I received an email from a reader of this website and they had a very interesting question. They’re single, living by themselves and they only have a grocery budget of $30 per week. She says that she goes to different stores to find the best deals on stuff; she uses coupons, etc… Her complaint is that she is limited to only $30 and she’s finding it nearly impossible to get by on that kind of a budget.
Now, a lot of people are going to tell you that it’s impossible, but I’m here to tell you that you can eat fairly well on only $30 a week. As a matter of fact, this may surprise a lot of you, but my husband and I were actually able to survive off of only $30 a week when we were newlyweds. We had 21 meals a week and household products were also included in that budget.
So, how can you live off of a $30 grocery budget? Well, you have to have the right attitude. You can’t sit around and think about how you’ll never be able to survive on such a small budget. Instead, you have to remain positive and understand that this is the budget you have to work with, so you have to do your best with what resources you do have.
As for myself, I used to stay motivated by thinking of it as a challenge, because it really is a challenge. I took enjoyment in seeing how little of money my husband and I could survive on. By looking at it as a challenge, you will be forcing yourself to become more creative and you will have to think out of the box. Eventually, you’ll enjoy living on such a small budget and when you enjoy something, it won’t be as difficult as it once was.
When you have a budget of only $30, you will have to make some sacrifices. As a matter of fact, I would even say that you may want to sacrifice $5 from your grocery budget and cut it down to only $25. That’s exactly what I did and it worked for me. You see, I saved the extra $5 and used it for stuff that is at rock bottom prices that you just shouldn’t pass up. I would use the cash to buy things such as toiletries or household products that were significantly discounted. This came in handy in the future and saved me even more money in the long term.
Now, on a $30 or $25 budget, you’re not going to have an extravagant menu that’s filled with all kinds of exciting items. Basically, you’re just eating food to live. If you’re able to go down to $25 and save that extra $5 for rock bottom deals, you’ll be able to eventually build a stockpile of items that will certainly come in handy in the future. For instance, you may find that strawberries are on sale this week for an amazing deal. You could buy the strawberries; eat some now and then free the rest for later.
Do this over a decent period of time and before you know it, you’ll be surviving on a very limited grocery budget, as well as building a stock pile.
