September Savings Challenge

Today is the first day of September, and I have been inspired to participate in a September Savings Challenge. The inspiration came from a blog by owlhaven and my sister's new blog Small Town Saver, which both drew ideas from 30 Days of Nothing. In my personally modified version my goal is to cut my grocery bill in half this month. Like my sister, I tend to "lose" things in the back of the cupboards/freezer only to discover them way past their useful life or original purpose. My mini-stockpiles tend to come and go in waves. Last week I discovered I had an over-abundance of meat stashed away, which is a large chunk of the grocery bill. This, along with a pre-planned 6-day trip to visit family this month (a little bit of cheating), should help me in my quest to not only be extremely frugal with my grocery budget, but also "clean out" my freezer/stockpiles. I also intend to severely limit or completely eliminate any impulse/treat purchases and other non-essentials. I had to check myself and resist the urge to stock-up on things in August, thus defeating the purpose, but I think I'm ready.

I don't have a specific cause in mind, but I'm trying to organize a neighborhood block party at the end of the month and will probably use my personal grocery savings to justify hosting a big event. In addition, I am looking forward to seeing just how much I can cut my already tight grocery budget and learning more about true "needs" vs."wants". If this sounds like something you're interested in, please join me! I'd love to hear your comments. Please check out the links mentioned above--especially my sister's new blog. I think you'll really enjoy it, and there are lots of great everyday tips and links to more information.