Canadian Moms & Moms to be!

[Melissa_M]

oh that's awesome! Have you seen that show on TLC - extreme couponing?? I thought it was just something that they did in the states but it's neat to know it can be done here too...... I haven't the patience for it though

 

[Vickie]

I don't think it can be done to the same extent here? The coupons here and store deals just aren't as good as in the States (no double coupons etc. that I know of?)

Anyways we coupon and price match. It helps that we shop once a month though I think as we go through and write everything down and prices if something is on sale at one store but not another etc. so I generally have a really good idea of what I'm supposed to be paying

 

[Melissa_M]

How do you only shop once a month?? Do you get little things here and there in between?

 

[Vickie]

I pick up fresh fruits and veg weekly but do all of our big shopping once a month Not much choice really. It's not easy carrying charcoal and big boxes of diapers back in a stroller though we have done it on occasion

 

[Vickie]

Lots of things can be frozen: cheese, meats, milk, bread etc. so we stock up on all of that on pay day weekend when we do our big shopping. I also tend to buy items that have a long shelf life (onions, apples, potatoes etc.) during that shopping trip as well. In addition to other staples: baked beans, reduced fat crescent rolls, taco kits for dinner etc.

So when I do my weekly (sometimes biweekly depending on how much I get) shop I get stuff the fruits and veg that don't have a long shelf life

 

[Melissa_M]

Makes sense!

 

[Sarahkka]

We way way way overspend on groceries partly because we aren't meal planning as well as we used to and we go in for stuff far too often. I need to take a page out of your book, Vickie!

 

[Sarahkka]

Ugh. Full moon last night under all those rainclouds. It totally kept me awake. It was past 2 am and I was still tossing and turning. Blergh.

 

[Melissa_M]

We way way way overspend on groceries partly because we aren't meal planning as well as we used to and we go in for stuff far too often. I need to take a page out of your book, Vickie!

SAME. I keep saying I need to meal plan and buy smart but it just isn't happening.

 

[Vickie]

I don't plan much of my meals ahead of time but I have a pretty good general idea of what we will eat in a given month

 

[apple84]

I meal plan, but still have to get fresh fruits, meats and veggies (and sometimes dairy) twice a week!

 

[ryder]

I meal plan, but with our jobs and the 3 kids, school etc groceries just cost alot, there is no way around it for us unfortunately.

I have definately been trying not to buy alot of unecessary stuff, but we still easily spend 200-300 per week on groceries.

 

[Sarahkka]

Out of curiousity, what do you guys count as "groceries"?
I group all the food, toiletries, household cleaning supplies, pet food, and even things like food storage (rubbermaid, etc) in that bill. And I know it's huge, but I am being really bad these days and just ignoring it. We really need to sit down and look at our debit and credit statements from the past three months and get a better idea of where all the $$ goes.
But that would, of course, require the far more rare and precious resource: time. That I do not have. I'm still struggling to get about a trillion projects done for both jobs, let alone some household budgeting project.

 

[Melissa_M]

I count anything that I can buy at the grocery store - so food, diapers, wipes, medicine/pills, toiletries, pet food, cleaning supplies, etc.

I shop almost exclusively at no frills, but will run into metro for a few things if I'm right in town. I try and put everything on my PC Mastercard so that I can track it that way. It ends up being around $600-700/month. Oh and speaking of the PC mastercard...I've had it for about 7 or 8 months and I racked up enough points to get $150 in free groceries

 

[Sarahkka]

Been contemplating that one, Melissa - good to know how much it pays off. We are well over what you are spending. It would be nice to get more back. We bank Pc, anyway, but the debit card takes longer to add up to freebies.

 

[Melissa_M]

I use my credit card for almost everything...I have a BMO one too that I earn airmiles on. I just am very diligent about paying it off each month so we don't ever pay interest.

I think where you are Sarah a lot of things are more expensive in general...higher cost of living? So that might be part of the reason you're spending more. It also helps that my husband is on a diet right now

 

[Sarahkka]

Well, higher cost of living, but we pay way less tax on everything. Although that isn't necessarily true in groceries.
I have airmiles credit card, too.

 

[Melissa_M]

ya most groceries don't have tax....the healthy ones don't anyway

 

[Vickie]

I classify all the same things as you do. Since we shop all in one go it's toiletries, food items, cat food etc. all on the same bill.

We used to shop at No Frills a lot but have since started going to our Wal-mart supercentre and just price matching stuff from No Frills there. It takes longer in Wal-mart but overall we are saving time as we've cut a store out of our trip.

We spend probably 6-800 (depending on how much meat we have to buy) on groceries and household items pay day weekend. And I spend 30-70 (depending on what I need to buy) every week on fresh fruits and veg. The kids get mostly fruit for snacks and Hannah gets 1-2 fruit items in her lunch box every day depending on what we have and what else is in there.

We have the wal-mart CC and get $ back which is nice. I just bank it and use it for kids Christmas/birthday

 

[Tiff]

I count it as the same as well.