How much do you spend a month on groceries and how many is in your family? I've always thought we struggled financially, after looking at our numbers, we could be well off, not worrying about our bills, etc. We don't have credit cards, so we never spend more than we make, but it seems we're always struggling to make payments on time. We can make the payments, just always later... So the numbers DH pulled from quick books shows that even if we keep spending over 200 on fast food and over 500 for a family of 4, we should have just over 1000 left. I don't see it. What is going on? I am definitely cutting down on the food part of it, no way we need to eat out that much. YUCK! But it is hard always being in the car running errands for the business.
We spend about $400 a month for a family of three. That does not include personal items, just food. We don't eat out much. Maybe $20 a month. However I have noticed that our grocery bill has been climbing. I have been trying to adjust the type of foods we eat and still stay on a healthy meal plan but it is not easy. I spend a lot of time planning each week.
We spend about $100 a week for the 5 of us. I'm sure that will change once our boys are teenagers...lol. If you'd like to cut your grocery budget, I suggest looking into Hillbilly Housewife. Her meal plan is for a family of 4 and costs $35 per week. All meals are cooked from scratch, but often don't include the most healthy of ingredients (hot dogs, anyone?). But at least that would give you a place to start at the other end of the frugal spectrum. If you really don't know where that $1000 is going every month, then you really need to find out. Write down every penny you and DH spend on anything for two weeks. You've got to find the holes in your spending before you can plug them. It really is possible to nickel and dime yourself right into the poor house. One thing that's really helped me with my spending habits is to translate every purchase into hours worked. I keep track each week of DH's average hourly pay (he's on commission so it's always changing). So, for instance, if he's had a $9 per hour week and I want to run through McD's instead of cooking, I translate our usual order into 2.2 hours of his time. That's 2.2 hours of his hard work. 2.2 hours that he wasn't at home with us. 2.2 hours that he sacrificed to provide for his family. Is a quick dinner fix really worth 2.2 hours? Usually not. Just my thoughts.
We are a family of 4 and spend about $400 a week, that includes the personal items. I have noticed that Elijah is eating more (he will be 13 in Feb.) and I think that is the reason, so our grocery bill will increase. I agree with Amie, you need to write down everything that you purchase. Even if it is a 25 cent pack of gum (or whatever it costs). Of course, you also have to take into consideration where you live and the cost of living. For instance, I can get a gallon of 2% milk for $2.99 and I know that KrisRV was saying she spent $5.00. If that is the case, her bill will be a lot more than mine. Going out to eat is another thing, pack lunches and eat in the car. We eat out for lunch, maybe 2 time a month. Make sure you pack something to drink, too - WATER. That is really cheap.
For the last few days I have been writing everything down. I told DH that the numbers don't make sense, so we need to figure it out. I honestly think that there is more business cost than he thinks. I have and love packing lunches for the car, but DH, again sometimes stands in the way of that. He's picky, he doesn't like to eat something if he's eaten it within the last 48 hours. So, that means no tacos one night, then no leftovers after, which then turns into that he can't eat it if it's been in the fridge for more than 48 hours because "it'll make him sick." Gimme a break! I am going to check out the Hillbilly wife thing. Also, I live in Utah and I think our milk was $2.60, so not bad.
Same here. Yes, I also suggest keeping track of EVERYTHING spent. We discovered that, when dh goes to buy a pack of cigarettes (on the way to work, just about every day), he also always gets a coke. We started buying a carton instead, so he doesn't have to stop, and viola - saving almost $15/week because he's not buying that extra coke. Stuff like that adds up. Anyway. Hope you find it!
I spend about $400 month on a family of 6, maybe a little less. I think my bill went down some when we moved to TX. Tax in TN was $40 on $400 worth of groceries. Since there is no tax on groceries in TX, I save $40 a month automatically. That's $40 more for other stuff!!
