An Accurate Grocery Budget for the Year - January 2018
Sometimes working out a grocery budget is overwhelming and finding out how much you spend can be worse! In 2017 I devised a plan to simplify all of this. You need a small diary and a notebook, you should be able to pick these up for $1 each. The notebook must go with you when shopping. This book contains your prices for specials (found it invaluable at Costco and SPC). When you arrive home after putting groceries away, sit down with dockets and the two books. Update specials in the notebook. Write down where and total spend in the diary. Total up each month. This gives you the year in review. You know your total spend, how often you shop, even those little ones. It is a handy reference.
Contributed by Michelle Ferey
Editor's note: This is exactly how I started my first price book, all those years ago, and how I created my monthly shopping lists. In an old notebook I listed everything I bought over a month - all groceries, meat, fruit and veg, pharmacy items, even stamps and newspapers and magazines. Then I ruled up a page with columns: Item, Quantity, Brand,Size, Price Last Month, Price This Month, Total. I still use this method to write a shopping list and track specials. Cath
Contributed by Michelle Ferey
Editor's note: This is exactly how I started my first price book, all those years ago, and how I created my monthly shopping lists. In an old notebook I listed everything I bought over a month - all groceries, meat, fruit and veg, pharmacy items, even stamps and newspapers and magazines. Then I ruled up a page with columns: Item, Quantity, Brand,Size, Price Last Month, Price This Month, Total. I still use this method to write a shopping list and track specials. Cath