I'll be completely honest - I am not a person of routine. Obviously I have my basic routine (wake up, eat breakfast, eat lunch, take my daughter to school, nap time for the boys, dinner, kids to bed, I go to bed), but I never really know what we are doing between meals, much less what we are doing FOR meals. Psssshhhh....
I realize, though, that I HAVE to have a routine or plan to make this whole thing work. I have been able to do well on a meal plan before... for about two weeks, then I get bored and start impulse-buying and spend way more on groceries (and various other items) than I should.
We use the app Every Dollar to budget. We have been doing a very loose budget/expense sheet for a few years now, but now instead of "watching" our money go a million different places, we are "telling" it where to go. We are assigning every dollar, and to be honest it feels pretty good. I thought I would feel pretty restricted, but I am giving myself permission to spend wisely.
We started true budgeting halfway through January, and for that reason we budgeted for "miscellaneous spending". Don't worry, we totally blew through the budgeted amount and almost tripled it. This time, we subdivided the miscellaneous spending budget and allowed each adult a certain amount to spend on random things if we need to. This isn't permission to just go blow money, but if one of us has a legitimate need that isn't grocery/toiletry/household, then there is money set aside. It also doesn't roll over... I can't save up my "extra" money for 6 months and go get something big. At the end of the month, if it isn't used then we throw it at our current snowball payoff.
Every Dollar is pretty awesome, too, because at the top it shows how much money you have left to budget. After setting up our budget for the month, we have $89 left to budget... usually we would spend that on something like an evening out or a fun electronic, but instead we will throw that at our snowball at the end of the month. It's nice to see where everything is going, even though it makes my stomach a little sick to see how much of our income is being spent on debt payments. Yikes!
We just did our first two weeks on a meal plan (the second half of January), and aside from a gallon of milk and $20 to take snacks while we went out of town for a funeral, we didn't spend ANY more grocery money. I'm typically the person who goes grocery shopping every couple of days because I am bored or get a craving. Seriously, impulsiveness is my downfall. Two weeks of groceries ended up being $95. I'll have to spend more here and there, but that is MUCH less than we were spending before (about $100 per shopping trip).
For the next two weeks, my goal is to go shopping once this evening for nearly everything we need for two weeks, and go once next week to get more milk and possibly fresh fruit/veggies.
Without further ado, my meal plan. (From Friday to Thursday, because we get paid every-other Thursday)
Friday
B: Oatmeal & Toast
Sn: Fruit Snacks
L: Stir-fry Ramen (not super healthy, but uses some veggies and is CHEAP)
Sn: Grapes
D: Chicken sandwiches and Fries (to avoid eating out, I like to do a few meals that are "fast food" style)
Saturday:
B: Sourdough Waffles & Bacon
Sn: Fruit Snacks
L: Tuna sandwiches & chips
Sn: Graham crackers and grapes
D: Pizza (determining if it is less expensive to make my own, or buy a $5 pizza)
Sunday:
(Because of our church schedule, we do two meals, and do extra snacks or a small dinner-ish meal)
B: Cinnamon-roll Casserole
Sn: Graham Crackers
L/D: Burgers and Broccoli
Sn: Fresh Sourdough slices
Monday:
B: Cold cereal
Sn: Goldfish & apple juice
L: Grilled Cheese (possibly with tomato soup)
Sn: Graham crackers
D: Lasagna & Salad
Tuesday:
B: Sourdough Pancakes
Sn: Fruit Snacks
L: PB&J and carrots
Sn: Apple slices & peanut butter
D: Tacos!
Wednesday:
B: Scrambled or poached eggs & toast
Sn: Granola bars
L: Turkey sandwiches (meat and cheese for the picky ones)
Sn: Apple slices & peanut butter
D: Chicken Alfredo & Broccoli
Thursday:
B: Cold Cereal
Sn: Fruit snacks
L: Egg salad sandwiches
Sn: Graham crackers
D: Fish sticks and Coleslaw
Friday:
B: Oatmeal & toast
Sn: Grapes
L: Stir-fry Ramen
Sn: Fruit snacks
D: Mac'n'Cheese
Saturday:
B: Waffles & bacon
Sn:Grapes
L: Turkey sandwiches
Sn: Fruit snacks
D: Hot dogs & Fries
Sunday:
B: Cinnamon-roll casserole
Sn: Graham crackers
L/D: Enchiladas
Sn: Fruit Snacks
Monday:
B: Cold cereal
Sn: Fruit Snacks
L: Grilled Cheese
Sn: Goldfish
D: Ziti & zucchini/squash
Tuesday:
B: Sourdough pancakes
Sn: Fruit snacks
L: PB&J & carrots
Sn: Apple slices & peanut butter
D: Burritos
Wednesday:
B: Scrambled or poached eggs & toast
Sn: Goldfish crackers
L: Turkey sandwiches
Sn: Apple slices & peanut butter
D: Tilapia, rice pilaf, veggies
Thursday:
B: Cold cereal
Sn: Cheese sticks
L: Egg salad sandwiches
Sn: Treat (rice crispies)
D: Orange chicken & fried rice
I'm giving myself the flexibility to switch meals, and supplementing with other snacks as necessary. Also notice that I'm not worrying about being super healthy right now, portion control and "better" choices are going to be our way of life until we get rid of our consumer debt.
I went through each day and wrote down what is needed to make each meal/snack, and compared it to what I already have on hand, and also included other grocery items that I knew we needed. Then, I opened a tab to Smith's (Kroger) and Walmart, built a pickup grocery list, compared them, and went with the cheapest option. To be honest, picking up my groceries is probably the best plan of action for me. Remember, impulsive? ;-)
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