Saving Money

I have been proud of myself lately...you see, I have been able to not spend my full amount budgeted for groceries lately. The last three times I have been shopping, I have gone anywhere from $50-$100 less than my usual budgeted amount. I don't think store prices have come down, and I have always been a conscientious shopper. I look closely at prices, compare items (both in price and size) and pay attention to the prices as my items are being rung (rang?) up :) I use coupons-usually, I am able to save an average of $10 with my coupons. I imagine if I went to more stores that doubled my coupons, I could save more, but unless I see a really good deal, I usually do not go out of my way that much.

I usually shop 4 different stores..they are not too much out of my way and I know I save alot, even with the gas I spend. One of those stores is the bread store and I can usually find terrific deals on english muffins, tortillas, and bread.

But, I got to thinking the other day on ways to reduce even more! I usually buy 2 bags of cereal for the kids...depending on the type of cereal, this can last my kids anywhere from 5-8 days (sometimes more). So, two bags costs us about $6 (they are $3 each for the store brand bagged cereal). I thought, I could buy a whole bag of flour, plus maybe eggs, for the price of one bag. I could make the kids a much healthier breakfast-something like some nice healthy pancakes (we add whole wheat, oats and ground flax seed to our recipe), some good muffins, etc...

It will mean planning on my behalf. Many things I thought of I can make ahead of time and keep in the freezer :) I can make a good stash of muffins, pancakes, waffles, homemade breakfast bars/cookies, etc... and the kids can pull them out that morning, or I can place them in the fridge the night before to thaw a bit. I think pulling them out to thaw will also allow me to keep track of what we have used and what we have left :)

So, after talking with the kids, we are going to start this new challenge :) This will be my goal for next week too, making big batches of breakfast items for the nest two weeks. There are mornings my oldest two can provide breakfast because they enjoy making muffins. Also, Josh has started to enjoy making eggs and toast for everyone, so I am sure he can take a morning of breakfast duties as well :)

I will let everyone know how our challenge goes in a couple of weeks. Im hoping the kids enjoy it and maybe we can do away with cereal altogether--maybe buying some for special occassions :)