Why is it we all love to share how much we spend each month on groceries?

[Jill in Chicago]

Every time there is a post about about, "How much do you spend on groceries?" we all enjoy sharing. I wish there was a way to compare apples to apples. For instance some folks include laundry detergent and others don't. Or some do not include that they go out to eat a couple times a month. Or others live in more expensive grocery store areas.

So why is it that it is so much fun to share and compare the cost of monthly groceries?

 

[angierae]

Every time there is a post about about, "How much do you spend on groceries?" we all enjoy sharing. I wish there was a way to compare apples to apples. For instance some folks include laundry detergent and others don't. Or some do not include that they go out to eat a couple times a month. Or others live in more expensive grocery store areas.

So why is it that it is so much fun to share and compare the cost of monthly groceries?

I think it's fascinating, but I do agree that it's not really a good comparison if Person A is buying their pet food, paper products and laundry detergent at the grocery store, and Person B buys their pet food at Petco, their paper products at Target, and their laundry detergent at, say, CVS.

What I would find far more interesting is "What price do you normally pay for milk, or eggs, or a pound of chicken breasts" and "Do you wait for a certain sale price, or just buy things when you need them?" (on things that can be stocked up on)

 

[Lucky4me]

I don't usually share the $ amount, but I will say that my grocery bill has increased over the past few years at least 25%. During the same time frame, our income dropped by 50%.
I am now being forced to cut coupons, shop at more than one store and scour the ads every week. I don't like it at all. I miss going to Wegmans and tossing whatever I want into the cart.

Don't get me started on gasoline costs.

I think people just like commiserating more than anything else on these topics.

 

[Tiger926]

I like seeing the different budgets for different places, and I am fascinated by how much Americans are able to coupon. Canada's coupons are pretty much for only paper products (including tissue and feminine hygiene), boxed cereals, cleaning products and processed foods. We do not have double couponing at all, so coupons really aren't a big part of our grocery budget either.

By the way, I included exactly what should be included in my description of what my grocery budget entails in the other thread, and don't know why others don't? That being said, I don't have an exact amount as we shop primarily at Costco, and so products last longer as we buy bigger containers.

The comparisons are useless if people don't mention that they have pets, include toiletries and eat out 2x a week out of the grocery budget.

I also think it's important for people to mention if they buy convenience foods, pop, candy, etc., Convenience foods are not healthy, yet those are the foods for which coupons are available the most, so if that is what a family is mostly consuming, then their grocery budget will be stretched farther than mine as we don't eat convenience foods, nor drink pop.

Tiger

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

Because we all have to eat

 

[crisi]

I may have responded in the past, but really don't tend to because I have no clue. None. We have crazy schedules, eat out a lot and I might stop by a grocery store five times one week (how did I forget milk) and then none the next. We might spend $400 at Costco and buy a side of beef from a friend in one month, and then buy nothing but fruit, vegetables and milk for the next two.

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

I share on and read these threads because it inspires me to know that some folks out there spend less than I do with more people in their homes! I never really thought that I could cut that much until I started reading these threads.

 

[SaraJayne]

I like seeing the different budgets for different places, and I am fascinated by how much Americans are able to coupon. Canada's coupons are pretty much for only paper products (including tissue and feminine hygiene), boxed cereals, cleaning products and processed foods. We do not have double couponing at all, so coupons really aren't a big part of our grocery budget either.

By the way, I included exactly what should be included in my description of what my grocery budget entails in the other thread, and don't know why others don't? That being said, I don't have an exact amount as we shop primarily at Costco, and so products last longer as we buy bigger containers.

The comparisons are useless if people don't mention that they have pets, include toiletries and eat out 2x a week out of the grocery budget.

I also think it's important for people to mention if they buy convenience foods, pop, candy, etc., Convenience foods are not healthy, yet those are the foods for which coupons are available the most, so if that is what a family is mostly consuming, then their grocery budget will be stretched farther than mine as we don't eat convenience foods, nor drink pop.

Tiger

In my post about what we spend on groceries, I listed what I included in that amount. Eating out was not part of that budget.

