My family has been spending an average of $700 per month on food. Ouch! So this is my main area to reduce in the year ahead. In addition, I would like to start tracking our spending daily rather than monthly, thinking this immediate feedback will have more impact. I would like to get our food bill down to $10 per day, or $300 per month. In addition, I want to use solely cash.

Today, I spent the following.

1. $3.29 Diet Coke
2. $1.99 milk
$1 off coupon used.

Total $4.46

Decided to forgo the special calendars that would have used our own pictures. They were almost $20 to make up and we can get a free calendar from the bank.

Used up some left overs to make soup and also made some homemade banana bread.

Returned some items and got $21 back! That was sort of "free money" in that we weren't using the items.

Used up some left-overs to make a delicious casserole.

Have been donating a lot of stuff lately. This not only reduces the clutter which makes it less likely I'll buy things I don't need because I can't find them, but it also allows me to get a tax deduction. This is a win-win situation.

I've been getting behind on posting. It's been a busy stretch. Today I shopped with a list at the grocery store and stuck to it pretty well. I've read that for every 30 seconds, you spend on average an extra dollar. yikes. I'm trying to be more speedy in the store.