Under budget!

I've been working with a $75 weekly grocery budget this month for our family of four, and although I went over last week, I was thrilled to see I came in UNDER budget this week! And I didn't sacrifice ANYTHING. Included in the total were two packs of boneless ribeye steaks, two packs of ground chuck, two packages of bacon, several boxes of cereal, orange juice, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and iceberg lettuce, yogurt, apple sauce, sodas, chips and dips (for Super Bowl Sunday), cookies, peanut butter, two gallons of white milk, two half-gallons of chocolate milk, two loaves of bread, butter, crescent rolls, mustard, cat food and still lots more! Whew!

I'm fairly certain that I'll be able to scale back to a $60 a week budget next month once I'm fully stockpiled, but I probably won't try to go much lower than that. Considering we go through two gallons of milk and two loaves of bread per week, that's over $9 of the budget right there, even using store brands (which I do). I've been watching a show on CNBC on Saturday nights called "Til Debt Do Us Part," in which couples who are deeply in debt work with a financial/budgeting expert for one month to map out a plan to pay off the debt. I always shake my head when the expert tells them they are allowed $125 or $150 a week for groceries (even when it's just a couple with no children!) and they STRUGGLE with this! Oh, if they only knew what WE know!! *wink*