Just out of curiosity, do you follow a set grocery budget? How much? Does it include pet and household items? Family size?
If you don't mind sharing that would be great! You can leave a comment and choose anonymous if you'd like.
**edit to make it fun **
I'll choose a random comment on Thursdy (25th) to win a little prize!
24 comments:
I would like to believe I follow a grocery budget, but unfortunately, I always spend more than I thought I did. My goal is to spend $400 per month on groceries, bath, cleaning items, etc. I justify that's $100 per week and that should be easy, but... Any help would be appreciated.
I do have a grocery/household budget. I budget $100 a week for all items. I have a family of four with two kids under 3. That means diapers!
Most of the time I am under budget. The key for me was learning how to get household products for free by learning the ropes at CVS and Rite Aid. I have also learned how to stockpile and what a good price is.
Even though we have a strict budget, we still eat well- steak, seafood and other pricey foods. Learning how to save on other items, allows us to spend money on the food we like!
I should have a budget but I don't. If I had to, I would put it at $150 a week which would include household needs for five of us. My problem is I have a prima dona (sp) husband who buys top of the line personal care products without me knowing along with nasty chew so he would blow the budget all the time. It's not worth the potential bickering so I go without a budget.
That's a funny topic as I was just telling my oldest when I was married to her father and we were poor college students, we had $40 a week to spend and we brought a calculator to ensure we didn't go over.
I live strictly by a budget of $350 a month for groceries. I admit that once every 6 months I take advantage of Costco to stock pile on the cleaning supplies, and most of my can goods, and meats. Those months I spend a little more then $350 but make up for it by some of the good deals I find at the dollar store.
I wish I could tell you that we stick to a budget but we don't. I do believe that it is the best way to do it. Even though I don't "budget" we do buy in bulk, meat included, and I meal plan 1 -3 months in advance. That has saved us quite a bit in the last year or so.
We are a family of 5 with one in pull ups, a guinea pig and dog. We try to stay within a $70 a week for everything, food, diapers, pet food/litter, etc. Sometimes we do great especially when I make a menu and shop at Aldi's sometimes we go over and that's usually when were winging it :( My DH is a social worker so we have to budget carefully.
We budget $100 for a family of 5...that doesn't include pet food, though. I don't have any in diapers, either ;)
Some of that money goes toward buying honey ($13), milk from the farm,($10) and some of it each week (around $15-$20) is set aside for our yearly beef purchase and grain purchase as well...
That leaves me around $40-$55 to spend at the grocery store each week...but since I have flour, and a freezer full of beef, and we raise our own chickens/eggs, it works beautifully for us!
Hope that helps a bit...:)
We budget $100 a week for our family of four. I have one child in diapers. I have a hard time sticking to the budget even with coupons because I'm always tempted to "stock pile." So to be honest we probably spend between $120-$130. I feel good about it, but wish we could do better. I know for sure that anything less than $100 is unrealistic for us at this point.
Our grocery budget is my flexible budget, so no, I don't have a set budget for groceries. I make adjustments in other spending categories to allow me the most flexibility for grocery shopping.
There was a time that I had to budget but fortunately after nearly 20 yrs in the Army, my dh makes enough that I don't have to watch my pennies that closely. But I do shop for the cheapest in most things - like 79 cent shampoo, 88cent toothpaste, etc..... we also have the benefit of the commissary so it costs less on many items than the local Publix,Krogers or Target
At this time I typically dont have a budget...occassionally I will have to watch what I spend having cash on hand, but I normally go grocery shopping when my hubby gets check so I know I dont have to add everything up.
We try to budget--but our bigger problem is not going out to eat more often than we plan/budget for. When we eat out, it blows both our food and entertainment budgets out of the water. I'm good about sticking to budget at the store, but I have to make sure I get something going for dinner each day.
So, nope, I guess we don't really stick to one either...but we're working at it and getting closer to being on target.
We need to, but don't budget - for our family of 3 plus cat plus bird... :) Ideally we spend about $100/week, including pet food, household cleaning stuff, etc. But we do a lot of shopping at discount stores - Big Lots, Grocery Outlet, WalMart, BiMart, which results in mixed receipts for far more than groceries, so it's hard to tell what I've spent.
