this time my eyes were open, and my relationship with and attitude toward social media was entirely different. I had put it in it's proper place. I can't explain the peace that came from that.
The benefits from my social media reset have lasted. The scrolling habit was broken, and even now, two years later, I spend a tiny fraction of the time on social media that I did before my detox. Taking that year helped me love my family and the Lord better, and it took my eyes off myself. It was one of the best decisions I ever made, even though dealing with my own sinfulness was painful.
I am quite hopeful that taking a break from buying certain things will bring the same sort of freedom and peace that my social media break did. If it's even half as impactful on my habits, it will be well worth it.
I'll share another post soon with my rules!
Have any of you considered taking a break from shopping?
I know alot of people will not relate to my particular shopping issues at all, but I'm sure some of you do, and I'd love to hear what's worked for you.
I've mentioned here and there that in our family, we do once a month grocery shopping, and every time I mention it there is always someone asking me how exactly that works - well, here is my attempt to explain it!
Why We Shop Once A Month
First of all, why do we grocery shop once a month? The short answer is that our family lives in a somewhat rural area, and this is one way we save money.
1. It saves us money on gas.
2. It saves money on impulse buys.
3. It saves money on duplicate purchases.
Not only does shopping once a month save me money on the gas it would take to drive to the grocery store every week, but I find that with shopping once a month, I spend less money than if I tried to shop once a week. Grocery shopping comes with the temptation for impulse buys, and so limiting my trips to the store cuts down on that temptation. I also think that going once a month helps me keep track of what I actually have left in my pantry, so that I'm less likely to buy something that I actually already have at home.
I actually had once-a-month shopping modeled to me by my mom when I was growing up - we often went shopping just once a month, with short stops in between for perishables. So it was natural to continue doing my shopping that way as an adult. I have been once-a-month shopping since Derek and I were first married, though it has definitely become more challenging as we have added more mouths to feed.
Essentials For Once A Month Shopping
1. A deep freezer. It is a definite advantage if you want to grocery shop just once a month to own a big deep freezer. If we didn't have one, I don't think I'd be able to go a month between shopping trips. We have had a deep freezer for our entire married life because we are a hunting family, and when we get something we need a big freezer to store our supply of meat for the whole year. I use the deep freeze for more than meat though - I buy alot of fruits and vegetables in frozen form, and I freeze our bread until we need to use it. I buy the big bags of cheese and freeze half of it until we need it.
Another benefit we have - which is not an essential but is really helpful - is that we have a second fridge in our garage. It's an old fridge that was left there when we moved into our house, and it still works great, so we use it for extra space for items that need to be refrigerated. Not necessary at all, but it is an advantage we have for once-a-month shopping. You could definitely shop once a month without two refrigerators though - I did for years. A second freezer, on the other hand, is probably necessary if there are more than 2-3 people in your family.
2. A place to buy in bulk. Since we shop once a month and have a larger family, buying in bulk is a must. We have a Sam's Club membership currently, and we get alot of our most-used items there - cheese, honey, eggs, apples, peanut butter, etc. It saves us money, and I don't have to worry so much about running out of an item before the month is through since we are buying bigger quantities.
3. A place to store food. It was alot harder to buy a month ahead at our old house because we didn't have a pantry and we had limited cupboard space in our kitchen. I ended up storing alot of bulk items in our laundry room, which was not ideal, but it worked! But you definitely need enough room to store the food - if you don't have the space, once a month shopping is probably not feasible.
How I Do It
After my confession on how I am not great at meal planning (I'm working on it), you are probably wondering how I manage to shop once a month if I don't plan out our meals. Well, I do plan meals in a very general sense, just not specifically from week to week (that's where I struggle).
At the beginning of the month I go through our pantry to see what we still have in there, and I start to form some ideas of what I could make over the next month using food I already have. I usually can come up with a pretty good list of ideas this way, and then I start my grocery shopping list by filling in the ingredients that are not in my pantry.
Next, there are several items that I know we are going to need each month, regardless of what I end up making for dinner, so those go on the list. Typically it's these items:
Basic Ingredient List
Frozen chicken
Cheese
Bread
Cereal
Oatmeal
Rice
Beans (canned or dry)
Noodles
Broth
Tortillas
Frozen Vegetables
Frozen Fruit
*Some Fresh Produce
Peanut Butter
Honey
Sugar
Flour
Eggs
Butter
Olive Oil/Coconut Oil
Milk
Extras (for baked goods):
Nuts
Raisins
Craisins
Chocolate Chips
You can make alot of different types of things with basic ingredients like this, so I try to make sure we are stocked up on the basics.
I usually have a pretty good idea of how much each item is going to cost (at least I did, before inflation started messing me up), and so I start to calculate the price of all the basic things I need to get. Then I know how much wiggle room I have for the things that add the "flavor" to the menu - specific spices I'll need, condiments, special types of noodles, or any other unique ingredients - which I buy in smaller quantities.
The Shopping
After I come up with a really good grocery list, I usually have to schedule out at least 6-8 hours to get the shopping done. This is when I take one of the kids with me and we have a "mom day", with shopping a good lunch, and a small toy or treat. It's a fun and practical way to get our one-on-one time in! As I go through the store and check items off my list, I try to think about how much of each item we will need for the whole month - we typically end up with ten loaves of bread, for example, most of which will get put right into the freezer at home.
