Well, we did it.  We finished the All You Grocery Challenge. Can somebody say, “Holler?” Anybody?

For me, it was a great exercise in being more mindful of our spending.  I am still learning how to save money on grocery shopping.  I am simply not always aware exactly how much money is being spent on groceries.   Now I know I can be.

I’m especially thankful that we participated in this challenge as we prepare to move.  The cost of living is higher in Souderton and we are going to need to know more clearly where our dollars are going.  This was good prep for me.  Watch out Souderton, here I come!

I’ve copied the exit form that I sent in to All You below.  Did anyone else reading enter the challenge?  Leave a comment with a link to your blog–I’d love to see how others did as well!

-Weekly allowance: $75

-How much money did you spend each week?

Week 1 = $19.61	Week 3 = $73.15
Week 2 = $73.83	Week 4 = $69.39

-What creative strategies did you use to save money?

• I declared a couple of ‘shopping in my freezer’ weeks to use up the stockpile that I’ve built over time.  It felt good to use what we have!

• The biggest challenge was special circumstances that arose, such as being responsible to make a meal for 18 people and going out to eat on vacation and my son’s 4th birthday party.  What I discovered is that, with a little bit of planning, it is amazing how much money you can save and still enjoy some of the finer things in life (like Chuck E. Cheese!).

• We almost didn’t make it the week that we were on vacation.  But through scouting out a GREAT restaurant.com gift certificate ($25 for only $2!), and using the Kellogg’s Fuel for School rebate and the Tyson Skillet Meals rebate, we finished with a couple dollars to spare!

• We also got some great coupons for our son’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese by signing him up on their web-site.  They even sent him a special birthday offer for free tokens.

• I love using drugstore loyalty programs to help buy groceries occasionally.  For example, when we needed milk at the end of one of the weeks, I used some of my extrabucks at CVS to buy some.  Free milk!

• Communication!  My husband and I had to talk about our grocery budget at the beginning of each week and think through what circumstances would arise that might cost more than the money allowed.  My husband even admitted that he refrained from buying a can of peanuts one week because he wasn’t sure it was in the budget–what a guy!  We had to work more as a team and resist the urge to make impulse purchases.

-What healthy strategies did you use?

• Although we live in an apartment, we have a little patio garden.  We used lettuce from our garden for LOTS of salads (still waiting on the other veggies to ripen!).

• We put a shopping freeze on any sodas or juices and drank more water–gotta love free and healthy!

• I made a large batch of a bran muffin mix that we kept in the fridge.  Whenever we wanted to make more, we just poured the mix into some muffin tins and voila!  Yummy muffins!

• I resisted the temptation to save money just by making all those hot dogs in our freezer the main staple of the challenge!  Instead I planned well-balanced meals and stuck to the list when grocery shopping.

• Instead of buying frozen pizza, we used our breadmaker to make pizza dough and then made our own.  So delicious!
  

-What did you learn from this challenge?

• I learned that while I can always do better at saving money.  We live pretty frugally, but it’s easy to let things slide occasionally when you really want to buy that extra can of peanuts or go out to eat for the second time that week.  This challenge forced us to make a plan and stick to it, even when we wanted to jump ship.

• I also learned that when you plan ahead, you can do a lot with a limited budget.  Using coupons and rebates, shopping the sales, planning meals  carefully, and finding deals at restaurants all helped us not feel like our budget was holding us back from  enjoying life!