Grocery receipts for 1 month $1000 - frustrated

[jodifla]

I just did my weekly shopping run. I spent $109.61. And I saved $51 using store coupons and focusing on their in-store specials.

I bought things in every category, including steak, vegetables, milk, cheese, lunch stuff for us and our child. It should last us about 10 days.

Key for us shaving the bill these last several months was signing up for the grocery game, and stocking up when the store has things on sale. Then I make our menu based on what's in the pantry and fridge, just filling in what we need.

I like the Grocery Game over the free sites because it tells you exactly how much your are saving. By including the regular prices, I can make a decision on what to buy now, and what to wait for.

Upcoming meals this week will be
-- Steak and blue cheese salad
-- Chicken Fajitas
-- Grilled burgers, beans and corn on the cob
-- Salad plate (for the nights we work late)
-- Rib roast with sweet potatoes and broccoli
--Pork chops in raspberry vinaigrette with rice and veggies
--Pasta salad with crab and veggies, tossed in dressing
--Chicken stir-fry over rice
--Mexican salad -- greens with black beans, corn, chicken, cheese, tortilla strips in a lime-cilantro vinaigrette
--Grilled Pork Tenderloin in Jack Daniels sauce with cornbread and salad

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Hi there! I often wonder about some threads and how some people keep within small budgets - and I applaud them for it! I am of the opinion in many cases, people DO 'change what they eat'. So just a heads up that I think to really go low - you need to make a desired budget and make your menu according to the budget and not the other way around - make your budget according to your menu. For example, if you want to stick to $200 per week - make out a menu for ALL meals and snacks and drinks. If you estimate your costs to be over $200 - well then take 2 of the more expensive meals and make it a cheap one - pasta and sauce with bread or pancakes and fruit. Keep doing this until you get down to where you want to be.

I think you can likely shave some costs down minimally if you don't want to change what you eat, but obviously what you are eating now costs over $200 per week and it will still cost that same amount (minus a bit for coupons or stocking up benefits) - so to truly cut the grocery bill you would need to change your eating habits - at least some of the time, IMO.

I was thinking that too while I was just planning the next week's menus. I thought maybe I would just try and do an egg dish once every 10 days, a pasta every 10 days, a bean dish... Just throw in a the "cheaper" meals with the others. This will be easier in the winter with soups and crock pot meals, but I'm going to follow others' advice to grill fewer chicken breasts (or whatever) and slice it on a platter so not everyone is getting a whole one ( my younger 2 get halves anyways, but maybe I'll eat less too this way, which would be very desirable

 

[mermaidwannabe]

I just did my weekly shopping run. I spent $109.61. And I saved $51 using store coupons and focusing on their in-store specials.

I bought things in every category, including steak, vegetables, milk, cheese, lunch stuff for us and our child. It should last us about 10 days.

Key for us shaving the bill these last several months was signing up for the grocery game, and stocking up when the store has things on sale. Then I make our menu based on what's in the pantry and fridge, just filling in what we need.

I like the Grocery Game over the free sites because it tells you exactly how much your are saving. By including the regular prices, I can make a decision on what to buy now, and what to wait for.

Upcoming meals this week will be
-- Steak and blue cheese salad
-- Chicken Fajitas
-- Grilled burgers, beans and corn on the cob
-- Salad plate (for the nights we work late)
-- Rib roast with sweet potatoes and broccoli
--Pork chops in raspberry vinaigrette with rice and veggies
--Pasta salad with crab and veggies, tossed in dressing
--Chicken stir-fry over rice
--Mexican salad -- greens with black beans, corn, chicken, cheese, tortilla strips in a lime-cilantro vinaigrette
--Grilled Pork Tenderloin in Jack Daniels sauce with cornbread and salad

Whoa, that's quite a savings with coupons!! I really don't get many coupons in our Sunday paper, but maybe once I start saving them, I will have a large envelope full. You sure will be eating well! Yum! I had looked into the Grocery Game before (when I wasn't too serious about watching what we spend) and it didn't seem too difficult. I think I remember thinking it wouldn't be worth the money though. But it obviously works for you!

 

[ekatiel]

Ok, you must tell me more about this...how do you keep them? In what type of container?

