Do you remember me? Yes, I am cash. I know I am not popular around here with that cute little plastic thingie you all carry around to swipe. But let me tell y’all something, I am the real one with a capital r.
So girls, guess what. I just impressed myself. Gave myself a pat on my back! Imagine I cut down my weekly grocery purchase to a $43.06.
How I did it? Read on…
Though I didn’t plan what to make, I thought of buying vegetables that can be made both as curry and as a side dish. Making something in curry form means I can feed more people with less stuff. I asked around and found that the Wal-mart and Publix near the Indian stores are much cheaper than where I live. Also, CVS has a better deal on milk.
I decided I am going to go only to one Indian store this week. Also, I relaxed and took my time to shop around. Otherwise I will be in a hurry and won’t even look what the price is. I have this major problem, i.e. if I see something as $2.99, in my mind it gets registered as 2 dollar. In fact, it is 3 dollars. I just don’t see that extra dollar. So how much ever I calculate, the final bill would turn out to be much bigger. That is what always happens.
I bought vegetables only for one week, planning as I examined at the price of each of them and I had taken last weeks receipt with me, so I had a clear idea what each costs at different stores. For eg; bananas costs lesser at Publix. Green beans cost lesser at Publix. But tomatoes, onion etc cost more at Publix than Walmart. Indian stores carry the red onions which costs much lesser than both Publix or Walmart. This way I made sure I checked the price of each item before buying.
Now I know if I take my credit cards, I would splurge. So I took only 50 dollars with me and left the cards in the car. My plan was to aim for a 40$. I kept the extra 10$ as a buffer. That’s what made this whole thing a success. The cash thing! So I calculated each item before loading the cart. This way, it is much better to keep a check on yourself.
That’s a total savings of $24.34 from last week. Hurray!!!
In recent developments, last week President Bush declared during a speech that it was because Indians are eating more these days, food prices around the globe are peaking. Well Mr. President, I am an Indian living in U.S and I cut down my grocery bill. How about you Sir, cutting down some of that spending?
(Data shows U.S consumes five times more. Well, who cares about statistics and data?)
Why you might ask? Why save a twenty dollar? There is a big reason for me. It will clearly show how much I waste and how much I could save. Remember a 20$ might not be big deal for you per week, but it could feed a child here or here.
Now, dont you girls out there wanna beat me? C'mon. Compare your bills and let us have some fun!
25 comments:
Tht's nice... Hope u don't spend more on gas driving to diff stores...:)
:) Was going to say what anon said above! Btw, US has more obese people..... did Bush remember that??
I never left a message, but I've been following your blog :-)
Congrats on saving cash. We stopped our supermarket visits to one a month for groceries and we also started buying vegetables for the week without planning as such. What used to cost Rs. 700 earlier is now about Rs. 200. To someone like me, that's a whopping saving!
you inspired me with your posts and i kept a close tab too. i realized that i there were 2 stores on the same street with different prices, and same quality.
i also buy fresh veggies every two days, which was way cheaper than buying for a month - i realized so much was wasted if i buy for 3 weeks or a month. and tastier too.
thanks! you opened my eyes to something that was right there in front of me!
Thanks for sharing your experiment with us and congrats on the success :)
thats cool inji pennu. I liked your tip about more curries. Perhaps I could also make more dals to for cheaper eats...
mr. bush never ceases to amaze me with his arrogance and stupidity. it's a deadly combination.
this brought a smile to my lips..but maybe its the pic of all the money you saved!:)D hehehee
Congrats on the savings and thanks for sharing the lessons you learned with all of us. I'm sure it will help me, too! :)
I am in awe of this...I aim for $35 weekly - which I don't always do - and that's for one person! You have inspired me to menu plan more and to impulse buy less. That way I will waste less food too.
Could you post a typical weekly menu to see where it all goes? And some of the side dish/curry ideas? This series is a great learning tool for me. I am going to challenge myself to stay within or beat my $35/weekly budget every week in June. It's just too easy for me to rationalize special purchases that drive it up.
economic spending is good. but cutting down your stomach to make the americans have plenty is ludicrous - isn't that what indians have always being doing? where's the nerve - why such slave mentality and submissive. no wonder americans rule and indians serve them.
have some self respect. are you and your generations to come serve and save these americans through cutting on your stomach. don't you understand the manipulative americans. please take the post down. it is not good for this and reflects the "beaten down" attitude of us indians.
i urge you to delete the statement where you have writtet that you have cut down because the gluttonous greedy oil burger has made a studpid statement.
there is plenty of food to feed the world. food distribution is the problem and this food distribution is due to the food policy.
indians have the money the buy and eat. for once they can be contended and at the table.
it is my request as a self respecting, hard working, helping caring indian urging you.
thanks
riya sen gupta
you can delete the post if you want to.
