No Spend September: Menus.

A week late and a dolla short.

That's how I'm feeling about this whole "No Spend September" thing.

I started out wanting to be much more structured and organized than we were last year, but Justin wasn't really on board. So we opted to do the whole thing in a much more basic way.

But I guess we're still saving money, so its a win-win.

The backstory:

For the first time, we found ourselves having two full-time incomes in May. We've felt more comfortable with our finances and were able to enjoy summer, eating out, weddings, and new babies in the family. With my grad school loans coming up, vacation, the holidays, and Christmas in Florida...we realized we needed to make an effort to seriously spend less and refocus. 

Enter No Spend September.

I had grand ideas of using the envelope and having creative date nights and 'shopping our home'. But they weren't really sticking.

So we decided to just find our one big area of spending and cut back.

For us, that meant food.

Between J's eating out for lunch, us grabbing supper, and inconsistent grocery shopping...we realized how much $$ we've been wasting on food.

So, we decided to get back on a strict grocery/menu schedule.

And we love it!

I'm sure it seems like a no brainer, but planning ahead is key. At the beginning of the month, I identified a budget for grocery & household items. That helps when I'm planning & shopping because I know what we can and can't buy. We also plan out each meal and snack throughout the week. We only shop off our list, so that by the end of the week our fridge and pantry are mostly bare. This cuts down on waste...both food & money-wise!

We've found in the past that its easy to get in a rut and recycle the same recipes over and over. This is great if you love the recipe, but it can also lead to a "wellll, let's just grab Chipotle instead" attitude. For us, its important to have meals we look forward to and take our minds off eating out. {We sound like gluttons, I know!} While I like using blogs & Pinterest for ideas, I'm kind of over them right now. I have tons of cookbooks that I love and make it a goal to try at least one new recipe a week. This makes it way more fun for me!

Once you've made your menu and created a grocery list from that, the best way to save $$ is to shop cheap. Aldi, Wal-mart, and Trader Joe's are just about the only places I shop for groceries and household stuffs. Actual grocery stores are WAY more pricey and kind of stress me out. Aldi & Trader Joe's are actually owned by the same people and I love how affordable and healthy their stuff is. 

And finally, stick to it. Make each meal you said you'd make, don't go out to eat unless you have a giftcard or it was preplanned {ie. a family birthday dinner}, and don't make 'extra' trips to the store for snacks or dessert. We've already noticed a difference on our bank account and our bellies. Its also nice for me to be back in the routine of making supper nightly. And nice for use to feel more organized and in control of what we're spending!

If you have a money-saving tip you'd like to share,

email me @ withasmileblog@gmail.com.

I'd love to feature you!

And don't forget to link up to the {photo} challenge tomorrow!