The All You Grocery Challenge - I'm Out

by Debbie Clark (DealDebbie) | More from this Blogger

03 Aug 2009 11:31 PM

Well, I fell off the Walmart wagon. The All You Challenge to spend less than $25 per person for four weeks fell the way of the college kid home for a visit.

For the first two weeks, I did great - here alone. I used my vege garden, my stockpile, and my coupons. I came well under the $25 limit. When my college age son came home, I figured out the groceries just fine - came to $40. But then, we went out to dinner. That ended the challenge for me. You just can't have a college age child home when you haven't seen them for six months and not go out to celebrate. And you certainly can expect an 18 year old boy to eat a lot. I just did not plan well enough to stretch the stockpile - should have spent up to the limit in the weeks before - and maybe squeezed just a bit harder.

So I was over the limit for the third week by $10.

Now if the challenge had been calculated cumulatively - that is an average of $25 per week per person - I would have been fine. We are certainly spending less in the fourth week. But the rules state that you cannot carry the balance over.

This was more difficult than I thought.

I have a couple of suggestions should All You decide to do this challenge again. One suggestion is to not make the challenge during the summer. Summertime is prime vacation time, and that includes travel, eating in restaurants, and activity that is different from grocery shopping and family take out dinners. Perhaps a second challenge should be for summer vacation dollars - including gas, hotel, flight, restaurant meals, etc. Now THAT is an interesting challenge - how do you save money when traveling with a family? Free coupons for attractions? Do you save up gift cards which you receive as rewards for online purchases to use for gas and meals? Do you take advantage of hotel discounts? Do you use online travel sites and their featured discounts? Do you stay with family or friends, and if so, how much is too much?

The second suggestion I have to All You is to set the challenge in spring or fall, and perhaps make it cumulative, rather than weekly. They could set a lower limit on this. It would account for variations in a family, travel, and the weeks when you are going to have to eat prepared meals or restaurant food instead of being home based. In summer, you have children going to sleep away camp, vacations, and college kids at home who are leading newly independent lives. The family budget is a bit more predictable in the fall and spring - life is hectic then too, but not quite so many variations in the food bill.

I loved this All You challenge. It really made me look at our food bill, and how we use our stockpile. The tips and discussion on the All You website are really very useful, and confirm what I always say - plan to save!

Learn more about Debbie Clark (DealDebbie)

I'm a veteran deal hunter with two grown sons. I have been clipping coupons and doubling up with rebates and sales and points rewards since they were babies.

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