I read a post a little while ago by A Life Uncommon in which, she equates running your home like a business. I thought about it and it is very true. As a SAHM, I am the CEO of the home. I am in charge of the budget, inventory, schedules, waste management, environmental controls, morale, forecasting, event planning and maintenance. So, I decided to take a page from her idea and expand on it a little bit. I blogged about my tools this week but I wanted to elaborate on how I utilized these tools.

First, I started with a grocery management software called the Living Cookbook . I went through every area in my house and took inventory of what we had. And I mean everywhere: the bathrooms, the pantry, the frig, the freezer and bulk storage. I took stock of amounts, expiration dates and how much was needed to stock up. I organized as I went along and threw out things that were expired.  I entered all of this into the database and it rendered these sheets:

Each sheet represents an inventory area on our house (i.e. Medicine Cabinet, Refrigerator, etc.).  That way, future inventory evaluation runs smoothly because I am not flipping back and forth from sheet to sheet to find things. Then from these, I came up with a grocery list:

This list is organized by the aisles in the grocery store for easy shopping. It also has the prices on the right-hand side (not pictured) and a total on the bottom so you know exactly what your grocery bill will be before you even get to the store.

The last step in the grocery management is The Grocery Game . The software pairs up sales with coupons. It is a huge time saver because I don’t have to do the leg work on it. They suggested that you set up a binder to manage your coupons. I love binders! The first section is for all of the coupon inserts you get in the Sunday paper:

There is one page for each Sunday in the year. I keep the whole insert and only clip the coupons I need when a sale rolls around to pair with it for optimum savings. In the back, there are pages for manufacturer’s coupons. The whole system is brainless but effective. Perfect for a smart but lazy shopper like me:-)

This whole process took me a week to set up from start to finish. The initial work was pretty time consuming however the benefits are bountiful:

1. I know exactly what we have on hand for meals. Meal planning is something I will be expanding on for our home and for my blog. So, I get a double bonus from this point.

2. I know that everything that we have is good and not past it’s prime. That helps me to control waste.

3. I am saving money by using the coupons at the right time. I saved $100 this week!!

4. It is freeing up time for me to concentrate on other things like blogging or starting new business ventures. It gives me time to make more money through these activities.

And there you have it! A perfectly managed grocery system. Something that can certainly be done yourself!

For more Works for Me Wednesday visit Rocks in My Dryer.

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