Do you have a budget for your groceries and house hold items? If you do is it hard for you to stick to it when you see so many great 4 and 5 star deals? It is for me but I still do. It has been requested that I write some tips for how I make and stick to my budget of $300 per month. So whenever you see this light bulb money image it means its time for a BUDGET IDEA!! : )A few quick tips:
1. Decide what your budget is. I have found that we can live quite comfortably allotting $75 per consumer in our household. In our college days when things were of course tighter $50 per consumer is what we'd aim for but it was tough. If you are looking for baby steps and easing into a tighter budget $100 per consumer is very doable! It may take a couple months of watching what you spend to fine tune exactly what $$ amount works best to meet your family's needs.
2. Keep track of EVERYTHING you spend. Months when I haven't kept a personal record made by me, (my husband tracks everything in his money program but that's his thing not mine) I will overspend. If YOU are keeping a running tab on how much you have spent you are more likely to stick to your budget and know when you are starting to either impulse buy or overdoing it.
3. Stick to it!... even if it means passing on some great deals. It is April 28 and I have spent all of my budget for the month. I am looking at the Vons and Albertsons lists and wanting to run to the store and buy more but I am not going to. I've already shopped both stores promotions this week and got the things I really wanted so now I am going to wait until Friday May 1 for the new month to begin.
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