My uncle's comment about my grocery list changed my whole system

Last month my uncle watched me plan meals and said I was budgeting like I was shopping for a restaurant. He pointed out I had 47 items on a weekly list for just two people, so I cut it down to 14 staples plus whatever's on sale at the Piggly Wiggly in Greenville. Now I spend about $85 a week instead of $140 and I actually eat everything before it goes bad. Anyone else had a relative call out a dumb habit that turned out to be spot on?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessica3313d ago

My dad once told me I was grocery shopping like I was feeding a small army, and cutting it down to a core list plus sale items saved me a ton of money too. Now I just laugh at how extra I used to be with all those extras.

charlieh743d ago

...and honestly it took my wife's grandpa looking at my list over my shoulder one Thanksgiving to say "you know that's six kinds of cheese for a three person dinner, right?" to knock me out of it. I used to plan every single meal down to the side dish and snack, but now I do the same thing you're doing, 15 or so core items that always get used up and then I just build around whatever the meat and produce specials are that week. The real trick for me was learning to be okay with having a boring fridge sometimes, you don't always need three different salad dressings or two types of berries. I also started keeping a running list on my phone of what I actually threw away at the end of each week, seeing that spoiled stuff written down really makes you not buy it again. It's wild how much money you can save just by admitting you're not running a restaurant and that you'll survive on grilled chicken and rice for a couple nights a week.