Making your own clorox wipes:
I use an old clorox wipes container (2 actually). You cut the paper towels in half (viva work the best b/c they're so cloth-like) with a large kitchen knife so that they'll fit in the container (so, it's easiest to just make two at a time). Then, pour the solution over them (1/3 cup of lysol mixed with 2 cups of water-- it really makes more than enough to do one can of the wipes-- almost enough to do both cans at a time-- you'll have to see what works best for you, depending on the size of paper towel roll you use, etc). Once everything's soaked, you can pull out the wet middle cardborad tube from the paper towels. Start using the "wipes" from the middle where you just pulled out the tube. I actually started a thread about this a while ago when I was thinking about doing it, but I never updated it to say how it was going. It works GREAT, though. I started a couple of months ago, and I just now bought my second bottle of lysol!! --Katie

 

[MEM]

Making your own clorox wipes:
I use an old clorox wipes container (2 actually). You cut the paper towels in half (viva work the best b/c they're so cloth-like) with a large kitchen knife so that they'll fit in the container (so, it's easiest to just make two at a time). Then, pour the solution over them (1/3 cup of lysol mixed with 2 cups of water-- it really makes more than enough to do one can of the wipes-- almost enough to do both cans at a time-- you'll have to see what works best for you, depending on the size of paper towel roll you use, etc). Once everything's soaked, you can pull out the wet middle cardborad tube from the paper towels. Start using the "wipes" from the middle where you just pulled out the tube. I actually started a thread about this a while ago when I was thinking about doing it, but I never updated it to say how it was going. It works GREAT, though. I started a couple of months ago, and I just now bought my second bottle of lysol!! --Katie

I used to make baby wipes using this method and baby shampoo instead of Lysol (obviously!). However, doesn't the Lysol cause the paper towels to disintegrate?

 

[MEM]

I was thinking that too while I was just planning the next week's menus. I thought maybe I would just try and do an egg dish once every 10 days, a pasta every 10 days, a bean dish... Just throw in a the "cheaper" meals with the others. This will be easier in the winter with soups and crock pot meals, but I'm going to follow others' advice to grill fewer chicken breasts (or whatever) and slice it on a platter so not everyone is getting a whole one ( my younger 2 get halves anyways, but maybe I'll eat less too this way, which would be very desirable

There is a thread on here about Summer Meals in the Crockpot - check it out! Meals like pulled pork sandwiches, salsa chicken, etc.

 

[ekatiel]

I used to make baby wipes using this method and baby shampoo instead of Lysol (obviously!). However, doesn't the Lysol cause the paper towels to disintegrate?

It hasn't disintegrated my paper towels yet. I do use Viva brand paper towels. Bounty work also, but they aren't as strong of a wipe, IMO. I haven't tried it with a store brand paper towel-- it probably would disintegrate those. --Katie

 

[cruisnfamily]

I just did my weekly shopping run. I spent $109.61. And I saved $51 using store coupons and focusing on their in-store specials.

I bought things in every category, including steak, vegetables, milk, cheese, lunch stuff for us and our child. It should last us about 10 days.

Key for us shaving the bill these last several months was signing up for the grocery game, and stocking up when the store has things on sale. Then I make our menu based on what's in the pantry and fridge, just filling in what we need.

I like the Grocery Game over the free sites because it tells you exactly how much your are saving. By including the regular prices, I can make a decision on what to buy now, and what to wait for.

Whoa, that's quite a savings with coupons!! I really don't get many coupons in our Sunday paper, but maybe once I start saving them, I will have a large envelope full. You sure will be eating well! Yum! I had looked into the Grocery Game before (when I wasn't too serious about watching what we spend) and it didn't seem too difficult. I think I remember thinking it wouldn't be worth the money though. But it obviously works for you!

I was surprised this thread got to 5 pages and nobody mentioned grocery game. I love, love, love the grocery game! I know you can do the same thing for free but it's way too much effort for me and I just wouldn't stick to it the same way.

I use the grocery game to match up the sales with the coupons and stock up on things we use. I go through the list and buy the things we will use and then I add what I call our "needs" the things which aren't necessarily on sale but we need them for the following week. I try to plan my meals around the grocery game list but it doesn't always work that way. I really haven't changed what we eat at all, just when we eat it by trying to make things when it's on sale. I probably don't save as much as I could if I was "hardcore" and willing to totally change up how we eat but I DEFINITELY save way more than I would if I did the whole flyer/coupon match up thing on my own. It's well worth the cost of a subscription!

Check out the 4 week trial, it's only $1 and you can see if you like it with very little cost.