I spend at least 150.00 weekly, alittle more than that if something is on sale. For example, our grocery store had 39oz cans of coffee for 4.99 each. They are normally almost 10.00, so I bought 12 cans at 4.99 each. Now, when it's back up to 10.00, we don't have to worry about it.
The short answer is because I have to. That's all our budget allows. So I shop accordingly. I mostly stick to the perimeter of the store. I buy produce, breads, meats, cheeses, and other dairy. That's about it. I rarely venture in the aisles for crackers, cereal, or other packaged items. When I do, I stick to generic whenever possible. There are some items that I will buy name brand because of taste or quality, but not many. Heck, there are some things that I prefer in generic. I avoid lazy mixes, too. I'd rather make mac n cheese myself for pennies a batch than buy a box for $1.25. I plan each week's meals and balance cheap/costly. I plan for leftover use (making other things out of them so it doesn't get old). I shop for a whole week at a time. Even with milk, buying two to three gallons at a time. The less I go to the store, the less impulse items I buy (much like dalyn's DH's cigarettes). Our grocery store has a shop online option that I find helpful in that regard, as well. There is a $5 fee if you pick up and a $10 fee for delivery, but that eliminates all impulse buying, saving more than that. We don't drink much beyond water and milk. The boys drink a cup of juice a day. DH likes coffee, so that's one of our pricier items. We also rarely throw anything away. If I make a dish that gives a lot of leftovers, I freeze half of it. That way I know I have a spare meal waiting for me and no one has to eat the same thing for a week. If I only have a little leftover, I freeze it and save up for more. Like if I have just one piece of steak left over I will freeze it. After a couple times of that I'll have enough steak for fajitas or just reheated steaks. IMO, if you're throwing away food, you're doing something wrong either in planning or actions. That's basically it, I guess. Like I said, necessity is the mother of invention.
Amie, have you ever read a book called Miserly Moms? I forget the author.., but she has all kinds of recipes and tips to save money.
No I haven't, but it sounds like a book up my alley. I'll have to look for it at the library. Of course, after being so poor for so many years I could probably write a similar book...lol.
We basically do the same as Amie. Our $100/week doesn't include *my* Coca-Cola though. We also plan out meals - sit down before we go shopping and decide what we'll eat that week for meals. If I do spaghetti one week, I'll buy a big enough package to get two meals out of, and even if we don't eat something with the noodles this week, we'll use it up next week. There are a lot of "staples" we do trade-outs like that. I get two meals out of most packaged things I buy like that. We also don't do much in the center of the store. Most of our meals are from scratch, and almost always there are leftovers. A lot of this is out of necessity for health reasons - dh is a diabetic, I have high blood pressure, and the more I learn the more I realize that my kids do have some food sensitivities. (Like, spicy is not good. LOL) We really don't buy much snack food. At all. We don't snack around really. The kids do more than I do, but if we HAD snack food, I would EAT it, and I don't need the extra calories. LOL We keep peanut butter, crackers, apples and other fruits, carrots and other veggies, and such like this for the kids to munch if they get the munchies. If they snack too much, though, they don't eat their dinners, and this irks me. (More my principle than concern for their health. I know they've been eating crackers, peanut butter, apples, and carrots all day - but still! EAT YOUR MACARONI!! :lol: ) I can't really add much more than what Amie said though. It's just a matter of planning, cooking from scracth, and not getting anything extra. I was raised this way, and it just comes naturally. LOL
We also get by with $100/week for a family of five (though actually it's $200 every other week!) It's rather easy. First, you don't eat out. Stopping for lunch or breakfast on the run will bust your food budget faster than anything. Second, we pay CASH for our groceries. I know it sounds weird, but we really did start spending less when we started using cash! When the cash is gone, we stop buying and just deal with what we have on hand. It also means that, by the middle of the second week, I'm looking at what is left and deciding what I REALLY need, and what can wait until next week. Third, I write up grocery lists based on what's in the flyer, and shop according to them. I buy very little that isn't on the list. There are two things which I feel would help my budget further that I don't do: Use coupons (we don't get the paper, so I don't get coupons usually) and plan a menu at least a week in advance.
