As many of you know we started using the Dave Ramsey system several months ago. I know you have all been waiting for our Total Money Makeover update. I know I have been…..
We started this Total Money Makeover back in July of 2015 and we did really well with sticking to our budget and saving money. Then, of course I became a slacker (again). Over the course of the next few months, we managed to get quite a bit back into our savings and had begun saving for our Honeymoon. I was pretty excited. Well, low and behold we weren’t “Murphy proof” yet (read the book you’ll know what I mean). We have had one of our vehicles in the shop for a VERY long time – long enough that the motor froze up and now has to be replaced. Guess where our “honeymoon fund” went. Yes, I literally cried when I had to give that up.
The beginning of this year, I decided that we really needed to begin our money makeover journey again. One of the things that we decided to do was to only go grocery shopping once a month. I make out menu and then a GIANT grocery list. Yes, we still have to pick up a few things here and there. It seems to be working though.
I will say that going grocery shopping once a month frees up A LOT of time and energy. We spend less on gas, going out to eat, and lots of other things. Why? The closest real grocery store is at least an hour away. Which means when we go to the city to go grocery shopping we also go out to eat, hit the thrift store, run by the health food store, or the fabric store, or the feed store (no I’m not looking for more chickens….ok maybe I do).
Anyhoo….on with the Total Money Makeover update.
A friend of mine had told me about a store in Las Vegas, she said that I REALLY needed to go there. She described it as a bulk foods store but, with stuff that I would use. Boy, was she EVER right. I am totally hooked on Winco Foods. That sad part of that lovely discovery is that the closest store is almost 4 hours (one way) away. I was so impressed with the amount of “real” food available and the pricing was astonishing! We spent $290 on groceries for the month at Winco Foods! There were just a handful of things that I still had to pick up at our local health food store – shout out to Val at Kanab Natural Foods. I ended up going over our grocery budget by $17. Not bad!
We did go over budget a bit – we had to buy some firewood and ducklings. One of those is more important than the other, I’ll let you decide which is which. All in all, I think January was a pretty good month.
Now for February…..we decided that it would be cheaper to stay in the state of Utah to go grocery shopping. The extra $60 for gas to go to Las Vegas we would just incorporate into our grocery budget because things would be a little more expensive. It sounded good – I even went with coupons and did some price matching. Are you ready for the sticker shock…..I wasn’t!
I was so disappointed to say the least. The saddest part of that experience was that the store we went to this month was out of so many things. I mean really, how do you run out of buttermilk, tomatoes, celery, garbanzo beans, okra (of all things….okra!). It was a little ridiculous. I’ve already gone over our grocery budget by $170 picking up things that they didn’t have at the “big box store”. GRRRR
Needless to say next month we will spend the extra $60 in gas to drive all the way to Las Vegas.
You know what that means don’t you??? Yep, no new chicks for this month. 🙁 how sad right! Yes, I put a line item in our budget for farm animals. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.
I’m thankful that all of our bill have been paid (on time I might add) and money will still go into the savings account. Just not as much as I had hoped, but what I had planned. We’re using the Everydollar budget system to keep track of all of our spending – it makes it so easy. It should also make it easier for me to post our next total money makeover update.
If you are interested in the menu planner that I use, jump over to Baked Bree’s website. I found her on Pinterest and love this meal planner! If you would like a copy of our written spending plan or our grocery list, email me or leave a comment.
Have any of you guys followed the Dave Ramsey system? We’d love to hear your Total Money Makeover Update.
