Bunch-a-Budgets

Am I the only one who carries a silly-looking plain envelope in my purse each month? An envelope with each expense, income, to-do list, hand-drawn calendar, list of monies owed to family/children, etc. The envelope I keep receipts in and carry over to the next month, where I copy down the items that have not been reconciled on the next month's envelope?

Anyway, this post I would like to discuss my Food Budget. Novel idea, you say? Well, sure if it works. Which lately, hasn't. And by lately, I mean since I started doing this---ohhh, several years ago.

In order for a budget to work you actually have to STICK to it. We inevitably go over every month.

So, now I will air out my laundry. And don't faint when I tell you how much we spend on groceries each month. Ok, nevermind I won't. But I thought of a different technique. Its nothing stupendous or mysterious. Since Bro. Mo.'s paydays fall on the 10th and 25th of each month, it is a little difficult to go grocery shopping each week or every few days. So I now plan my menu for 10 days at a time; splitting the month into thirds. That way I have the same amount alotted for each third. This makes it more easily manageable. Instead of looking at one large sum that needs to last for the entire month, I can plan grocery needs on a smaller scale.

So, for instance, some meals for the 1-10 of November included:

• fish ~n~ chips
• meatloaf/potatoes
• cheesy potato soup/rolls
• orange chicken/rice
• spaghetti/breadsticks

So now I only need this many meals in this third because we will be out of town at a wedding this weekend, so I don't need to plan meals for those nights. I only make a menu for dinners because I have a running tally of things that are needed for other meals that I make sure are stocked (bread, eggs, milk, lunch stuff, etc)

Then I make sure we have the normal amount of things we always use (like a gallon+ milk per day) and buy it on sale. Then take the sale ads to Wal-Mart Marketplace and have them price-match everything for one-stop shopping.

So far the budget for food being split into thirds is working nicely. Whenever I spend anything on groceries, I subtract that amount from the written amount on my envelope. This would be the same as using the "envelope" budgeting system we are hearing so much about lately, where you actually place the amount of cash you are budgeting into separate envelopes. I am, in essence, doing that, just w/o the actual cash.