Photo by Sarah Gilbert
Every week I’ll pose a question for you to share your experiences and tips. If you have a question that you’d like me to post, I’d love to hear from you!
Recently, Carrie sent me an email with this question:
Hi, Tara. How do you decide on a reasonable grocery budget? We are a family of 5…including a baby…and it seems like $350 a month isn’t working for us. Any ideas on a reasonable budget?
I think that your grocery budget is going to depend on how much time you want to invest in couponing and shopping multiple stores as well as on where you live. Those of us with grocery stores that double coupons up to $1 have a much easier time than someone whose stores don’t double at all! I don’t think it’s possible for me or anyone else to tell you what your budget should be. Instead, just focus on cutting back a little each week until you reach a number you’re comfortable with — both financially and in regards to the amount of time you’re spending and the food you’re buying.
How did you decide on your family’s grocery budget? What factors did you consider when deciding? How did you know when you’d gotten it as low as you were comfortable going? Have you ever made a decision to raise your grocery budget? Do you expect your budget to change as your family grows?
Join the discussion — add your two cents to previous Ask DSM Readers questions too!
Elisabeth
We are a family of 5 including three small children. I was couponing every week and having a blast. However, I realized that without a set budget, I was spending way too much. My husband and I sat down and realized that our grocery/household expenses were around $500! When we actually matched up our income with our expenses we were forced to limit our spending to $150/month or only $37.50 per week. From this amount we determined what grocery items would be most important each week. We have a produce co-op here that is $16.50 a week for about 30-40 pounds of fruits and veggies. Here are a few other things that we have done that have helped us stay with our budget:
* I create a menu each week with three meals and two snacks. I make sure to build in times when we eat out, with friends or warm-ups from the fridge.
* I mix in some dry milk in the jug when about 1/2 of the store milk is gone. So far, my kids haven’t noticed, but they don’t quite drink as much when I do this :)
* I make a list of items that I want and about how much to spend on each. For example, I list cheese will cost about $3 each week and milk will be $4 for two gallons.
* I try to shop only one day a week. The more trips to the store, the more I spend and forget that I bought items.
* My husband and I communicate openly about what items we’ve purchased so there are no surprised on our bank account.
* I regularly check my money-saving blogs to keep up on where the good deals are.
* I print my coupons on “fast normal” which prints a good, lower quality coupon thus saving on ink.
* I bake my own bread, buns, rolls, and pizza dough. I also can fruits, veggies and meat. When I find an amazing deal on almost-expired chicken or ground beef, I buy 10-20 pounds and can it. It really isn’t that difficult, and I feel awesome seeing all those jars in my pantry. Plus, it makes dinner super fast to prepare.
* Lastly, my husband and I try to keep our portions in control. It’s easy to make and eat too much, but we both could use a little slimming down anyway.
Beth in central Ohio
I do a bi-weekly budget (it just works better for me than a monthly one). I allow $50 per week for groceries, including all toiletries, cleaning supplies, pet food & litter, and my “adult drinks”. I’m a single mom with an almost-17 year old daughter, a large dog, 2 cats, and 2 rats.
Ana
I was wondering if anyone does HFCS/preservative/additives free and organic grocery shopping? I used to be able to keep down our costs when I bought all pre packaged junk but now that we are trying to be healthier , some things are just ALWAYS expensive and do not have coupons ever.
Jody
Our grocery budget, for myself and 6 children (plus 3 fulltime daycare kids) is $100 per week. It was determined by what I could afford at the time, and once I started with that I stuck with it … no reason to spend more if I don’t need to and I’d rather other money goes towards debt – and really, as long as there’s debt there’s no “extra” money to spend. That $100 also covers all cleaning, paper, clothing, etc. products … basically, it’s what we can spend a week on whatever we need to buy. We are very limited on stores to choose from (Publix, Target, Walmart) and our stores don’t double coupons … maybe that makes it harder, I have no idea, but it certainly doesn’t make it impossible … set a budget and a plan that keeps you from going over it (I only shop with cash – that $100 goes into my purse each week, once it’s gone it’s gone … no wiggle room there!) and you can and will make it work because you haven’t given yourself a choice.
I think the biggest thing is to shop by what’s on sale and plan meals that way, rather than shopping for what you want and hitting a sale item or two, if that makes sense. If strawberries are super cheap one week that’s what we’ll be eating, whether we’d rather have blueberries or not (unless we’ve already got frozen blueberries from the last time they were on sale super cheap!).
Kris
I think my situation is different than a lot of others. It’s just my husband and myself, no kids yet. I didn’t set a budget for us, just focused on using coupons and getting deals for items we use. Then another lady I know who coupons, also a family of only 2 adults, mentioned her budget and I started to keep track of mine and it was way higher. So about half-way through the year last year I started to try and stay under $400 for grocery and household/personal items. Sometimes I did it, other times i didn’t. This year I decided to make it $330/month and include dog food. So far I’ve only gone over $300 a couple of months. Part of the reason is that I want to start a family soon and husband freaks out about money, so if I can get us on a budget and used to it, then I have a better chance of sticking to the budget when we do start a family instead of trying to do all this once a baby comes and I’m freaking out as a new Mom.
Now..that being said. Since I’ve been doing a lot better than expected so far this year, I’m now focusing on eating healthier and staying within my budget. This includes buying organic/cage free eggs and meat, non-cow’s milk milk, sugar that has no extra chemicals, organic items, etc. All this stuff cost a lot more. I’m slowly switching out staples with healthier alternatives. The challenge is in keeping within my budget and buying the more expensive items. Only time will tell how well I can do with this. I might actually increase the grocery budget for next year if I find I need to.
Melissa
I am the world’s worst couponer. I can’t ever seem to remember to pick up the Sunday paper, I print coupons I never use, it’s just horrible. Eventually, I decided to go another route. I decided to start making all our own personal items. To date, I make our own laundry detergent and we use Vinegar for our fabric softener. Turns out we all like our clothes better this way! We don’t have issues with allergies (due to fragrance), our towels once again absorb water (softeners prevent this), and our clothes aren’t stained anymore! Best part, since the kids all have either allergies, asthma or sensory issues I had to bye dye free, perfume free detergents and softener. Translation = expensive. It costs next to nothing to make your own detergent! I have all the things I need to try homemade dishwasher detergent now. Then we’ll do homemade toothpaste followed by deodorant.
Gina
How much vinegar do you use in the wash cycle?
leslie
melissa, what recipe do you use for your homemade laundry detergent? i made my first batch not too long ago, but i am wanting to try other recipes to see if i can find ones i like better. here is a recipe for dishwasher detergent. use equal portions of borax, baking soda, and water. put 2 to 3 tablespoons @ beginning of dishwasher cycle like you would normal dishwashing detergent. it works great. i also heard you can use vinegar in the rinse agent thing…
sherry
Great work ladies!! I am really amazed Now can anyone help me in planning my budget? Now me and my husband work FT and we are using all our money. My new year resolution is to save money atleast one salary. So now I need to run all my house in 3000$ I have a daughter 3 months , we dont have publix here. The major grocery shops in my area are big y, stop n shop. Can any body help me organize and run the family in 3000$ ? I get fully reimbersed for day care. so its going to be rent (1350 ) + Groceries + everything? Do you think it is possible?
Tara
This is just amazing! you ladies are like wizards with the ways you can stretch a dollar.
Thank you for the inspiration!
Tara