When the pandemic began, I became quite smitten with Amazon Prime Now, the service that delivers groceries from Whole Foods to your front door for free (plus a tip). Whole Foods is usually a bit of a drive for me, so the convenience was worth the possibility of a bruised banana every so often.
However, David and I have been discussing habits lately (at many a people’s suggestion I have ordered Atomic Habits as my next book). Some of our habits are pretty stellar, like our workouts. We’ve consistently been doing Madeline Moves and running on Sundays for over a year now.
Some of our habits, like our financial discipline, slid a bit during the pandemic, a hard year, and the holiday season. An example of this is “on a whim” shopping where I’d randomly think of something that I might like, then buy it with a single finger tap on my phone.
While working on our 2021 State of the Family we both agreed we need to focus in more on our spending habits. We tend to do really well with macro finances (the spending of big dollar amounts, like our investment properties), however we get a little loose with the micro finances (on a whim purchases, groceries, etc). So while we’ve both been practicing the habit of putting an item in our virtual cart and leaving it for at least 24 hours before purchasing to see if we really want it (you’d be surprised at how many things I decide I don’t really need after just an hour of thinking about it), I’ve also been playing around with how we buy food.
Quality food is important us, we are fine allocating money to that category, so it’s not really the dollar amount I wanted to focus in on, but more so my habits. I had gotten into a serious habit of ordering groceries from Amazon Prime Now (sometimes more than once a week because of the convenience) and I got curious- is there a way to continue eating how I want us to in a less expensive way?
To experiment with this, I first made my meal plan (using my new printable meal planner, which you can download for free).
Then I made my list and went shopping. I decided to start at a low-price favorite, Aldi. I’ve shopped here plenty of times before but it still blows my mind when I go in and see how low their prices are. They are also continuously increasing their selection of organic food, so I decided to start there and get as much as I could.
I was able to check off a lot of my list. The only thing I probably would change looking back is that I would not have bought the low carb tortillas. They were the only option without hydrogenated oils, so I went that route, but knowing I was going to visit another store, too, I would have held off and bought the organic Mission tortillas at my next stop. My total for Aldi, including my $1.99 “splurge” of Valentine’s Day window clings was $68.05.
From there, I went to Lowe’s Food, which- fun fact!- is David’s favorite grocery store. We have a lot of grocery options near us (hello, suburbia), and I agree with David that Lowe’s Foods is one of the best. It offers good prices on a lot of high quality items, is clean and bright, and has a friendly staff.
That’s kind of a random tangent, but anyways. On my trip to Lowe’s I was able to get the rest of the organic produce I was after and a few other rogue items I had on my list. Kaitlyn had been begging to have cereal, and this box was on sale for $1.67, marked down from $4.35! I was on the hunt for organic, bone in chicken thighs to try the Lazy Genius’s Change Your Life Chicken, but couldn’t find it so I bought conventional. My total from Lowe’s was $50.62.
While my total for the week is $118.67, it doesn’t quite show the whole picture. While I bought chicken at both Aldi and Lowe’s foods, I prefer to buy my meat from Evan’s Family Farm (if you’re local to the Charlotte area, I highly recommend them. Delicious quality and they deliver! If you aren’t in this area, I recommend Butcher Box). I already had most of my meat for the week from my recent delivery, and the meat we are using this week totaled $50.17, so my grand total for the week is $168.84.
Less than what I typically spend when using Amazon Prime Now? Yes. I’m usually around $200 a week for Prime. However, it’s not like we are going to retire early off a $30 savings a week, but for me, it’s not so much the amount that matters, but my habits.
We definitely got more high quality food for a lower price and it was a solid reminder that being mindful of where and how I spend our money does make a difference. Nickel and diming my habits in a downward trend adds up to more savings over time, just as nickel and diming Amazon purchases (though not individually large purchases) adds up on the credit card over time, too.
Have you heard the idea of cheap, fast, or easy- pick two? The principle with my grocery shopping experience is similar- there are three values: weekly groceries can be inexpensive, quick/convenient, or high quality but can not be all three, so you have to pick the two that are most important to you. I have been picking convenient and high quality. Deciding to play around with switching my two picks to being inexpensive and high quality, means I gave a little on the convenience.
It was empowering to remind myself about the power of habits and spending. We gave ourselves a pass last year. I did some retail therapy in the form of emotional spending because sometimes the small high of a new game to play with the kids or a new sweatshirt was worth it for the momentary distraction and comfort it brought me. But now we’re feeling more energized and ready to align our habits with our bigger goals (travel, investments).
I don’t have any big tips or takeaways from this experience, but just wanted to share the fun I’ve been having analyzing how I spend money and time, and adjusting my habits to make the most of them both. Do you get excited about this kind of analysis, too?
