In order to get back on track and know where our money is going again, we are going old school. Cash budget. We have never done that. It is for the line items of groceries, pets, medical (if possible), gift-giving, entertainment, and allowances (discretionary spending, a small amount, for my husband and I).
When starting out with a cash budget (aka envelope system) there is no wiggle room. That means I can no longer view the grocery budget as a goal. It is a hard and fast rule, starting September 1.
Of course I still plan to give my family real, healthy food. But I will have to prioritize more. I really want to continue our raw milk, yogurt, grass-fed beef, and pastured chicken and eggs. Since these are higher up the food chain, I am going to focus on fitting these into the budget over and ahead of organic fruits and vegetables. I have read that you should give the high-on-the-food-chain items more priority in being raised naturally since they have the most chance to have accumulated bad things along the way, if that makes sense.
I will still seek out organic fruits and vegetables, but I will only buy them when they are the same or close in price to conventional. Since my goal price for produce is $1/lb., I think it is best to suspend our produce box for now, as much as it saddens me. Although it might not always be organic, I can find just as much or more produce for a better price.
The bummer of suspending the produce box delivery, is it means I will have to go to the grocery store more frequently. Which besides being a pain, also means I will have more temptation to spend money. I will have to be good about sticking to a list. I can do that. And as far as the hassle, if it doesn't cost me any extra fuel, and if it puts more money in our savings account, I am willing to do it.
I am starting to learn more about grains. I would like to give sprouted bread a try. Hmm. I don't know if that is going to fit into the hard and fast budget :)
More to come on all this in September. Any tips or suggestions are welcome. I think it is about time to catalogue the grocery shopping excursions once again.
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5 comments:
In November I will likely start what will be a year maternity leave which means, we lose my salary for that year. So I am going to see if I can go to the envelope system. Getting my husband on board will be interesting!!
kudos to you! we are starting a similar project (no credit cards, using debit only, paying ourselves first by transferring a portion of each paycheck immediately to savings). we have 4 kiddos under 7 and I work part-time outside the home. We are fortunate to have unlimited meat (both parents are farmers beef/pork), but I am still looking for a budgeting guideline for groceries. I love reading your blog and LOVE the granola recipe linked!
Jason has been wanting to try this kind of system as well. keep us posted on how it goes!
Thanks for the encouragement, gals... I will let you know how it goes!
Good luck Emily! Jon and I started an envelope system earlier this year and I love it. After getting used to it, we were gone for a week and didn't have time to get our cash for the week before I needed to get to the grocery store. I definitely prefer the cash method!
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