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Meal Planning · January 7, 2020

Why Extreme Couponing is a waste of time & money

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and what to do instead.

Your family needs to eat, right? As a mom, you probably take your shopping list, go grocery shopping, and make meals for your family on the regular.

And that grocery budget is a thorn in your side. So you’ve looked for ways to save money without having to eat rice and beans or ramen every night, right? There are lots of ways to feed your family on a budget and you may have even looked into couponing. Those extreme couponers make it look exhilarating with their articles on “how I feed my family of 12 on $32” and pictures of their stockpiles, right???

Full disclosure here: I was into it at one point. It’s a thrill to get things at such a low price. I remember going to CVS one time and getting 4 bottles of lotion, 5 shampoos & conditioners, razors, and a few other things for only a few bucks. It was exciting!

Some do it for that same thrill, some do it out of an extreme financial necessity, and some just really enjoy it. But today, I’m talking to the person who is cutting coupons because they feel it’s their only option to save a lot of money on their grocery budget.

Extreme couponing is not the only way to save money on groceries, and here’s why it’s killing your budget.

IT’S A WASTE OF MONEY & TIME

Hold up, hear me out on this one.

I define waste as having anything you don’t need or use.

That dress hanging in the back of your closet that you never wore = waste of money.

The books you bought at the library book sale that you never read = waste of money.

A box of shells you collected from the beach 3 summers ago (<– personal experience!) = waste of space.

Waste doesn’t consider how much you paid for it. It doesn’t care if it was on sale, if you bought it at Goodwill, or if it was free. It just says

“you didn’t use me so I’m wasted”

Therefore…

Buying groceries you don’t need just because you have a coupon = waste of money and time.

Stockpiling toiletries you will never get a chance to use = waste of money, time, and space.

Driving to multiple stores every week to get all the deals = waste of time and gas money.

But it only costs 12 cents, Elisa.

I don’t care. It’s a waste of money. And I can’t get behind something that wastes any amount of money (even 12 cents!) just for the thrill of the deal. There are better ways to save some dough.

And more importantly, it’s a waste of time and you should protect your time with everything you’ve got!

Because…

YOUR TIME IS WORTH MONEY

I have a little rule (shocking, right?) that I use when I am trying to decide if a chore (or some other basic duty) is worth me doing.

The rule is basically this: A chore/activity/event needs to “pay me” at least $10/hr for it to be worth it to me (lately though, because I’m being stretched in so many directions my hourly wage has gone up to $20!). I use this rule for everything: laundry, snow shoveling, mowing the lawn, cooking dinner, etc!

This helps me decide if I should keep doing it, eliminate it, reduce the time it takes, or I should pay someone else to do it.

So. Am I going to save $20 in coupons for every hour that I spend on it? I found out that I was not. I kinda’ enjoyed cutting coupons and looking through the sales flyers every week, but as a single mom time is my most valuable commodity! Did couponing help me save money on groceries? Sure. But I knew all the time I was spending cutting, printing, searching, and shopping could be used more wisely and still stretch my budget.

What did I do, you say?

Glad you asked.

SET A STRICT FOOD BUDGET

I’m going to be honest here and tell you something I haven’t told many people. There was a time, not that long ago, that my family of 3 received SNAP (previously: food stamps) benefits. And let me tell you, thank God for that program! I was barely scraping by with other bills so it was such an extreme blessing to not have to worry about feeding my family.

And, because of that I know that I can feed my family on $511 per month and that’s what I base my food budget on. Just to give you an idea, a family of four spends an average of $785 per month on food so take a hard look at what you currently spend (including take-out and eating out) and make an effort to reduce that.

How, if I’m not cutting coupons?

MEAL PLANNING

You saw that one coming, right? Just checking…since you are on a meal planning site! I’m kinda obsessed with meal planning and for good reason. It’s the simplest way to save a lot of money, a lot of time, and your sanity.

Gosh, I hate wasting money. Like really hate it.

Setting up a simple meal plan was the best thing I ever did to help all of it – it helped me save time during the week, it helped me save money, and it helped me be a better mom because I wasn’t stressed out every night. Freezer meals is the easiest first step into the world of meal planning – being able to shop the sales, buy meat in bulk, and bag up some dinners ahead of time will seriously help your budget and your time.

Another way to save time?

GROCERY SHOP ONLINE

There are lots of reasons to shop online: convenience, access to special ingredients or health food that’s otherwise not available, the freshest meat and produce,…I could go on.

But the main one? You’ll save money in multiple ways:

  • Gas money
  • Getting only what’s on your list
  • Not having the kids shop with you
  • It will force you to have a meal plan ahead of time (which will save you money!)

So now the question is: Where to shop online?

