Many friends have stood with mouths open when I tell them I spend $50 a week in groceries. I think they don’t believe me. I wanted to share how this is done. Remember, I can only do this with God’s blessing.

1. I MAKE A MENU. We have soup, bread and salad once a week. We have pizza every Friday. I make bean burritos and black-eyed-peas with rice once each a week. The other days I fill with family favorites like tacos.

2. I go through the menu and my pantry to MAKE MY GROCERY LIST.

3. TOILETRIES are some times extra.

4. I go through my list while at home and GUESTIMATE what THE TOTAL bill will be. This lets me know if I can add any thing special/extra or if I need to review the list for any unnecessary items. Some times I can cross off a few things that I can make at home from scratch.

5. KEEP TRACK OF WHAT MONEY IS ACTUALLY SPENT ON GROCERIES.

I DO NOT BUY any sodas, chips, crackers or candy unless it won’t put us over the budget. This may be hard for hubbies. I call it the ‘Miserly Diet.’ My husband and I have been steadily loosing weight for the past two years. “It’s because your NOT eating any thing!” you may say. We are eating quite well, thank you. All the junk food is naturally not eaten because it is not in the budget. This saves a lot of calories. Forget the waistline, go on a diet for your budgets sake.

Voila! That’s how I do it. Our current bugeted amount is $57 per week. Some times I am over, some times I am under. So far it has all balanced out.