Time to keep the budget

With family life so fantastically chaotic and work life a little on the shaky side, hubs and I have been talking more and actually keeping to a budget. I know; most adults do this already, right?

With that in mind, I started saving my grocery receipts (today) so I can stay honest in my challenge to keep our grocery bill for a family of 5 to 400 per month. That's what the budget has said for a while but I am sure I haven't come close.

Today was a Sam's Club day, to stock up a bit on things I don't usually find good deals on in my couponing double life. I got baby food for J, chips and yogurt for the boys, some clearance outfits for the little guy and even found some great all-natural whole chickens marked to 60 cents a pound. All told, I spent $69.

My plan is to spend $100 or less per month at Sam's/Costco and $75 per week on the essentials through my couponing. We'll see how it goes.

Target usually leads me astray, with all those great clearance and couponing deals. But I must be strong! At least just to say I can actually do it ...

One of the biggest things I've learned from lifeasmom.com (a fabulous blog all around) is the necessity of meal planning. I am terrible at this and it really makes for a grumpy and hungry bunch. So, I will be pondering the plan tonight and posting tomorrow about that baby step to a happier family.