Does It Work? 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1

 

To get more creative in battling the rise in grocery prices I am open to trying all kinds of different ways to make that happen.  There are a lot of people using a variety of strategies to keep their dollars in their pockets and still feed themselves and their families.  One of the ways I discovered is the 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 – 1 Method and it intrigued me.  Especially as it is a method that can be tailored specifically to my own needs so I came up with my own way to utilize this and I’m going to give it a solid try this month.

 

What I figured out rather quickly is that this method requires me to really think about what I truly need and how much quantity I should actually purchase.  As I am focused on mindful spending this year, I find this really helpful.  It makes sense  for me to try it this month, based on what I already have on hand, as follows:

 

The beauty is that I can rearrange this list however I choose to based on what I actually need.  One month I may need to purchase more dairy or pantry items, while I may not need as much starch or protein.  This month I actually do not need any protein so I may decide, if I need something else, to purchase two additional items from another category.  I can make the protein category into an “extra” instead.

 

I hope this makes some sense, but the overall goal is to get out of the grocery store by only purchasing a structured 15 category items.  Now, you can make the rules however you choose so if I say I am going to buy tomatoes I can get as many as I need, as that is a category.  Does that make sense?  So my list may look like this:

 

I still have room to add three more things to my list

Regardless of how well this works out, I do think it will be a fun way to change things up and hopefully, in the process I can save on my overall grocery spending.  I will let you know at the end of the month how well it turns out.  Feel free to try it out and let me know how it works for you too.