Can you believe April has come and gone. So much education in regards to sound economics has taken place this month at The Thrifty Garden/Home. I have already figured out the household budget for May and have committed it to a spreadsheet. Having such .. an on target .. to the penny success with the April budget, I'm going to change grocery shopping gears to be even more thought out. I can not lower the $ amount of $350 for the month ... but I have made plans to shop only once for May. This will take a considerable will power on the entire family's part. Since we got our paycheck a day early and I had the budget done ... I took the opportunity to do the actual shopping yesterday when I had no kids to watch. The pantry shelves, refrigerator .. and freezers are stocked. I have taken a Sharpie marker and written on many of the items, that have to be rationed (when they can get used) and stored the excess in my basement's storage room (out of sight;) ... Everyone got a 'warning' that if they used up any of the rations beforehand ... they will be SO SORRY!;) I'm confident that everyone is on board with the plan. It was almost comical towards the end of April when we were running out of food items (flour/butter .. etc.) .. and I had to get very creative with meal plans ... but everyone survived without having to chew a foot off;) I did set aside $50 to supply extra fruit & produce .. sparingly when needed in May. This has been a GREAT learning process ... and makes me understand why my (Great Depression era) MIL would often re-use teabags ... and my FIL would just put another scoop of coffee grounds in the coffee maker, on top of the morning's used grounds, for a noon time pot of coffee ... we haven't gone that far YET:)
What's the thriftiest thing your family practices at home?
