I ran across this last week at Beauty That Moves (hat tip to Small Notebook), which is part of an excellent discussion of the grocery costs for buying healthful, whole foods:

I wonder how much other families spend on groceries each week. Is that
too bold of a thing to ask? I've been wanting to pose this question for
several days now, yet admittedly, I don't really know why I need the
information. But then I thought, maybe it's not just for me, maybe we
all need the information - from one another. Maybe it would help us to
feel a little less alone as we hand over however much it is to
the cashier in our respective hometown markets each week. I was taught
growing up that our grocery budget is the one area in  our household
finances we have the most control over, and I do believe that still.
But I also am still so amazed at how much so little costs each week,
regardless of not buying packaged foods and doing all of our cooking
from scratch.

I highly recommend that you read the rest of the post fully, as well as look through the lengthy comments below. The discussion is well worth it.

For those of us who are committed to purchasing nutritious and higher-quality foods, it can sometimes be daunting as we face the balance between a commitment to our health, and the financial constraints that most families find themselves in.

I love the question "expense or investment", because I think it's a very valid one that most homemakers have to continue to ask themselves as they make choices about what they will and will not purchase, and how many dollars they will spend. 

Personally, we've chosen to try to take as balanced of an approach as we can at this stage of life. We agreed early on that good food is an investment in our health, and that you either pay now (in higher food prices) or you pay later (in poor health, medical bills and reduced quality of life). However, we're still a young family, working to save money and spend what we have cautiously. We have a specific and not-so-roomy grocery budget, considering the quality and cost of the foods that we value buying. It's a very tough balancing act, month to month, and it only increases as our family grows.

For me, it's a worthwhile tension when I look at the bigger picture, but I definitely feel the stretch of it each and every month, and have had to make many sacrifices- a bit less meat, no convenience foods at all (even healthy ones), almost only homemade treats, raw milk that we ration out over the course of the week, few bought beverages (but lots of water!), everything from scratch...

How do you view your grocery budget? Is it an expense or investment? Do you relate to the grocery budgets and the concerns of the women who commented on the other post?

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• How My Grocery Budget Works | Keeper of the Home
• Q&A- My Grocery Budget, Part 2 | Keeper of the Home
• Q&A- My Grocery Budget | Keeper of the Home
• Compromising to Make the Budget Work | Keeper of the Home

Monica 

Monica, I purchase my beef and chicken (all of my meat and poultry, actually) through a small, local deli shop. It's located out in the country, about a 20 minute drive from my house. The reason I love it is because they carry animal products that are grass-fed, free of antiobiotics and hormones, as well as some specialty deli products with little or no preservatives (sausage, sandwich meat, ec.). What's equally fantastic is that because they are not certified organic, and they keep their family run business small and modest, the prices are affordable!

I think that finding local shops and/or farmers like this is ideal, and most likely the way that you will get the best deal as well. To find places like this, you really need to start digging around and researching. Ask in local health food or supplement stores, or at farmers markets. Ask other health-minded moms and dads. Ask a naturopath, nutritionist or even a midwife. Also, here's a post I wrote with a lot of online resources that will help you in your search.

As for knowing what's ultimately a good deal or not will depend on just doing a lot of research. Until I began to really pay attention to where I could get good quality meat and poultry and what the typical prices were, it was hard for me to know whether I was getting the best deal or not.

Expect to pay more than at the supermarket (just keep telling yourself how it's worth it!), but know that there are lots of places out there where you don't have to pay an arm and a leg! It helps to buy in bulk, such as buying a 1/4 or a 1/2 of a cow, or buying many whole chickens all at once. I try to save up money throughout the year to make this possible, and another good option is to find another family or two who would like to purchase with you and then split it up, to help keep costs low.

Image by John Beagle

   Here are my questions:

1) How far would you travel
to save money on clothing or even food items? (All of the resale shops
or food outlet stores are a good 30-40 minute drive from where we live).

2)When
do you shop for the upcoming season? (I am afraid that I am already
behind in shopping for this Spring/Summer.  Garage sale season won't
start for another 2 months or so, if I wait until then to buy for this
year my kids will be wearing long sleeve shirts and fleece pants in 80
degree weather! Should I be buying for NEXT year now?

3)How do you find your swap meets,garage sales etc?

Thanks so much!!

Blessings!
Beth

Great questions, Beth!

1) Personally, I don't drive longer than about 20 minutes (each way) to any food store or market. My only exception to this would be if it was somewhere that I only went a few times each year, bought in bulk and stocked up significantly. Then I would consider driving further (and have done so in the past).

For clothes, I might consider going further, if I only went occasionally (again, a few times a year), and then I would make sure that I had saved up or discussed a budgeted amount with my husband and that I had a detailed list of exactly what we did and didn't need, and could stock up on excellent deals (like clothes for next winter, etc.). I just think that if I have to drive further (or more often) than this that it starts to become poor stewardship of my time and gas, and just isn't worth it. Obviously, everyone's situation is a little bit different, and you need to weigh all of these factors as you make your decision.

