All You Grocery Challenge

Looking for a way to challenge yourself to spend less money on groceries? All You magazine is running a Grocery Challenge that begins July 13 and runs for 4 weeks. The challenge is to only spend $25 per person a week. This would be $125 for a family of five. The nice part is you can use food from your stockpile or your garden, or even food that you barter for. As long as you aren't spending money on it, it doesn't count. All You will pick 10 finalists and the winner receives a $1000 grocery card and a year's supply of Knorr's side dishes, plus a chance to appear in All You magazine.

I have entered the challenge and am hoping to slash our spending for the next month dramatically. I have $200 for the month budgeted for food, but would like to actually spend less if possible. We shall see. So, for the month of July, I will be documenting here how much we spend on groceries, eating out, and even my husband's occasional coffee at the convenience store. Unlike the All You challenge, I will be including household and bath products in my overall grocery budget. The only thing I will not include is diapers. I have 3 packs left, but Rite Aid will be having some rebates this month that I would like to take advantage of when they have the packs on sale for less than $10. Even though I have quite a few Pull-Ups, I have a coupon for $5 off that expires this weekend so I will make sure to take advantage of that also. Thank goodness my little girl decided she wanted to start using the potty. This is saving us so much, since she only wears them at night now!

If you have any suggestions on how I can cut my food budget further, or would like to share how you are cutting your expenses, leave me a comment. And don't forget to go sign up for the Grocery Challenge.