 

[edk35]

Wow, I never knew we spent that much. We are a family of 5 with 3 girls ages 13, 10 and 7. I checked out the No Buy June thread, and how do people just spend $200 on food?

I live where they don't double coupons or take printed coupons. I haven't been real great at that anyways. I kept track of food, cleaning supplies, anything for the house, eating out (which was @ $150 of it).

I'm just wondering if there were people who spent that much money like me and if anyone successfully reduced it? Maybe I should keep track for more than one month? The purchases seemed normal to me though.

It's so hard! My DH goes to Costco every week with a $125 bill not to mention our trips to Wal Mart and the grocery store.

Just overwhelmed, I suppose. This all came on the heels of owing a down payment of $1775 for my DD13's braces, which just hurts!!

WELCOME TO MY WORLD..we spend well over 1000 and WE EAT OUT TOO. Family of 5 here too. I feel your pain. I guess I better read this thread now.

 

[sasywtch]

I'm probably going against the grain but I have never found Costco to be a cost saver. I don't know if you have WinnCo in MT, but that's where I base my prices on. My BF when married use to tell me what a good price he got on the skinless chicken at Costco because it was convientienly sealed into single packets. I found the same amount of skinless chicken at WinnCo for $4 cheaper. I spent 20 cents wrapping it myself.

Our other bone of contention is he is use to all name brand whereas I have been buying generic in a lot of items for years.

Try the garden out a little more and see what you can do. Since it's still been so cold, the gardens haven't taken off yet.

I was a major sports mom and had to do dinner between games and practices. One trick was to go grocery shopping early Saturday or Sunday. Get the kids involved and start cooking up meat (hamburger or turkey). Fry up a couple of bags of taco meat, make some spaghetti sauce to freeze, meatballs, meatloaf etc to freeze for two weeks. One major cooking day, one major cleaning day. I've also cooked chicken to chop or shredd to freeze for chicken enchiladas and soup. Boil and keep the stock in the freezer.

Buy pancake/waffle mix, make some waffles up and freeze. We were not morning people and sometimes, were running late for school. I took pancake mix and pouring in some syrup and made pancakes the size of a softball and froze. They'd pop them in the toaster and microwave a link sausage, roll it up and eat it on the way to school when we were running late.

I kept a container in the freezer and put any leftover veggies in there even if just a teaspoon. When it's full, defrost the veggies and stock and you have a soup.

My sister use to stretch chili. She would buy 2 cans of chili, fry up some hamburger, onion, 2 cans of kidney beans, can of tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and that would be enough for 2 nights and lunch.

Have breakfast for dinner a couple of times a month.

I spent $400 a month for 4, an additional $100 for cleaning supplies and animal food. I don't use coupons and the store I go to doesn't have advertised sales. I buy a big bag of brown rice, family size packs of chicken, hamburger and seperate at home, corn bread mixes that are cheap. I am very fortunate to live in the central valley where we probably have the best prices for vegetables and fruit. See if you have a farmer's market and browse just before closing on the final day. Sometimes they throw a bunch of stuff in a box and sell it cheaply.

 

[cndij]

oh, i forgot my other tip...try www.hotcouponworld.com or www.afullcup.com . The ladies there will tell you what's on sale, how to get it cheapest, etc. i LIVE by a fullcup!

Yeah, this is what I was going to suggest. I have always "done" coupons, but until I found these 2 sites, I was never good at it. I love how they help you match up your local sales with coupons available and lots of times even give you a couple of days heads up on the coming sales so you have time to order extra coupons from the clipping service.

I stockpile the things I know I am going to be using when they are on sale for free or very cheap after coupons (Yes I said free), and it makes a HUGE difference in my budget. Of course every family has their favorites and my staples are going to be different from everyone elses but here are some of my recent stockpile deals: Gold Medal Flour (free after coupon) got 7 bags, Dukes and Hellmans mayo (I use Dukes, MIL uses Hellmans) .75 a jar, got 5 of each ( we make lots of potato salad, devilled eggs, chicken salad, egg salad in the summer) Borden Cheese slices .50 a pack, got 8 packs. Mount Olive Dill cubes and dill relish .65 a jar got 5 of each. I try to never pay full price for these kind of things, as I know a sale and matching coupon will be coming around again before I run out. I also have a chest and an upright freezer and stock up on Pork Butt roasts at .99#, Boneless Chicken Breasts at 2.00#, Chicken Breast on the bone at .99#, I just have my own personal price points, when I know it's a stock up price. Based on all of this, I spend about $200 a month for a family of 3, plus regularly give groceries to some friends who are having a tough time financially. Everybody has to come up with something that works for the family's lifestyle and tastes, but I can tell you those 2 websites and my own plan have cut my grocery bill in half.