If you have times when you will be in these areas anyways (to visit friends, do something special with the family, etc.) then take full advantage and plan to stop and shop as well! Killing two birds with one stone is always the best way to do it!

2) Yes, buy for next year now! I try to always be one year ahead, although it's not always possible. At the very least, 1-2 seasons ahead. So in the winter, I will buy for the upcoming spring/summer (if I haven't already), as well as for the next winter (and hey, even the one after that if it's a great deal!). This summer I've been focusing on just filling in the last gaps for fall/winter, and also picking up anything that's a year or more in advance if the price is right. This weekend I grabbed some size 7 jeans and shirts for my daughter at a garage sale. She's only in a size 5 right now, but I paid 5 cents for the jeans, and 25 cents for each shirt, so I figured it was worth it.

3) My source for swap meets is local recreation centers and churches. They regularly host swap meets, as often as every month or some of them just once or twice a year. It helps to really ask around to other moms, and even to google "kids swap meet" for the area or city where you live. Try calling some local rec centers or community centers and see if they know of any that are happening!

For garage sales, I don't do it regularly enough to say that I have a real plan for it. We just occasionally pick a Saturday morning and decide to head out and look for signs in nicer neighborhoods. We'll also just stop at a sale if we happen to drive by one that looks worthwhile, even if we weren't planning to go shopping. If you really want to be purposeful about doing it, most local newspapers will have a section with either a map or just a list of the garage sales in the area and you can make a plan that way. Also, Craigslist has become a good source for garage sale info (look for "garage sale" under the "for sale" section of your local area Craigslist site), as tons of people will post up their sales the week or even the day before it happens!

For those who missed it, here is my series on Clothing Kids Without Breaking the Bank:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

How would the rest of you answer these questions? Where do you get your meat and poultry? And what do you think about travelling, buying ahead and finding places where you can score the best deals?

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• Clothing kids without breaking the bank | Keeper of the Home
• Q&A- My Grocery Budget | Keeper of the Home
• Clothing kids without breaking the bank- Part 2 | Keeper of the Home
• Blogiversary Q&A- Round 5 | Keeper of the Home

Janelle wondered... I do have
one question though...what do you say about the warnings about drinking
raw milk while pregnant? Aren't there a lot of risks to that? I've been
staying away from it since I'm pregnant...just to be safe.

Yes,
there are warnings about drinking raw milk while pregnant, but with all
of the research I've done into drinking raw milk in general, they don't
concern me. In fact, I've added more raw milk to my diet since being
pregnant, because I believe it to be such a great source of nutrients,
especially protein and calcium, among many others.

Here is
a post that I wrote a while back on raw milk and it's safety, with a
few links at the end. And for a much more detailed look at raw milk's merits and safety, check out this post from The Nourishing Gourmet. Another great place to go is www.realmilk.com.

Julie asked- I have
purchased sucanat in the past and baked with it, but we go through too
much sugar right now in our baking and tea drinking. But, there aren't coupons out for this stuff and it seems we would need to replace it fairly often. Any suggestions?

A couple of suggestions:

• Buy it in bulk. I know that Azure Standard carries these healthier
  sugars, Sucanat in 50 lb bulk, and Rapadura in 33 lb bulk. I've done
  the price breakdown before, and it definitely makes them much cheaper.
• Try doing baking that includes more fruits, such as bananas or
  apple sauce. This helps to cut down on the need for as much sugar and
  can be a healthier choice.
• Try cutting down sugar in recipes by small increments, and see how
  low you can get it, without compromising taste. Adding things like
  cinnamon, vanilla or some dried fruit (raisins are always good) can
  help to make something taste sweet, while using less sweetener.
• Substitute honey sometimes, if you can get unpasteurized honey for
  a good deal. It is much sweeter than sugar, and so you can usually cut
  down the amount required by half. Here is an old post of mine on how to use honey in your baking. 

Nola asked: I would
love to hear about what raw honey is, vs. not raw, sometime...I've been
trying to find the answer and can't figure it out.

Basically, it's the difference between honey that has been pasteurized, and raised above 120 F. Even in the regular store, packaging should label whether the honey is unpasteurized or not. Raw honey contains many nutrients, as well as enzymes which are killed at high temperatures, so it's always best to choose unpasteurized. My understanding is that the labeling laws are not really clear, so some honeys labeled "unpasteurized" could be somewhat heated, and many of them are also strained and/or filtered, which can remove some of their natural nutrients, though usually not too many. Best buys for honey are usually from smaller companies and a slightly thicker and less clear liquid (the really clear, thin honeys have been processed).

Image by Indigo Goat

Nola also asked: My
question is that in the last part you say you have $50 left and list
some things including toilet paper, ziplocs etc. do you also buy all
your other household supplies out of that? Like I am talking for me
that would be things like the natural cleaning supplies, vinegar and
baking soda for cleaning, kleenex, the odd thing like that?

