My husband is a man who likes to keep our finances well organized. He inputs all our spending into a program so that we know how much we are spending every month and on what. I love this idea, and I have taken this idea one step further.

Recently, I placed an envelope on our refrigerator.

Every single time I go to the grocery store, I place the receipt into the envelope and write how much I spent on the outside of the envelope.

This allows not only my husband to know what to place into his accounting, but allows me to keep a running monthly total of how much we spend in just groceries.

While I could just easily pull up my husband’s accounting and see what we spend in groceries, I find when you are staring at the grand total every single day it really makes you think twice about heading to the grocery store to make frivolous purchases.

Hundred Dollar Challenge

When speaking to my pastor the other day, we began talking about saving money.

He said that his sister sets a grocery budget of $100 a month.

While I did not ask him what the size of his sister’s family was, I was inspired to see how many of my readers could meet the $100 challenge.

I know many of you could eat for $100 if you eat noodles and water every single day. However, how many of you could feed your family three well balanced meals for $100 a month? I know that I am taking the challenge. I know as we reach mid-month my family has hit a little over $50 in groceries this month and we have food that will last us several more weeks.

My bill also include household cleaning supplies.

I have done this by using some coupons, shopping sales and only purchasing items we need. If you decide to take the $100 challenge and succeed, please e-mail me and provide me with information on how you were able to be successful.

Did you know that Lady Antebellum, a country music group, had their entire album on sale for 25 cents on Amazon? Make sure you do not miss great deals like these. I announced this deal and other great deals on my Facebook page called Frugal Family. Make sure you check it out.

Do you know of great deals or great ways to save money? E-mail your ideas to localnews2005@yahoo.com.