 

[mrsklamc]

My BF when married use to tell me what a good price he got on the skinless chicken at Costco

OK OT but...who?

 

[mermaidwannabe]

There is a thread on here about Summer Meals in the Crockpot - check it out! Meals like pulled pork sandwiches, salsa chicken, etc.

Oh great! That will be wonderful. I usually put it away until Fall!

 

[mermaidwannabe]

I'm probably going against the grain but I have never found Costco to be a cost saver. I don't know if you have WinnCo in MT, but that's where I base my prices on. My BF when married use to tell me what a good price he got on the skinless chicken at Costco because it was convientienly sealed into single packets. I found the same amount of skinless chicken at WinnCo for $4 cheaper. I spent 20 cents wrapping it myself.

Our other bone of contention is he is use to all name brand whereas I have been buying generic in a lot of items for years.

Try the garden out a little more and see what you can do. Since it's still been so cold, the gardens haven't taken off yet.

I was a major sports mom and had to do dinner between games and practices. One trick was to go grocery shopping early Saturday or Sunday. Get the kids involved and start cooking up meat (hamburger or turkey). Fry up a couple of bags of taco meat, make some spaghetti sauce to freeze, meatballs, meatloaf etc to freeze for two weeks. One major cooking day, one major cleaning day. I've also cooked chicken to chop or shredd to freeze for chicken enchiladas and soup. Boil and keep the stock in the freezer.

Buy pancake/waffle mix, make some waffles up and freeze. We were not morning people and sometimes, were running late for school. I took pancake mix and pouring in some syrup and made pancakes the size of a softball and froze. They'd pop them in the toaster and microwave a link sausage, roll it up and eat it on the way to school when we were running late.

I kept a container in the freezer and put any leftover veggies in there even if just a teaspoon. When it's full, defrost the veggies and stock and you have a soup.

My sister use to stretch chili. She would buy 2 cans of chili, fry up some hamburger, onion, 2 cans of kidney beans, can of tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and that would be enough for 2 nights and lunch.

Have breakfast for dinner a couple of times a month.

I spent $400 a month for 4, an additional $100 for cleaning supplies and animal food. I don't use coupons and the store I go to doesn't have advertised sales. I buy a big bag of brown rice, family size packs of chicken, hamburger and seperate at home, corn bread mixes that are cheap. I am very fortunate to live in the central valley where we probably have the best prices for vegetables and fruit. See if you have a farmer's market and browse just before closing on the final day. Sometimes they throw a bunch of stuff in a box and sell it cheaply.

I'm beginning to think that about most things at Costco as well. Good idea about the veggies - I know we waste a lot. Even if it's a half cup of veggies thrown away, that adds up. The breakfast for dinner would work for us since my kids love pancakes and we eat breakfast burritos and like them.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Yeah, this is what I was going to suggest. I have always "done" coupons, but until I found these 2 sites, I was never good at it. I love how they help you match up your local sales with coupons available and lots of times even give you a couple of days heads up on the coming sales so you have time to order extra coupons from the clipping service.

I stockpile the things I know I am going to be using when they are on sale for free or very cheap after coupons (Yes I said free), and it makes a HUGE difference in my budget. Of course every family has their favorites and my staples are going to be different from everyone elses but here are some of my recent stockpile deals: Gold Medal Flour (free after coupon) got 7 bags, Dukes and Hellmans mayo (I use Dukes, MIL uses Hellmans) .75 a jar, got 5 of each ( we make lots of potato salad, devilled eggs, chicken salad, egg salad in the summer) Borden Cheese slices .50 a pack, got 8 packs. Mount Olive Dill cubes and dill relish .65 a jar got 5 of each. I try to never pay full price for these kind of things, as I know a sale and matching coupon will be coming around again before I run out. I also have a chest and an upright freezer and stock up on Pork Butt roasts at .99#, Boneless Chicken Breasts at 2.00#, Chicken Breast on the bone at .99#, I just have my own personal price points, when I know it's a stock up price. Based on all of this, I spend about $200 a month for a family of 3, plus regularly give groceries to some friends who are having a tough time financially. Everybody has to come up with something that works for the family's lifestyle and tastes, but I can tell you those 2 websites and my own plan have cut my grocery bill in half.

