I Should Do This More Often

I don’t know how I did it, but I was way below budget when I did the groceries yesterday. For the past several months, I’ve always been over budget even with a grocery list to guide me. From time to time, I'm right on target or even below budget, but I'd like it to be the trend this year.

So here are some tips which I practiced when I was at the grocery:

• Avoid looking at the bargain section. Oftentimes, I would spend a good P300 in this area alone because I thought I was getting good “deals.”
• Stick to the grocery list but allow for some unexpected purchases like those new cookies which I’m sure the husband will like.
• Make a quick scan of the pantry and toiletry cabinets at home before doing the list. I realized that I had stored so many boxes of fruit juice, bottles of dishwashing liquid and packs of laundry powder since these were staples in my grocery list.
• Avoid straying into the household section and thinking there will be items which would be useful at home. Like those new plastic containers or sponges for the dishes, because chances are, you’ve still got something that is just sitting in one of your cabinets waiting to be used.
• I also didn’t linger in the beauty section. I might just decide that I want to “try out” the new moisturizer or get a new toothbrush for the little girl simply because it's cute.

Anyway, I hope I can do this more often now. We'll see in two weeks time when I have to make another trip to the grocery.