I’m Trying to Cut Expenditures While Prices Rise

I will forever be trying to whittle down my budget.  Most recently, my focus has been on lowering my monthly food expenditures.  My kids are growing, and eating more, but I didn’t think I was buying much more food than I was a year ago.  If so, I didn’t think it was a very significant amount.

Then, I read an article on Yahoo News that stated that grocery prices had gone up 11% in 2011.  Great – so my kids are eating more, and groceries are more expensive!  (I hope you caught the sarcasm on that one!)

Last month, I was able to trim 5% off of my food expenditures.  I was going to try for another 5% this month, but my oldest daughter’s birthday is this month, and boy has she made her food requests known, so I think I’ll wait until next month to try to cut my food budget any further.

It should get easier as the year goes on though.  I’m planning to do a lot of gardening.  I’ve already started my seeds inside, and so far my quinoa and two different kinds of tomatoes have sprouted.  My kids love fresh fruits and vegetables, so growing them ourselves should reduce the amount we purchase considerably.

I’ve kicked around the idea of getting chickens, as we love chicken and eat a lot of eggs, but so far I’m not planning to raise any.  We live right in the middle of town, and although we do have a yard, there are a lot of stray cats and around here who would probably also like to have chicken for dinner.  Besides, the chicken coop alone would be more of an investment than I might want to make right now.  Nonetheless, someday I would like to have chickens.  The baby chicks were pretty cute when we saw them at Tractor Supply Co today.

So, with growing kids, I’m trying to decrease my food expenditures while the price of food continues to rise probably as much as the amount of food my family eats increases.  It’s a daunting task, but at least for this year I think I can handle it.