I know I talk a lot about Once-A-Month Cooking and how it saves me a ton of time and energy, but the key to making it work is Once-A-Month Shopping. If done correctly, shopping monthly can save you quite a bit of money and make your monthly cooking super simple. Though my Once-A-Month Shopping technique is constantly changing to better suit my family, the basic premise remains the same: enhance my creative thinking in order to stretch every penny I have.
In order to make a monthly shopping trip work, it requires a lot of organization and planning. If you constantly find yourself running out to pick up one or two items, then you will waste a bit of money on gas as well as be more susceptible to the ever-familiar impulse buys.
To keep me organized, I have created three computer files that I update regularly:
- Monthly Menu Calendar
- Price List
- Shopping List
My Monthly Menu Calendar is a simple Microsoft Power Point file where I fill in the dinners I plan on making for the entire month. I have shared the last few months (October, November, and December) previously on this site. The concept is simple, but it ensures that I have a dinner for every day of the month.
My Price List is a Microsoft Excel file which lists the most recent prices for the common items I purchase at various stores. I update this list often with my receipts to make sure that all the prices are as up-to-date as possible. I consult this list when making my grocery shopping list so I know exactly how much money I am spending for the month before I ever leave the house. Some prices, like milk, meat and produce, can change drastically so I always budget higher for these items just in case. Otherwise, most prices stay relatively the same from trip to trip. Since I can hit three to four stores for my monthly shopping in order to get the best prices, I make sure to list prices for each store. This way, I know which store is the best choice for each item.
My Shopping List is another Microsoft Excel file. This file has four different tabs, one for each store I shop at. This makes compiling my shopping list easy and convenient since all the store lists are a click away, making it simple to bounce back and forth as I fill in the items I need for the month. Each store tab has four columns: Item, Quantity, Price and Subtotal. The item is listed alphabetically as this is the easiest method for me. You could list them in order of the store layout or any other method that suits you. At the bottom, I calculate the grocery tax for my state. If you leave out the tax, you may under-budget and overspend. The best part about Excel is it will do all the math for you, so you just need to take the prices from your Price List and plug them in.
Tomorrow, I will tell you the simple process I use to fill in my ultimate Grocery Shopping List for the month in order to not forget anything.
For more great homemaking tips, check out: Far Above Rubies, Growing Home, Time-Warp Wife, 5 Minutes for Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Ginger Snap Crafts, Life As Mom and Learning the Frugal Life.
I am a stay-at-home mother of three who loves to share my tips on streamlining my life as a homemaker. Thank you for stopping by!
This is such a good idea! I’ve been looking for ways to save $ food-wise, I already plan out our monthly menu, but I have never compared prices or calculated tax before. Genius!
Kathryn recently posted..Housekeeping
It is definitely great to know how much you will spend before you even leave the house!
Thanks for joining our http://juliecache.com/2012/01/10/frugal-tuesday-tip-51/.html
I used to shop this way, but biweekly. With six of us, five being big now, it’s gotten to be a storage space issue. And that 1 1/3 gallons of milk consumption every day.
This is good reading! I loved it
Rhonda recently posted..Tuesday For Travelling
Gosh, you are so organized. I have huge problems with meal planning and planned shopping, I really could use some help within those areas.
I would LOVE to be able to do a once a month shopping trip, but right now our paychecks only cover what is going on that week. Once we get a little more “wiggle room” {I will soon be drawing a small income because I will be keeping a baby for some friends when the mother goes back to work}, I’ll set aside a specific amount each week and save up for a once-a-month trip. Then, I will definitely do once-a-month cooking too!
Thanks for this post! You are such an organized woman!
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Alana of HOME: MADE recently posted..Pinterest Interest: Printables Top 5 Round Up
You have brought up a great point! Getting finances to work out is a huge part of Once-A-Month Shopping. It took us some time before we could manage to spend so much at the beginning of the month. Hopefully you can line up your finances to make it work for you!
Wow you are so organized love it! Thanks so much for linking up to the Frugal Tuesday Tip!
Learning the Frugal Life recently posted..Beautiful Days and Little Surprises
You’re inspiring! I am still working on doing a weekly meal plan/shopping list! Baby steps, right?
Melissa recently posted..Songs that Make Us…Clean?
How do you deal with fresh produce? Our meals consist largely of veggies.
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Most of the produce we use keeps for weeks when properly stored, like apples, zucchini, cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, peppers and so forth. If I purchase a vegetable that will go bad quickly, I make sure to work my meals around it so we use it sooner. Sometimes I will pick up some spinach or bananas mid-month, but for the most part, we only use fresh produce that keeps for a while or we use frozen veggies.
Thanks for sharing your idea here for us…