Not because we don't eat out ~ we do, often. I just don't consider it part of groceries.

 

[pigletto]

It's really interesting to see what people pay and get an idea of how others live and eat.
I remember one summer (maybe last year) everyone here was commenting on how high gas prices were in the States when they were reaching 5 dollars a gallon. Out of curiosity I converted our prices and realized we were normally paying that much
So it can be interesting for me to see the cost of living elsewhere and see what people are able to budget.
Unlike Tiger, I find many coupons in Canada, and for meats, milk, cheese , toiletries etc. Not just convenience foods.. we don't eat a lot of those.
By using coupons, and waiting for sales I am able to get the grocery budget down much lower. But to be honest? It's too much work for me, and now I just plan my menus around the store flyers and use the occasional coupon.
I've picked up some great tips on this board in the grocery threads as well.

 

[Tiger926]

In my post about what we spend on groceries, I listed what I included in that amount. Eating out was not part of that budget.

Not because we don't eat out ~ we do, often. I just don't consider it part of groceries.

I saw that, and it is helpful!

I too don't consider eating out part of the grocery bill, but most people do, as I think they just use it as replacement for the groceries that would go into making that meal.

It's really interesting to see what people pay and get an idea of how others live and eat.
I remember one summer (maybe last year) everyone here was commenting on how high gas prices were in the States when they were reaching 5 dollars a gallon. Out of curiosity I converted our prices and realized we were normally paying that much
So it can be interesting for me to see the cost of living elsewhere and see what people are able to budget.
Unlike Tiger, I find many coupons in Canada, and for meats, milk, cheese , toiletries etc. Not just convenience foods.. we don't eat a lot of those.
By using coupons, and waiting for sales I am able to get the grocery budget down much lower. But to be honest? It's too much work for me, and now I just plan my menus around the store flyers and use the occasional coupon.
I've picked up some great tips on this board in the grocery threads as well.

I did say that the coupons that we get are for toiletries, and every few months we get some for cheese, as they come in the Kraft or Cheese magazine. Most of it is for packaged slices, but there are the occassional brick of cheese coupons. But, bricks of cheese are cheapest at Costco, so can't use those coupons.

Honestly, we don't even get coupons on a weekly basis in our newspaper, so you are lucky to be getting coupons for meats and milk. Milk? Got a coupon a few months ago, and it was for the expensive Omega Dairy O, which is close to $7.00/bag here. No thanks! Don't ever get coupons for meat in the mail or newspaper - unless you are talking about packaged lunch meats. Costco does their own coupons for chicken breasts or sausages, but that's it.

I get very excited when I get a coupon I can use, but like I said, it's mostly for toiletries, paper products, packaged and convenience foods in our mail or newspaper. We also don't have buy one get one free very often, and if we do, the prices have been raised on those products. We also never have double or triple coupons, nor can you stack coupons.

Superstore/Zehrs has a coupon board outside of their store, and most of the coupons are for the exact products I mentioned above. Tons of soaps, paper products, etc. We very rarely use any of the coupons that they have on that board, and there are a lot. Last coupon I used was for a bottle of honey, and I was very excited!

Interesting to see how people work their grocery budgets! Tiger

 

[mrodgers]

In my post about what we spend on groceries, I listed what I included in that amount. Eating out was not part of that budget.

Not because we don't eat out ~ we do, often. I just don't consider it part of groceries.

The eating out part is important though. If someone states they spend $100/month for a family of 5 on groceries, it sounds like they spend very little. If they don't tell you that they eat out 5 nights every week though, adding that factor in makes a big difference.

It's really interesting to see what people pay and get an idea of how others live and eat.
I remember one summer (maybe last year) everyone here was commenting on how high gas prices were in the States when they were reaching 5 dollars a gallon. Out of curiosity I converted our prices and realized we were normally paying that much

The reason many people complain about our "cheap" gas prices is the fact that many people drive extremely high miles compared to other countries. Example of that is since I just started tracking with an app on my new phone....

