Budget question mostly for moms.....or really any one who wants to answer!!!
#69595 - 05/11/04 04:01 PM
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StephS
Reged: 09/11/03
Posts: 2123
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Ok....I think I'm spending way to much on groceries...well I do all my shopping at Target. So I guess its not all groceries..but anyway's I'm just wondering what most of you spend monthly one groceries.
There is 4 of us in my household....2 kids, hubby and me. I'm wondering how much the typical family spends each month on eating out and on groceries!!!
Any help would be great. I really need to get with the progaram and budget a little better! I'm going to start making menus and only buy the things we really need. It's not like I'm buying senseless things or anything...I think I'm just spending to much. We eat out offten. I just need plan out dinners...lunch...etc and stick to it! I want to cut expenses and save more money!!!
Thanks guys! 
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Ok...I guess no one is on a budget!
Where are all you mommys??? Anyone who is on a good system? Ok...how about those of you who don't have kids?? What did your moms do?
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks!
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Well, there are only two of us and I don't know how much Shane spends on meals out durring the week (for lunch or snacks).... So, I don't know that I could help ya.
SORRY.....
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Sweetheart, I didn't answer your post because I don't have kids. It's just hubby and me. But if you want a response from anyone, okay here goes.
Hubby and I spend a whopping $138/week on groceries. I kept all my receipts for 3 months and averaged them all out, and it came to exactly $138 for each month. That sounds like a lot, I know. BUT WAIT! That amount is for EVERYTHING, including staples, drugs, potty wipes, Equalactin, eye drops, vitamins, booze, even bottled drinking water -- everything! AND, we never go out to eat. So that amount feeds us every single meal for an entire week.
Since hubby and I are on fixed incomes (we're both retired), we try to save wherever we can. I buy all Safeway brand items whenever I can, and it does save a lot of money. Take, for example, Pepcid AC. It's very expensive. However, Safeway's brand has the exact same active ingredients and costs dollars less.
I also clip coupons, but only for those items I would normally buy anyway. Then, before I use those coupons, I compare Safeway's brand against those items, and if Safeway's cheaper (and it always is), I toss the coupons.
The only item I splurge on -- and it's exorbitant, I admit it -- is my beloved Veggie Stix. I have to order them online, and I spend a lot of money on them. Last month it was $48! Ouch. I'm trying to cut down on them, because I feel terribly guilty. On the other hand, if this is my only vice, it ain't much! After all, I've cut out my beloved Jack to a point where I can honestly say I don't remember the last drink I had, and even then I recall giving half of it to hubby.
Okay, I'm rambling. Let me just say this one last comment: if you have a family, it makes sense to shop at Costco, because there you can buy huge quantities of stables, items you need like toilet paper, buy in bulk at Costco. You can save big bucks. My girlfriend used to shop there -- she has two kids -- and she was the most frugal person I know.
Hope this helps.
Bev
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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I am a law student with NO income and very little savings. I live alone, and I spend about 70 dollars a week on groceries, sometimes less. That averages to 10 dollars a day for probably 4 meals (I eat a lot!). I should mention that I live in NYC and our grocery prices are outrageous -- so if that sounds like a lot for one person, that's why! I almost never eat out or order in. Maybe twice a month. Cooking for yourself is really the hugest money saver. I've found shopping lists to really be the best thing for my budget. I write down everything I need, and even categorize it under frozen foods, produce, etc so I'm not wandering through the aisles looking at yummy things. If something is not on my list, I just can't get it. I can go home and put it on my list and if it still looks good next week, I can have it. The only time I make exceptions is when something is on a big sale (like 2 mangos for a dollar), and then I swap out something else I was planning on buying.
Obviously I have no kids and no husband so I can't really give you any thoughts on that. I personally haven't bought any new clothes since college, which stinks but since I'm not working I have no need for new clothes. I also never get manicures or pedicures, even though my friends ALWAYS do and you can get both for like 25 bucks ... oh and my sister-in-law is a hairdresser so I haven't paid for a haircut in forever. Other than that, I just scrimp, save, and borrow. Growing up, my parents always had plenty but we still wore hand-me-downs from our cousins and neighbors. Do you have friends or family with small children, and can you start passing around clothes?
