Cash System for Groceries Week 3

Week 3: Monday September 21 to Sunday September 27

Last week we borrowed from this week’s grocery budget and were left with $140.30 for the week.

I was actually a little anxious sitting here entering the receipts, hoping we met our goal to stay under the budget amount.  Mr. A is the one buying the groceries and trying to stay under budget. I’m just reporting the facts.

Here’s how we did:

Groceries Week 3

Whoo!!  We did really good staying under the $140!

This is the update for week 3 of using the cash system for groceries.

Once again the “Snack Items” categories was a little high for my taste. Although we did have a birthday in our household, so some snack items were actually dessert. AJ made the cake and frosting from scratch.

Since the cash system for groceries in September has been such a great success, we’re going to look at some other areas where we can withdraw cash and see if it helps to stay under budget.

I personally would like to have some money in my pocket, maybe $10 a week.

I have to make a point about something.  Everyone really needs to be on board when you are trying to stay on a budget. My husband has not really been making an effort to stay on a budget until just this month.  In fact, when we first discussed the cash system, he actually told me he didn’t know we were trying to stay on a budget.  Now that he is participating, we are making some progress.  It is such a wonderful feeling, for prior to now I’ve felt like we were out of control.  I hope that we continue to stay on track with keeping to a grocery budget, and I wanted to just give hope to anyone out there with a spouse who isn’t really into budgeting, don’t give up!  I wish I could share with you the secret of why Mr. A finally is participating, but I really don’t know. I guess it was just time. Sometimes when it’s time, it’s time.

Yesterday he shared with me again that using cash has saved us money.  He told me how Fry’s had cross rib steak on sale for $1.77 a pound, so he picked up three packages.  He adds up the items in the basket in his head as he shops (one day maybe he’ll use a list, lol) and he was off by $9.00 when he paid.  He stopped to look at the receipt before leaving the store, and found that he was only given the sale price on the first two packages of meat, and was charged $14.00 for a package that should have cost only $5.00.  He went to customer service and the cashier there explained that there was a limit of two. He said he had not seen that there was a limit on the sale sign and she told him that they were starting to only show the limits on the weekly ad. <!!>  She actually refunded him the $9.00, but now he says we have to check all sale items in the ad to see if there is a limit.

He was really glad that he is using the cash system, because he said if he was swiping the card, he might not have paid attention.

If you want to read how we’ve done from the start, check these links:

Trying the Cash Method Again – September 7th. In this post I give a brief rundown of what led to our trying cash method again. We’d tried the cash system in May 2008, but it was a flop.

Week 1 Cash System for Groceries – September 15th. In this post I recount the week, and found myself incorporating some frugal moves to stay within budget.

Week 2 Cash System for Groceries – September 22nd.  We run out of money early and decide to borrow from next week’s grocery money.

Yours Truly,

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2 thoughts on “Cash System for Groceries Week 3

  1. Wow – thats a new one for me – don’t place a limit sign on the item but expect us to look at the weekly ad. Thats crazy. Its getting out of hand how businesses are looking for ways to deceive us out of our hard earned cash.

    I do have to agree with you. Its so much easier to stick to a budget when both parties are focused on the common goal. There’s nothing worse than one partner making sacrifices to stick to a budget while watching the other party blow money on a new big screen tv =)

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