– Your local grocery store’s online program (either delivery or pick-up), like Peapod.

– Walmart Grocery

– Amazon Pantry & Amazon Fresh

– Thrive Market

Cutting coupons doesn’t address the real problem.

Time is money and you don’t have unlimited time to make dinner every night. Or unlimited patience.

Does this sound familiar?

The frustrations of the entire day always seemed to gather at 5 pm where everyone is a little more snappy, a little more touchy, or just plain cranky. This is the witching hour where temper tantrums, meltdowns, and sibling quarrels are at an all-time high.

And, for crying out loud…

you don’t have time for this.

You have to get dinner on the table.

That’s no way to live. Don’t spend those precious hours with your kids every night just getting by. Spend them laughing, talking about their day, reading a book, watching a movie, playing a board game.

If you felt like you were cutting coupons because you thought you needed to, or it was something you should do since you have a limited budget, please know you don’t need to.

I give you permission to cut couponing from your life. hahahaha, see what I did there???

Do the things that will help you not only in your budget, but in your time and your stress level.

Set a strict food budget.

Meal plan (and freezer meals).

Grocery shop online.

Trust me, it works.

In: Meal Planning

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Spice jar organization! Swipe for the before. Alt Spice jar organization! Swipe for the before. 
Although I had cute little glass jars and labels before, I was having trouble seeing my spice labels (hello aging eyes...). 
And I don’t know about you, but I tend to not use something if I can’t find it easily. 
So I got new jars and made myself some easy-to-see labels using sticker printer paper. 
Now I want to use ALL the spices! What do you think?
(jars from Amazon - link in bio, labels designed on Canva and printed on Avery sticker paper)
The best, true, good love. Nothing can separate us The best, true, good love. Nothing can separate us from it. 
❤️ Happy Valentine’s Day!
How to come up with dinner (quick!) when your meal How to come up with dinner (quick!) when your meal plan fails. I wasn’t planning on making dinner tonight but then our plans changed and I needed an idea pronto! Here’s how I deal with that.
Fun fact: I have ZERO poker face. Like none. I’m Fun fact: I have ZERO poker face. Like none. I’m a thinker and have  always lived in my head. It’s the Enneagram 5 in me. 
Bonus: it’s allowed me to be able to talk my way out of any situation. (Except that one time in social studies in 10th grade when a girl was bullying me and I had to fight back. Let’s just say she left me alone after that!😂).
Anyhoo. A friend recently said to me “it makes sense that your face betrays you because you’re so in control of your tongue”. 
My face betrays me 😂 
She’s right, I can hold my tongue pretty well unless it’s something that really gets my goat. 
🐐Fun fact #2: “gets my goat” is one of my favorite phrases ever!
🤢 Fun fact #3: I am not a picky eater and will eat just about anything but don’t you dare make me eat a sandwich with the cheese and Mayo touching!! 
Tell me: are you a thinker too?!? What are some fun facts about you?
One of the most common misconceptions I hear about One of the most common misconceptions I hear about planning for more than one week is that it takes so much time...

But the reason this is such a big misconception is because if you think it take a lot of time to make a seasonal meal plan, think about how much time it takes you to meal plan from a blank slate every week. 
Let's look at it over the course of a year.
1. weekly meal planning 1 hour x 52 weeks = 52 hours
2. monthly meal planning 1 hour x 12 months = 12 hours
3. seasonal meal planning 2 hours x 4 seasons = 8 hours 

And we're not even talking about how much time you're losing by following a weekly meal plan and subsequently grocery shopping. 

Think about how much you're missing out on with your family by spending so much time planning and shopping so often. An hour meal planning + 2 hours grocery shopping every single week is 3 hours a week you could have back to do fun things with them!

I mean, I get it...you NEED to feed your family every day, right? (kinda something we hafta do...).
But you can  do 👏🏼 it 👏🏼 differently 👏🏼
A seasonal meal plan with not only help you spend less time in planning-mode, but also help with your grocery shopping so that you can go to the grocery store less, and stop making emergency trips to the store because you forgot something.

And while you're here, let me tell ya this: avoiding a seasonal meal plan because you don't have TIME is HOGWASH... because I have lots of short cuts and tricks to show you that will maximize your time. 

PS. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post - I'm sharing my newest meal planning formula calendar... It's only around for a few days...see ya tomorrow!

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Meet Karyn. She had amazing results as a customer Meet Karyn. She had amazing results as a customer of ours and I need to share her with you.
 
She bought the Daily Dinner Blueprint calendar, dug right in, and told me she was so excited because she got these results:

📆 her meals are planned until SPRING (and she said it was painless!)!
🛒 a streamlined grocery shopping list!
🥣 an ingredient-based plan that doesn't limit what her family is eating!