I suppose I forgot to mention some of those things. Toilet paper comes out of the $50, as do ziplocs. All of our cleaning supplies and even beauty supplies come out of our grocery budget as well. Most of what we use is very simple, especially for cleaning. I buy a lot of baking soda and white vinegar for those purposes. When I do buy beauty products, they often come from Azure, in the co-op part of my budget (toothpaste, deodorant, lotion, diaper cream). Other cleaning supplies, like liquid laundry soap, Bio-Kleen Bac-Out, my all-purpose concentrated cleaner and dish washing soaps, are also part of my co-op orders. And I don't buy Kleenex- I'm the mean Mom who says to just go get some toilet paper cause it's cheaper.

How much on average do you pay for beef, whole chickens, etc., and do you eat them for every meal? How much do you eat?  (From milehimama)

First of all, we don't eat meat for every meal. We rarely eat it with breakfast, and with lunch usually only in the context of dinner leftovers, and occasionally some sandwich meat (once or twice a month?). In our dinners, we eat meat about 4-5 times a week. Even then, it isn't usually a meat-based meal (a roast with veggies, chicken breasts with rice, etc.). Instead, it's usually meat added into a meal, or cheaper cuts combined in more complex dishes- so lots of casseroles, soups and stews, meatloaf (with veggies to bulk it up), salads or Mexican dishes where I stretch 1-2 chicken breasts or 1/2-1 lb of beef to stretch and feed us all (maybe even leftovers). So while meats are a very regular part of our diet, I wouldn't say that they compose a really large percentage of our diet.

To make up for this, I use a lot of eggs, cheese, beans, legumes, whole grains, and some nuts and seeds to round out the protein that we eat. I also try to use as much soup broth (made from actual bones) as I can, because this helps our bodies to utilize the protein that we do eat much more effectively.

With this last purchase of grass-fed beef, I bought 100 lbs at $2.09 per lb. This is a pretty good deal, and part of the reason I got it for so cheap is because I opted for the front of the cow, rather than side or hind, which has more utilitarian cuts (ground, stew, chuck roast, etc.). This doesn't bother me, as it's more affordable and suits my style of cooking anyways.

For whole chickens, these days I am paying about $7-12, depending on the size. These are free-range, but not certified organic. You can see in this post how I try to absolutely maximize them and turn one into several meals (which still works with our family size). 

Did I get to all of the questions? Anything else you'd like to know about how I do my grocery budgeting? Ask away!

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• Q&A- My Grocery Budget | Keeper of the Home
• How My Grocery Budget Works | Keeper of the Home
• Grocery Budget Discussion: Expense or Investment? | Keeper of the Home
• Q & A: The necessity of a low grocery budget | Keeper of the Home

What is your dill pickle recipe?

I'll post both this recipe, and our favorite Bread and Butter pickles recipes up within the next week! Both are cold-pack, refrigerator pickles and so easy to make.

(This pic is of Abbie last summer, with a bunch of our delicious pickling cucumbers from the garden)

Kelly had several questions:

First, do
you ever eat out (at restaurants, either with your husband or as a
family?) Fast food?

Yes, we do eat out sometimes. Fast food is a rarity and more of an emergency purchase, when we're unexpectedly away from home for a long time and simply need something to tide us over and nothing else is available. We try as hard as we can to avoid it, and will sometimes just pop into a grocery store if we can, to get some healthier munchies instead, or plan ahead to bring snacks from home that travel well. But we do go out to nicer restaurants sometimes, for dates with my husband and once in a while with our kids or with family members for celebrations. This comes out of the Recreation portion of the budget, rather than our food budget.

When you eat at others homes, are you particular
about which items prepared you will eat (for example, if something is
pre-packaged or doesn't fit within your daily eating system) or do you
eat everything (except things you have sensitivities to, obviously)?

When we are being graciously hosted by others, we will generally eat what is set before us, unless it is something that we are truly not able to eat (like a sensitivity). Our toddler can't have wheat, for example, so we avoid that even when in another's home. If asked, we will specify a few things that we can't or prefer not to eat (non-kosher meats, wheat, a lot of sugar, etc.) but usually we just accept what we are given. For more of my thoughts on this, see this post on Eating Healthy in Social Situations.

Also, do you add extra to other categories when your produce expenses go down due to your garden producing?

I think I didn't explain this very well in my post. When my produce expenses go down, my fruit/berry expenses go up. This is how I am able to purchase such a large amount of fresh fruit for freezing and canning every summer. Otherwise, it would totally bust my budget!

From Emily- One thing I would love to hear more about is how you freeze/can/preserve your fruits, veggies, tomatoes.

This question was repeated several times. Here are a few links to previous posts on this topic:
Pumpkin Canning
Canning Resources (this post links to the 4 books that I have used for the bulk of my preserving- not just canning, but also freezing and dehydrating as well)
Why I've been so busy

I will have to share more on this as I do it this summer. These posts give you just a little idea of what I do with the summer bounty. Truth is, I've only been canning and preserving these foods for a few years, and have only recently begun to feel really comfortable with the process. If you're interested, I promise I'll make it more of a blogging priority as I go along this year.

