Update: My New Resolve

So how am I doing with my new resolve? Am I sticking with it? Do I still plan to have $40 left at the end of this month? It is past time for an update!

So far, I have been doing pretty good at using up the excess things in my cupboards. These are the items that I have used so far, most of which I got for free or very nearly free and had lots of:* Peanut butter
* Cornstarch
* Fettuccine noodles
* Broccoli
* Canned pineapple
* Campbell's Tomato Soup
* Frozen broccoli
* BBQ Sauce
* Macaroni
* Pumpkin
* M & M's
* Carrot Cake Muffin mix

I feel pretty good with how well it is going. I still have some extras I'd like to use up by the end of the month, but I have made a pretty good dent in our stockpile.

And it is definitely helping our grocery budget! I've also stuck with my resolve to only buy grocery items that are a really good price and as of today, I still have $47.84 to use on groceries this month.

I had mentioned last month that I hoped to have at least $40 left over this month. Well, I am bumping that to $30 since I wasn't anticipating buying chicken this month. (My sister-in-law was able to get me boneless, skinless chicken for $1.59 lb.!) Just to help you understand this a bit, we budget $140 a month for strictly food items, which includes anything I buy to can and also all meat purchases. We budget $50 a month for household items which includes diapers, cleaning supplies, paper supplies, toiletries etc.

The exciting thing is, I think I should be able to not spend too much on groceries next month either since I have a nice supply of ground beef, chicken and bacon. I was able to get all of these for excellent prices either this month or in August.

So, that is how I'm doing. If you have any questions, I'm open to them. Or if you have comments about how you are saving on your groceries or what you find helpful, I'd love to hear that too!

I plan to do a post on what I have learned from this whole experience, probably next week sometime.