Reading other blogs like www.consumerismcommentary.com, I noticed that reducing food expense was a popular new year’s resolution.  As I discovered over the holidays, spending on food, even when you eat in, can consume a large chunk of your monthly budget.  For example, I was shocked at the fact that we went to at least five different stores, from Costco to Trader Joes to Safeway, just to purchase all of the ingredients for Christmas dinner.  The total amount we spent exceeded $100.00 for one meal.  Granted, we had people over for the meal, but of course they brought even more food.  In the end, we had tons of leftovers that we had to toss several days after Christmas.  When I asked my husband, who does the shopping, what he estimated that we spent just on groceries on a monthly basis, he replied ”about $500.00.”  Needless to say,  I think that we could probably cut down on that figure.  So, for one of our 2008 New Year’s Resolutions, we resolve to spend only $350.00 per month.  With the reduced spending, that yields a savings of $150.00 per month, which we will have automatically deducted from our checking account into our INGdirect savings account.  Here’s the hard part: how do we do this without resorting to rice and beans?  Once I looked over our grocery receipts, however, I found an easy candidate for the chopping block - stop going to Costco.  Don’t get me wrong; I think that Costco epitomizes brilliant retailing.  Where else can you buy a head of lettuce (or four), a 5 carat diamond ring, and the latest 72 inch high-definition TV all in one trip?  The problem is, everytime we go, inevitably, we pick up a four week supply of salad, avocados, spinach dip, and other oversized bags and boxes of impulse food items like the mini quiches and barbeque chicken wings.  Even with only four or five items in the cart (which almost never happens), we never get out of there for less than $50.00.  For a huge family, Costco might make sense.  But for two people, no matter how fun it might be to go, it does not make economic sense to buy huge quantities of perishables that go bad in one week before we’ve even had a chance to open the wrapper.  So, we’ll see how this resolution holds up.  I think it will be easier for me to avoid Costco, just because I dread the parking lot nightmare in front of the store.