budgeting and bad at it.

sara76 · October 2011

H and I eat out a lot and spend a ton of money on food. When I do shop I am not a coupon person nor will I ever be. I do look at store flyers before I shop and plan around what is on sale somewhat and take advantage of BOGO and the occasional Publix $10 gift card coupon. But it is time to set a budget now that I'm looking at maternity leave. I'm practicing this pay period by setting a budget of $25/day for food for the 2 of us, and wondering how that compares to normal people. That is $775/month. Does that sound high to you?

jen812 · October 2011

That seems high to me. How often do you normally eat out per week? What are you cutting it back to? What do you typically make at home?

StingShark425 · October 2011

I've never broken it down per day - but I try to stay around $500/mth for groceries. That doesn't include eating out. We don't eat out that often, maybe 2-3x/mth...and we might pay one of those times..so yah. (Thanks Dad)

I'm trying to find how much we spent in the month of september on groceries.

We eat breakfast at home, I pack our lunches, and most of the time we eat dinner at home. I don't use coupons either. I also include toilet paper/laundry detergent/paper towels into the grocery category..

ETA: I'm obviously horrible @ staying in our budget bc we spent $608 in september. Ha.. Maybe I should work on this.

Mrs.Jason.9.15.07 · October 2011

Yes! To me that sounds high. The first thing that got cut when I quit my job was eating out. Rarely do we eat out anymore. Well, wait, I take that back......my H does eat out for his lunch and only sometimes does he bring a lunch. I wish he would take a lunch more often.

Is it possible for you to start bringing your lunch to work? You would be amazed at how much this will save you.

Also, I don't coupon and like you I don't plan on starting. But I do price compare at the grocery store when I never used to. I also try to plan my meals before going to the store. Not only do I leave with the correct ingredients but I also don't buy a ton of crap that we don't NEED.

My goal is to keep our grocery store bill under $100 each week but it always seems I have to make a mid-week stop and ended spending an additional $50 or so. So yeah, I am still learning how to budget for food better too!!

moonstone523 · October 2011

ETA some things...

Dave and I don't eat dinner out much (maybe 1x every two weeks), but he does grab lunch out a few times a week. I spend $120-$150 at the grocery store every week. I don't clip coupons. Not sure if that helps, but there you have it.

Aegis2005 · October 2011

We spend around $250-$300 a month - but we coupon quite a bit. This includes meat and fresh produce. Before couponing we were spending around $600 a month.

tashaandsage · October 2011

We are a family of 4 and probably spend $500-$600 a month, although the kids really don't each much at all. That amount excludes alcohol, diapers, etc. We also eat little to no meat which brings our total down, and my H doesn't have to pay for work lunches usually (which could bring up our spendings another $25-50 a week). We don't eat dinners out very often.

I don't coupon or meal plan at all. I can never find coupons for things I buy. But I will switch brands to buy sale items. I do save by buying my loads of produce from a produce market and pantry items like my grains/nuts/legumes from the bulk bins at my natural grocer. We eat a good bit of wild caught seafood, so that's a splurge.

I think if you are purchasing meat for every dinner, and work lunches and some dinners out, $775 might be a little high but not unreasonable especially if you are buying good healthy food and not a lot of cheaper processed stuff.

sara76 · October 2011

jen812:
That seems high to me. How often do you normally eat out per week? What are you cutting it back to? What do you typically make at home?

I would guess we eat out (I say eat out, I mean take out usually) 5-7 times per week. On days we both work evenings we take out lunch. Just sandwiches or Thai food lunch specials, nothing too crazy. On our days off together we either do breakfast out or dinner out. It definatley adds up. I'm aiming to cut back to one time a week this month, and am including that in my $25 day average. Once the baby comes we will obviously be dining in more so I need to get better at planning instead of saying "I'm hungry and there's nothing here, let's go grab some Thai food".

I usually make simple delicious dinners of a protein and a fresh veggie. Sometimes I'll do a pasta . Last night I wanted comfort food and made chicken and bisquits. I spent $24. $8 of it was the chicken, and I also got fresh fruit and BOGO instant oatmeal for breakfasts/snacks during the week, plus the giant Bisquick that will last a long time. The chicken and biscuits gave H a huge dinner and me 3 small meals. Tonight I've spent $11 on baby back ribs (3 lbs) so far. I still need to pick up orzo, spinach, an onion, feta and pine nuts, and a sweet potato or 2. That should put me at $25 with lunch for tomorrow. Looks like I'm averaging $10 per day on meat. I could probably save there.

I think after week 1 at $25 day, I will try and plan better and do one trip to the store at $150 for that entire week.

sara76 · October 2011

Mrs.Jason.9.15.07:

Yes! To me that sounds high. The first thing that got cut when I quit my job was eating out. Rarely do we eat out anymore. Well, wait, I take that back......my H does eat out for his lunch and only sometimes does he bring a lunch. I wish he would take a lunch more often.

Is it possible for you to start bringing your lunch to work? You would be amazed at how much this will save you.

Also, I don't coupon and like you I don't plan on starting. But I do price compare at the grocery store when I never used to. I also try to plan my meals before going to the store. Not only do I leave with the correct ingredients but I also don't buy a ton of crap that we don't NEED.