I’d love for you to join in the conversation in the comments! I’d be curious to hear how you choose how and where to spend your time and money.
What was your spending like during 2020? Are you changing things up at all this year?
Jamie says
I usually start my weekly grocery haul at Aldi too! But typically I will have to go to Publix after for a few items that Aldi doesn’t carry. Aldi is a bit further away but the savings are worth it. However some weekends I am too busy/tired/lazy to go to both and will just go to Publix so its a one stop shop but it is ALWAYS more expensive.
Brittany Dixon says
I love Publix too! It’s typically my favorite stop if I have to choose nearby. And I do agree that the Aldi prices make the drive worth it most of the time 🙂
Lauren says
My husband and I did a yearly review of all of our expenses (also Dave Ramsey fans!) and it really highlighted how much excess we were spending on groceries each month. While I thought I was staying in budget for the most part, I quickly realized I would go over towards the end of the month and it really added up! Just seeing it on paper really made me more determined to reign in my spending habits and January has already been better! It’s always the snacks and coupons that get me, but I just keep telling myself if it’s not on my shopping list and I didn’t intend to buy it in the first place then I’m not saving money just because it’s on sale.
Brittany Dixon says
I love Dave Ramsey, too! And I you have a great point on the coupons/snacks. Doing grocery delivery did help me with those excess purchases (mostly impulse purchases) because I just wouldn’t see them so I couldn’t throw them in my cart (like my Valentine’s day window decals I grabbed the other day ;))
Torrie @ To Love and To Learn says
I LOVE stuff like this—I totally nerd out about financial stuff, especially keeping costs low on the variable things (like groceries, gas, etc.). We just moved to a more rural area where we’re much farther away from our usual grocery stores, so to keep my grocery costs low, I’ve found a good system—I make the 2.5-hour round trip drive to Sam’s Club once a month at the beginning, and then I supplement with a produce box every other week from Misfits Market. Just keeping me out of the store has saved me SO much money, and if there’s a Misfits Market offering in your area, all the produce is organic. (I’ll drop my referral link below if you want to try it—it will get you 25% off your first box.)
https://www.misfitsmarket.com/?promo=COOKWME-QX0EEF
If I really need something else, I order it through Walmart.com or Sam’s Club (I get free shipping because I’m a Plus member), and I will often make just one trip to the local (more expensive) grocery store for things like milk.
Anyway, I love this new content you’re putting out this year—books and finances? You’re speaking my language!
Brittany Dixon says
Love your system! Last time I looked up Misfit they didn’t deliver to my area but it looks like they do now. I’ll have to check it out; I’m intrigued by the concept. Thanks for your link! 🙂
Stacey says
You’re right on the habits — I have moved to ordering my food from Walmart which has cut down on spending since I’m not physically walking a store to impulse shop. However, I know Aldi’s in town has great produce and of course is cheaper, but always used the shopping online excuse. Well now Aldi’s offers this option too, so I need to get out of my habit and start with Aldi’s and then supplement with Walmart. Change is hard 🙂 but necessary!
Brittany Dixon says
A silver lining of 2020 was certainly how many stores created an online shopping option! I have a friend that swears by Walmart pick up too 🙂
Laura says
My sister always meal plans and grocery shops for almost two weeks at a time: I’ve always been a once a week planner. However, I switched it to her way, started with Aldi, and this month has left me $300 under budget! I’m shocked because we’ve still eaten the same number of meals. Once a week shopping must have meant a lot more impulse buys. And Aldi first takes longer, but totally worth it. I finished at Kroger because Crystal Paine (money saving mom) taught me about close outs! Bread for the freezer, “fun” yogurt for the kids, and still way under budget. And I echo the other comment about finances and books— love this new addition to your blog! And I’m blog posts over Instagram every time.
Laura says
Two other things that have helped: I learned to go one more day and to meal plan, but not assign to each day, from Naptime Kitchen. I’ve been a much better steward of our pantry and freezer and gotten creative. My kids are always fine and full. A can of pineapple or frozen berries at the end of the two weeks is okay!
Brittany Dixon says
Yes! That’s great; I love that tip. I always have a “wiggle meal” on the menu, too. A meal that can easily be saved or moved to the next week without ingredients going bad. My mom’s spaghetti sauce or BBQ pork in the slow cooker with slaw work well for this.
Liz says
Loved this post! We spent a LOT of money in 2020, but most of it was on big purchases – stabilizers in our basement, new windows, had our original tub and shower in the only full bath ripped out and replaced, and replaced all of our ancient appliances. It majorly added up!!
