I have a nosy question

Gas : $100 - $160 a month depending on how much driving we do on the weekends
Food for two adults including all paper products : $150-$200
 
Gas approx. $560 per month (me - $60 per wk, DH - $80 per wk)
Food approx. $300 per month ($150 on 1st and $150 on 15th)

My DH only gets paid on 1st and 15th. It can be especially difficult to stretch around the end of the month or if a large purchase is made. I work pt and stay at home w/dd3 (she's in preschool), and dh works quite a distance away :moped: . Our food bill can fluctuate depending on what I am out of stock on AND our older dog requires prescription food! :earseek:

2 adults
1 child
2 dogs (labs)
1 kitty

I work pt to supplement between 1st and 15th pay periods. :flower:
 
Just to shed light on the food amount question...

I plan our meals for the 2 week period and shop for only what I will need. I also have to "bank" money for the 2nd week as there are items such as fresh veggies that cannot sit around for 7 days. I cook on monday, tuesday and wednesday...on Thurs. we go to dh's parents for dinner (weekly standing so they can have one on one time w/grandaughter) and Fridays we go to my parents house for dinner. It helps out quite a bit when we are able to visit for the dinners. However, there are those times when we are unable to go and that is what I keep pasta, sauce and frozen pizza dough (makes great fresh rolls!) for. On weekends, we eat strictly leftovers (sometimes the in-laws send some home w/us too!).

I feel we have a great support network and we aren't the only ones who eat over at our parents...every one has one night assigned to them! :)

I shop at a "discount" grocery store for ALL of our paper products, milk, cheese, eggs, snacks, some frozen items (including ice cream treats) and cleaning supplies. I can get baking supplies and cereal there too! Fruit is hit or miss as it can sometimes be too banged up for my taste.

There have been many times when I have had even less to spend on food...I have learned to be VERY frugal out of necessity! :(
 
It seems that it really matters how many you have to feed. I have DH, me, DD10 and DS15. The guys are big eaters.
I spend $100-150 a month on gas for the little Escort driving kids to school 14miles, work another 10 miles, then soccer practices which are 20 miles from home and 5 miles apart from each other twice a week.
I have no clue what DH spends in his big old F-150
I usually don't drive the van any more unless we have to but it takes $60.00 for one tank (I have been averaging about 4-5 months before I have bring her in for a fill up)

Food, paper products, toiletries and going out once a month usually runs $500.00 a month.

Of course between gas and food that is almost 1/3 of our household income each month. :umbrella:
 


Gas 100.00 per month(dh car $60 mine $40, ds 19 on his own for gas)
groceries $200.00 per month including food,hba,laundry and cleaning. we have me,dh,ds19,dd6. dh,and ds take their lunches to work and dd takes lunch to school. We make breakast and dinner every night, eat out maybe once a month. I am a big couponer. When something is free after coupon I take it. The key to couponing is to stock up when you find a good sale.Yesterday I got 20 bottles of softsoap body wash for free, 10 suave hair gel for .25 each, 10 suave hairspray for .25, 10 aquafresh toothpaste for .29 each.Of course one problem to couponing is finding a place to keep everything. Our biggest expense of the $200 is meat we are all big meat eaters.
 
Meat makes a difference.

We are not big meat eaters. We'll dine on salads, pastas etc. several nights a week. I like meat, but too much makes my stomach hurt. We're also both light eaters and probably eat half of what normal adults do during meal times. So if we buy the stuff for one meal it often turns into two meals.
 
Man I am either going to start walking to work or stop feeding my family monthly gas usuage between DH and myself is about $ 400.00 a month I commute into the city and live in the burbs, and I have 3 wonder***l expensive college age children the baby being 6'1" and 290 lbs the middle child being 6'8" and 275 fortunately dd is only 5'9 and significantly smaller boned than her brothers, between feeding the front line of our football team and papergoods my groceries run about $ 1,000.00 a month. Then we have tuition, books, car insurance for 2 teenage boys, ... one day I will have quite the excess of disposable income. My greatest expense I think is probably soda pop. I think we conswume between $ 30.00 and $ 40.00 a week on soda pop. Buy stock in diet pepsi aand or TAB if your looking for a good investment.
 


txgirl said:
:sunny: I love your meal ideas! Man, I really am in a rut :guilty: You have inspired me to get to cookin' again! Your food sounds yummy ::yes::


Well, thanks! If you were to ask my three year old he would tell you that dinnier is "yucky" Kind of gets you down after awhile! LOL Thankfully DD8 adn DS5 aren't too picky. I know that I will be in trouble grocery wise when both DSs are teenagers though! That is gonna hurt.
 
I spend less than $100/month on gas.
I spend about $1,000/month on food, paper products, cleaning supplies.
We don't eat out at all.
 
LynneAmelia said:
... one day I will have quite the excess of disposable income. .

