Let’s talk about grocery budgets. This is a tip I’ve put into practice with surprising success. You see, about 6 months or so ago I was going over my grocery budget every single month. Sometimes by $20, sometimes by $40, but I always spent more than I should have. I’m not bad at budgeting in general, but I always made excuses like: “But I needed to make certain things for my blog!” (can anyone relate??) or “Well…we had those people over for dinner.  You wouldn’t want me to stop being hospitable, would you?”

This works out really well for us. Because I love to cook (and because of the blog), I’m still motivated to make good meals for us, but because I want my fun money, I’m also motivated to save as much as I can. It’s like a game each month! Plus, because we set the cash budget $25 less than our previous budget, we are actually saving money each month. And best of all, I’ve been under my budget every single month since we started! (And still had room in the budget to make new and fun things like white chocolate lemon truffles!)