Motivation.

I really believe that it's possible for just about everyone to cut down on their grocery budgets but I think, that just like every drastic change (and for us it was a drastic change), there has to be a strong enough motivator to keep you going in your new direction when temptation or boredom arises or when the gleam of the new starts to fade off.

For me, this is all sort of a game. It's a huge confidence booster to see the numbers and the savings- to know that I DID IT. I'm making a difference in my family's life without really changing a whole lot except how much money we're forking out for things we put on our forks.

Some people, are motivated by numbers, so I'll use our old budget as an example:

On average, we used to spend $400-500 a month on groceries. That's $100-125 a week on groceries.

Now we spend $120 a month on groceries for 2.5 people, which is only $30 a week.

That means we save from $280-380 every month and that adds up pretty quickly.

If we save only $280 a month, in 3 months, we've put aside enough for an entire month's rent plus utilities AND gas with almost enough left over for another week's worth of food. Isn't that insane? And we were spending that money on food that we often didn't finish or wasn't good for us in the first place.

If we saved our extra $280 a month for an entire year, we'd have $3,360. I have no idea what to do with that kind of money. It's embarrassing to think that we were squandering all of that cash.

Now that Pearl is eating solid foods and she has kind of a tricky diet to follow because of her food allergies and such, I should probably add an extra $5 a week to cover her extras but even spending $5-10 a week extra means we're still saving around $3000 a year.

At the end of the month, knowing that we've saved so much takes a huge weight off of my mind. Money issues, debt, cash flow shortages, etc weigh on you. They add a mental heaviness to your already physically tiring life and eliminating any of that burden means that there's a little extra room in life to be calm, to be happy- things I'm definitely all for.

For me though, it's not the big picture that keeps me going. I didn't even know we were saving that much cumulatively until I did the calculations just now. I really like looking at the small picture, the really small picture. I love calculating the serving price of ingredients. It helps me keep our meals on budget to think about 11 cents here and 45 cents there. Every time I have money left over at the end of the week, I'm ridiculously proud. Each week brings new opportunities for me to be creative. It's not always easy to figure out how to make meals that are nutritious, tasty, and cheap but the challenge makes it fun!

Whatever the way you keep yourself motivated, just remember, it's all worth it. And if something that used to work for you isn't working anymore- if simply considering the numbers just isn't enough, try something else for a while. And don't be too hard on yourself if you have an off week, just shrug it off and keep trying. I know you can do it!