Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Budgeting Questions?

What's your grocery budget for a week... and what does that include? 

I'm looking for inclusion of household supplies, toiletries, and cleaning stuff in that and any regular pet expenses. How many people are in your household? I'm just curious. I'm pretty frugal but not a very good bargain shopper. I mean, I tend to buy things that are on sale but I'm no good at buying in bulk and I'm not very good at using coupons, although I've gotten better. I also steer away from really cheap foods, like a loaf of bread for say .50 cents that probably doesn't have any nutritional value. I wonder how much other people spend on average... although where you live/ cost of living factors into the total quite a bit. This total would also include eating out expenses. I put that into my grocery budget because as far as I'm concerned food is food.

I lost track of spending somewhere mid October this year but from what I've recorded the average weekly spending for my three person (plus three pets) household came out to $129 a week. If I randomly assign $5 a week per pet that puts me at an average of $38 a week per person in my family. That seems pretty low to me, not that I'm complaining, just thinking in print.

In keeping with the title of this blog $38 per person per week boils down to about $5.50 per person a day. So now I feel the need to point out that a large specialty coffee costs about that much. It's amazing how quickly a few pennies can become a fortune isn't it.

I was sitting in the car with little Abe on Christmas day looking at the enormous waves in Lake Michigan and watching the constant stream of wind coming off of the lake carry millions and billions of tiny grains of sand away from the lake and into the parking lot. I couldn't help but think how insignificant one grain of sand is. But when the little buggars work together they create mammoth hills, cover road ways, and make parking lots disappear.  Pennies act very much the same way. When you have just one of them it's not of much use but when "the wind" gets a hold of them they can create massive debt or huge savings in not too long a time. (Yes, I was thinking about money on Christmas day while sitting at the lake.)

Average daily spending for 2014: $18.40

11 comments:

  1. We have a budget of 130.00 a week for a family of 5. That includes all cleaning type products, paper type products/kitchen supplies, household (light bulbs, etc.), pantry stock up, bathroom supplies and cat supplies. We live in the Kalamazoo, MI area. It is possible! I do use coupons, but not as many as I would like. I do all the "deals" I can, shop sales (stock up on items then), and buy items in unlikely places. Menards 11% rebate time, then use the rebate during the next 11% rebate time so you get to "double dip" because the rebate goes off the subtotal not the amount paid, Dollar Tree, etc. We eat a lot of chicken! I don't buy meat over 2.00 pound, so I buy at sales. I shop Aldi for 90% of our items, Meijer (sales only and usually with coupons also), Gordon Food Service (sale and coupons combined only), Dollar Tree and also a bulk food store in Shipshewanna IN 1 or 2 times a year. Husband does not care for casseroles or soups so meat and potatoes other veggies and another side/ pasta type of thing is what's for dinner usually. I don't cook only from scratch but would like to increase that more this year and use the crock pot more too!

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    1. Awesome! I think $130 a week for 5 plus cat is excellent and encouraging too. Since I work in Meijer I pretty much only shop Meijer but I should probably branch out... ahh, I don't want to. My husband doesn't like soup or casseroles either so we're alike in that. I do try to cook from scratch a lot. $2 a pound for meat is super impressive! Are you buying your meat from Aldi mostly?

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    2. Yes mostly from Aldi. Wednesdays are special buy meat days. Every week is different. I also look for discount stickers on the stock that is sell by date within 5 days. They can't have any perishables in the store within that sell by time frame for some reason. For example this week I got chicken leg quarters 1.95 for a 5lb package.

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  2. For our family of 3 (all that is left at home is hubby, me, & 20 yo son) in Northern California I spend about $100 a week including food for 4 cats. Now while that might sound good, we also spend an average of $300 a month eating out - NOT good!! That is our biggest goal this year in addition to taking our vacation to Mount Rushmre and paying down my car. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Sue

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    1. My husband and I used to spend and absurd amount of money eating out too. I'm sure that's what a lot of our debt is. You will be able to reign that in for sure. The $100 a week and $300 a month puts you around $175 a week. With eating out that sounds pretty good. Does that include just food or all the other household stuff too?

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  3. I spent just under $5K for 2014 on food/toiletries/paper goods/pet food. This comes out to something like $415 a month, so a bit more than $100 a week.
    We were a family of between 3-2(3rd is 18 years old so eats a lot!) at home this year and had 1 dog until late Nov. so most of the year was with pet expenses.
    I used coupons sporadically for food but do use them for non-food type items. I also do the drugstore game so my toiletries don't cost much. I buy meat on instant discount(near sell by date)and/or sale. I stockpile a fair amount to always get the best price. I buy wherever the deals are--dollar store, restaurant supply store, food discount outlet(dented can type surplus store), etc. Also utilize farm stands in season.
    We are in NE PA so we have Metro NJ/NY/CT type higher prices. No super large chain grocers here except Walmart/Sam's Club though I don't shop there much. We have regional grocers and local independent grocers mostly.
    I mostly cook from scratch and we haven't eaten out much(until our Christmas week trip).
    Luckily my Hubs will eat ANYTHING. I am the picky one. ;-)

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    1. You are my idol sluggy! I love all your posts about what you bought and what saved/ how you saved. I know that there are great bargain shoppers out there and your blog is a huge source of inspiration and encouragement that yes it can be done.

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  4. That includes everything - I really only use vinegar & baking soda to clean and I've started making my own laundry detergent so I just add it all in with groceries.

    Sue :)

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  5. Good, nutritious food is important, it's what powers us & helps us make better decisions about everything else. This thought gets cemented in me more and more as I read Cameron Diaz's book "The Body Book".

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    1. I agree. The first year of this blog (before I got pregnant) I spent very little money on food and we ate junk, a whole lot of cheap unhealthy junk (like ramon noodles regularly for lunch). I want to find a happy medium between all organic, non gmo, fresh meats and produce food and food we can afford but my goodness is that difficult. I'm working on it for sure. And since the little guy came I am much more conscience of what quality of food I'm bringing home. It is important.

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