January's Grocery Budget- How Did We End Up?

I told you earlier about, how I fell of the wagon for a while with my grocery deals...

And how this month, I was asked by my hubby to start back doing 'the deals' again. I knew it was time. Our grocery budget was normally $70. or less per week for our family of 6. And at the end of this year, we were over $100. and more towards $130. on average weeks. And that was using some coupons, but not really trying hard to find the BEST deals.

Well, working at finding the best deals is worth it! In the end, my average per week for groceries, was $70. Which is where I was when I 'fell off the wagon' before. In the month of January, my first month back to 'deal shopping', I spent $284.71 for 284 items! That is $1 per item! Considering, each week I buy 6-7 gallons of milk ($2.29 ea), 3 gallons of Soy milk ($2.95 ea), and diapers ($8.99 on sale), I think my average is pretty decent!

And in fact, my goal for up coming months, is even LOWER. I had a high goal of $380. for January, which is a little higher than I wanted it to be, but I was getting back into the 'groove'. Heck, I still had over $95. to spend! :)

So, my goal for February is $285. I am hoping to get lower than that. My goal for March (as of right now) is $280. Then when Spring hits and I start being able to produce some garden vegetation, I am going to slowly start to lower my budget again. I am also planning on canning and freezing lots of garden veggies, so this will bring my grocery bill down even more!

On our small farm, we are going to be getting some meat chickens, a cow (for meat), more egg laying chickens, turkeys, and we will have goats for milk. We already have a freezer full of venison from my hubby this last Fall. I am hoping our budget can drop even more than I am planning. I am hoping at the end of the summer, I will only be spending $200. per month. So in August and September (5 shopping weeks) I will only have $40 to spend on my family of 6!

One thing that may help in that equation is that I am planning on having my littlest one potty trained... We shall see how THAT goes! :)

I am excited again, to be working on reducing our grocery budget. I am going lower than we have even gone before, and I am excited about it!

We have some other areas we are looking to apply that $$ to. We are hoping in a year from now to take our kids to Florida and go to Disney. We are of course doing this in the most economical way possible! More on THAT later! We are also starting the process of adoption. We would LOVE to add a little girl to our mostly masculine family. And unfortunately, to place a child in a good and loving home, is very expensive.

But, I think we can do this. So far, God is leading the way. And I pray that we continue to follow in His footsteps.

So, are you on a grocery budget? How did you do this month??? What changes are you planning on making for the future???