Erin asked: We are on a bi-weekly pay
schedule. How do you suggest I budget for bigger ticket items that I do
not purchase on a regular basis (such as 50 lbs. of wheat berries at
$40.45)? On weeks where I have to buy one of these items, I end up
having to skimp on the usual purchases and we eat a lot of beans and
rice for two weeks. Any suggestions?

I totally understand where you're coming from, because I used to have to do that with my budget as well. What changed is that we've put ourselves on the You Need a Budget system, and part of that is that we live on last month's income. We are able to budget for the current month on a monthly basis rather than bi-weekly (which is how we are paid also). This let's me look at my month with the full $400 at a time, instead of only $200 for half of the month. It makes it easier to make large purchases, and then simply split up the remaining money that I have. If at all possible, I would talk to your husband about it and see if there's a way to start each month with your full amount, instead of only getting it every second week. This will give you more freedom to make big purchases without having to scrimp as much later on.

Another way to do it would be to start setting aside small amounts of your budget for the purpose of bigger purchases. This is how I buy my grass-fed beef, because my monthly budget could never sustain it. I put aside $20-40 each month as I am able, and gradually I have enough money to make the big purchase. Before we switched over to a monthly budget, this was the way that I would save up to make most of my larger purchases.

So, instead of wheat...what do you serve? (asks my sweet friend Lylah)

We primarily use kamut, which is an ancient form of wheat. It functions similarly (though it has a lower gluten content), and generally doesn't cause sensitive or allergic reactions in most people. Before kamut, we used a lot of spelt, which is a very similar grain (also a form of wheat), but since grain prices have risen so much, I find kamut to be much more affordable.

Other grains that I make a lot of use of include: oats (steel-cut and rolled, primarily), rye (in my breads), barley (great for non-bread baking and also for pancakes and waffles), and sometimes millet or brown rice (mostly when baking for those who are gluten free).

Jena said- I was wondering how much that milk share would cost. Wouldn't it be easier to own the cow?

I tend to think so, though my husband begs to differ! LOL! Having a cow, or even a goat, is simply not possible for us in this season, with where we live. One day, maybe...

Fruit leather? I'm intrigued! How do you make fruit leather? (says Audrey)

Oh, it's soooo easy and cheap to make! Here are my simple directions!

More Q&A to come soon...

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• How My Grocery Budget Works | Keeper of the Home
• Q&A- My Grocery Budget, Part 2 | Keeper of the Home
• Q & A: The necessity of a low grocery budget | Keeper of the Home
• Q&A: Getting the Best Deals | Keeper of the Home

Grocery budgets are tricky things. There are so many variables that come into play: family size, special dietary needs, family members appetites, where you live (which country, what part of the country, urban or rural)...

I've been wanting to share how my grocery budget breaks down for quite a while now, but feel that it's important to state up front that I know there are so many variables that affect what our budgets look like. This is simply my budget, that works where I live, with the resources I have available to me, and the needs of my family.

A few things to note about our family and what makes my budget distinctive: I live in Canada, the Vancouver area to be exact (a fairly large, urban area with surrounding farmland). I have a husband who is a somewhat lighter eater as far as men go, two young kids (2 and 4) who are excellent eaters, and I happen to be eating for two at the moment (I'm pregnant). We entertain or serve food to others in some manner at least once a week. We don't eat wheat products (we all have wheat sensitivities) which raises our costs for baked goods significantly because we only buy alternative grains. I would guess that I buy at least 70-80% of our food either organic or naturally raised, which costs more, of course. We eat a whole foods diet and very little that is packaged or processed. I cook almost entirely from scratch. We live in a rental house, but I have a decent sized garden out back.

Now that my caveats are through, I hope that this can give you a little glimpse into how a whole foods diet (done frugally) can look, and it will give you a better idea of what I buy and how/where I buy it.

Monthly Grocery Budget:

$400 CAN (based on today's conversion rates, this would be about $343 US)

How it breaks down:

If it sounds like a tight budget, it is! There are many months that I struggle to stay within this budget, and occasionally I go over, though I do my very best to avoid this using my cash system.

I have definitely been feeling the crunch lately, as my Azure co-op orders have gone up in price by almost 30% due to the exchange rate alone. That's not to mention the general rise in grocery prices, in both the US and in Canada. As well, I've recently upped our cow share by $13 a month, in order to have more milk for myself to drink (most of it was going to my kids before and we never had enough to really go around).

My budget changes in the spring and summertime, as my garden begins to put out fresh produce and I try to limit my produce shopping by focusing on what we have on hand. I also try to reduce the other areas of my budget in the summer (by stocking up pre-summer when possible), in order to make room for purchasing about 150 lbs of fruit to put away in the freezer and through canning. This includes picking blueberries and raspberries (mostly for the freezer, a bit for jam), canning and freezing peach slices, as well as foraging for wild blackberries to freeze and make jam, etc. The past two years we have also gleaned (ie. picked for free) apples from a wild orchard, which I used to make canned applesauce, fruit leather and dried apples.

