How to Budget 2012

With the arrival of our baby in the midst and the loss of income due to me being laid off from work, my hubby and I have decided to try our best to lower our OOP (out of pocket) grocery expenses this year. I never thought of myself as one who spent a lot of money. I like to watch for sales and purchase what I need when they're on for a good price. I figured by doing this I was indeed saving money and not spending so much. I never really kept track of groceries in 2011. My hubby and I were both with (what we thought were) secure jobs and so if I went over to Sobey's to get some good deals when they have their dollar days it really wasn't that big of a deal. Now we have to watch carefully what we spend and eat more from our pantry. That'll be the goal for the next year.

This year we've budgeted ourselves $200-$250 a month for groceries. CRAZY... I know. When my husband told me this I looked at him like he lost his mind. Now that I'm pregnant I drink quite a bit of milk, not to mention that I'm home all the time now so I make breakfast, lunch and dinner. When I was working I rarely ever brought lunch from home (there was no staff room and at the time I didn't drive). I went to Subway, Timmies, McDonalds or Safeway. Never an issue money wise.

It won't be without difficulty, though. Where I live, food prices are higher than normal. We also try to buy halal meat as much as we can which is very expensive if we purchase it from the butcher. My hubby is a carnivore. If there is not meat on his plate, it cannot be called dinner. So how will we do it? You got me. So far for January I'm over my budget. Around $280 we've spent. BUT in my defense, for two weeks in December I was on holiday's visiting my family meaning there were no groceries bought and hubby gobbled what was left at home so technically we're still good. Also, the hubby's been sick so trips to buy medicine have not been cheap. And giftcards do not count when we're budgeting. BOO! I used $36 in giftcards but hubby says it still goes towards our OOP. Atleast it gives me a challenge to do!

Here's what we're going to do in order to make this budget happen:

• Record what you purchase
• Do one grocery shop per week, not several. Not only will you keep better track of groceries, you'll save on gas
• Sales our your best friend. Keep an eye out for sales of items that you use regularily and stockpile them
• Cook as much as you can at home
• Ask yourself; do I really need this?
• Eat from the pantry/ stockpile- it's easy to make a list and record what you have so you're not buying things you don't need

I can't wait til Wednesday! It's February 1st which means I can go down to Superstore and stock up on some things I need. This week I plan to make a big batch of homemade pizza and freeze them. We are notorious for running out of bread so this will give my hubby something to eat for lunch if that happens. Plus it's way easier on me as I'm usually the one who makes his lunch to take to work. The cheese is on sale, too.

So what do you usually spend on groceries?