Here is a quick idea that can help you stick to the tightest of budgets, especially when it comes to saving money on groceries.
Do you usually shop at groceries at one store? Then this idea might work well for you, especially if you have a hard time sticking to a budget. At the beginning of each month, buy a gift card from your supermarket for the amount that you have budgeted for groceries. Use only this card to pay for your purchases. When the card is empty, then you just can’t buy anymore food. It sounds like tough love, but it really can work to your advantage.
Watching the balance on the card decrease will give you a good sense of where you are at any given moment with your food budget. If you know that you will need to buy milk with the remaining money, you know that you can’t buy that magazine at the checkout stand.
Having a card for a budget will force you to make wise shopping decisions and prevent your grocery bill from growing month to month. It will also keep that money allocated only for groceries, since you won’t be able to use the grocery gift card anywhere else.
If you find yourself spending less than you thought and have money remaining on the card at the end of the month, you can do three things: use the extra money to stockpile on your staples that are on sale, reduce the amount for the next month’s budget, or combine any money that remains on the cards for a new card that can be put away for an emergency.
You can use the same system for other applications, such as buying gas, buying craft supplies, buying clothing, or whatever tends to take up a big portion of your fluent expenses.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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