Once-A-Month Shopping

I know I talk a lot about Once-A-Month Cooking and how it saves me a ton of time and energy, but the key to making it work is Once-A-Month Shopping. If done correctly, shopping monthly can save you quite a bit of money and make your monthly cooking super simple. Though my Once-A-Month Shopping technique is constantly changing to better suit my family, the basic premise remains the same: enhance my creative thinking in order to stretch every penny I have.

In order to make a monthly shopping trip work, it requires a lot of organization and planning. If you constantly find yourself running out to pick up one or two items, then you will waste a bit of money on gas as well as be more susceptible to the ever-familiar impulse buys.

To keep me organized, I have created three computer files that I update regularly:

• Monthly Menu Calendar
• Price List
• Shopping List

My Monthly Menu Calendar is a simple Microsoft Power Point file where I fill in the dinners I plan on making for the entire month. I have shared the last few months (October, November, and December) previously on this site. The concept is simple, but it ensures that I have a dinner for every day of the month.

My Price List is a Microsoft Excel file which lists the most recent prices for the common items I purchase at various stores. I update this list often with my receipts to make sure that all the prices are as up-to-date as possible. I consult this list when making my grocery shopping list so I know exactly how much money I am spending for the month before I ever leave the house. Some prices, like milk, meat and produce, can change drastically so I always budget higher for these items just in case. Otherwise, most prices stay relatively the same from trip to trip. Since I can hit three to four stores for my monthly shopping in order to get the best prices, I make sure to list prices for each store. This way, I know which store is the best choice for each item.

My Shopping List is another Microsoft Excel file. This file has four different tabs, one for each store I shop at. This makes compiling my shopping list easy and convenient since all the store lists are a click away, making it simple to bounce back and forth as I fill in the items I need for the month. Each store tab has four columns: Item, Quantity, Price and Subtotal. The item is listed alphabetically as this is the easiest method for me. You could list them in order of the store layout or any other method that suits you. At the bottom, I calculate the grocery tax for my state. If you leave out the tax, you may under-budget and overspend. The best part about Excel is it will do all the math for you, so you just need to take the prices from your Price List and plug them in.



Tomorrow, I will tell you the simple process I use to fill in my ultimate Grocery Shopping List for the month in order to not forget anything.

For more great homemaking tips, check out: Far Above Rubies, Growing Home, Time-Warp Wife, 5 Minutes for Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Ginger Snap Crafts, Life As Mom and Learning the Frugal Life.