I’m guessing the biggest line item in your family budget aside from your mortgage, is probably the money you spend on groceries each month. Thankfully this one line item is one over which you have some control and can make a big difference as you evaluate where your money is going. nike sb Here are some tips: 1. Keep A Price Book: Love a bargain or a good deal? You’ll find them all over the store, but do you know if what they advertise as a good deal is actually saving you money? Here’s a great idea to help: keep a little notebook in your purse or keep a text document on your phone with the regular prices of the items you buy most often. Not only can you see if that “deal” really is a deal, you can also determine what kitchen staple is cheapest where and adjust your shopping accordingly. Your price book will also come in handy when you browse through weekly grocery flyers. You can decide if a loss leader deal is worth driving to the store long before you ever set a foot out the door. Fjallraven Kanken Sale 2. Make A Grocery Budget: This will take a couple of weeks if you’ve not been tracking your spending up until now. So for the next few weeks, write down what you are buying and from where. Get a general figure of what a normal month is cost wise. From there, come up with a weekly or monthly budget. Allot that money for groceries and whatever you do don’t go over. Cash envelope systems are a great way to track this. Or you can get a gift card from your grocery store in the amount you’ve budgeted and only use that card each time you shop. Fjallraven Kanken Classic Sale Next, try cutting back your budget by $10 per month. Keep going and see how low you can go. The remaining tips will help you do that without feeling like you’re depriving yourself. nike air max 1 3. Come Up With A Few Frugal Dishes: You don’t have to make drastic changes and eat nothing but rice and beans all week. Instead think of a few inexpensive dishes your family enjoys. They may be rice and beans. Or how about a big pot of soup or chili. Often meatless dishes will be your best frugal bet, or use meat in small portions on frugal dish days Enjoying frugal meals even just a handful of days during the month combined with using up any and all leftovers will make a big difference in your grocery budget. Ground beef is generally inexpensive and you can do so much with it these days to make it seem different each evening. 4. Cut Out The Extras: Make a list before you head to the store and stick to it. All those little extras like the fancy bread from the bakery or the candy you grabbed at checkout start to add up. Fjallraven Kanken Backpack Get in the habit of skipping those extras unless there’s a good reason to buy them. Stick to your list and you’ll cut your grocery bill by quite a bit each week. It’s amazing how all those little extras add up. Give these tips a try and see if you don’t start to see big savings on a weekly basis. What you do with all the extra money each month is up to you.