Those prices are incredible! Whoa! I bookmarked those sites and am going to spend time figuring all these out today. I already had to change our planned meal tonight as we have people coming over now, which I should really get used to in the summertime with last minute bbqs.

 

[Shanan]

My grocery bill had been getting out of control due to impulse buys and not planning out what to cook, buy, etc. I had to read all of the replies on this thread and I just want to thank everyone for the wonderful replies. Now to get myself back on track. I am headed to my freezer to see what I have and use that instead of running up to the grocery store.

 

[MrsPete]

We do buy Hansen's 100% juice boxes for their lunches so 3 per day times 5 is 15 per week. I can't think of an alternative to that though and we get it from Costco for cheaper than the grocery stores, I do know that . . .

and he said, "sure, but I do want to try that already cooked rice I saw there the other day." Now THAT would be a waste.

When my kids were smaller and ALWAYS took their lunch, I tried thermoses, plastic juice boxes . . . and eventually decided just to break down and buy the juice boxes. They were horrible about not closing the thermos well . . . inevitably it'd leak . . . and it'd get into workbooks or other things in the bookbag . . . so not worth the trouble. You have to pick and choose just what you're going to splurge on. I didn't allow the kids to drink juice boxes at home (because other things are so much cheaper), but I did buy them for school.

Yeah, anything ready-to-eat is going to BOTH be expensive AND probably full of chemicals, which you don't need. But don't forget that you can look for homemade alternatives. If you want ready-to-eat rice, make a large pot and freeze it yourself in small ziplocks. Rice freezes well if you add a little milk to the bag before freezing. Also, since you mentioned rice, compare the prices between small bags and big bags -- per serving, the big bags are like half the cost of the small bags.

A few people have posted to forget coupons, but I think that coupons can really help save in some areas. You can get toiletries and paper products for pretty cheap using coupons at stores like CVS, so you can reduce your budget that way.

I agree that coupons can be useful for health and beauty and cleaning items -- but it's a different story for food.

Yes, if you're looking at, "How can I get cans of mini-ravioli (or other processed foods) for the best price at the grocery store?", then coupons are your best bet. But if you're looking at the wider picture, if you're looking for non-grocery store options, if your question is "How can I lower my grocery bill?" then you can almost always do better than coupons. Or at least I can because I've spent years looking for non-grocery store options.

On occasion you'll find something really great (like when I found print-it-yourself coupons for Kraft mac-and-cheese, which lowered the price to .10/box, and I bought a year's worth), but over all you can beat those prices at salvage stores, farmer's markets, and other not-so-obvious options. For example, I just opened a #10 can of black beans; it was marked $1.50 from the salvage store. We just used a portion of that for burritos, and we'll have black bean soup in the crock pot waiting tomorrow when we come home from church. We'll be tired of black beans before we'll eat that whole big can, so I'll freeze some in small baggies. Today at the farmer's market I bought tomatoes and patty-pan squash for $1/lb. You're not going to find coupons for fresh vegetables. And I need to go to the bread store; I can get three loaves of bread there for about the price of one loaf at the grocery store -- that beats coupons for bread.

 

[southernbohemian]

We spend about $300 a month on food. We don't eat out a lot (about once a month with a Restaurant.com coupon) except for a few fast food dinners when people are rushing from one place to the next.

Menu planning is probably THE change I made that resulted in drastic changes to our grocery budget. Here's what I do when it's grocery shopping time:

1.) Shop at home. I go through our freezer, fridge, and pantry. Anything that we have stocked up on (like meats I buy when they're on sale), or stuff that I need to use before it goes bad (hello, opened container of cottage cheese) gets put on a list of things to use. This helps a lot with those "mystery" Ziplock bags of stuff that you're not sure how old it is, or even what it is.

2.) I bust out the weeky sale flyers. I shop at two stores. I used to just go to the one that was convenient (H.E.B.) and try to coupon, etc. Then I found another store that every week has really good sales on meat and produce. These take up the most of our grocery budget, so it's worth making some exploratory grocery trips to different stores and figure out who has the best deals consistently. I see what is on sale at those stores in the meat and produce department and make notes of any other good deals.

