The good news and the bad news of overhauling the monthly budget in order to save MORE....

The bad news: a lot of the month's budget is spent on food

The good news: a lot of the month's budget is spent on food

Meaning, you're in control of a dollar amount that can be widely adjusted.

I thought before doing a budget regarding groceries that being savvy with food for the family would mean me manically driving all over town to so many different stores to get a couple pennies saved. When actually, with primarily shopping for food at two to three stores, but with purpose, direction and focus, we've reduced our spending from $1,500 per month on food for our family of six to $233 per month on food for our family.

1. Something that helps first and foremost is asking, What do we HAVE for dinner? And what constitutes what we have is that a couple times a week around 8 AM when my local Kroger grocery store clearances their meat (do you know what time of day your local grocer clearances their meat? Call and ask.), and I purchase meat that's on better than normal sale or CLEARANCE. And then my husband researches tasty new recipes. We had some Italian sausage last week I'd purchased pounds of (99 cents per pound). He made great meat balls and meaty spaghetti sauce. It was fabulous!

2. Reverse meal planning might be worth a try! We've loved it. Buy the clearance or otherwise great priced items (I got 38 cents per pound clearanced pasta last week!) and then plan what your meals will be that week.

3. Reduce dessert. We've limited dessert to generally twice a week - Fridays and Sundays. Dessert seems to taste better too when it's not a routine item after every nightly supper.