This month, I made myself keep track of my grocery spending. I used an Excel Spreadsheet, which helped in organizing my spending.
Each week, I used my weekly menu to estimate the cost of my upcoming grocery trip in the spreadsheet. I listed items by category: produce, meat, grocery items, dairy, frozen items, and other. Estimating gave me a chance to change my menu and drop items from my list if they sent my estimated cost soaring. After shopping, I would enter the price of each item. If I went to different stores during the week, I listed each store’s shopping in a separate column. Each week, I would create a new sheet in the same document. I also had a sheet that would list my weekly spending by month. I was surprised at the amount I was spending. I was not being very frugal in my grocery choices.
The spreadsheet also became a great price book. Each week, I would better be able to estimate costs. I was also more cognizant of prices at the store. For instance, if I estimated spending a certain amount on potatoes, I was more aware of the actual costs, especially if I found a great sale. I also liked doing a spreadsheet price book and grocery spending itemization, instead of one on paper. When using a notebook, you have to estimate the number of pages you would need for produce, groceries, meat, etc. By using a spreadsheet, I could adjust the number of rows I needed. If I was purchasing a lot of produce in one week, I could easily add more rows to that section.