Evolving Personal Finance » Entries tagged with "groceries"
Incorporating New Frugal Strategies
In February we incorporated two new frugal strategies into our wheelhouse of natural frugality in Seattle. Even though we’re earning more than we ever have before (hello 25% tax bracket!), we haven’t outgrown the frugality we practiced during grad school. Having a baby threw things off for a little while, but we’re getting back on track. A New Type of Grocer We heard a tip a few weeks ago from one of our friends here about a … Read entire article »
Filed under: frugality
Financial Tweaks for Our New Year
Kyle and I have been so busy with work in the past few months that we have really left our money management on autopilot. I haven’t even played with spending scenarios recently, as I love to do! But even without me looking for issues to tweak, three areas of our budget have popped up with some needed updates. Take-Home Pay Increase We noticed that the take-home pay we received at the end of in January was slightly … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, food, savings, spending, targeted savings, taxes
April 2013 Month in Review: Money
This month was a low one for spending and therefore a great one for getting our budget back on track. Last month we blew our budget and had to transfer money into our checking account for the first time in like a year or more! This month was just low on everything – food, gas, targeted savings expenditures. But we still had lot of good times! We went to California for five days, met with … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Grocery Challenge Update for February 2013
I was considering not posting about our grocery challenge this week because I don’t have a complete report, but then I decided that this blog is supposed to reflect real life and sometimes real life just doesn’t leave room for tracking receipts! I know how much money we spent on groceries last month thanks to Mint – $458.50 – but at some point in the month we lost track of our receipts for the mega pie … Read entire article »
Filed under: food
February 2013 Month in Review: Money
This has been a stressful month for us. As I’ve mentioned about a hundred times on here, I’m preparing for my preliminary exam. This stress and busy-ness has translated to doing and spending less, though we still socialized with our friends in free settings quite a bit. The Everyday Budget Our non-discretionary categories aren’t changing at all now – INCOME, SAVINGS, GIVING, rent, and internet – which you can find in our last budget iteration. Kyle also … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Grocery Challenge Update for January 2013
Late last fall we realized that our grocery spending had really gotten out of hand, even though we increased our budget from $360 to $400 per month. In November we spent $484 and set ourselves a grocery challenge – several goals that we thought would help us reduce our grocery spending to under our budget. The first month of our challenge, December 2012, was not successful – we spent $502 – but I was feeling … Read entire article »
November 2012 Month in Review: Money
We did a terrible job staying under budget this month – check the bottom to see if it was a pass or fail (it was close!). Our lack of control in the grocery store was to blame again. Our targeted savings accounts saved our behinds, too, as our car failed its yearly safety inspection and we had to make some unexpected repairs, but our Cars account was up to the task. Kyle is, I swear, … Read entire article »
Filed under: month in review
Weekly Update 41
I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but I just feel like I had a great week! I took some confusing data from my projects that are making me think deeply about my system. I completed my certification to use a tunneling electron microscope. Kyle and I attended an AMAZING home basketball game (a bit unexpectedly – last minute tickets). I couldn’t see worth anything but I love the atmosphere. We went to a great party last night – lots of time hanging out with our friends and the best round of telephone pictionary I’ve ever been part of. I got back in the gym for a heavy weights workout. I went shopping yesterday for the first week of our reduced-grocery-spending month. I went to 5 stores in 2.5 hours and spend over half our … Read entire article »
Filed under: weekly update
Taking Control of Our Grocery Spending
Last month we were way over our grocery spending and this month we are way, way over! Two months in a row is real red flag. This is such a big chunk of our budget that these large overages are affecting our bottom line – the only reason we’ve been in the black the last two month has been our yet-unincorporated cost-of-living raises from September. Looking back in Mint, it seems that our grocery spending … Read entire article »
Filed under: food
How to Cut Your Food Spending – Reducing Grocery Costs
Very early in your spending-tracking or budgeting lifestyle, you will realize that food spending is one of the most highly variable and easily manipulated expenditure categories. If you’re looking to reduct your spending, food is often the primary target of budget slashing, and for good reason! There are lots of ways to cut back on food spending, from temporary fasts from certain products to long-term lifestyle changes like cooking. Take a moment to look up your … Read entire article »
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