As you can see by this amazing picture of me at age three (second from the left), food budgeting has been part of my life for a long, long time. And although Zach and I spend what I think is a reasonable amount on food every month ($350 is typical, including drinks and eating out), we decided that it was high time for a spending challenge. Introducing the Super-Frugal Grocery Challenge: The March Edition!
Starting March 1st, we will be tracking what we spend on food with the goal of spending no more than $200 during the month on groceries, beverages, snacks, and eating out. This factors down to spending $6.45 per day on food, or $1.07 per person per meal.
The purpose of the challenge is to help us get a clearer picture of what we would spend on food if we were on a tight budget— for instance, saving up for a trip, wanting to quit our jobs to pursue a project, and so on. It's to make us more aware of our food choices, appreciate more simple foods (like beans and rice), develop some frugal recipes to eat more often, help us figure out what would be low-budget but sustainable… and, of course, save money!
What this challenge is NOT:
• "Pretending to be poor." If we were truly poor we would not have the range of options and/or the time that we have to invest in food. This is not intended to be a reenactment of being poor.
• Something "anyone can do." Everyone has different circumstances, skill sets, accessible ingredients, dietary requirements, and so on. This is just an example of what we're doing, with our resources, privileges, and skills.
Our Rules:
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| Sunchokes are free! |
• We will spend no more than $200 on food of all kinds, either through actual purchases at the store or through "buying" from our pantry, as stipulated below.
• This means we will save about $150. We will put $75 toward our car payment (which is the highest-interest loan we currently have) and donate $75 to the local food pantry.
• The first time we use a major item from the pantry that is half-used (e.g. a tub of flour, a half-full bottle of olive oil, etc.), we will weigh the item. Then at the end of the month, we will weigh it again and calculate how much of it we used, and count that much as being "bought." (This is making the challenge way more complicated than it needs to be, but Zach and I are trying to account for what it would be like to eat this way month in and month out.)
• If we use a self-contained item from the pantry (canned goods, condiments, etc.), we will count its "cost" at the normal grocery price.
• We will not count the cost of spices and condiments we already have on hand (garlic powder, mustard, Kung Pao sauce, etc.), but we will count the cost if we have to buy a refill, either at the store or from the pantry.
• We will accept food from other people, including people taking us out to eat, but we won't seek it out.
• Gleaned (dumpster-dived) food, foraged food, and food we previously grew ourselves are free.
Do you want to play along at home? If so, here are some basic guidelines!
1. Figure out how much you usually spend on groceries. If you have no clue, try downloading an app like Mint, which will link up to your bank/credit card account and roughly sort your spending by category (you can adjust the categories manually).
2. Once you figure out what you spend in a typical month, choose a number lower than that. Only you can decide what this looks like: you want it to be challenging, but not so challenging that you give up halfway through March.
3. Decide if there any exceptions to this spending. Try to anticipate any special occasions: a weekly restaurant outing, drinks for St. Patrick's Day, etc., and account for them beforehand.
4. Decide how you are going to spend the money you'll save. Although you could save it for "fun money," I highly recommend choosing to either give it to charity, pay down debt, or both. Remember, making an extra payment on a debt, depending on the interest rate, can save you dozens or hundreds of additional dollars in the long run!
5. Leave a comment letting me know that you're doing the challenge so I can cheer you on!
Who's interested in following along? Any questions for us?
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Interesting to see you guys do at this--I'll follow along.
ReplyDeleteWell I have already flunked, I bought about $145 in groceries already and I have a pretty decent amount of food in my freezer and pantry already - beans, rice, fruit and veggies. Still I want to see how you do yours because I need to be thriftier. Included in my groc bill is food for about 8-10 cats daily (6-8 ferals from a neighbor). I'd love to find a cheaper but still healthy way to feed pets.
ReplyDeleteOOps that was me, Peggy.
ReplyDelete