I usually pick one non-perishable item each month to stock up on as well, and I'll buy two or three months worth of that item (for example, if it's noodles, I'll buy 20 extra boxes of noodles). Stocking up here and there ensures that there is always something we could make out of basic ingredients when things start getting scarce at the end of the month, and it's also a comfort having a stock of some basics when supply chain issues and inflation start affecting things.
Then I take my ridiculously full cart to the checkout. Is it a little embarrassing - yes! But if any comments are made I just say I have five kids and only shop once a month, and that clears things up.
For transporting things home in my car, I usually bring the cooler and a huge freezer bag for the frozen items, to prevent them from thawing out while we finish our shopping. If it's a really hot day, I'll buy a bag of ice as well to help keep things cool until we get home.
Storing The Food
As I mentioned, there are alot of items that we end up freezing each month.
-All the meat that is purchased goes immediately into the freezer.
-Bulk bags of cheese are opened and separated into two freezer bags. We put one into the fridge to use, and one in the freezer, ready to be pulled out when we need a fresh bag. We also freeze extra blocks of cheese. Freezing does make block cheese crumbly though so we don't freeze unless we have to.
-We freeze all loaves of bread and tortillas that are not going to be used right away.
-I freeze any fresh produce that is freezer-friendly and that I know we won't be using right away. This is a fairly new practice for me. For example, this month I bought fresh ginger and celery in bulk, with the intention of chopping it up and freezing it for later use in soups and other recipes!
Aside from freezing, I also have started buying these five gallon buckets with gamma seal lids for my grains, and I want to get extra buckets to store flour and rice - it's just a safer way to store larger quantities of dry goods to ensure mice, moisture, or insects don't get into it!
Touch-Up Trips
Usually a couple times of month we make a very quick stop at the store for perishable items that won't last the whole month, like milk. We may occasionally have a craving for a specific meal, or I might have missed something on my grocery shopping trip, and we'll buy ingredients for that specific meal. But for the most part, we don't have to do a shopping trip until the beginning of the next month.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you do about produce?
This is definitely the question I am asked most often. As I mentioned, we do buy alot of vegetables and fruits frozen, or freeze certain things ourselves - for recipes that call for vegetables, such as soups or casseroles, I feel that frozen vegetables are easier to store and work just as well. We use frozen berries for our cereals and yogurt, and frozen fruit for smoothies. Frozen produce can keep in the freezer for quite a long time, and the affects to the nutritional value are negligible, so you are still getting most of the benefits of fresh fruits and veggies!
Other produce actually does keep quite well in the fridge. For instance, we buy carrots, apples, onions, and oranges fresh and keep them in the fridge, and they easily last most of the month before looking a little wrinkly or old. Potatoes last really well just in our pantry. I buy alot of peppers (bell peppers, jalapeños, etc), and they keep for around 2-3 weeks in the fridge.
With produce that does not keep as well (tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.), if I bought them for a specific meal, I try to make that meal toward the beginning of the month rather than toward the end. And for certain produce that we might like to have on hand, like bananas, I'll just buy some when we make our 2-3 milk stops during the month.
I will say that I live in a pretty dry climate, and that does help me when it comes to making produce last. I imagine areas of higher humidity may be worse for produce longevity.
Do you plan out thirty meals at the beginning of each month?
No, ha! As I mentioned, I don't think I am good at meal planning on a weekly basis, much less a whole month. What I do is think through the ingredients I have and come up with a list of possible meals for the whole month - sort of a list of options that I keep in the back of my mind. It's usually a list of 10-15 meals that I could potentially make (because I know there will be leftovers, nights eating out, nights that we just wing it, etc). Then I'll just make sure I have all the ingredients on hand for those meals (plus usually a few new recipes I want to try).
Maybe this is just us, but typically the meals we like to eat are different arrangements of alot of the same basic ingredients (see my basic ingredient list above). If I have those on hand, I can make most things I want to make for the month, without having to plan out every detail.
I'd love to try this to save money, how should I start?
I haven't got this question put exactly this way, but I'm including it here to address how it could look to start shopping less often. If you have a good amount of freezer/refrigerator space and are currently shopping once per week, you could start by stretching out your grocery shopping routine from one week to two weeks between, and see how it works for you. If it goes well and you like it, you could move to three or four weeks next and see if you find it manageable or helpful!
If you don't, that's fine too! Shopping once a month won't work for every family. It works for us because (1) we live in a rural area about 40 minutes from the nearest big town, (2) we eat rather simply (no special diets for anyone in our family), and (3) we have a good amount of freezer space, and (4) I get particularly tempted to buy "extras" when I am in the store, so being in the store less is very helpful for our budget. You may not have the same situation, benefits, or struggles that we do, but if you think shopping less often would help you, start slow until you find that sweet spot for your family!
If you have any other questions, drop them below and I'll follow up! Or if you grocery shop once a month, I'd love to hear. I feel like an aberration most of the time, since most people seem to shop once per week!
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