She also said how every month "will be even quicker and easier"!

Here’s what she had to say about our business in her own words...
"My husband and I just did our first plan using your system and I wanted to drop you a line to say THANK YOU! Once you wrap your head around the process, and you start using it, it's easy to see how it will streamline grocery shopping without limiting what you are eating!

WOW! I would have to say this was pretty painless! Another benefit is I can see a clear way to categorize my recipes for future use! Each successive month will be even quicker and easier!

Back in the day, Emeril would've said "BAM, kick it up a notch!" I love that my meals are planned UNTIL SPRING! 🙌."

Thank you Karyn for being a customer! 💜
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One of the most common mistakes I see people make One of the most common mistakes I see people make when it comes to meal planning ​is doing it backwards.
BACKWARDS = planning your meals THEN doing your grocery shopping. 
Honestly, I used to teach it this way. 
But I found this doesn't work because:
🕳 you buy single, hard-to-find ingredients that end up in a black hole after you use it for just one recipe (oyster sauce in the back of the fridge, I'm looking at you...)
💰 you overbuy ingredients thinking this is the week your toddler finally eats broccoli, or this is the week you're totally going to cook every night...but end up eating the same thing over and over anyway.
🤷🏻‍♀️ you have too many options and if your plan gets interrupted (which it WILL), you're left staring at a full pantry or fridge wondering "what can I make???" And then end up ordering takeout!

Don't worry, I've got ideas for you. Check out my stories for 3 things you can do instead of backwards planning!
I could tell you so many things about this girl... I could tell you so many things about this girl... 
...my BFF Cara @apurposedrivenmom 
...but I want to focus on how she KILLS it at going after her goals. And loves teaching other busy mamas to do the same. 
She helped me map out an action plan for my goals on Saturday and wow, guys. Just wow. 
So I asked her if she would help my audience with their goal setting for the new year...
...and she agreed! 
Join both of us this Thursday (LIVE!) for “How to Take MASSIVE ACTION on your Goals (without burnout or overwhelm)”.
Sound like something you want to chat about with us?!? Link is in my bio (just click this picture of Cara and I!).
Who else hates throwing away lots of un-eaten prod Who else hates throwing away lots of un-eaten produce at the end of the week as much as I do? 
Focus on an ingredient-based meal plan instead of the other way around. That's what the 2021 Annual Meal Planning Calendar does. Here's this week's meal plan...
🍕🌮 🍔 
‣‣‣Monday: Dinner Blueprint # 51 (A4+B1+C3)
Homemade Pizza Dough & Pizza Sauce (two recipes)
‣‣‣Tuesday: Dinner Blueprint # 33 (A3+B1+C1)
Blackened Tilapia Tacos
‣‣‣Wednesday: Dinner Blueprint # 10 (A1+B3+C2)
Crispy Lemon Chicken & Veggies
‣‣‣Thursday: Dinner Blueprint # 5 (A1+B2+C1)
Santa Fe Double Chicken
‣‣‣Friday: Dinner Blueprint # 40 (A3+B2+C4)
Baked Fish Sticks (+ leftover veggies or salad)
‣‣‣Saturday: Dinner Blueprint # 13 (A1+B4+C1)
Santa Fe Double Chicken Soup (just add a carton of chicken broth to leftovers to make soup)
‣‣‣Sunday: Dinner Blueprint # 3 (A1+B1+C3)
Chicken Parmesan w/Pasta
🍕 
If you're following along on the 2021 Annual Meal Planning Calendar, these are the same Dinner Blueprint #’s for each day. You can use the blueprint to come up with your own dinner idea, or use the linked example recipe.
🌮 
If you don’t own the 2021 Annual Meal Planning Calendar, you can purchase it by clicking my link in bio or if you're seeing this on Facebook, click here:
https://mpb.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1065589/?action=signup
🍉🥬Tell me... what fruit or veggie do you always end up throwing away? (watermelon and fresh spinach here!)
I don't know about you, but I can waste time like I don't know about you, but I can waste time like a CHAMP. Like re-drying the same load of laundry 3 times or scrolling IG like a zombie in bed.
Anyone else?
But I don't like it. 
And I definitely try to be more intentional on the things that give me more time back than what I spent on it. 
Meal planning is one of those things. Spend ONE hour a month meal planning, and you'll gain so many more hours each day (and *bonus* - it's during that dreaded pre-dinner time when the kids are maniacs!)

P.S. Please stop weekly meal planning. That doesn't actually save you time. (you can watch the ✨free training✨ in my link in bio if you want to know how often I suggest!)
Tell me...what would you do with an extra 30 mins each day?
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