Grocery budget ?? Do you include these items in your weekly budget??

[edk35]

I see a lot of grocery budget questions on here from time to time. I am always amazed at how little some people spend each week. My questions is this: Do you include cleaning/toiletry/pet/paper/plastic (non food) items in that budget? Sometimes I feel like we get very little food some weeks and it is "the other stuff" that we spend a lot on. I also wonder if most people who keep their grocery spending WAY DOWN are going to multiple stores, basing their weekly menus ONLY by what is on sale,and doing MAJOR couponing. In other words....it seems like A LOT OF EFFORT is being made to keep spending low. I am just curious.

I will use coupons, am not the best planner when it comes to meals each week ( I fail miserably at this) mainly because of our kid's sports schedules and husband's work schedule. I think we tend to OVER spend each week.... so I am trying to make some changes YET I am NOT willing to go to several different stores to do it. We shop mainly at the commissary on the local base. My husband is an IMPULSE buyer BIG TIME and he doesn't seem to GET that we will be back in a week. He thinks we need multiples of things all the time. Just wanted to ask some questions especially to those that seem to spend hardly anything each week/month at the grocery store.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I have a monthly budget for Sam's club/paper products that includes the extra's in our shopping list; toilet paper, shampoo, baggies etc. Usually I do not spend the whole budget in the first shopping trip so that money goes to any extra that may be needed throughout the month. I find it easier to do this way and then I know how much money I really have for food each week.

 

[NVDisMom]

First rule: NEVER take DH and kids grocery shopping. They always drive the bill up.

My line item budget bunches all of those costs together. Some months we need more nonfood items, other months the money goes toward stocking the freezer or pantry. Usually that is based upon needs, but other times its because of fabulous sales that I utilize to stock up. It all falls under a basic umbrella of discretionary spending.

I shop primarily at one store for the bulk of my grocery shopping. Their prices beat the other stores by almost 20%, including WalMart, but I only go every 10-14 days. I have a select few items that I need once a month at WalMart, and I will stop once a week at which ever grocery chain once a week for milk and produce plus ad items based upon the best ad. I have three to choose from.

I don't really coupon, although when I do it usually is for a stock up situation where I get something like cereal for less than a dollar a box because I combine it with a loss leader ad and buy 20.

All of that being said my line item is $700/month. Two teens girls, DH, myself, a cat and two big dogs.

Oh, and I rarely meal plan, but I know what I have in my pantry/freezer for meals and try to group them for the week. Like roasting a chicken on Sunday, using the left over meat for chicken enchiladas and boiling the carcass for chicken and noodle soup. Three meals from a $4 whole chicken. Then a pork butt in the slow cooker with mashed potatoes and veggies one night, followed by pulled bbq pork sandwiches another, pork tostadas night three, and pork fried rice with the last bits night four. Four meals with a $5 pork butt. So seven meals in the week with the meat portion costing less than $10. Usually these meals get spread out over ten days with easy soup, salad, sandwich type nights thrown in.
HTH

 

[LovableGluttons]

I see a lot of grocery budget questions on here from time to time. I am always amazed at how little some people spend each week. My questions is this: Do you include cleaning/toiletry/pet/paper/plastic (non food) items in that budget? Sometimes I feel like we get very little food some weeks and it is "the other stuff" that we spend a lot on. I also wonder if most people who keep their grocery spending WAY DOWN are going to multiple stores, basing their weekly menus ONLY by what is on sale,and doing MAJOR couponing. In other words....it seems like A LOT OF EFFORT is being made to keep spending low. I am just curious.

I will use coupons, am not the best planner when it comes to meals each week ( I fail miserably at this) mainly because of our kid's sports schedules and husband's work schedule. I think we tend to OVER spend each week.... so I am trying to make some changes YET I am NOT willing to go to several different stores to do it. We shop mainly at the commissary on the local base. My husband is an IMPULSE buyer BIG TIME and he doesn't seem to GET that we will be back in a week. He thinks we need multiples of things all the time. Just wanted to ask some questions especially to those that seem to spend hardly anything each week/month at the grocery store.

I shop at the commissary! They have a terrific coupon policy that allows overage. If you have a coupon for $3 off ANY Schick razor, use it on the 65¢ trial size pkg and you're ahead the difference of $2.35. Get 100 coupons and 100 razors and now it's $235.00!

I purchase everything my family needs with coupon overage and give the items I have to purchase away. If they are trial sized toiletries, I donate them to hospice for use in comfort kits. Some groups even use them in care packages to send to soldiers. Food items are accepted by some shelters, food banks, even the local VFW.

