Here's where I'm going to say four words that I really want you to listen to and own for yourself.

Simplifying is a strategy.

Hi, this is Monica Packer and you're listening to About Progress, where we are about progress made practical.

When my three oldest kids were quite little, sometime in 2015, I remember nursing my baby

while also reading a Facebook post from a friend. She and her husband had been arguing over grocery budgets,

and they wanted to know what people were spending in our area on their groceries each month.

Comments came flooding in with all sorts of numbers, from $300 a month to $1,500 a month.

I saw one mom with five kids say it was impossible for her to spend less than $1,300 a month to feed her family, and my stomach dropped.

$1,300?

I thought, really?

But also, is that in my future? Dear listener, the answer was and is

yes. Fast forward 10 years and not only is $1,300, a reasonable amount for a family of seven

like mine to spend each month on groceries. Actually, if your receipt

totals add up to that number with seven people in your family just like us, you'd be doing

better than most people. Brad and I met with a financial advisor in 2024. It was Elizabeth from

Fearless Finance, a longtime sponsor, and someone I've paid myself as a financial advisor, if you must know.

And she told us at the time, again, 24, so not that long ago, if you spend around $200 per person per month on groceries, you are doing great.

For our family, that number adds up to $1,400 a month.

Gulp. And yet, in that moment, I was so proud to tell Elizabeth that I had been working on saving

groceries the last year, and our total was now averaging to about $1,100 a month, so totaling about $157 per person per month.

And that is when I got to bask in Elizabeth's awe of me. I swear she did.

If you've been grocery shopping any time the last few years, you will be like me in

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