Thursday, December 29, 2011

January grocery budget

I've spent some time today checking my pantry inventory and freezer inventory. We purchased another freezer earlier this week. We had a large upright freezer and it was packed so full I couldn't tell what we did and didn't have. We bought a 14 cu. ft chest freezer, so we moved all the meat products into it. All the other frozen items are now nicely organized in the upright. I Love having two freezers! I had passed up a bunch of great deals on frozen products because I didn't have space. Now I do!

I went through the weekly sale flyer and made a list of items we needed (milk, bread) and what was a great deal on sale. This weeks groceries will finish off my December grocery money. My grocery budget for January is $100 per week, beginning next Friday. This should be plenty considering the pantry is well stocked and we have plenty of meat. I could probably spend less, and will, but want to make sure if there are some great deals, I can stock up. Any money I have left at the end of the month will go towards additional debt repayment.

As a side note, my months start a bit after the beginning of the calendar month. I get paid every other Friday. The first paycheck is my base pay, plus commission from the previous month. The second check is my base pay. The check with commission is variable due to fluctuations in my sales. Some months are busier than others. Once I know how much that larger check is, I can realistically set my total budget, including how much I am going to save and how much I am going to snowflake on debt.

Since I am participating in the no spend challenge, I am only spending money on food and gas, in addition to the other monthly bills (utilities, debt repayment, savings). I am trying to keep the grocery budget as low as possible so I can snowflake as much as possible! I'm also going to only drive when necessary and try to combine errands to save on gas. I'm going to spend only $60 per week on gas.

My next post will detail my other monthly bills and my estimated income. Next Friday I will be able to finalize the January budget.

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