I do my best to put away garden produce as well. Last year, this included a lot of frozen zucchini, frozen pumpkin puree, winter squash, dried herbs (mint, basil, oregano, dill, parsley and thyme), cucumbers (dill and sweet) and a whole lot of canned diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Though it sounds like a lot of work (and it is, I won't lie to you), all of that summer preserving really pays off. I haven't had to buy a single can of tomatoes this year, less herbs than usual, barely any squash, and not a speck of frozen fruit. We've still got zucchini and pumpkin, which I need to use up now. There's still a bit of jam, one can of peaches, and the applesauce only ran out recently. The pickles were long gone, sadly. We like pickles in this family!

That, my friends, is how my grocery budget works!

Do you have any more questions about the specifics of what I buy, or why I do it a particular way? Care to share a bit about how your own budget works?

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• Q&A- My Grocery Budget | Keeper of the Home
• Grocery Budget Discussion: Expense or Investment? | Keeper of the Home
• Q&A- My Grocery Budget, Part 2 | Keeper of the Home
• How I “Do It All” | Keeper of the Home

The beginning of a new year seems to be the ideal time to work to get one's budget and finances in order. Along with the myriad other resolutions we women tend to make (I will lose 10 lbs, I will exercise more, I will have consistent quiet times, I will be a more joyful mom, etc.), determining to establish a balanced budget, get out of debt or increase savings is often high among the priorities!

I think that, in light of the current recession, there is no better time than now to revisit how you manage your money! For those who are in that place of desiring to make some financial changes, set some goals or just learn to be better stewards of your money, here are a few wonderful resources that I just need to mention.

Good Reads to Get You Started:

@ Simple Mom
Zero-Based Budgets for the Home: A Primer
How Do You Budget Wtih an Irregular Income?
Keep Your Spending Tidy With an Envelope System

@ Money Saving Mom
Budgeting 101- Part 1 and Part 2

@ Keeper of the Home
Setting up your cash system- Part 1 and Part 2 (answers to some Q&A about how our family uses a cash system)

The Best Class You'll Ever Take:

@ DaveRamsey.com
Financial Peace University

This course would be one of my top recommendations for anyone- single, young marrieds, families with children, those in debt or struggling to make ends meet- seriously, anyone! It will completely challenge many of the ways that you have thought about money or handled money. It will give you the tools to get your finances under control, no matter where you are at. It will enable you to start planning and working towards big financial goals (paying off debt, owning or paying off a home, creating significant savings and investments, preparing for unexpected circumstances, etc.).

We first read Dave Ramsey back in our first year of marriage. We were greatly in debt (close to $30,000 which was mostly my university student debt), and working hard to pay it off as quickly as possible. Through the management principles we learned, we payed off our debt in less than 3 years of marriage, despite having a baby and having me at home for two of those years! We are now working through the rest of the "baby steps" outlined in his books and course, including substantial emergency savings, long-term savings, education savings, and down payment savings. Can I just say how incredibly good it feels, to know that we run our budget and not the other way around?

To find a class near you, click here. If you live in my area (the Fraser Valley, BC, Canada), my church is putting one on starting in March, though registration is happening now (email me if you're interested- keeperofthehome (at) canada (dot) com). We are encouraging everyone we know to attend!

If you're not ready to attend a class, then check out Dave's book, The Total Money Makeover. You won't regret it!

Find a System You Love:

Here's my husband's review of the one that we've been using for over a year now, and love to recommend to anyone who will listen.

You Need A Budget.

Though there are many great systems out there, and it's important to find the one that works for you, we happen to think this is an excellent software for anyone desiring to do zero-based budgeting!

Care to share some of your New Year's financial goals? What resources have had the biggest impact on the way that you view and manage your finances? Any others out there using a zero-based budgeting or cash system?

These are all resources that work-for-us!

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• What are your financial goals for the New Year? | Keeper of the Home
• My Nourishing New Year’s Resolutions | Keeper of the Home
• All Ready for Another Year of Home Educating! | Keeper of the Home
• Why I am grateful for the tire that blew… | Keeper of the Home

Through his diligence and hard work, we keep a very detailed record of not only our spending, but also our savings. We give every dollar a job, and we stick to a well-defined budget.

Though I am always grateful that he is such a careful steward of what God has given us, last weekend reminded me why once again.

While driving down the I-5, returning from Seattle early on Sunday morning, he felt that the car was veering somewhat. It was a slightly windy day, so he wondered first if our little sport wagon was being pushed around by the wind. That didn't seem quite right though, and as the tug got stronger, he wondered if he was on a bad patch of asphalt (you know, those parts of the highway where the pavement feels like you're driving over a series of ridges, and your teeth start chattering as you try to save your latte from going to waste all over the front seat of the car).

Just as he had decided it was none of the above and was preparing to pull over and take a look at the car, his questions were answered. POP! He looked in the rearview mirror to see a piece of our tire waving goodbye as he struggled to keep control of the wheel and pull over safely (and therein is the first thing I am grateful for- he did pull over safely, praise God!). Sure enough, one of our tires had blown.