Ok I'm out of ideas. I hope I helped!
Panda
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Amanda
I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin
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I have given your post some thought. We have a budget for the eight of us and we try and keep human food at $75 a week. My husband thinks that should include everything else also, which is impossible. I probably spend $125 a week for all of us. That is 3 humans, 4 felines, and 1 canine. That includes food, paper products, female stuff (man that stuff is expensive!), cleaning supplies, cat litter, laundry soaps, etc. I just started keeping track of where ALL our money is going and will show hubby that it's not my spending that is the problem Wish me luck. One thing that helps keep the food budget down is I make quick menus for the week. Also, I try to go to Walmart only once each month to stock up on non-food items. It's easy to get carried away in a store like that. We get animal food at the feed mill where it is a little cheaper. I do use coupons but only for items we absolutely use. I stick to a pretty basic food list. My one big splurge everyweek is lean pockets. My daughter and I love them. No wonder I can't keep my stomach calm!! Good luck!
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Peace,
Tammy
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Steph,
it's just my husband and me but we are very careful with our money, so we try to not buy groceries at Target unless it's their own brand, or on sale, bc that place seems to be more expensive that Safeway or King Soopers. We also cut coupons, and I make it a rule not to buy certain items unless I have coupons.. (those items are usually foods that I don't really 'need' anyways  )
You may also want to look into buying stuff in larger quantities (if you have room for storage) at Costco or whatever you may have in your area.
We like to limit our eating out to once/twice a week. Also, when I was a student on a tight budget abroad, I used to write down ALL my expenses. Maybe you should do that for a few weeks, and see where the money's going, and make adjustments where necessary/possible. Often little and at-a-first-glance-insignificant expenses like smoothie, coffee/tea, snack here and there, magazines, do add up, so by keeping track of all those as well, you might be able to get a better overview of all your expenses.
These are some of the things that worked for me in the past.
Hope this helps!
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nicky
Edited by nicky (05/12/04 09:20 AM)
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I LOVE Costco! Its just hubby and me, and 2 kitties, but I buy quantities on whatever I can!! Toliet paper, tampons, papertowel, baggies, saran wrap, cleaning supplies, granola bars, cereal, turkey burgers, french fries, chicken breats, ketchup, mustard, tuna fish, soups, bread, I could go on and on but I think you get the picture!!
We have an extra freezer in the garage and a storage cabinet in the basement, so I do have lots of storage. I can't tell you how much money we save by doing this! With your kids, you can get gogurts, fruit snacks and all sorts of snacky things for them. For example, I eat Kudos granola bars (not the safest for IBS) but I get a big box of them with 4 regular size boxes in it for $6.97, ONE regular size box at Krogers is $3.97! They sell Turkey burgers already pattied up and frozen in groups of 4, they are low fat and taste great on out George Foreman grill!
Anyway, I think the price of a membership is well worth the savings. Be prepared to spend a lot of money there at first stocking up on these things but it really works to your advantage in the long run.
I'm not sure where you are and what wharehouse stores you have. In Michigan we have Sams and Costco, I prefer the brands at Costco. Most of these wherehouse places will let you shop there once so you can check it out before you buy a membership.
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Taking it one day at a time.....
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My mom always planned the meals for a week then went to the grocery store and stocked up. When meat or chicken was on sale she'd buy extra and freeze it (one of those great big deep freezes that opened from the top!) We rarely ate out or ordered in even though my dad was a successful business executive. The world has totally changed since then, but making a meal plan and a list, buying in bulk and on sale and cooking from scratch more are guaranteed to lower your grocery bill. Also, we were only allowed candy and soda pop on Saturday -- we called it "Sweet Day." That was mostly so we didn't get so many cavities. We had cookies and chocolate milk and things like that the rest of the week (even Hostess Cupcakes and Twinkies in our lunch boxes -- I kid you not!!).
Anyway, I'm rambling. I believe there's some studies that say one should budget x amount of take home pay for lodging, for food, etc. I bet there's some great websites that even have freebee software to use.
Anyway, good for you for taking a problem-solving attitude to it rather than just ignoring it and hoping it will go away!!
Oh, my husband is a maniac coupon clipper -- it makes his month when he can get a $3 box of cereal for 50 cents!!