No Way! By the time your done feeding those guys they will get married and start having babies for you to spend all your $$$ on!!! My husband is one of 3 boys and when we were dating (a long time ago :love: ) his brothers were still in junior high and high school and I used to stand in awe of :earseek: all the food in their pantry. Now that I've fed him the last 15 years I understand! :rotfl:
 
disneymom3 said:
Well, thanks! If you were to ask my three year old he would tell you that dinnier is "yucky" Kind of gets you down after awhile! LOL Thankfully DD8 adn DS5 aren't too picky. I know that I will be in trouble grocery wise when both DSs are teenagers though! That is gonna hurt.

It's that picky eating stuff that discouraged me a while back :sad2: . It seemed I couldn't please everyone. Kids didn't like casseroles. DH wanted stuff more spicy. DS wants the same thing all the time (2 yrs old :angel: ) I'm just gonna start cookin and when they get hungry, they can eat! :p
 
here goes:

We spend about $300.00/month on gas. We live in the suburbs and have to drive everywhere. DH drives about 50 miles a day. Most of the places I need to go are within 10 miles from home.

Groceries and household items are where we blow the budget. I mostly shop at Super Walmart so all of my cleaning supplies, paper goods, personal care items, etc. are included in my grocery bill. We spend anywhere from $500.00 - $800.00/month on all household items, groceries and eating out. I try to cut that down as much as I can but I don't do well. I know everyone thinks convenience foods are expensive, but I find buying fresh fruits and vegetables is very expensive as well. I shop the sales or the produce stand but that bill still goes way up. We're not officially low carbing, but I try to keep pasta and bread consumption down. We rarely buy soft drinks anymore. We drink tea and have a filter on our fridge for water. We drink water more than anything else. I have always used coupons but have now subscribed to a service where I can get multiples of the things I use most. I pay a fee for that service but I save much more on my grocery bill so that's OK. I rarely get anything for free, though. I always wonder how people do that. I'm assuming double or triple couponing, but the stores around here rarely do that.

We are a family of 3, DH, DS (4) and I. No pets.

I am open to any and all suggestions ya'll have for getting that grocery bill down!
 
Wow, this made me gasp.

Just the DH and I, plus a dog and cat.

Gas averages $100 per month, however it's a bit higher now that gas prices have shot up.

Groceries including paper products, dog food, cat food, and any toiletries/over-the-counter meds: $600-700 :eek::

The DH does most of the grocery shopping as I tend to be an impulse buyer. He clips coupons, uses a list and has even created a spreadsheet to maximize the double/triple coupon promotions. He's quite obsessive about it! Even with the high grocery bill, he gets a bunch of items free or gets a credit due to the coupons.

The freezer in our garage is packed full, and I have to keep telling him not to buy so much. He loves the sales.

It's interesting to see what others are spending!
 
Well, I just pulled up Quicken to give you guys an accurate report.
We are a family of 4 (DH, Me, DD12, & DS9)

Over the last year we have spent an average of
$143 per month on gas
$633 per month on groceries(this includes all paper products and cleaning supplies and dog and cat food, but not eating out)
$231 per month on all meals not eaten at home(this includes DH buying lunch and the kids buying lunch at school as well as pizza once a week and any meals we might eat out in restaurants)

Obviously some months would have been more and some months would have been less but this is the monthly average over the last 12 months. I think these numbers are pretty good and I don't really think I could bring any of them down except maybe the pizza once a week thing which probably adds $100 a month. Anybody that spends less than this, I want to know their secret. I clip coupons and shop the sales. I shop at Winn Dixie on Mondays for 5% off my bill and I work the flyer for B1G1or2 offers. We don't eat big but we don't do without either.
 
Family of 5 -- Me, DH, and DS's (12, 10, and 7)

We spend between $500 & $600 a month on groceries and about $225 a month on gas - I drive a mini-van , DH works from home 3/4 days a week but on the other day or 2 he drives over an hour each way to get to work.
 
Gas - $150-month (for a car and truck)
Food - $300 month ( It is just DH and I but DH is a BIG eater who can not live without Diet Coke and meat at EVERY meal :earseek: )
Eating Out - $75 month (we usually eat out once a week and it is almost always take-out)
 
Very interesting to see what others are spending.

In our home it is me, DH, and DS (7).

We spend between $400-500 on gas. I drive a Durango (getting about 13miles/gal) and DH drives a Ford F-250 Super Duty (maybe 15miles/gal). We both have to drive about 20 min one way to work.

I buy everything (including toiletries, dog/cat food, cleaning supplies etc) but meat at a Super Walmart, usually around $200 every 2 weeks. Once a week I go to the local store to buy fresh cut meat. I usually spend around $30 there.

So, on a high-end month the total runs well over $1000. Sheesh. I gotta get an economy car and start eating ramen noodles!
 
I'll share mine...