3.) I menu plan. I take my list of stuff on hand and stuff on sale and go through my cookbooks and figure out what I'm going to cook for the week. Before I just thought, "Hey, I'd like to eat ... this week" and go buy it, which is a real killer. I've gotten very good at trying to minimize stuff that goes bad before we can use it. I will even figure out, "Okay, I need 4 o.z. of cream cheese for this recipe - let me find another recipe to cook that will use the other 4 o.z. since I know I have to buy it in 8 o.z. blocks." It takes a while, but I only go shopping about every 10 days. I even figure out what things I'm making that use items that will expire sooner than others (lettuce, etc.) and cook those early on in the week.

4.) Use a list. I buy very few things that are not on the list. If I'm shopping without one I tend to buy much more pre-packaged and snack foods.

5.) Deal with the groceries. When I make my menu list, I make a note of what I need to prep for that dish. For example, I might need 2 dishes with cubed cooked chicken. So I go ahead and cook the chicken. Dice it up. Ziplock it up and then store it (in the freezer if it's not going to be used within 2-3 days). I portion out all of the meat into Ziplock bags and label what they are for and then freeze any extras. I chop up veggies like celery, onions, green bell peppers, etc. and freeze those as well. It takes a while, but it cuts down on the cooking time when half of the prep is done already. Then I don't feel so daunted about cooking from scratch every day.

I always know when its grocery time because my fridge is practically empty. I like it because that way I know we are using what we buy and not wasting it.

Other than that, we tend to eat much more casseroles, pastas and other mixed dishes rather than doing a meat and two sides. We also have the rule that I only buy so much junk food for the kids. If they choose to eat it all in one day then they won't get anymore until the next grocery trip. I had to apply the same rule to my DBF who is really the worst about being hungry and going through half a carton of ice cream rather than eat something nutritious.

 

[jodifla]

Whoa, that's quite a savings with coupons!! I really don't get many coupons in our Sunday paper, but maybe once I start saving them, I will have a large envelope full. You sure will be eating well! Yum! I had looked into the Grocery Game before (when I wasn't too serious about watching what we spend) and it didn't seem too difficult. I think I remember thinking it wouldn't be worth the money though. But it obviously works for you!

Very few of my coupons are from the Sunday paper. Most were from the store themselves-- Kroger sends out coupons every couple of months to customers who have their card.

The other savings were store specials....stores rotate sales so that about every 12 weeks, items are on sale. So if you buy then and stock up, you are paying 30 percent to 50 percent less on your groceries.

 

[PolyAddict]

Hey OP, I too have a grocery bill that I am trying to tame. But I know where my problems are. My problems are lack of time. So although I don't buy a lot of prepackaged things I will maybe stop and pick up meat today for dinner tonight because I didn't thaw anything. I never use coupons because it takes time and we eat out too much in my opinion. So my questions to you are:
1. Do you work?
2. Do you coupon?
3. Do you meal plan?
4. Do you cook from scratch?
5. Are you buying a lot of pre-packaged snacks or meals?
6. Do you have a tomato plant in the ground or a pot right now for fresh 'maters all summer long?
7. Do you include in your food budget cleaning supplies, paper products or pet food? (most people don't)
8. Do you include in your budget eating out?

Figure out what is in your budget as compared to others so that you are comparing apples to apples. Than take a serious look at what you need and don't need for example my husbands Diet Coke addiction is weighing me down. My budget is $900 for four, DH me, DS12 (who eats me out of house and home) and DD9 (soon to be 10). I buy mostly organic, a ton of fresh fruits and veggies. I should be buying more in season, another problem area of mine. I spend $900 per month, although I too go over often. Trying to get it together, my project for my daughter this summer is clipping and organizing coupons and my son is going to learn to cook meals from scratch, start to finish.

Good Luck!

You sound like me...my DH's diet coke and (don't even get me started) cigarette addiction is killing my budget...i figure the diet coke alone is costing us $40 a month and cigarettes at least $100. He eats lunch from home everyday at work to help make up for these two expenses...i allow myself one lunch out a week at work, sometimes 2 if its a cheap lunch. I spend approx $900 a month on groceries, household and pet expenses for the 5 of us. Well DD18 is in college and hardly ever eats a meal with us. That $900 does not include cigarettes which comes out of his allowance.lol We get take out on Fridays and Saturday nights which is approx $60 a week.