My purpose is to help make your life easier. Adulting is HARD! Let’s not make it more complicated than it needs to be!
Stressing about money is a TOP STRESSOR on individuals, couples and families FOR A REASON. I do NOT want your life revolving around making money just to pay your bills. That’s no fun, and it’s not sustainable without some sort of eventual breakdown or depression.
So what do I suggest you do about it? How can you get out of the rut of having JUST enough to make ends meet? How can you get OUT of debt, and start actually having EXTRA MONEY to save, spend wisely, and give freely?
Top places to start:
- Have a REALISTIC and SUSTAINABLE Budget
- Meal Planning
To help get you started, I have created a FREE downloadable PDF for you to use! This is the exact method of monthly meal planning that I (Denise, founder of LM Organics & Founder/CEO of Joyfully Managing Life) use EVERY month that literally saves my family hundreds of dollars EACH month within our grocery budget alone.
No joke. For my family of 4 (in the DFW area) with gluten, dairy, and a slew of other dietary sensitivities (which makes some alternatives annoyingly expensive), as well as buying clean and organic foods as much and as often as possible, our grocery bill dropped from between $1,000-1,300 per month to just $700! How?? Making the change from weekly grocery/meal planning to doing it monthly (using these exact templates that I am offering to you).
You: I don’t need any more details, just gimme that printable, please!
Denise: Okay, easy. Voila!
Q: Uh… how in the world do you buy for a whole month at a time?
A: I suggest meal planning based off of what you already own first (this is essential) and based on your calendar (what meals you NEED to plan for – NO more than that), then planning for and purchasing all of your needed pantry/freezer/refrigerated items that can be stored or frozen for the month at the beginning of each month.
The majority of your grocery budget will be spent, but it’s okay, because you won’t need to purchase much for for the rest of the month (just fresh produce, milk, random items you weren’t able to foresee needing, etc.). For our family, our $700 monthly budget breaks down to $500 per month for “monthly stock up” and about $50 per week for fresh and miscellaneous items (including stocking up on any items you regularly purchase when you happen to notice they’re on sale for a price you “can’t pass up”).
Q: Why does it work?
A: Well, the short answer is because by buying so much at once (at the beginning of the month), not only are you able to save money by shopping in bulk on a lot of things, but you also are forced to really think about what you actually need to be buying.
It’s easier to stick to a budget if you are not going to the store multiple times a week where every trip “just for milk” ends up with you spending $50 on things that you grab on your way down the aisles or at the checkout line. Fewer trips = less money being spent. We’ve seen the internet meme that says, “Target cashier: Did you find everything you were looking for? Me: First of all, I wasn’t looking for any of this…” That meme exists because the struggle is real, and we all feel it!
Once a week. In and out (with your list to keep you focused). Knowing exactly how much you have available to spend, and using your own planning skills and self control to keep to that plan.
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”