I have a constant catalog runnng in my head. I most times have a very limited amount of spending money, and it is God’s money, so I take the task of spending it wisely very seriously. So I have this list, in my head, but you could have it on paper, or in a small purse size notebook. In it you should have a list of your items that your family uses on a regular basis. Here it would consist of things like flour, potatoes, rice, chicken, ground beef, carrots, green peppers, cheese, and so on. Now I know that green peppers are usually between 68 and 74 cents on the average, so if I see them on sale for 25 cents each, I would stock up. But since we like them fresh, I wouldn’t buy too many. Now if I didn’t know the price of green peppers and saw them on sale for 75 cents I might think tht was a good deal but it really isn’t. See what I mean? You can’t know a good deal if you don’t know what it usually costs and what you are willing to pay for it. I don’t care if steak is marked down from 9.99 a pound to 4.99 a pound because 4.99 a pound is still not within my budget. However if steak is marked down to the same price that I usually spend for ground beef then we are in business. I have spending goals that I try to stick with when possible. For meat it is a dollar to $1.50 a pound at the most. Almost always I can buy meat for under $1 per pound. If our local store has pork roasts on sale for 99 cents a pound, then I might buy 5 pork roasts that week. Then I might not buy any meat the next week. The next week i might buy 3 10 pound bags of chicken leg quarters that are 19 cents per pound. My goal for this big family is not to buy for my menu but to buy for my freezer or buy for my pantry. If I can keep a stocked pantry and freezer then menus are easy. Remember my turkey hoarding last fall? It resulted in us having a nice turkey meal once every two weeks all winter.
and .. your thoughts?