Well, I have the February total.

We spent 338 dollars on groceries.  This is 100 dollars more than January, however, I did buy some meat on sale and Jason made a few solo trips to the grocery store.

How did you do for February?  Were you able to track down your receipts and tally ’em up?  If you’d like to share, please tell us how many people you’re feeding and your grocery amount in a comment for this post.

Now for March!  I hope you all have your CrockPots dusted off and ready.  For this month, we’re going to keep track of grocery spending again (and you can also track fast food/restaurant spending if you’d like…trust me, it will help you to cook at home or learn how to cook!).  But this month, we’ll be cutting back when possible to see how much we can knock off of that grocery bill.  This can mean using coupons, buying store brands, and/or not buying convenience foods.  While February was simply a month to track spending, March will be a month to both track spending AND try and really reduce grocery spending.

It’s very easy to get swept up with impulse buys and convenience foods at the grocery…I still do!  I mean, I’m human.  However, by tracking my spending, I am much more conscious of doing so now….so, I don’t do it nearly as much as I used to.  I hope that February was an eye-opener for you!  If you haven’t started the Challenge yet, make this month your ‘February’ and follow along. I’d love to hear your results and how you were able to save.

For myself, I do not do a great deal of couponing.  Instead, I stick to non-brand name foods (as long as they taste good!!!) and I try not to buy a lot of convenience foods.  I do realize that some nights I will be too tired to cook, so yes, I will pick up some cheap frozen pizzas.  But usually, I will make my own.  (I assure you it is NOT difficult!!!)  I also shop at 3 different stores to find the best prices on items.  These stores are all very close to each other, so I’m not burning up my gas trying to save money.  I also try to remember how much items cost at each one so I can get the best deal.  Some people even have a price book…a small notebook where they record the best deals on foods.  Probably not a bad idea!

For March, since I am technically a month ahead, I’m going to do the Pioneer Days Experiment.  That is, I am going to try and buy groceries ONCE this month to see how it affects my grocery bill for the month.  I will report back on this.

I’d love to hear your comments…they always brighten my day!