I’m so excited about today’s post! It covers the theme of this whole blog AND is
the concept that makes living with a smaller grocery budget possible. I only recommend drastically reducing a grocery budget in an emergency, like we did when Darren suddenly lost his job. Otherwise it’s so much better to do it gradually. Like weight loss, when you reduce the grocery budget gradually, you are more likely to be successful and actually keep the spending down.
- The first month, keep your spending the same. Spend 80% on food to eat now and 20% to stock up your pantry with the rock bottom sales you find.
- The next month reduce your budget by 20%. Spend 80% of the new budget on food to eat now and 20% to stock your pantry.
- Continue the process reducing your budget by 20% each month and following the 80/20 rule until you have reduced the budget to as low as you need it to go. From here on the 80% of your spending will be to re-stock the pantry with awesome deals. You will eat primarily out of the pantry and use 20% of your budget for fresh stuff like produce and dairy products. Keep in mind the 80/20 percentages are flexible approximations.
Here’s a real life example with numbers. Joselle has 3 children and they currently spend $1200 a month on groceries. They have trouble coming up with money when something extra like a birthday party or school fundraiser pops up. If she could reduce her budget to $500 a month it would change their WORLD but even a little reduction would help. Her first goal is to beef up their emergency fund.
Month 1 she budgets $1200. She spends $960 on food to eat now and $240 on food for the pantry, stocking up on the items she notices to be particularly good deals.
Month 2 she budgets $960, spending $768 on food to eat now and $192 on really good deals for the pantry. She saves the extra $240 to beef up their emergency fund.
Month 3 she budgets $768. She spends $615 on food to eat now and $153 on really good deals for the pantry. She saves the extra $432 to beef up their emergency fund.
Month 4 she budgets $615. She spends $500 on food to eat now and $115 on really good deals for the pantry. She saves the extra $585 to beef up their emergency fund.
Month 5 she budgets $500 (Goal!) She spends $100 on food to eat now and $400 on really good deals for the pantry. She saves the extra $700 to beef up her emergency fund. She plans her meals based on the food she has in her pantry and restocks when she finds the right deal.
In 5 months Joselle has built up a nice pantry for her family, plus added $1,957 to their emergency fund. She now has an extra $700 a month that she can plan into her budget where it’s needed most.
What do you think? Would this method work for you?