Every day, I look for ways to better myself. And this blog has been my medium for that betterment over the last 6 months. It has kept me honest when it comes to being the best husband and Dad I can be as well as with growing our family net worth.
I thought it’d be fun to throw down a challenge on the first Monday of each month for myself and hopefully the readers of this family empowering blog would join along as well. The topics will vary, but will all focus on improving your financial and family situation.
The challenge for this month is to …
Reduce Your Grocery Expenses by 1/3
Now some of you out there might already be frugal grocery shoppers, but this is an area where the Hill Family needs a serious overhaul. We spend $900 per month on groceries for our family of 4 — and we don’t even have super hungry teenagers yet!
Eating healthy is important to us so sometimes that drives our expenses up. This $900 monthly figure also includes things like toilet paper, paper towel, detergent and other household necessities.
However you slice it, we’re spending almost $11,000 on groceries every year. That just sounds like a CRAZY number to me!! And it also sounded like a crazy number to the Investing and Personal Finance Club that I’m in on Facebook as well. I shared our situation with that group and, based on the responses, I would say that our family is in the minority with how much we’re spending on groceries. There were a few brave souls that chimed in and said that they too spend around $900 or $1,000 to feed their families of 4 each month.
How To Save on Groceries
I also solicited advice from the group on HOW they save on groceries each month. The post ended up receiving over 140 comments full of helpful and constructive feedback on how the Hill Family could save.
So to meet my challenge of reducing our grocery expenses by ⅓, I’m taking the group’s collective advice and putting it to the test!
Here are the top 5 tips I received from this smart group of savers on how to lower my grocery bill.
The article goes into more depth, but here they are at a high level:
- Do A Weekly Meal Plan
- Less Packaged Goods & More Bulk
- Shop with a List
- Switch to Aldi
- Visit Your Local Farmer’s Market and Buy in Season
Challenge Goals
The Hill Family’s goal for March is spend $600 instead of $900. That is $150 per week. Using the steps detailed in the podcast and in the link above, that has to be doable! With our savings this month, we’re going to go to a fun all-day indoor water park with the kids and we're planning some updates to our home. If we keep it up, we’ll have $3,600 more per year!!!
The challenge has been laid down everyone!
Who’s in to decrease their grocery bill so you have more money to enjoy, save and pay down debt? Please leave me a comment below and let me know how you are saving and if you’re in for the challenge!
On the first Monday of next month, I’ll share how we did and lay down a new MKM challenge!
Who's in for the March MKM Challenge?!
How do you save on groceries each month?
2 Comments
Okay Andy, I’m going to take on the challenge and meet you with your goal of $600/month on groceries for March. After this was the hundredth time I heard I should shop at Aldi, I checked it out this week. To be honest, things were cheap, but I usually stock up at Kroger during their sales, which end up being slightly cheaper than regular Aldi prices. I had mixed feelings.
What I really don’t want to give up is using Clicklist at my local Kroger. It’s costing me $20/month ($5 each visit once a week) but saving me so much time. We’ll see how I can do!
Thanks for joining the challenge Kathryn! If Aldi doesn’t work for you, don’t force it. Maybe meal planning and shopping weekly will help. Happy savings!