The Two-Week Grocery Experiment.

Okay. So you see that little link to the side labeled Money Saving Mom? That is a great site that I've been searching for a lot of ideas on how to save money. I've been following the tips posted there, and I am actually surprised about the outcomes that are produced.

Anyway. The recent post was about how the author did on her experiment: Buying groceries only once during a two-week period. She was hoping to make her dollar stretch, to save some time not having to go through her menu planning and grocery shopping strategies every week. I think it is a great idea, and I have just started my adventures into the money saving world.

So, last week I took some of the tips offered on the website, I made menu plans for a whole week. We are pretty boring, I discovered. But, it's not too hard with two kids and a picky DH. Everyone else is SUPER PICKY. Just not me.

I had my DD help me. We made a chart of every day, with categories for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, and even made special categories for Snack and Dessert. Then we had to plan what we will eat.

I tried to plan around what we already have in our pantry. Which, sadly, was not a lot. But we got it done. Then, we went through our coupons to see if anything in our menus were in there. Not much. Then, we made our grocery list. I gathered up the kids and finally headed out the door, sometime after 2:00.

We did our shopping, somehow managing to stay under $150, most of the items were purchased at Costco, a few things were purchased at Albertsons.

That was last Sunday. Here it has already been a week and I have yet to go to the grocery store. I did go to Walgreens on Saturday morning to purchase some drinks for our trip to the zoo. I don't know if that really counts, but I'm not going to count it just because it's not really groceries, more just last minute Dollar Stealers. We still have some meat left, and I think we are on the last gallon of milk. The milk may be a deal breaker for us. DS drinks at least three glasses a day, I have a little in my cereal in the morning...I think that's about it. I will try to sneak lemonade into DS' cup afterschool, hopefully that will keep him satisfied. We will see. But, I am interested in seeing how this works out. I am eager to try out my Walgreens deals so I may make some Personal Rules on groceries...we will see.

Like I said...I'm really new to this whole thing. I'm learning new things every week and I can't wait to put them all into action. Like the Walgreens Rebates...I even have some coupons on items that are Rebate-able. So that will be cool. Whenever I get to it. Saturday. I hope.

So, I wonder if you would be willing to try out the experiment. If you do, let me know how it works for you!