Grocery/Toiletry & Eating Out Budget

brij2006 · March 2014

What do you budget (and spend) in each month for these categories?

We try to stick with Groceries/toiletries of $400 each month, and I'm finding it hard to not go over. It's just the 2 of us. We always end up going over, and I'm finding that I try as hard as I can to meal plan, shop sales and coupons, and get things that can be used in other recipes. But am always running really close and usually over in this category. We even get 1/4th of a cow once a year for some meat, so this only includes other meat. I also eat gluten free.

However, we budget in $75/month for eating out. So I'm trying to vouch that we don't eat out anywhere near as much as we used to. So that's why we go over with groceries.

Am I way off in these categories? I know many of you spend way less than that on groceries, but do you budget toiletries/cleaning products/household items in separately? Maybe that's where I'm messing up.

jessica490 · March 2014

We budget $400 for each month as well on everything and usually don't go over unless there are a lot of sales throughout the month and stock up. We usually buy our toiletries at the grcoery store as well when they are on sale (cleaning products, paper towels, toilet paper, shampoo) along with using coupons. We shop at Shop Rite and find that everything is priced really cheap when it's on sale.

I think the thing that helps is that we buy food/toiletries strickly at the grocery store and only go once a week. My parents run around to many different stores for sale items and I just think that's a pain the neck because it adds up-especially with all that driving around.

We also shop Bj's once every few months for meat only, we don't buy in bulk because we usually find it's more expensive.

We sometimes use walmart as well for things are are never on sale in the grocery store (for example my make-up)

brij2006 · March 2014

@jessica490 I usually grocery shop once a week, and do run around to different stores to shop the sales. Sometimes I will get everything at Walmart and have them price match the items, but I find that toiletries and household items are cheaper there.
Maybe I need to price match those items more instead of just the grocery items, and try sticking with 1 store.

Getting laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, dog food, and a furnace filter in one trip seems to throw the budget way off. It turns a $30 grocery trip into $80.

Xstatic3333 · March 2014

brij2006 said:

@jessica490 I usually grocery shop once a week, and do run around to different stores to shop the sales. Sometimes I will get everything at Walmart and have them price match the items, but I find that toiletries and household items are cheaper there.
Maybe I need to price match those items more instead of just the grocery items, and try sticking with 1 store.
Getting laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, dog food, and a furnace filter in one trip seems to throw the budget way off. It turns a $30 grocery trip into $80.

I feel the same way as you, Bri. The days that I need to stock up on household items throw me wayyyy off. I don't budget for them separately, but just throw them into groceries. I probably should budget for them separately, but I just hate not putting every penny (that isn't wasted on fun) into our savings. It's just the two of us and we struggle to stay around $350 a month. However, we do a CSA for our vegetables March through November for $650 (some gets saved for the winter) so it's actually right around $400.

We eat mostly local/organic for environmental reasons, which is a big factor. We're also sort of "into" food and like our meals to be tasty. We probably only eat out once a month, and make sure it's to try something special, never just for convenience. This comes out of our "fun" budgets.

One thing I'm going to do to cut back is get consistent about making our own beer, AND drinking less of it. I already have the equipment from a few years back, I just need to get better at actually using it. We both enjoy beer, so it cuts way into our grocery and fun budgets. I'm also going to grow broccoli and basil this year and hopefully get enough to freeze for the winter.

One frustrating thing that we're running into is entertaining on a budget. We're trying to invite our friends over to minimize going out, but even stocking up for a simple meal of homemade pizzas ended up putting me back around $20.00 when I shopped yesterday.

brij2006 · March 2014

@xstatic3333 We entertain a lot too. We will be hosting Easter again this year, and H was asking me if I can do it for $100. But he wants to smoke a turkey in his smoker along with the ham. So there's probably $40 between those 2 items. I know that I can make it work.

In the summer months we entertain a lot. Easily every weekend we have 6-10 people over. Everyone brings a dish to pass, which is great, but I try to provide the main dish. This is going to be our first summer with this new budget, and I have no clue how I'm going to make it work.

We also like to eat decent things, and H loves to cook just as much as me. So I'm trying to convince him that maybe we lower our budget in some other areas and increase the grocery budget to $500 and buy some things we love and try all those new recipes we used to do. Then we still won't eat out much, but will have some great meals at home.