Groceries have been all over the map. When the pandemic first started we used instacart or Kroger clicklist and it really added up fast to being much more expensive. We are back to strictly sticking to our budget, so I shop much like you did this week. I meal plan, start at Aldi, then get the rest at Kroger. I also do a once monthly Costco trip for meat, paper products, and some odds and ends (we buy all our shampoo, body wash, hand soap, etc there too).
Would you ever be willing to share more about your investment properties? I know you’ve shared a little here and there, but how did you start, how many properties do you have, how did you get the money to begin buying properties, how do you find renters and handle the upkeep, etc would be super interesting. We are a one income family and I’m really feeling the pull to somehow try to attain a passive income source of some kind but have no clue how to start.
Alyssa says
I would be interested in this too! My husband has brought this up a couple times lately so curious how you manage (self vs company) and why you chose this route vs classical investments
Brittany Dixon says
For those quick questions, I can answer here 🙂
We have long term rentals and are currently purchasing our first short term (vacation) rental property. Both are managed. For our long term properties, we found a guy we really trust years ago and he has been great a handling issues and getting renters and all of it for a fair percentage. We are really grateful for him!
For our new property, it is being managed because to own in this particular area, you have to agree to let their management company handle it. We aren’t sure how that is going to turn out yet, but I can let you know once it’s built and being rented.
We do traditional investments as well; we just do our best to diversify our income and investments.
Brittany Dixon says
What exciting projects you were able to knock out last year though! However, I feel you on the finance side of things; we are having a lot of work done to our house next month (like new windows and such) and man, that adds up.
I am open to talking more about our investment properties (we shared our latest cost spreadsheet for our new vacation rental property we are buying in our State of the Family facebook group for example), but haven’t yet found an easy way to write about them here. I’ll keep it in mind and try to think of a way to approach the topic- do you have any specific questions?
Liz says
Thanks for the reply! Some of the questions I had were the ones in my original comment: how did you start, how did you get the money to begin buying properties, how many properties do you have, stuff like that. We live on one income (by choice right now) and I have no clue how we would have enough money for a down payments on an investment property. A post on those sorts of questions with tips on how to even start doing something like this would be great in the future!
Brittany Dixon says
Oops, sorry; I missed the questions in the original when replying to the string 🙂
We didn’t do anything novel for the down payment; we just aggressively saved and lived on less than we made until we compiled enough for the down payment. Real estate investing for us came after we felt like we were adequately saving in more traditional methods (stocks and retirement accounts).
Lauren says
I’d save a little more if I planned a lot more, but haven’t had the energy lately (pregnancy/holidays/packing…plus navigating a new teacher for virtual school and in a semi new job). We’ve been doing prime now just to stay out of the store as much as possible. Our area is still kind of a mess. We will probably continue it a few weeks a month even when things change because it’s such a time saver for us. I do love walking around my favorite grocery store and looking at everything, checking out their specials and specialty items, but in all honesty, with working full time and when my son is in his sports, that isn’t how I can spend my time most weeks.
Prime/WF is cheaper than most of the stuff at the nearby stop and shop (which I despise going in!), so that helps. Sticking mainly to a list also helps!
I get a target car side pickup a couple times a month for household needs and to fill in the blanks.
I wish our Aldi was better, it’s very hit or miss. I used to go once a month or so and tried instacart a couple times and they were out of so much. It was great when they had staples we use.
Tanya Kummerow says
I was really hoping you were going to tell me it made no difference and to stick with prime now. I cannot bring myself to shop at aldi 🤦♀️
Maria says
What is about me that I love to talk grocery stores? 🙂 When the COVID case numbers were lower, we did Trader Joe’s and Costco for groceries and it worked out wonderfully. Now than cases are really high and we are doing our best to limit exposure (we have high risk family members that we sometimes see outside) we do two Costco runs a month and I order groceries from Walmart for pickup. I haven’t shopped at Walmart for groceries since college (there was no Walmart near me in California) and I’ve been impressed! Organic options, great prices, friendly staff and I can usually get 99% of what I need from there so there’s no need to go to different stores. The biggest downfall is ALL of the plastic bags they use. It’s awful! But that’s another tangent. When this is all over, I’ll probably go back to shopping Trader Joe’s and Wegman’s.
Shannon says
I start at aldis usually but I will go through Kroger coupons and sales because their gallon of organic milk is usually cheaper. If that’s the only thing I need on sale I’ll spend the extra dollar at aldi so I don’t have to drive all the way to Kroger. I’d spend more on gas if I went to Kroger instead of the much closer aldi. I genuinely enjoy your blog posts and Insta account! Thank you for the tips and I will be downloading the mean plan print out today!