Extreme Makeover: Grocery Bill Edition

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

21 Oct 2007 04:16 PM

A big thanks to Mary Ann and Nicole for letting me share my frugal journey here with you all. Truth be told I'm not entirely that frugal. It is in part due to the fact that we live in the city. Categories actually exist in my budget that other people wouldn't dream of putting in theirs. (Do you have a category in your budget specifically for parking tickets? I didn't think so.) Furthermore, daily living here is just more difficult to manage without spending any money.

Take laundry for example. Mary Ann wrote a great article about line drying laundry. I whole heartedly agree that you should line dry laundry. But we shouldn't. If we line dried our laundry, we would find either find it missing by morning or drenched in pigeon droppings. I'll spend the extra $1.50 to dry it!

Then there's the whole cloth diaper thing. Totally frugal and in my opinion--completely worth the extra effort for most people. However, I would have to soak a soiled diaper in the bathtub (in a bucket) then wait until my husband gets home, where upon after doing dinner and nursing babies, I run to the laundromat two blocks away and wash and dry the diapers (which by the way would cost me about $4.00 to do.) Not quite so easy and I'm not sure spending $4.00 every day for upkeep would really save us money. For the person out there who is going to suggest a diaper service--we don't exactly live in the type of neighborhood that diaper services are willing to go to.

Complicating matters worse is the fact that we have twins. It's a double whammy because twins really hit your budget hard, but gone is the time that you have to spend being frugal. We realized very quickly that there were things that were worth spending the money on. No longer was I able to cook unless there was another adult at home. So all of the sudden, upon the arrival of the twins, we started ordering take out at least once a week. It simply was worth the money to buy myself an hour of sleep here or there. . .and essentially that's what I was doing.

So I have had to find a balance between utterly frugal and what works for an urban dwelling family. I have begun "remaking" my grocery bill by doing what I can do to cut costs. Our frugal bloggers are going to allow me to share my process with you and I invite all of you to make suggestions or comments if you have any great ideas! You can look soon for my astronomical grocery bill and my plan of action on how to start trimming!

Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger

Michele Cheplic (37236) 21 Oct 2007 04:29 PM

Can't wait to read how you pull it off. Also, I hope you haven't totally cut out take out... just so you don't make the rest of us feel guilty. ;)

Lauri Griffin (2703) 21 Oct 2007 04:47 PM

I'm looking forward to it too, my grocery bill is getting crazy!

Valorie Delp (49340) 21 Oct 2007 04:58 PM

LOL--Nope. . .I haven't totally cut out take out. ;-) There's not quite as much need for it now that the twins are older. I do cook quite a bit more than I did in those newborn days. But we definitely rely on our pizza delivery guy in a pinch!

tenngramm (10) 29 Oct 2007 03:17 PM

I have been reading all yor blogs for the past week. It's time I added my 2 cents worth. Growing up during the depression, I learned early to save money. Mom made her own soap in those days and I did myself one year when we raised a pig and had all that fat. Couldn't waste it and I wasn't going to eat it. A recent frugality of mine was to save all my apple skins and cores in a zip-loc bag in the freezer. I'm 82 and live with my 101 year old mother. We have dentures and can't chew the skins. When the bag is full, I add water and boil it and strain it and make jelly. I use the recipe on the Certo bottle. I add some green food color and a little mint extract for mint jelly to go with lamb. I add red food coloring and a handfull of red cinnamon candies to make cinnamon jelly. my favorite.

Valorie Delp (49340) 29 Oct 2007 04:57 PM

Thanks so much for your input! That's fantastic! ;-)