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Laura
Keep it simple!
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Quote:
we were only allowed candy and soda pop on Saturday -- we called it "Sweet Day."
Our sweet day was Sunday. Mom always made brownies or cupcakes or cookies and we were allowed to eat at will without asking. The rest of the week all food was off limits unless you asked first. We ate three meals and one snack before bed and that was it. I also only weighed 115 pounds when I graduated from high school and weigh 215 now 20 years later. Hmmm. Perhaps I'm missing the point  .
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Peace,
Tammy
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Steph,
We have two kids , four total in our house too and no pets to but for as we are all allergic to them Our 15 year mortgage payment is $700/month including taxes, insurance, and PMI. The point of telling you our mortgage is that our grocery and supply bill comes to about the same!!! It drives me and my husband crazy. I read somewhere that you are supposed to spend about 10% of your gross income on groceries.
Once for a month we bought the really cheap foods and got our grocery bill down to $70 per week. But our health suffered. In Maine our fruits and veggies are quite expensive for about 7 months of the year until the farmers markets open up for the summer. Then we have gone the other way for our health we bought really healthy and boy does that cost. We are not really big prepackaged buyers either. It was the fruits and veggies and the organic meats that were adding up.
So now we accept that around $650 month is the best we can do both for our health and our pockets. The biggest saver for us was not buying any convenience foods. But then since we have gone wheat free, we have to buy the Thai Kitchen packs for road food if we are out for the day. They are just 59 cents per pack of soup and we just bring hot water. We pretty much never eat out, that saves a ton.
So after all this rambling, I totally get where you are coming from. For us it is our biggest budget item, besides the house. It is also one that you have quite alot of control over. Unfortunately for us with IBS, food allergies/sensitivities, and we are big vitamin takers, it becomes a choice between not just saving money but also our health and our kids health. If we could just subsist on Little Debbies snacks, we figure that they are the most bang(most calories) for the buck, then we would be golden. So even though you think that you are just dealing with money when buying food, health plays a big part especially for people who can't just throw garbage in and not get garbage out.
We comb through our recipts each week and try to do better each time, we go only once per week too. And we always shop with a list which is a big saver too. And never shop when extremely hungry!
Let us know how you do and what you find that works..
Cindy
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I'm another of the broke college students, mostly broke because of all my medical bills from being tested for IBS, etc this past fall. I completely support myself, get nothing from my parents except that I'm on my dad's health insurance. I usually spend about $30 a week on groceries, unless there's something expensive I need to get that week (like last week I needed replacement filters for my Brita filter, Philly water is nasty!). What I've noticed saves a lot is I have a bread machine, so I make my own bread, and I don't eat meat, which saves some money too. Anything other than food or paying bills or doing laundry, I only spend money on if I absolutely need it. My best friend helps out some, and buys me dinner if he happens to be ordering in and I'm with him (which is a lot lately). I do not eat out myself much, maybe two times a month tops, but being a vegetarian who can't have dairy limits what I can eat, so it's usually not too expensive.
Good luck, seems like you've got lots of good suggestions. My parents, when I lived at home, spent about $100/week on groceries. There were 5 of us, my mom, my dad, my two teenage brothers, and myself. My brothers and I almost never ate out, though my parents would several times a month. The funny thing is that their food bill didn't go down when I moved out, in fact me moving out didn't really save them any money at all.
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Melissa
Friendship is thicker than blood. ~Rent
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I did get a membership to Sams club. So I'll be using that! I'm going to have to look into coupons. I don't take that paper...so I'll have to take my moms
Were are financially stable...I just want to cut costs where I can. I don't buy things like magazines or lots of treats...etc! Ya know what??? I have a great solution...I wont take my kids shopping with me!!! That will save me tons!!! They always talk me into buying this or that!!!
I'm also going to plan out a menu for the week. Like three homemade meals and then a few simple ones...like grilled cheese...etc!
So I think I'll do fine! I just need to seperate my Target bill when I get home and divide grocrie items form other items. I know I'm not spending tons....especially after reading all the posts about this. I feel like for my household I'm right about where I should be!
But I'm sure there is room for improvement!!!
Thanks everyone! You gave me some good ideas!
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