Grocery budgets and what not

I think Adam might have fixed his car, which is wonderful news. I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic because I don't want to assume it's all ok only to have him tell me later that he needs another part. :)

I have been working on our budget today. We got our tax return this morning and I've been trying to figure out what to pay off when and how to budget money to pay off outstanding debts that we can't pay off right now. It's a blessing to be able to reduce our debt, even if we still have some remaining, so I'm pretty excited about all of it.

I looked back in my check register today to get an idea of what I spent on groceries in January. I've been trying really hard to reduce our grocery budget and also limit quick trips to WalMart. In effort to reduce that monthly expenditure, I've been making my own cleaning solutions including detergent, window cleaner, and all purpose cleaner. I still have dishwashing detergent from a small stockpile I accumulated a few months ago, but when that runs out we'll be using a mix of half store bought detergent, half homemade detergent. I still have store bought floor cleaner as well, but will not be purchasing any more and will instead make my own. Though I will greatly miss the scent of PineSol. :) I also purchase a bulk of my meat from Angel Food Ministries, which has been such a blessing for us in the last several months. As a result, we only spent $350 for the month of January on groceries. I know some people spend less than that, some spend more, but I was pleasantly surprised at the amount. My goal is to lower that to $300 each month and this month, I'll actually track the exact amount on food purchases. :) I'll let you know at the end of February how that has gone!

Since today is payday, I've also worked on menus for the next two weeks. I make a list of the meals that I want to make based on what we have in the freezer and what I'll be purchasing from Angel Food later this month. So I made my grocery list based on that and hopefully I'll be heading to the store tomorrow. I hate shopping on or very close to payday, but it's how we do it...just like nearly every other family.

I suppose I could keep typing, but I'll wrap this up so I can clean up the kitchen. :)