Are you Average?

So, I've been watching The Revolution on ABC while folding clothes and alternately trying to get a little boy to go to sleep in his room. They have been talking about grocery shopping and how much food we toss out. They mentioned that the average 4 person family spends $175 on groceries each week, and that we throw out about 25% of the food we buy, meaning over $2000 a year. They continued on to share how buying canned spinach was such a better deal than fresh spinach (and frozen was somewhere in between), and frozen raspberries were a better deal than fresh.

Our family is obviously NOT average. Now, we have two toddlers, so that must be taken into account, and our budget for groceries does not include things like shampoo-it is basically just for food items. However, we don't even spend half of that!

Here are a few tips that I use to help me budget:
1) I am not an extreme couponer, but I do look for coupons and try to use them when I need something. However, I always try to consider two things: if there is a similar product that is cheaper, I will get that, and I only try to buy products that I would buy anyway (or maybe try something new if it is a really great deal).
2) I use the ad papers. Tuesday mail is always a highlight of my week, as I get out my notepad and look through my local ads to see what I can get a deal on this week. Then, I begin to put together a menu for the week, taking into consideration what kinds of activities we will have the next week. That way, I will know if we need to save more for eating out because we have a lot of evening activities, or if I will have time to cook a real meal. I try to keep things like chicken nuggets and deli meat in the house for days when things just don't go as planned and for lunches at home.
3) I have a weekly budget and I use cash. This way, when the money is gone, I am done. We have plenty of food at our house to make it through the week, and I can buy more next week. There are times when I do forget/need something, and I have been known to "take" from next week before the designated time, so I have a little flexibility, but then I have to know that I have less money next week to spend.
4) I use store brands. Most of the time, store brands are cheaper than sale and/or coupon prices (but not always). Most store brands are completely fine to my palate and my kids (and usually my husband) don't know the difference. If I find something that the store brand just doesn't match, I don't buy it-no point in buying something no one will eat-but we usually try it at least once.
5) One stop shopping. I try to get as much as I can at each place, with a list of what I need, so that I don't have to come back two or three times. Inevitably, I can't get out of a store spending less that $10, even if I just needed an onion!

I hope this helps if you are looking for ways to stretch your budget. Let's face it, these days, everyone could use a few extra dollars in their pocket!