Feeding your family on $100 a month

The recession has officially hit our home and that means time to make cuts. I refuse to take my child out of day care as it's a great source of socialization for him and my husband is concentrating on a few ideas until his job opportunity outlook is better. Finding a good day care is tough and I'd hate to yank Benjamin out and then have to go through the hassle of finding someone new that we all like. Plus, my day care is pretty affordable and I have $400 a month taken out pre-tax that I get reimbursed for. That being said, we have to make some cuts.

I have canceled my gym membership. I have switch car insurance companies. I have stopped buying lunch. I'm done drinking lattes that were costing me $2.50 a day. I'm getting rid of most of the cable channels and the dvr (most of the shows we watch are online). Another place that I will start to trim is our grocery bill.

I make a monthly trip to Costco and Trader Joes though sometimes I will shop at TJs and spend less than I do at Albertson's. So I'm inspired by this article about only spending $100 a month on your groceries and this article about living on $1500 a year for groceries, medical expenses and personal items.

My husband thinks I'm completely nuts but my goal for March is to only spend $100 on food (not personal items, baby formula or diapers). This means taking my lunch. Taking inventory of the refrigerator, pantry. Meal planning. I'm contemplating setting a separate budget for eating out. Maybe $100 for the whole month? Is that cheating? To make sure I'm keeping on the up and up, I will post my results for everyone to see my success.

Now, I've got some planning to do. Watch out challenge, here I come!