budgeting

  • budgeting,  mom

    Why I changed the way I grocery shop

    About a year or so  ago, I changed the way I go about making a grocery list. While sticking to a monthly grocery budget (I strive for about $520 a month including our toiletries and paper items), I changed the way I planned my menu and wrote my grocery list. I used to just write my menu then list the ingredients I needed for these meals on my list and then shop typically at Walmart and Aldi. When we moved to a new town, I finally discovered why so many people enjoy shopping at Kroger. While I still do the majority of my shopping at Aldi, these are the steps…

  • budgeting,  mom

    Dining on steak on a budget

    My husband and I love our ribeye steaks. When asked to choose a steak, we will ideally choose a ribeye every time, medium rare. But ribeye steaks are definitely not something too friendly on our budget. A few years ago, the hubby came home with some chuck eye steaks and I was sold! Chuck eye steaks have a very similar taste to ribeyes but the cost per pound is a lot less. We usually can find them for around $6-7/lb versus $13-14/lb for ribeye steaks. Since they can usually only cut two chuck eye steaks from a cow, you may not find many on the beef shelf at the grocery…