I May Be A Dave Ramsey Flunkie!

It's been a long time, but my husband and I graduated from Financial Peace University! Hard to believe that now, but it's true! If I was actually acquainted with Dave however, I feel rather certain that he would be embarrassed to be seen with me right about now! I used to be pretty great with the budget forms, the envelope system, I knew and spoke the lingo, I listened to the radio show...I was ON it, y'all!!! I got over confident though! We got some stuff paid off and I got comfortable and I thought I could do enough of it in my head to keep us going!

Does anyone reading this know what happens to an over confident 'budgeteer'?  OK, I'll tell you! Pretty much broke! Fishing change out of the couches...checking vending machines for change...Moments away from knocking over an ATM!! Alright, alright, maybe not THAT bad!! Made for dramatic reading material though, didn't it? :)

It HAS been a penny pinching few months!  So, I got frustrated, couldn't figure out where I had gone wrong and was determined to solve the mystery.  I got out paper and pencil and started going through our bank account to see if and where we were hemorrhaging money.  I found the source!  It was surprisingly our grocery spending! A few months back we were convicted to stop eating out so much because we were spending exorbitant dough on that.  That put us eating at home more, which was totally great! I was researching and pinning recipes, trying healthier foods, cleaner eating, it's been great!  The thing was that while we weren't spending as much eating out, we just rolled that money over to our grocery spending and basically doubled or tripled the grocery spending!  I had no idea how bad it had gotten until 2 days ago! OH am I embarrassed!! I'm just waiting for Dave Ramsey to ring my doorbell and revoke our FPU diploma!!! Because you know he can sense our failure!

Well, I put out a plea for some tips on Facebook and everyone kept saying 'Aldi!' 'Aldi!!!' And I'm all 'it's so far away!!' And they're like, 'distance shmistance! You HAVE to go!'

So, today while the bigs were at dance, the little and I went to Kroger. I made a list of a lot of the things we get on a regular basis there along with prices. Tomorrow morning I'm taking me and the kids on an Aldi's field trip! I assure you the kids are going to LOVE this idea first thing in the morning! Heehee! Yeah, you're right! They were going to see right through me! Maybe I'll work in some sort of bribery!

Stay tuned though! I fully intend to make a follow up on my finds and reveal if I am able to save as much as I have been hearing!  This may turn into an actual THING!  I'm hedging my bets!