Then again thinking of spending $500/month for just the 2 of us is insane. Others feed a family of 4 off of that.

smbenevides1989 · March 2014

I spend for a 4 week month, $240.00

I get paid biweekly, so during those weeks, I spend $100 on groceries, toiletries, and cleaning products. I meal plan for a two week duration. I figure out what I want to make, what ingredients are needed, and buy those items. I also make a lot of food myself, eat fruits and veggies, make lunches for DH and I, snacks and juices for DD, and have one night a week where we eat breakfast for dinner.

In between those weeks, I mostly succeed with $20.00. This includes milk, fruits, veggies, and breads (if needed).

I do not buy red meat - I buy ground turkey, chicken breasts, tilapia, shrimp, etc. I do eat my mom's meals on Sunday's, but I make a meal for my whole family on Saturdays including breakfast (think 6 adults and 2 kids).

I do budget for my dog separately, since he only eats a 15 lb bag of food every 2-3 months. I shop at Price Right mostly, with Walmart being the items that could not be bought at Price Right.

brij2006 · March 2014

@smbenevides1989 That's impressive for a family of 3.

What does a mealplan look like for you?

smbenevides1989 · March 2014

I knew I forgot to mention something. I do eat out every Friday. We will spend less than $20 between DH, DD and I, but we always eat something before grocery shopping.

I meal plan starting with Saturdays, since I grocery shop on Friday's:

Saturday 3/15: cheese empanadas with marinara sauce

Sunday 3/16: eat at mom's

Monday 3/17: breakfast

Tuesday 3/18: tacos

Wednesday 3/19: pepperoni pizza roll

Thursday 3/20: leftovers

Friday 3/21: eat out

Saturday 3/22: Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti

Sunday 3/23: Eat at mom's

Tonight 3/24: Turkey burgers with chips (it was supposed to be baked fries, but I'm lazy)

Tomorrow 3/25: Shrimp with Rice and a vegetable

Wednesday 3/26: Portuguese Bean Soup in the crockpot (potatoes, red kidney beans, and macaroni)

Thursday 3/27: Leftovers or Breakfast

Friday 3/28: Eating out

Breakfast can vary: I usually have a coffee with toast. DH has oatmeal with a fruit smoothie or coffee and also makes himself a veggie smoothie for lunch. DD eats at school, but she likes to have oatmeal or yogurt. Lunches are usually a side salad with some fixings and a sandwich or leftovers. Sometimes I'm lazy and bring cereal and eat that.

Snacks are bananas, apples, crackers with cheese, almonds, goldfish, carrots, yogurt.

short+sassy · March 2014

I also spend around $400-$500/month for just my husband and I. That does include toiletries/cleaning supplies/pet food. We don't eat out much anymore, more by choice than for financial reasons.

I typically buy all the pet stuff and every day/smaller quantity foods at Walmart. Bulk stuff at Costco (paper towels, some food). And, for meats, buy pretty much whatever is buy one get one free at Winn Dixie that week, throwing in any other items we often buy if it is also buy one get one free.

I'm sure we could get away with spending much less, but we are major foodies and buy what we want to buy.

I also have a Soda Stream, which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. I used to spend $20/month on all kinds of club soda, but now that cost is almost nil with my Soda Stream. And we save a bit on soda also, but I mainly use it to replace my club soda purchases.

Wulfgar · March 2014

We budget paper products, laundry soap, dish washer soap separately. We got to BJ's to get all of this and some other bulk items. We usually budget $150 to $200 for a BJ's run which we do roughly every 3 months.

We budget $80 a month for misc. which includes eating out.

For groceries, I usually do a decent job of staying within our $480 budget a month for three people that includes some entertaining. What helps us is that MW's parents have us over twice a week for dinner.

hoffse · March 2014

We budget $400/month for food, toiletries, and paper products. I pretty much only buy shampoo and cheap mascara now, so I guess makeup gets thrown in that too. We budget separately $100/month for eating out.

All our cards have closed for March now. We spent about $280 on that stuff this month. We spent about $60 eating out. I'm trying to cut back my paid lunches to once per week.

Keeptruckin · March 2014

If you don't eat out, you will spend more in groceries. We budget 600 and that prevents us from eating out. We could probably budget 400 but we would eat out a lot more. Toiletries are included in our budget.

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