Gas: Me about $90 a month now, but I have cut back a lot on driving due to skyrocketing prices and for my health and the environment, dh about $100 a month - he works in TX and carpools to work and goes to the gym a lot

Food: Now $550 to $800 a month for a family of 6. Rarely any packaged foods (except for emergencies like a natural disaster) and eating out and soda, but more produce, vegetarian, and organic foods. No hydrogenated oils either. We never use coupons for food because lots of it is for packaged, unhealthy stuff... except if you are lucky to have winetags (coupons on wine bottles that give you a discount on nonpackaged stuff like produce and meat), of course. We do use rebates and coupons for other stuff, like from Walgreens and Rite Aid.

I've stated this before in another thread... I am willing to pay a bit more for healthy quality food as I consider it an investment and 'you can't buy good health.' We have theme nights, like soup night, ethnic meal night, dinner-for-breakfast nights, etc to keep costs down and keep it exciting and varied. We also cut down on meats and have more produce and vegetarian meals.

We cut down a lot on other expenses to afford necessities like food, like our utilities and entertainment. For example, we have a thermostat timer which cuts down on cost and we use drying racks to dry our clothes. We live frugally and do the normal stuff, like cloth diapers for the baby, use natural cleaners like baking soda, and that sort of thing.

It's nice to save money and we certainly try to do what we can, but we put our health first. Just wanted to give you a different perspective - we're frugal, but more so health-conscious. :)

Edited: BTW my dh told me how 3 of his coworkers in their 40s died of heart attacks in Texas where he works (and he's only been there about 2 months) and these guys were not at all health-conscious. :( The cost of a healthy lifestyle is worth it to me....
 
grlpwrd said:
I'll share mine...

Gas: Me about $90 a month now, but I have cut back a lot on driving due to skyrocketing prices and for my health and the environment, dh about $100 a month - he works in TX and carpools to work and goes to the gym a lot

Food: Now $550 to $800 a month for a family of 6. Rarely any packaged foods (except for emergencies like a natural disaster) and eating out and soda, but more produce, vegetarian, and organic foods. No hydrogenated oils either. We never use coupons for food because lots of it is for packaged, unhealthy stuff... except if you are lucky to have winetags (coupons on wine bottles that give you a discount on nonpackaged stuff like produce and meat), of course. We do use rebates and coupons for other stuff, like from Walgreens and Rite Aid.

I've stated this before in another thread... I am willing to pay a bit more for healthy quality food as I consider it an investment and 'you can't buy good health.' We have theme nights, like soup night, ethnic meal night, dinner-for-breakfast nights, etc to keep costs down and keep it exciting and varied. We also cut down on meats and have more produce and vegetarian meals.

We cut down a lot on other expenses to afford necessities like food, like our utilities and entertainment. For example, we have a thermostat timer which cuts down on cost and we use drying racks to dry our clothes. We live frugally and do the normal stuff, like cloth diapers for the baby, use natural cleaners like baking soda, and that sort of thing.

It's nice to save money and we certainly try to do what we can, but we put our health first. Just wanted to give you a different perspective - we're frugal, but more so health-conscious. :)

Edited: BTW my dh told me how 3 of his coworkers in their 40s died of heart attacks in Texas where he works (and he's only been there about 2 months) and these guys were not at all health-conscious. :( The cost of a healthy lifestyle is worth it to me....
I see lots of people post here and other boards that they make their own cleaners, but I never see the recipes. Do you mind sharing where you find them?
 
I have just loved reading this thread and have gotten some really good ideas.

Our household is me, dh, and seven kiddos, dd15, dd13, dd10, dd8, dd3, dd2 and ds2.

We live in a rural area and Walmart is about it for shopping. My gas expenses are minimal for dh and I since he doesn't have much of a commute and I am SAHM, maybe 100 total a month.

Groceries on the other hand I am afraid to even mention how much I actually spend. We eat out about once a week (usually sit down, not fast food). Fresh produce/fruit and milk are our big ticket grocery items. Easily about a hundred a week between the two (two gallons of regular milk per day plus one daughter on lactose free milk). Constantly going through bananas, apples, oranges, grapes and strawberries and lettuce. The girls are in lots of sports and constantly snacking on the go. No canned or frozen veggies and this I think is what makes our grocery bill high, fresh veggies definately cost more. Soon the twins will be out of diapers but that is also still a budget buster. And, I tend to cave in to the impulse buys in Walmart, whatever new and cute is sitting in the main aisle to distract me. We don't do alot of prepackaged food and snacks. I cook ahead and makes lots of freezer meals (love my foodsaver). During the summer we mainly grill out by the pool and this is easy, fast and the kids love it. I do buy bottled water and gatorade for the girls for their track meets and cheer competitions. No alcohol here, but we do have two cats, one of whom is on a special diet ugh.

I am inspired by this thread though to really track what I am spending and see where I can save. I think if I really try I can easily save more than a hundred a month on my budget :goodvibes
 

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