I have a budget of $300 every two weeks for everything for the three of us, plus cleaning supplies, dog food (for an 80 pounder), cat food, hamster food, bedding and litter, as well as personal items, supplements, and alternative medicines (mostly for the dog). About 80% of the food we eat is organic as is the cat and dog food too. I tend to buy only items that are on sale unless we absolutely need something that is not on sale--salad items are rarely on sale but Sam's Club now carries a huge tub of organic spring greens for just under $4.00. I also buy items in bulk when on sale, so I may spend $40 on granola this month and not buy it again until it is on sale in three to four months, just about the time I am running low. I also use coupons when available. I also shop at two or three stores if it is convenient with errands to pick up different items on sale. Instead of planning meals prior to shopping, I plan meals around what I got on sale. I like staying high in stock of certain items. In fact, when my husband was injured and unable to work for over three months this summer, I had less than half of our usual budget available and simply used up the food we had in stock. I was so thankful we had plenty to get through those months, so I am in the process of slowly building it back up again, always staying within my budget. If organics were not important to us, I would go with Angel Food Ministries and buy three or four of the $25 boxes of food which is said to feed a family of four for a week. I have been a member of churches who hosted this program and the food is very good--just not organic, which is why I don't go with it right now, but I would if it were a matter of not being able to afford to eat. Imagine feeding a family of four for a month with just $100!
I have become VERY frugal in this area as it is one of the only I can try to cut back in time of $$$ need. For a family of 10 and that includes 3 teens, a baby on formula and baby food, two in diapers, one bed wetter in pull ups, laundry like you wouldnt believe - I spend an approx amount of $650 per month. I believe that is very good. There are months I can go under that and some that I have gone slightly over, but that is a good range of what I spend on everything we need.
Ours is $75-$125 per week for family of four which includes household items. Sometimes I splurge more for extra items on sale with coupons. With coupons you can save an average $11-24 higher every other week. I get coupons from Sunday paper, friends, neighbors, family. When things I use are on sale and I have a coupon I will buy it and stock it up for later use as long as it wont spoil. I use a "Price book" for the grocery stores I go too, and see what is cheaper. Sometimes it will say its on sale and I know they are lieing because of my book. If I wait till I go into city instead of town here I can save $10 to $15 by doing this instead. I am part of a milk coop and veggie coop. With these though especially the veggie coop it works as long as you use everything that is given to you. I would recommend buying at local farmers market sometimes its a lot better quality and cheaper. There are programs out there like the food ministry http://angelfoodministries.com/ and similar programs that you can go with and get good food not dented. When you have ingredient at your house and your planning a menu try a place like allrecipes http://allrecipes.com/site enter your ingredients and it will tell you what things you can make with it, its an awesome site. Try to keep track of the foods you have so you wont buy repeats and you can use it up so it wont spoil. Hope this helps you Sam
I used to spend about $450 a month for 5 of us. We get items (such as the large tub of greens---I love it!) at Costco. We get in bulk there which saves us TONS over shopping at a normal grocery store! I still haven't figured out what our exact budget is with my oldest away at school! But I do know that it has changed a LOT! It's amazing how much one 16yo can eat!!! One thing we do, as well, is eat left-overs. I am blessed with a non-picky family, and we get two or three meals out of one sometimes! Another is using grocery bags for trash can lining, instead of buying trash can bags. I mean for the smaller cans in the bathrooms and kitchen. We also store up when things are on sale, then don't have that cost for a few months when it goes on sale again. We don't eat snacks hardly ever. I stopped buying "crinkly bag" foods. Dr. Hans Diehl (sp?)coined that term. It means that most things in crinkly bags are NOT good for you, so don't get them!