The thing about tires is that you can't replace just one. If your front left tire goes, you inevitably have to replace your front right tire as well, otherwise you will have uneven wear (don't ask me any more than that- I just know that it's true!).

So, after receiving help and getting a spare tire on, he made it across the Canadian border and immediately headed for the place where we bought our last set of tires (mere months ago). The damage? Nearly $300 (our car requires slightly more expensive tires than most). Gulp.

This is where my extreme gratitude kicks in. Through careful budgeting, planning and saving, we not only have emergency savings that we could have used, but we also had car maintenance funds set aside, ready to be used for a repair such as this. We didn't even feel weight of the extra expense at all. Can I just tell you how amazing that feels?

It is times like these that I am so grateful for where God has taken us with our finances, for the lessons he has taught us, for God's incredible provision for us, and for a husband who manages what we have so carefully.

If you are struggling with getting ahold of your finances, I would strongly recommend a few resources for you. We did not come into our marriage knowing how to do this (it is humbling to remember what a huge learning curve it has been for me), and have benefited greatly by the teaching and products that we have received and used along the way. First of all, I would suggest reading Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness. Then, I would check out the budgeting system You Need A Budget. You can read more about how our budget and cash system functions here, here and here and I would be happy to answer any questions that you have about it!

Discuss and pray about it with your husband, and determine that you're going to do what it takes to get to a place of living within a budget, within your means, getting out of debt, and then learning how to stay there. It is worth the sacrifice and the hard work, believe me! Coming from being nearly $30,000 in debt when we married (my debt, not my husband's), to where we are now in 5 years has taught me that it is truly possible!

There you have it- today I am so thankful for financial calm and peace, a God who is merciful to provide for us, to teach us and to guide us, and for a husband who does his job so very well! Thanks to Laura for hosting Gratituesday!

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Do you have that low of a grocery budget because you have to or because you want to (ie: pay off your mortgage faster?) Because sometimes I think we spend so much time on keeping our budget low (because it’s good stewardship), that we forget that we need to be good stewards of our time too, and sometimes that means spending the little extra. This is especially when we really do have a little more, but are to ‘proud’ to change our budget.

The simple answer is no, we don't need to have our budget as low as it is (I know to some, depending where you live and what you buy, our budget is high, while to many others it is extremely low- it's all so relative. Where we live, it would be considered fairly low).

We have chosen to purposefully live below our means, for several reasons. First of all, it was necessary for many years. In the first years of our marriage, a very tight budget was absolutely crucial. These days, it is not crucial in the same way, but here's why we continue to stick with it.

We spent those years learning how to live frugally, to not buy everything we needed or wanted, to make things stretch, to make do without... those years taught us many valuable things. We've learned that we get by quite well with what we spend right now (yes, I'm struggling a bit with it at the moment, but that's not a bad thing- it challenges me in many areas-- my skills, my contentment, my character, my faith).

As our income has gradually increased to a more manageable level, we have chosen not to allow our expenses to expand with that increase. If we were to bump up our budget, I have no doubt that we would spend the money. Just as a task always grows to take up as much time as is allotted to it, so our expenses would expand to take up whatever budget we set. By controlling it and setting limit, we continue to stay in control of our budget, and not allow it to become the other way around.

We have very specific financial goals that we are savings towards. Currently, we are working away at our goal of having 3-6 months expenses in savings, for emergencies. Following that, we will be saving for our own home, and at the same time, we will need to start saving cash to purchase a new vehicle. We are big Dave Ramsey fans around here, and have taken much of his teaching to heart (such as this book), as we see so much wisdom in it.

See, having enough money to be able to spend more doesn't make it the right decision to spend more. We are trying to have long term thinking in how we manage our finances, and the short term gain of a more relaxed grocery budget just does not compare to the financial freedom that goes with the goals that we are being disciplined in order to attain.

The commenter goes on to ask:

When looking at your calculations I can’t help but wonder… do you never have company for dinner? What about making meals, muffins etc. for others? We’ve just had alot of babies born in our church and I like to bring a meal, muffins, bread etc. to them. That would also have to be taken out of the grocery budget. What about bringing your disabled/old/sad neighbor some dinner or home baking? Also grocery budget.

We regularly host others in our home, either for a meal, for care group or homeschool group, or a special event like a baby shower or birthday party. It's also very common in our church to be asked to provide a meal for a new baby, a sick or pregnant mom, a grieving family or one that has just moved, etc.

As much as is possible, I work creatively within my budget to find ways to serve our guests. At times, it is tight. Very occasionally, we will choose to purchase something out of our recreation or miscellaneous budget categories, if we feel that it is necessary and worthwhile. Otherwise, we make do!

Soups and stews, spaghetti, chili, homemade breads, salads, casseroles, apple crisps... combined with a warm and welcoming atmosphere and a desire to serve and bless others, these cost-efficient foods can be the makings of a wonderful meal. Hospitality is far more about the heart behind the food, rather than the food itself.