With some minimal planning and great contacts, it becomes so easy to do. I get many of my coupons from ebay and coupon trading sites. When I have a lot of coupons, I stock up on nonperishables, paper goods, health and beauty, even stock up my freezer.

The DeCa coupon policy is located on the commissaries.com website.

I've used coupons at the commissary for over twenty years.

 

[java]

I stock up on those types of items on sale-Dog food is $25 for a 50 pound bag at Costco(I think it's 50 it sure feels 50) That will feed my 2 dogs for a month.

Paper products- I am a tp snob. Has to be a certain kind and I always buy in bulk if it's on sale. So it's not in a weekly budget but it does go in once a month say- if we run out and I have to stock up again.

So I average $100 a week for a family of 6 - plus the $25 a month on dogfood.Cleaning supplies and laundry_ I make some (yeah a city girl making laundry soap) But I do buy those in the weekly budget.

When I shop WITH A LIST! I start with the MUST HAVES first. Stuff like milk, eggs ect... and I use a calculator. When I get to $90 I stop shopping. It's as simple as that. Some weeks we have ice cream some we don't.

I don't shop a commisary though so I have no idea how that works.

 

[Jaycey'smom]

First rule: NEVER take DH and kids grocery shopping. They always drive the bill up.

My line item budget bunches all of those costs together. Some months we need more nonfood items, other months the money goes toward stocking the freezer or pantry. Usually that is based upon needs, but other times its because of fabulous sales that I utilize to stock up. It all falls under a basic umbrella of discretionary spending.

I shop primarily at one store for the bulk of my grocery shopping. Their prices beat the other stores by almost 20%, including WalMart, but I only go every 10-14 days. I have a select few items that I need once a month at WalMart, and I will stop once a week at which ever grocery chain once a week for milk and produce plus ad items based upon the best ad. I have three to choose from.

I don't really coupon, although when I do it usually is for a stock up situation where I get something like cereal for less than a dollar a box because I combine it with a loss leader ad and buy 20.

All of that being said my line item is $700/month. Two teens girls, DH, myself, a cat and two big dogs.

Oh, and I rarely meal plan, but I know what I have in my pantry/freezer for meals and try to group them for the week. Like roasting a chicken on Sunday, using the left over meat for chicken enchiladas and boiling the carcass for chicken and noodle soup. Three meals from a $4 whole chicken. Then a pork butt in the slow cooker with mashed potatoes and veggies one night, followed by pulled bbq pork sandwiches another, pork tostadas night three, and pork fried rice with the last bits night four. Four meals with a $5 pork butt. So seven meals in the week with the meat portion costing less than $10. Usually these meals get spread out over ten days with easy soup, salad, sandwich type nights thrown in.
HTH

You are Really good at stretching your food! Heck, I buy whole chickens to put in the rotisserie, but my family really does not like the dark meat. Even if My DD eats a leg there would only be one leg and thighs left. As for a pork roast in the crockpot we get one meal and maybe a bit extra, deff not 4 nights worth.
I hope one day i can be that good at my cooking/planning!

 

[erinmomof2]

My budget for a family of 4 is about $40-$60 per week, and that includes everything. I do coupon and nearly all of our toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, paper towel. ect is free after coupons. I am fortunate to live near a store that doubles up to $1.00 coupons, so that really helps.

Most weeks I go to 2 stores. Walmart near me has great meat markdowns, so I go there once a week and buy a ton (usually spend about $15-$20) and put it all right in the freezer. Most other things I buy at Kroger where they double coupons. I do really well there. Last week my bill was $12 after they took off $80 in coupons. I do not buy much processed food, and nothing really from a box or can (except beans). 2 of us are gluten free in my family and everything I make is gluten free, so most processed stuff is out anyways. I like to think we eat pretty healthy. I cook dinner at home usually 6 days a week, and we eat lunch in pretty much every day too. I try to combine coupons with sale prices so I get a lot of free stuff. Last week I "bought" rice, yogurt, 64oz carton of100% juice, Maxwell House coffee canisters, oatmeal, salad dressing, and probably more that I can't remember for free. There is a lot more that I got for really cheap (like .25-.50). I'm not a crazy coupon fanatic, I don't go crazy and buy 20 of something. I usually get 2 papers and so have 2 copies of every coupon. I do also print coupons off the internet when it is something I'll be sure to use.

I spend about an hour a week cutting coupons and writing out my list. I do it on Sunday afternoon and shop on Monday. When I first started it took a little longer but now the majority of the time is cutting coupons, the actual matching takes me 15-20 minutes. It's totally worth it when I can save so much.

