Joyfully Thriving

Grace-Filled Frugal Living

Setting a New Grocery Budget in a New Year

Published January 13, 2020 1 Comment

I do a grocery audit and set a new grocery budget every January. I'm a grocery geek in that I absolutely love crunching the numbers and seeing how low I can get our budget. I am also a grocery geek in that I actually enjoy grocery shopping and I love finding the best deals! I know many of you do too, because I get more comments on my grocery posts than any other ones I share. I think these posts are popular because we all want to save money on groceries we have to buy every week. Here's an example of one shopping trip for me - from Kroger trip on April 18 where I spent $50. I love … Read More...

September & October Grocery Shopping Totals

Published November 07, 2019 Updated November 07, 2019 1 Comment

September was a good month for grocery shopping. There were lots of good deals, plus Kroger doubled fuel points if you shopped on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I did almost all of my Kroger shopping on these days for that reason. After coupons and surveys, I managed to accumulate $0.80 off a gallon in fuel rewards! Andy and I both filled up at the same time to take full advantage of the full 35 gallons. He pulls on one side of the pump and I pull on the other, so we can pump gas until we've reached the limit. That little trick saved us $28 on gas just for that fill up! Here are a couple of … Read More...

10 Simple Ways to Save on a Cruise

Published September 07, 2019 Updated January 27, 2020 Leave a Comment

Last year at this time, Andy and I were just starting to talk seriously about talking our first ever cruise - a cruise to Alaska. We had been saving since our wedding for this someday event, and Andy convinced me that our 10th anniversary was the perfect time to take a cruise. We did it and had a marvelous week long cruise to Alaska. Of course, we wouldn't be us if we didn't work at stretching our hard earned pennies. We were able to take a week long cruise to Alaska for under $5000. This included our flights, airport parking, cruise tickets, cruise insurance, excursions, hotels and all … Read More...

The Cheapest Grocery Store – A Massive Price Comparison

Published September 06, 2019 Updated September 11, 2019 15 Comments

Do you want to know what is the cheapest grocery store? Which grocery store will save you the most money? Take a look at this massive price comparison of 4 of the biggest grocery store chains to see how they rank. Is Walmart or Aldi cheaper? How do Meijer and Kroger compare? What store really is the cheapest grocery store? I have always been a frugal shopper who loves shopping for the best deals. As a one-income growing family, I need to stretch our pennies. I recently noticed that some of my favorite grocery stores didn't seem as cheap as they used to be. Naturally, this sent me on a quest … Read More...

Grocery Shopping in a Busy August

Published September 01, 2019 Updated September 11, 2019 Leave a Comment

I taught school for 10 years and have been home for 5. Still, every August hits our household with a long to do list! Andy spends long hours working in his classroom to get ready for the new year, and this year, I spent time getting Nathan ready for Kindergarten. School supplies were easy. Uniform shopping? That was a bit more challenging to find shorts and pants (on sale) that would fit and met our uniform requirements. On top of that, it was back to shopping more regularly now that we were home from all our travels. August found me just barely staying under our monthly $400 budget. And by … Read More...

Summer Travels and Grocery Shopping

Published August 02, 2019 Leave a Comment

What a summer it has been in our household! I was amazed when I counted up the days from our various trips and realized we traveled 27 days out of the 61 in June and July. Needless to say, our family had a busy - and memorable - summer. It started when Andy and I took a cruise for our 10th anniversary to Alaska. For the first time ever, we took a trip without our kids! We had been saving since our wedding for a someday cruise to Alaska, and Andy convinced me that this was the year to do it. This allowed him to check off his 50th state - in his 40th year! We left the 3 kids with Andy's … Read More...

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