I think it's so important to also state that I need to trust God and submit to Him as I manage this area of my home. There are times when we feel led to just give, beyond our budget, or to provide someone with something that is beyond what we feel we can do. We have to be open to His spirit and leading, and not allow our budget to get in the way of our generosity. I will confess that I struggle with this sometimes, but God has graciously given me a very generous husband and I have been challenged so many times to trust Him and just give more freely (and there is such blessing that goes along with learning to do that!).

As well, I need to trust God to provide for our needs, as we seek to honor Him with how we manage our finances and steward carefully what He has given us. I feel that more than needing to up my grocery budget amount, I need to trust that He is big enough to show me how to use what I have well, to help it stretch further, to teach me new skills, and even to provide in ways that only He can.

Last week was a perfect example of this... after doing all those calculations, I will admit, I felt a bit discouraged. I don't usually go shopping on Fridays ( I stick to once a week, on Mondays, and sometimes less often). However, we had basically run out of yogurt, frozen bananas, and I realized I had forgotten two crucial items for dinner. I made a quick decision to run to the store, and asked God to provide what I needed. I knew that I didn't have a bunch of extra money for organic milk to make yogurt (I had thought what we had would last us til next week).

I arrived at the store and began walking around, looking for the items on my list. Would you believe that I just happened upon an afternoon at the store where I have never seen so many marked down items in my life! It was unbelievable! There was more discounted organic milk than I could have possibly bought, many loaves our favorite healthy sourdough bread were on the discount rack, and there were bags and bags of discounted bananas (in very good condition, I might add!). I stopped with my daughter to gather jugs of milk and breathed a very thankful prayer to the God who provides for me so abundantly.

So today when I went back to the same store, I just had to smile when what should I stumble upon but yet more discounted milk and more bags of ripe bananas... He is so good.

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• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
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• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

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As I mentioned last week in my post about working with rising grocery costs, I thought that it would be useful to start to take some of my usual meals and break them down into individual serving costs. Last week, I broke my budget down into what I thought would be an appropriate cost per breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then also into per person costs.This exercise has so far proved to be both very valuable and somewhat discouraging.

First, the discouraging part (I prefer to hear the bad news first, before the good news-- I figure that way, it can't possibly get any worse!)... I now see why I am struggling so hard to make ends meet with out grocery budget as it is. Although I think that my meals are quite frugal and cost efficient in general, they are still coming out to higher cost-per-serving calculations than I had hoped to see. So, either my meals need to change, or I need to figure out how to get my food for less. Sigh...

And now, the valuable (and encouraging part)... I've never broken down my costs like this before, and it is so good to see! First, I made a list of all my basic ingredients and their cost, then tried to break it down into a useful cost, such as price per cup of uncooked rice, or per 1/2 cup of butter, or per lb of ground beef, or per carrot, etc. Very revealing, I must say!

My current task has been taking my meals and breaking them down into their primary ingredients (leaving out the spices, baking powder, etc. because I made allowance for that in my earlier calculations), adding up the total cost of the meal, dividing it by the number of servings that it makes, and recording my final cost-per-serving amount.

This is so valuable to see, because it has opened my eyes to some meals that felt quite cheap to me are actually more costly than I imagined them to be. Sometimes you need to see it to believe it. Allow me to share with you a few of my calculations in regards to breakfast dishes (I've only begun lunch/dinner dishes, so I'll share more of those next week):

1. Eggs with toast (including pb, jam, cheese, butter, etc.)= $1.46 per serving (homemade bread) or $1.67 (bought bread)

2. Yogurt with almonds and berries= $1.67

3. Smoothie (includes yogurt, fruit, sweetener, etc.)= $1.00

4. Oatmeal (including milk, honey, raisins)= $1.33

5. Muffins (blueberry or apple cinnamon, assuming 2 muffins is a serving)= $0.58

6. Omelet (milk, cheese, onion, pepper, butter)= $1.45

7. Baked Oatmeal (includes milk on top)= $1.51 (plain) or $1.55 (with apples or raisins in it)

8. Pancakes= $1.46 (with maple syrup/butter), $1.10 (with honey/butter), $1.39 (with whipped cream/fruit)

Guess what I'm making for breakfast tomorrow? You got it. Muffins!

Now, these are well above the price-per-serving that I had anticipated when I first broke down my budget, and that was where the discouragement set in. Although, I have begun to work out some dinner prices, and was encouraged that some of them are not quite as high as I though they might be. I've got me some work to do here, I think!

It comes down to two basic options (well, three, but I don't think my family will consider eating less an option!)... either I figure out some more frugal meal options or ways to alter my meals to make them more cost efficient, or I find some ways to get our ingredients for cheaper than I currently am getting them. Most likely, it will take a combination of both.

I have more that I want to say, and a comment I want to answer, but I'll save it for tomorrow. Enjoy some more frugality talk over at Biblical Womanhood!

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
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• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

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Seeing as he is the one that uses it, I asked my husband to write it for me! I'll let him take it from here:

Finally, a simple, simpleton-friendly zero-based budgeting system!