Since January 15th, my wife has put 3,279 miles on her car and has used $545.27 in gas. I have put 1,470 miles on my car and have used $254.77 in gas (premium fuel, just filled yesterday at $4.09.)

In 45 days, we've put 4,749 miles on costing us an average of around $18 per day in fuel usage.

The UK folks love to bark up about their fuel prices when the US folks talk about it. I am on another forum that is UK based and is car/racing based. We talk cars a lot. They bark about their fuel prices, but on the other forum, I am amazed at the cost of used cars. Many of those folks talk of late model cars in the 60,000 mile range and acquiring them for £1500-2000. The same cars they have stated they buy would have 200,000 miles on them over here and would cost relatively the same in $. For the kind of mileage on their cars, you would pay $12-15,000 for a similar car here.

It is tough to talk across countries about gas prices because for car expenses, you have to compare everything which includes purchase cost as well as insurance cost (of which the UK examples that I mention are extremely high.) My wife could purchase 2 years worth of gas at $5/gal for the cost difference in a used UK car.

 

[pigletto]

The eating out part is important though. If someone states they spend $100/month for a family of 5 on groceries, it sounds like they spend very little. If they don't tell you that they eat out 5 nights every week though, adding that factor in makes a big difference.


The reason many people complain about our "cheap" gas prices is the fact that many people drive extremely high miles compared to other countries. Example of that is since I just started tracking with an app on my new phone....

Since January 15th, my wife has put 3,279 miles on her car and has used $545.27 in gas. I have put 1,470 miles on my car and have used $254.77 in gas (premium fuel, just filled yesterday at $4.09.)

In 45 days, we've put 4,749 miles on costing us an average of around $18 per day in fuel usage.

The UK folks love to bark up about their fuel prices when the US folks talk about it. I am on another forum that is UK based and is car/racing based. We talk cars a lot. They bark about their fuel prices, but on the other forum, I am amazed at the cost of used cars. Many of those folks talk of late model cars in the 60,000 mile range and acquiring them for £1500-2000. The same cars they have stated they buy would have 200,000 miles on them over here and would cost relatively the same in $. For the kind of mileage on their cars, you would pay $12-15,000 for a similar car here.

It is tough to talk across countries about gas prices because for car expenses, you have to compare everything which includes purchase cost as well as insurance cost (of which the UK examples that I mention are extremely high.) My wife could purchase 2 years worth of gas at $5/gal for the cost difference in a used UK car.

I should probably clarify because it was not my intent to make fun of anyone but myself. I just remember reading and thinking "Wow that's awful!" and "That is so expensive!" and then actually did the conversion and realized "Oh.. I pay that all the time.. Poor me."

It was just a case of like you said, all things being relative and actually figuring it all out.

 

[Ginny Favers]

Yeah, I dunno. There are so many factors that go into it. Like when I go, I spend maybe $800 a month. When my husband goes, it's like $1600 a month.

 

[pixiewings71]

I don't post on those threads because food prices are different everywhere. And yes, some people include eating out, some don't, some include paper products, cleaning products and toiletries, some don't. It's going to be different everywhere so I just don't bother.

 

[crisi]

Yeah, I dunno. There are so many factors that go into it. Like when I go, I spend maybe $800 a month. When my husband goes, it's like $1600 a month.

Do we share a spouse? I swear, I never knew there was cheese that was $40 a pound until my husband brought some home.

 

[JB2K]

Every time there is a post about about, "How much do you spend on groceries?" we all enjoy sharing. I wish there was a way to compare apples to apples. For instance some folks include laundry detergent and others don't. Or some do not include that they go out to eat a couple times a month. Or others live in more expensive grocery store areas.

So why is it that it is so much fun to share and compare the cost of monthly groceries?

Personally, I think those sort of posts are a waste of time -- because, the cost of groceries is most likely going to be different in two different geographical areas.

Don't believe me? Even the coupon inserts for the Sunday newspapers are in higher cents-off amounts for the Northeast (as compared to, say, the midwest).

Ditto for gasoline -- too many factors determine gas prices such as local/federal taxes, etc.