Please don't take offense at the previous post. I think the previous poster (riya) missed your point completely. I am an (non-Indian) American and I think frugality is a good virtue to cultivate and shows self-respect and self-sufficiency - always a good thing. And moderation in eating habits is healthy for both the body and the soul.
Just a word of good cheer - I find your site wonderful. both the recipes, which I greatly enjoy, and the all the other musings.
Riya sen gupta, your attitude sucks. Inji has done this to cut down on waste expenditure, not to please Americans. Stop being a spoil-sport. Didn't get your coffee fix today?
riya ji u are wrong.cutting down waste is always good.thats what inji meant,not cutting the quantity we eat.there is always a cheaper alternative[and nutritious]to every costly food purchase.all over hte world people are wasting food unnecessarily,by their ignorance.as a food blogger inji took that initiative.i applaud her.i too follow the same priciples and my monthly grocery bill is only $250-300[vegeterian].which includes lavish feasts for guests[4]every 2 weeks!!
You know what Inji. Now I think we should all post against that stupid president and secretary of state who think improved diets in india and china is triggering the crisis..
If only each american eat only what they want and not waste, 90% of the crisis would be averted.
What an irresponsible comment !!!!
ok. i did make the post ! i am like toooooooooo angry !!
It also matters how much money you have to spend. I just went from a part of the American workforce to being retired and living on a fixed income from Social Security. Tips for living a more frugal lifestyle give me hope that it can be done even here in the great United States of America. I know those from other countries live on less and are much smarter about making do with less.....we could take a lesson so thank you for this blogger. I appreciate your point of reference.
Inji, Congratulations on your saving!!
I just want to share some of my experiences here
1. I stopped buying a lot of frozen foods - I found that I was likely to buy much more of the frozen ones - if the veggies are fresh, I would buy just enough
2. Buy more seasonal foods - eg: tomatoes are now a lot cheaper
3. Improvise dishes to include cheaper veggies
4. Buy in bulk (non-perishables). Only exception is milk, and I exclusively buy milk from Costco - I find that they have the best prices for milk in my area (Northern VA suburb)
5. I started making yogurt myself. With a lot of tips from the Web, I found that home-made yogurt was much better than store-made and also much more tasty (not to mention more like the Indian curd!)
6. I am now a religious coupon clipper - for all non-Costco purchases
Hope these help!
Hello Inji Pennu,
Hope I got your name correct.
what ever might be the reason for this step of yours but I really want to appreciate your intiative.
You made me start thinking.
I 100% agree with your 2.99$ concept.
You have inspired me. Frankly I never appreciated people who would look at the rated before buying. I would just go to a store and pick up what ever i wanted and just pay by card. I felt others were miserly.
I AM WRONG !!!!
Thanks for your post.
Me too started cutting wastage.
cheers
Anu
I grew up in a home where mom went grocery shopping every Saturday at the same store. It's taken me years to break that habit and try different stores and go more often, It just makes sense - that gorgeous red bell pepper is not going to look so gorgeous after 7 or 8 days in the drawer. Here we have WinCo foods - a big warehouse with great bulk and produce prices - and Trader Joe's. I also try to hit the farmers markets in my area for fresh local produce.
Hi! I am a newbie. Congrats on your effort and success. I tried for an year and failed, including fancy excel sheet. My diet is mostly meat though.
It's always good for consumers if we can reduce our consumption(not so good for the producers/sellers/economy(?))
About the Bush bashing, economists have been saying about India&China's effect for some time now. Just that Bush saying it is "newsworthy".
Hi Inji,How are you? i read an article on msn,thought of sharing it with u.
http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100203437>1=31036
nice post - keep up the good work
Hi,
just realised that the Publix bill shows your location pretty clearly - you might want to take the jpg out.
Liz
Hi InjiPennu,
I just started grocery budget resolution from this year.Just annouced it on my blog few days ago.My Sis told me about your post, and i am very much motivated now.I hope you are still doing it.
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