My goal is to keep our grocery store bill under $100 each week but it always seems I have to make a mid-week stop and ended spending an additional $50 or so. So yeah, I am still learning how to budget for food better too!!

I work in a restaurant as does H so we also get occassional meals from work to take home, but between the 2 of us we've been in the same restaurant 18 years so the food gets boring. I often do have him bring home side dishes (salads, sides of rice and beans, veggies). I don't eat while I'm working besides a protein bar or a granola bar and a smoothie and H doesn't either, we don't have time.

Sounds like $150/week is pretty average for non coupon people and that is only a difference of $500/year less than what I was thinking.

I think I will make this tomorrow!! So excited! It sounds delicious and I will definately be under budget.

http://jaimecooks.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/winter-pasta-with-cauliflower-brussels-sprouts-bacon/

jjswife08 · October 2011

That does seem a bit high but if you go out to eat all the time it's not that bad.

SCJB143 · October 2011

We try and keep it under $125 per week for food and toiletries. For 3 people. I make my H a cooler with drinks and snacks/fruit, salad, sandwiches, yogurt everyday. He drives most of his day and would stop and get a drink and snack for $3-4 each time. Then stop for lunch and spend $7-10 a day. So I found if he has a cooler he is less likely to stop and buy something. That has saved a TON!

I make dinner at home every night so I will by the frozen veggies when they are BOGO and same with the pasta/rice. Meat, I buy whatever is on sale that week and build my dinner around it. I do use coupons as much as I can.

bparkhur · October 2011

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that $775 for two people each month is outrageous! I think what you should do is try to be better at planning meals, whether it be taking lunches or planning a dinner. Take out happens when people are exhausted with no plan (and take out is perfectly acceptable for these reasons too!), but you guys are eating a LOT of take out food IMO. When the baby gets here, you will probably do a lot of take out because you will be legitmately exhausted, so knowing that, in the meantime, try to better planners. You don't have to cut coupons or even look for sales to significantly cut your food budget.

Loskadoodle · October 2011

We spend a lot of food too but have been trying to cut back. Going out to eat (but really drinks!) are what kill us. Its pretty typical to go out for dinner on a weekend night and spend $100, which is so bad. We have started just making dinner at home and buying a decent bottle of wine on friday nights and are really enjoying that. I think one of the biggest things that helps me is buying when stuff is on sale. We always have stuff in the freezer to throw a meal together. Meat/veggies/raviolis/etc. Do you have a deep freezer you can use? Or can you get one? You can probably get a small one for around $200 or cheaper on craigslist. I try to limit groceries (including paper good/toiletries, etc. to about $500 per month) and I buy as much organic meat/veggies/dairy as possible. We do have a farmers market that is great close to us so that helps a ton. Do you have one around you?

Kaley0130 · October 2011

i have found that buying all my fruit and veggies at a local fruit stand instead of publix has saved me a lot in itself... i can get a carton of berries for like $1.99 at the fruit stand when its selling the same day for $4.99 in publix.. we budget about $400/mo for groceries and $100/month for dining out.. packing lunches and making meals at home for dinner is pretty key

nicoleg1982 · October 2011

I spend around $2-300/month for myself and DD. If I shop and stock up really well, there are some months I can get what we want/need for $100-150.

sara76 · October 2011

nicoleg1982:
I spend around $2-300/month for myself and DD. If I shop and stock up really well, there are some months I can get what we want/need for $100-150.

Woah!!! Actually, I could probably do that if I didn't have H to feed, but with him I never have leftovers no matter how much I make. I'm so jealous of his metabolism!

babygator15 · October 2011

With coupons and before the baby, I got down to $50 a week for me and H (including toiletries and cleaning supplies). We've been spending about $75 a week with the baby just because we've been buying stuff that is convenient to make with him. We probably spent a fortune before that when we were both working crazy hours and eating take out all the time. I think its the actual planning rather than coupons that save the most money though!

roses12985 · October 2011

Jeez, I feel cheap. I aim to spend no more than $65-70/week on groceries. That makes enough for all of our lunches and dinners for the week. I cook every night or allot for a leftover night, and we rarely eat out (grab takeout maybe 2x/month). We also do breakfast at home every day, but just something small like oatmeal or a bagel.

This doesn't include DH buying beer or wine when I used to drink. I also buy toiletries at Walmart and grocery shop at a local European market, so toiletries aren't included in that number.

StingShark425 · October 2011

I think we could probably spend less but I refuse to shop at wal-mart. Our target just got groceries, but it's a really small selection, so i doubt I'll be going there.

sara76 · October 2011

Thanks for everybodys feedback! I am pumped to start saving on our food budget now! I did very bad cost wise for the first 2 days, but it's baby steps, and we've been eating well. At least I have a few days planned ahead now and stocked in the kitchen, and what I've spent on groceries yesterday and today should round out soon. I've been stalking blogs and coming up with some good recipes and going through flyers to see when I should make what. Next after this, it's training myself to freeze food so I can thaw a meal as another alternative to take out. I will be asking for advice about this soon

budgeting and bad at it.

Re: budgeting and bad at it.

Choose Another Board

Search Boards