groceries

By:
On:
In: Saving Money

Major grocery confession: I don’t do coupons. I don’t look for them, I don’t cut them out, and I certainly don’t remember to take them to the store. I also don’t buy in bulk but that’s mainly for storage reasons. I use coupons if and only if they are attached to the item I’m purchasing. Sad, I know – especially given my food budget woes. To make up for my lack of couponing & help stick to my 2017 financial goals, I’ve decided to start using two grocery apps, Ibotta and Checkout 51. Ibotta The first of the rebate apps, which covers all kinds of products,Read More →

slow cooking

By:
On:
In: Money Challenges, Saving Money

As I mentioned in my 2017 financial goals post, I am planning to stay within budget for the whole year, which includes my notorious food budget. To help myself out on this fairly ambitious goal of mine, I’m going back to an old, money-saving favorite of mine: the slow cooker. As a mini-goal, I plan to make at least one slow cooking meal per week…for the whole year. -that’ll be 52 recipes for those of you playing at home. Before we get to the recipes, I wanted to share my machine of choice. In case anyone is in the market for a nice, decent, money-saving simpleton, thisRead More →

whole 30

By:
On:
In: Budget Beauty & Living, Saving Money

Oh hey there friends. As many of you know, I’ve been struggling with eating better (and within budget) since starting this debt payoff journey. The need to stick to my food budget got a little harder last weekend, when I decided to take the Whole 30 challenge. Essentially, you’re supposed to eat almost entirely organic, whole, foods…while eliminating a lot of cheap fillers like beans and quinoa. For more information and/or to be inspired to take your own Whole 30 Challenge, read It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways. I’m doing Whole 30 mostly because of some physicalRead More →

How to Spend $40/Week on Groceries

By:
On:
In: Saving Money

As you heard last week, I’m seriously cutting down on my food expenditures. My total food spending for March was around $750…ouch, so you can see why this needs to happen. I started my 5 food budget steps this past week, and things are going pretty good, but let’s get down to the actual numbers. My new monthly food budget is $300. I get $40/month for my weekly lunch out, $20 /month for my weekly treat, and $80/month for my weekly date night. This leaves $160 for groceries, meaning I’ll be trying to stay under $40/week. Hopefully this new arrangement is reflected in my foodRead More →

food demons

By:
On:
In: Saving Money

I’ve been putting off this post for a while. It’s embarrassing to have to confront my food issues, and this is the area where I have the least desire to change my habits because, let’s face it, food is tasty. But here we go… I spend way too much money on food – especially eating out. After completing my mini food challenge last week, I realized just how much of a problem it’s become. Thanks to my dutiful categorizing of purchases on Mint, I have this unfortunate graph to show me my faults in glorious, living color. As you can see, groceries make up aRead More →

Mini Money Challenge #1: No Extra Food (& Definitely no Guac)

By:
On:
In: Money Challenges

Hey folks, Part of my daily struggle with saving money is that I seem to keep spending it! A harmless Starbucks trip here, a post-workout Chipotle run…maybe buying not-totally-necessary extra tasty treats at the grocery store. At any rate, all these seemingly innocent extra food purchase add up. So, inspired by my ongoing clothing fast, I’m doing a mini challenge for food purchases this week.  Read More →

slow cooking

By:
On:
In: Saving Money

***This post contains an affiliate link. <3 from the Dames*** ECD confession: I’ve reached the point in my life where I ask for, and truly covet, home appliances at major gift-receiving events. This past December, my main kitchen crush was on a slow cooker. Man, has it been a great present! So far, I’ve only made a couple things with it, but each one turned out super tasty and delicious, and made a minimum of 4 servings each. I already made chili, beef bourguignon, a pork roast with root veggies, Italian sausage and peppers, and an excellent chicken and rice dish, but I’m super pumpedRead More →