We’re kicking off the yr with an 8-week Lower Your Grocery Invoice Problem. I’ll be sharing a weekly publish right here each week with a activity or problem so that you can full/concentrate on that can assist you tweak, enhance, or overhaul your grocery funds.
My hope is that we will all work collectively to crowd-source new concepts and contemporary inspiration to be extra considerate and intentional in our grocery budgets + hopefully avoid wasting cash and instill some practices and rules and habits that can proceed to avoid wasting us cash all through the remainder of the yr.
It’s February and we’re beginning week 7 of the Lower Your Grocery Invoice Problem. How is it going for you? Right here’s what we’ve coated on this problem to date…
In week #1, we talked about organising a grocery funds. That’s an important first step in chopping your grocery invoice.
In week #2, we mentioned why you must acknowledge potential roadblocks. You should definitely learn by the feedback right here to listen to about others’ roadblocks. I feel it should encourage you to know you’re not alone.
In week #3, I challenged you to commit to alter one factor for 3 weeks. You possibly can see the feedback on the publish for concepts of what others picked.
In week #4, I inspired you to verify in in your progress to see how you’re doing, what you’re studying, what’s working, and what’s not working.
In week #5, we talked about evaluating your choices with regards to shops in your space.
Final week, we checked in on the dedication we made three weeks in the past.
Week #7: Problem Your self to Go Money-Solely
If you happen to’ve made it this far, I’m so pleased with you! And I feel you’re prepared for an enormous problem — attempting the going money just for a number of weeks.
What do I imply by this? Properly, I imply truly solely bringing actual money with you to the shop for a number of weeks. Depart your debit and bank cards (and checkbook, in case you nonetheless have a type of!) at residence. And simply store with money!
You see, once you store with a credit score or debit card, you’ll be able to have your funds in your head and you are able to do the very best to keep it up once you try, nevertheless it’s a lot simpler to go just a bit bit over right here and there once you’re swiping. You possibly can justify that $2 you went over your funds to purchase one thing which was a “nice deal” when paying together with your card.
$2 may not look like a lot, however in case you spend $2 to $3 extra on groceries each week, that’s provides as much as round $130 in additional spending over a yr’s time!
Paying with money forces you to stay to your funds.
When all it’s important to pay on the retailer is your grocery funds envelope, you higher consider you fastidiously consider each impulse buy or nice deal you come throughout: “Do I really want this?” “Is that this within the funds?”
If you end up struggling financially and wishing you may determine why your grocery funds is so excessive, can I problem you to take a Money-Solely Problem for 3 weeks and see if it impacts your grocery spending over the course of a three-week interval?
Take the Money-Solely Problem!
Right here’s how the Money-Solely Problem works:
1) Decide to solely spend what’s in your grocery envelope for the subsequent 3 weeks.
2) Go to the financial institution and withdraw money within the quantity of your pre-determined Grocery Funds. Put this money in an envelope and maintain it in a protected place. For extra on cash-only procuring, learn The Envelope System Experiment.
3) Depart your credit score/debit playing cards/checkbook at residence and solely carry your money envelope and a calculator with you to the grocery retailer.
4) Calculate your purchases as you add them to your cart. I mentally add up how a lot I’ve spent as I add issues to my cart, rounding up for tax. It’s also possible to maintain a operating complete in your cellphone’s calculator. This can inspire you to fastidiously consider all purchases, will make you conscious of how a lot objects truly price, encourage you to search for the very best deal, and pressure you to get inventive in case your checklist is longer than you’ve gotten room for within the funds.
5) Pay with money once you checkout. This three-week experiment will seemingly educate you some issues and problem you in good methods… and you might find yourself determined to go cash-only for a number of months, and even longer!
Are becoming a member of us for the Lower Your Grocery Invoice Problem? If that’s the case, I’d love so that you can depart a remark and inform us in case you’ve ever tried utilizing money solely. If that’s the case, how did it give you the results you want? If not, would you be prepared to attempt it for 3-6 weeks and see what you be taught from the expertise?
I had deliberate to go to Kroger and Aldi on Thursday, however then there was a extreme storm warning, so I stayed hope after which deliberate to go on Friday and a bunch of surprising issues got here up. I lastly simply did a small Kroger pickup order this weekend to tide us over (I’m touring Sunday and Monday for ebook launch media stuff.)
I hope to lastly make it in-person to Kroger on Tuesday, however we’ll see what this coming week brings! At any price, we spent $29 on the above objects at Kroger.
Want some sensible concepts for methods to chop your grocery invoice? You should definitely join my free cheatsheet with 10 Methods to Lower Your Grocery Invoice by $50 This Week!