When Sarah Schweisthal noticed inflation impacting the price of groceries in March of 2022, she looked at her family’s food budget to see where she could start saving and make some changes.
“For my family of four, we were spending at least $1,200 every month on groceries,” Schweisthal said. “Definitely not as intentional as I wanted to be about that.”
Schweisthal works as the social media manager at YNAB (You Need A Budget) and decided to document her savings journey on TikTok.
Videos from her series, “The Grocery Experiment” have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, and Schweisthal was able to take her family’s monthly grocery bill from approximately $1,200 to around $400.
“It was an intense change,” Schweisthal said. “But I think we were so excited about it. And so, it was motivating to us. We all did it together. ”
To see where changes needed to occur, Schweisthal looked at her family’s shopping habits.
“We were going shopping probably three times a week or more for groceries because we didn't have a plan for what we were going to eat during the week,” she said. “And so, we'd come up with the plan 20 minutes before we go to the grocery store with what we wanted to eat that night.”
That led to impromptu purchases, which inflated the final bill. Schweisthal also said she and her family were not making a shopping list before going to the store.
“So, we just kind of would go to the store and go rogue,” she said.
The family also began shopping at Aldi, versus their local grocery store, based on comments Schweisthal received in the comments of her TikTok videos.
“That cut our grocery bills so much,” she said. “So many people had recommended it. And I couldn't believe it the first time I shopped there how much less expensive the food was there.”
One of the biggest changes for Schweisthal’s family came when they started planning weekly meals. Initially, Schweisthal said she tried to plan out seven meals a week, three times a day to account for the entire week.
“What's helped me a lot is to go through the pantry and the fridge. I like to clean them regularly,” she said. “And then every time I do, I will make a list of what we have on hand, and I'll make my meal plan with that. I'll plan out a few meals with what we have on hand. And then I'll supplement at the store with a specific list.”
Since she started documenting her grocery store savings, Schweisthal and her family also cut down the frequency of their shopping trips.
“We do a big shopping trip every other week,” she said. “And then between those weeks, we'll just supplement. I'll make a specific list with what we need to get through to the next big shopping trip. And then we will only buy the things on that list.”
For people only beginning to dip their toes into savings, Schweisthal recommends starting small.
“So, check in with yourself, ask yourself what's important to you, that will be the starting point for you in this journey,” she said. “And then taking it one step at a time, taking it easy.”
Click here to see more of Schweisthal’s saving tips on TikTok.