 

[mrsklamc]

I will use coupons, am not the best planner when it comes to meals each week ( I fail miserably at this) mainly because of our kid's sports schedules and husband's work schedule.

For us, crazy schedules is exactly why weekly meal planning is so important. Since we know in advance what we are going to have (and always have the ingredients on hand for simple meals like tuna casserole and frozen pizza) it keeps us from busting our budget when evenings get crazy.

 

[maslex]

My budget for our family of 4 is $200 a week. Some weeks I spend a bit more, some weeks a bit less.

This budget is for EVERYTHING....

Meats
Dairy
Frozen stuff
Canned stuff
Toiletries
Laundry stuff
Paper products
Deli meats/cheeses
My weekly magazines (these are a must, I must say!!!) LOL

EVERYTHING. I do coupons every week. Some weeks I save $2-3 bucks, some weeks it's $30-$40...depending on what I need and what coupons I have.

I don't do much meal planning, usually buy the same stuff each week. Hubby is a hard one to feed. He's not much for leftovers (except meatballs...he'll have a meatball grinder later in the week after having spaghetti or I'll cook up another batch of spaghetti and heat up some meatballs)

But I don't usually have much of leftovers from anything else though. I'm cooking a whole chicken for dinner tonight and it'll be gone. He can eat the two breasts all by himself if I let him. LOL

 

[eliza61]

First rule: NEVER take DH and kids grocery shopping. They always drive the bill up..
HTH

2nd rule, go back to the first rule.

Generally paper products get brought every 3-4 weeks in bulk so they don't go on my weekly bill.

Generally my budget for my family is $125 bucks a week (actually 100 on groceries and 25 on Saturday night pizza).

On the one week when I'm buying paper products and cleaners it simply means the food side is a little less.

I use coupons religously.

 

[ilovepete]

Mine include everything. Food, toiletries, dog food, cleaning supplies, vitamins, everything.

Last week for our family of 4 I only spent $12 total and got quite a bit of stuff. The week before that was also $12 and the week before that $24. (I keep it on an excel sheet). So for the month this month I'll probably be under $100. We eat really healthy, too, lots of fruits and veggies, not much processed stuff (except my husband's lunch, he likes the crackers and such). We just use A LOT of coupons.

 

[edk35]

Mine include everything. Food, toiletries, dog food, cleaning supplies, vitamins, everything.

Last week for our family of 4 I only spent $12 total and got quite a bit of stuff. The week before that was also $12 and the week before that $24. (I keep it on an excel sheet). So for the month this month I'll probably be under $100. We eat really healthy, too, lots of fruits and veggies, not much processed stuff (except my husband's lunch, he likes the crackers and such). We just use A LOT of coupons.

Are you serious?? WOW what do you do to ONLY spend 12 bucks??????? Are you not brand specific or use whatever is on sale?? Do you go to multiple stores? Do you stock up and keep a filled pantry?

 

[ilovepete]

Are you serious?? WOW what do you do to ONLY spend 12 bucks??????? Are you not brand specific or use whatever is on sale?? Do you go to multiple stores? Do you stock up and keep a filled pantry?

Yes I am serious. No we are not brand specific, I buy mostly sale items on most things but there are some things I am really picky about like we only buy Organic Valley milk, etc. Sometimes I go to multiple stores but the last 3 weeks I haven't, only Publix. I do stock up on the sale/couponed items and keep a filled pantry and freezer. I use sales combined with coupons, that's it! I have overages on some coupons/sales combos so I use that to buy the other stuff like produce that isn't on sale too much.

 

[worm761]

I love Publix coupon policy! We went today and spend $3.14. I got 6 packages of whole wheat spaghetti, 6 Degree deodorant, a jar of Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, Cottenelle flushable wipes, 2 fruit roll up type snacks (a rare treat and only because I had to get to $25), and a 20 oz soda to push me over the $25 limit to use my $5 off coupon.

Now, I am willing to go to multiple stores to get the best deals. We have three that we shop not including Sam's Club for toiletries and dog food. I just started couponing and watching how much we are spending. I look at the ads and check the pantry and freezer, then we make a menu. We averaged $120 a week last month. It is more than I thought we had been spending. I am feeding three adults, one teen, and a baby three meals a day plus snacks with that.

 

[Colleen27]

Mine include everything. Food, toiletries, dog food, cleaning supplies, vitamins, everything.

