A Reality Check

We needed help. Serious help. We were sitting at our dining room table trying to figure out where all of our money was going. We had thousands of dollars of income, and somehow we weren't able to make the payments on all of our bills, and we weren't even tithing. When my husband suggested we figure up how much money we were spending each month on food, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Line item by line item, we totaled our restaurant spending that month, and we learned that we had spent more than $800 in the previous 30 days. I was horrified. To add insult to injury, we totaled our grocery store spending, and we had spent more than $600 at the grocery store too! $1400 in one month on food items! And we needed groceries! At that time I reminded myself of this girl!

(No credit for photo from Facebook- I have no idea who made this beauty)

I feel like I should accept the blame for my husband and me because I was the one who was standing in the grocery store every time a whim struck me. I was the one who was trying to fill a hole (caused from missing my family in another state) with grocery shopping and dining out.There were many times that we justified eating out on credit cards or purchasing groceries courtesy of Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. Ridiculous, I know.

Thankfully, we made a commitment that day that we would get things under control for the sake of our future, and for the sake of our kids. At that time, we only had one child, and I was pregnant with number two. Our family of three was spending $1400 per month on groceries and dining out. For shame!

I am pleased to say that isn't the case for us anymore. Over the course of the last five years, we have learned all about self-control, one of the fruits of the Spirit. We now have a busy family of five, and in the past 30 days, we have spent about $500 on groceries and $200 on dining out! That is a savings of $700 per month for us coupled with a serious lifestyle change! How did we do it?

Let me tell you, the change was especially hard for me.
-First, I tried using coupons, and that works well with groceries and restaurants, but it is a hassle to keep up with expiration dates. For a while, I even had a binder. I was serious.
-I also became aware of sales. I stock up on items when they are on sale. I currently have a nice stash of butter quarters in my freezer because I found them at a great price!
-Then I had to commit to making meals at home and actually eating them instead of eating out.
-Next, I started gardening to get some fresh produce for very little money.
-Then I started canning. I can a lot of the items I grow in our garden, and sometimes people give me their abundance of produce. I can that too. Sometimes, I freeze produce too.
-Most recently, and probably the best for our family has been making a meal plan and using freezer meals. This one is pretty great because it helps with my stress level with finances, cooking, meal clean-up, and health all in one! Check out my Stuffed Shells-Freezer Meal Edition post.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23