Oh man, it saves me so much time. We just got the You Need A Budget
software about 2 months ago and I absolutely love it. In our house, although Steph and I discuss our budget, I’m the one who runs the mechanics, pays the bills, etc. Before we got YNAB Pro, I would spend 2-3 hours a weekend working on our budget, which included paying bills online, entering receipts into my home-brewed excel spreadsheet, reconciling those receipts to the statements from our bank account (when we weren’t completely cash based), as well as programming my custom excel spreadsheet to give me better insight and numbers for planning. If you just got exhausted reading that sentence (it makes me dizzy – but I have low blood sugar issues J ) you can imagine how I dreaded Saturday afternoons.

Don’t get me wrong. It was worth what we gained – freedom from debt, learning to be content, accountability (even if only to ourselves – The numbers never lied to me...and sometimes I really wished they would...even just a little white lie!), and a consistent picture of our financial reality – but I’m so glad those days of laboring are over. I now get the same benefit (plus some) in a small percentage of the time, which means...I get to spend my time playing with the kids and/or hanging out with Steph... I am so ok with that!

As you may be able to tell I am very passionate about YNAB. The funny thing is, I’m not the only one. The user forums are packed with people much more passionate than I am. But let me tell you why I’m passionate about it:

1. It is an excellent guide for smart home money management. Based on principles, instead of features and tasks (like many other home budgeting software packages) YNAB truly helps people manage their money wisely. Steph and I finished paying off our car loan using the YNAB system, and because we could see the method to the madness we barely felt the pinch, even though we really tightened our belts for about 6 weeks.

2. Its incredibly easy to use and simplifies what used to be very complex for me. Instead of spending 2-3 hours a week, I now spend 20-30 minutes, and only that much because I’m so meticulous and have a secret (not anymore) passion for numbers and “what-if” scenarios. (Yes I know - I’m a total geek. You wouldn’t be able to tell by my carefully crafted exterior – but I’m a geek. J)

Now, let me tell you some of the pros and cons from my perspective.

Con – There aren’t lots of gadgets and trinkets and other “tools” to spend your time on.

Pro – There aren’t lots of gadgets and trinkets and other “tools” to spend your time on.

If you want some really cool revolutionary whiz-bang features, YNAB is wrong product (and some people truly want those things). But if you want a system that helps you to manage your finances in an effective, but simple way, I’m convinced there is nothing currently on the market that beats YNAB. When I first started using it I kept looking for where all the features were (I work for a software company). But after not too long, and without a bunch of crazy-cool but otherwise worthless features to waste my time on, I realized how simply everything worked. You give every dollar a job, budget for upcoming big bills (like new tires, etc), learn to live on last month’s income (as opposed to living paycheck to paycheck) and don’t stress as you make up for mistakes you make.

Pro – YNAB comes packaged and formatted to get you started quickly, with budget categories already set-up.

Con – I prefer my own categories. It took me 15 minutes to set them up.

Big Pro – YNAB is based on the concept of a zero-based budget, which is described by Wikipedia as: “the practice of budgeting every dollar of income that you receive, and then adjusting some part of the budget downward for every other part that needs to be adjusted upward.” Or as Jesse says, you give every dollar a job.

Con – It becomes much more difficult to live in the la-la land of "spending-more-than-you-have", a land I'll sheepishly admit that I sometimes prefer (but only until the bills come in). Zero based budgeting forces a high level of accountability and yanks your head out of the sand quickly and consistently.

Now for the only real Cons I have:

Con #1 – YNAB is not yet available for Macs.This is truly a bummer for me, as our home computer is a Mac. However, Jesse (the guy started YNAB) informs me that they will have a MAC version out shortly, which I’m excited about.

Con #2 – If you don’t have a full month’s savings in your bank account yet (as Jesse strongly urges you to aspire to) it doesn’t function as elegantly as it will when you finally do have the savings. It’s not that the functions are not elegant, it’s just that it’s built around the idea of living off of last month’s income instead of the current month. That said, Steph and I are well on our way to living off of last month’s income, and YNAB has strongly motivated us to get there quickly.

Con #3 – YNAB doesn’t automatically download your transactions from your bank account, as some packages do. It will still import them, though. It just means you have to take an extra couple of steps to get the records in the system. But once they are there, they are super-simple to allocate!

Bottom line – even though I have a couple of small complaints, if I could give YNAB 6 stars out of 5 I would. It is a very powerful tool and has already helped us to manage our finances more effectively without all the stress (and the petty fights that accompany said stress). Simply said, It is helping Steph and I to be in control of our finances, instead of the other way around, and doesn’t require a Masters Degree in Advanced Calculus to run (What can I say – for a geek, I have a simple mind). That works for me!

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• Q&A- My Grocery Budget | Keeper of the Home
• Q&A- My Grocery Budget, Part 2 | Keeper of the Home
• Q & A: The necessity of a low grocery budget | Keeper of the Home
• How My Grocery Budget Works | Keeper of the Home