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...

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...

8 Ways To Save Cash for a Car on a Tight Budget

Published May 06, 2019 Updated September 21, 2019 3 Comments

I've long had a dream to pay cash for a new car but I didn't really believe that we could do it. I sincerely wanted us too, but just didn't know how it would happen. But we recently did it. For the first time ever, my husband and I paid cash for a car! I am excited to share more of how we did it - and some truly effective ways to save cash for a car, so you can do it too! Here's our car story. I'm a stay at home mom married to a Lutheran school teacher. We have 3 kids. When we became pregnant with our third, we bought new car seats so I could fit all 3 kids in the back of my Mercury Sable. … Read More...

The Most Important Rule for Saving Money

Published April 15, 2019 Leave a Comment

It feels like a trick question, doesn't it? Really? Is there really only one best way to save money? Actually, no there isn't. But there IS a best way to save money that everyone can do and it is truly simple. That makes it the most important rule for saving money in my frugal book. What is it? Save something today. There are thousands of different ways to save money, and blog posts have been written about them all. There are thousands of different ways to make money, and a google search will reveal them all. So why am I writing about THE best way to save money? Because we often … Read More...

A Real Food Price List

Published March 18, 2019 Updated August 17, 2019 6 Comments

Finally! A real food price list for healthy foods! You can compare to see if Meijer or Kroger, Walmart or Aldi has the best price. Plus, it has stock up prices and a free printable price list! #realfood

I have always been a frugal shopper. I want to stretch our grocery budget and make our dollars go as far as they can. I have always shopped the sales and ventured to different stores to find the best deals. I recently updated my food stock up list with 2019 prices and decided I needed to make a real food price list too. After recently completing a Whole 30, I have decided to cook more from scratch and buy more real foods. I want to avoid more processed foods, even knowing at this point, we are doing a slow transition and will still buy some processed foods. I'm being honest here and … Read More...

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