I signed up with Nielsen scanning program - I was hoping I could get data through that of what I was spending, but we had all kinds of technical issues so canceled that. Not to mention I don't think they give you any data back... :)
Also, I just downloaded Quicken on my new iPod Touch. I still need to get it set up, but I'm hoping that having the app at my fingertips all the time will inspire me to plug in my expenses at time of purchase.
I have a Grocery budget but everything comes out of it! We only have 2 children left at home out of four, 12 chickens, 1 dog, 2 cats. I try too stay around $125.00 per week. I have started making all my own laundry soap, fabric softener and cleaners which is saving a lot of money. I wish I could figure out how to make my own cat litter~lol! I also plant a garden. Have a laying flock of chickens and try to cook mainly from scratch. All the cleaning, paper items, cosmetics, and hair care needs are included in this amount. I have started CVS and Walgreen shopping which is saving on toiletries!
You have a wonderful day~
Blessings from Missouri~
Carrie
We budget $500 a month for all groceries, toiletries, household and pet supplies. (We've got 4 kids, a cat, a dog and a turtle.) That comes out to about $115 a week. For me, the hardest part is buying 5-6 gallons of milk a week. My husband and kids are all big milk drinkers!
We have a budget of $400 for the month for our family of 5. This includes all of our household, pet (1 dog) supplies and diapers (our youngest still wears diapers at night).
We stick to a budget - at least for groceries! ;-)
We are a family of 4 and hubby gives me $200 (cash) every 2 weeks - so $400/month. We used to write checks...then debit card...but, it was too easy to spend "just a little more."
SO...now I get cash, so that I know that's all I've got to spend!
Our $400 covers groceries AND household items - like paper products, cleaning supplies, shampoo, makeup, etc - as well as diapers (have 1 in pullups, at night, and 1 in diapers).
Some weeks are tight, only because I use the same $$ to buy clothing - socks, shoes, underwear - for the kids or us. But, strictly food and household, I usually underspend WHEN I make a menu and list!
We have a "general" idea of what our grocery budget is. I know the ball park of what I want to spend each week. We belong to a co-op where we order certain things on certain weeks, so what I spend each week, actually fluctuates drastically depending on if we are getting our cod liver oil that week etc. I would hate to tell you what we spend . . as we buy mostly organic. :) I order all online so I know how much I am spending the week before we actually get our food.
A budget is essential for me to feel like I'm truly saving money. Right now our set grocery budget is $315, and it includes all household items, toiletries, and diapers (although we mostly use cloth). I'm trying to get down to $300 comfortably, but I'm still working on it.
I start with the grocery sale ads and make lists of all the spectacular deals. Then I match up coupons to the spectacular deals. Then I make a menu plan based on whatever sale items inspired me. The menu plan is for 3 meals a day for a full 7 days plus snacks. I make a list that includes ingredients, sale items that I want to stock up on if they are an especially good deal, and all household items (toilet paper, detergent, etc.)
I don't have a set amount of money that I insist on staying within, but it nearly always comes out to $100, give or take five bucks. It's uncanny because I don't add it up before getting to the counter and some weeks even include 3 or 4 boxes of detergent if they're half price. Still, it comes out about a hundred. This feeds (and cleans up after) 6 very hungry people.
I stick to a strict $250/month for a family of 3. This includes everything-cleaning supplies, diapers, and food! Please keep in mind that I have been doing "extreme" couponing for over a year before any of you get stressed about that number. We use Crown Financial Ministry's Mvelopes system for our budget. It is a secure online budgeting program linked to our bank account. It is very helpful!
I stick to a strict $250/month for a family of 3. This includes everything-cleaning supplies, diapers, and food! Please keep in mind that I have been doing "extreme" couponing for over a year before any of you get stressed about that number. We use Crown Financial Ministry's Mvelopes system for our budget. It is a secure online budgeting program linked to our bank account. It is very helpful!
I've been able to stay under $400/month for my family of 6 - 1 in diapers and 1 in pullups at night. Yippee! The couponing has really helped, as that number includes all food and household/personal care items.
Well, we have a budget, but aren't limited to it. I think it is $450 a month, but I always go over. We are a family of 5, with a dog and a cat. And our grocery budget includes all household items, including diapers and pull-ups for 3 kids. And pet items.
Post a Comment