Last week for our family of 4 I only spent $12 total and got quite a bit of stuff. The week before that was also $12 and the week before that $24. (I keep it on an excel sheet). So for the month this month I'll probably be under $100. We eat really healthy, too, lots of fruits and veggies, not much processed stuff (except my husband's lunch, he likes the crackers and such). We just use A LOT of coupons.

Where do you find coupons for the good stuff? I coupon and get a lot of our toiletries free or nearly free that way, but as far as food goes I so rarely see coupons for the things we buy that they just don't save me much at all. It doesn't help that we've only got the one real grocery in town, I suppose, but by the time I figure in the time and gas for the 20+ miles round trip to the bigger groceries it never seems to make much sense to go.

Everything included we average around $800ish a month, including a few disposable diapers for when we're out (we use cloth at home), baby wipes, TP, toiletries, and food for one 50lb dog. There are 5 of us - DH & I, 12yo DS, 9yo DD, 2yo DD.

 

[edk35]

Yes I am serious. No we are not brand specific, I buy mostly sale items on most things but there are some things I am really picky about like we only buy Organic Valley milk, etc. Sometimes I go to multiple stores but the last 3 weeks I haven't, only Publix. I do stock up on the sale/couponed items and keep a filled pantry and freezer. I use sales combined with coupons, that's it! I have overages on some coupons/sales combos so I use that to buy the other stuff like produce that isn't on sale too much.

I am very impressed. I am looking at your blog now.

 

[Virgderon]

I don't count cleaning supplies and toiletries in my grocery budget because it's not a big expense for us. I am not particular about the brand of shampoo, toothpaste or dishwashing liquid I use, so I buy whatever is almost free at Walgreens with register rewards and coupons.

I'm only buying for 2 of us, and I do better some weeks than others. This week I spent $20 on groceries, and that will last us a week- turkey breast at .89 cents a pound will be 2 meals, a roast from Target that was on sale for about $4.00 (and we had a $1.00 Target coupon for) will be 2 meals, a bag of chicken breasts that was $5.00 at Target gets us at least 2 more meals, throw in spaghetti and one frozen Diogorno pizza and that will take care of us nicely.

I've really been taking advantage of the Target coupons on meat and produce that you can find on their web site.

 

[Darcy03231]

I spend $150-$200/wk and that includes everything. We've also been making a real effort to not eat out. We blew it last week because we had company (DH's mom and sister), but before they came we went three weeks with no take out or going out.

There's no Publix, Aldi's or Kroeger's where I live and no double or triple coupons. I do CVS and get a lot of tioletries there, which helps alot.

 

[Mommee]

4 gallons of milk at 1.99- $8
8 lbs. of meat at $2 -$16
2 heads lettuce- $2
bag apples- $3
bananas-$2
grapes or strawberries-$3
veggies for 6 dinners- $7.25
3 loaves bread- $6
14 cans fruit -$14
30 yogurts- $15
2 lbs. pasta- $2

....that's off the top of my head of things we need almost every week. That's around $75 just for those, and that is sale prices! That doesn't even include breakfast or most of lunch.
Granted we're a family of 6, but even then, sheesh. With couponing I can get us down to about $90/wk, but the quality and nutritional value goes down. I have never seen coupons for meat or produce, and rarely there's a "buy cereal get milk" type coupon but otherwise none for milk.

 

[nunzia]

I tend to do the stock up route then make meals around what I have. I'm also a cookbook collector and then feel guilty for just reading the cookbooks and never really using them, so will sometimes try to use a new recipe once a week or week or so and that always entails having to shop for something. We budget about $500 a month for EVERYTHING, gas, food, household, entertainment, eating out. I always keep alot of panty items at the ready and always have stuff in the freezer to pull out, plus a few 'emergency' meals, like frozen pizza, etc, since we care for our grandkids alot and do the soccer, gymnastics run thing. We also go to Sams once in awhile (it's 65 miles away) and then we stock up on some things like hamburger, shredded cheese, etc., and portion those things to freeze. Our local stores are a WalMart Super center and a Lowes food (very expensive but better produce than WalMart) we have a base close by but I can't use the commissary. We are not above hamburger helper and spam and homemade chile and burritos are a favorite. We eat very little meat. Right now I still have four bags of shredded brisket still in the freezer from leftovers from a church meal. It's a tradition that the guy who makes the briskets gives me the trimmings because I have the patience to pull the meat from the fat and bag it up and freeze for meals. We eat pretty cheap, but now that we're older and doing really well (in out opinion) we'll go out to a non fast food place once in awhile or a movie.