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Hi bees!
I'm totally new at this!
been married for 27 days & i'm trying to figure out what would be a good budget for groceries each month.
DH & I are trying to save up & want to be smart about grocery shopping.
Thanks ladies! I really appreciate it!
:)
At least $400, I would say. That is about what it takes to eat healthy... I don't actually budget groceries though, (because I think that what we eat= health= number 1) I just spend what we have left over when I can, and it ends up taking about that amount.
ETA: I am super budget shopper to a certain extent. I eat all organic and local, but I am very creative and cook a lot and we never eat out and always bring lunches. DH makes amazing soups and I bake bread and bagels. Now I'm hungry! :)
Around $350-$400...this is in New York City, we eat healthy and bring lunch to work almost every day. I'm a super-smart shopper though....got that from my mom!
I agree, close to $400. Wouldn't life be way easier if those 50 cent boxes of mac and cheese were healthy?
Goodness Australia is so expensive, I spent $200 a week on groceries ($800/ month) and we both buy our lunch each day :( But we do eat really healthy with lots of god quality lean meats and fruit and vegies.
I would say it really depends on where you live. My FI and I spend about $400-500 per month, but we eat very healthy (organic fruits and veggies).
We spend about $300-$400 a month. We only eat out a lot when we don't have groceries in the house. After doing a big grocery shop we take lunches every day and I find it saves SO MUCH money.
i spend about 95 bucks a week on feeding both of us, but I eat super healthy and he eats like shit...and junk is cheaper :) so i'd say about 375, 400
wow, i'm showing these numbers to DH & he thinks its too high!
I'm wondering if Fl is cheeper??? Because I noticed most of you ladies are from up-north somewhere
Thanks ladies!
Keep it coming!!
i'm calculating right now! :)
@cubaneli: I've gone grocery shopping in NJ and FL and Florida really isn't that much cheaper. If you're buying organic and fresh spending $400 sounds about right.
$350-$400 dollars for us. Oh and let me add that this bill includes things like dish soap, cleaning products, garbage bags, deodorant, sandwich bags, shampoo, ect.
About $300-400, depending on where I shop and what I buy. But, it really depends on what you typically eat and where you live.
250-350 a month. I try, but usually fail to take lunch everyday, so lunches usually add another 100 or so between the two of us. We practically never eat out for dinner.
We are grad students so we budget $80 a month and eat creatively and shop in bulk. We also grow a veggie garden in the summer and try to eat local.
We average about $100-$150 per week so I'd say $400-$600 per month. We could cut back but DH is picky about his brands and we normally buy steak and other specialty meats that are pricey. Our toiletries are also really expensive. DH always manages to run out of deodorant, razer blades and body wash all at the same time. Those 3 items alone are almost $30.
DH and I work for the same company so we go out to lunch almost every day since we both really want to get out of the office. Lunch is almost always right around $20 no matter where we go so thats another $100 per week. A few times a year we'll get into a bringing our lunch kick but thats always short lived. Wow, we spend a lot of money on food! lol
We spend probably about $300-$400 each month. I buy a lot of organic food. And lots of wine.
How are razor blades so freakin' expensive?! I cringe everytime DH adds them to the grocery list...
@Lindsay12.31.2010: It's ridiculous. I walk past the cheapies and go for the fusion power pro whatevers that are like $18.99 a package. All while I'm using a $1.50 disposable! lol
It really depends on where you live, what kinds of food you eat, how much you eat out, if you get packaged meals or cook from scratch, eat seasonally, eat locally.
We live in San Francisco, buy organic, bulk foods when possible, preserve foods during the summer, cook everything from scratch (ie: we're phasing out pasta and are starting to make it as needed. already only eat homemade bread, yogurt, ect), buy larger cuts of meats/whole chickens and then use leftovers for other meals, eat seasonally and locally, avoid food in plastic. I watch the sales every week and get fresh produce that's on sale. I look for other staples like cheese and we stock up on that when it's cheap and freeze a bunch of it.
... We spend about $200-ish a month. When there's good sales on organic canned items, then we stock up, but I'm trying to phase that our because of the bpa. Last week I spent $30 on the groceries. The week before it was about $75. I think it all averages out. We also freeze a lot of leftovers for future meals, to help with the food waste. Right now we're eating a lot of soups, stews. Yum!
about $450 a month for us but we live in Chicago and we have a pretty high cost of living. We eat organic mostly but eat out about twice a week.
@cbee: you make your own bagels and breads?! I am so PMing you :D
wow.. so I am budgeting our finances
I came up with $2500 for all monthly expenses & we dont even pay a mortgage payment!
We are living at my parents apartment to save $ so we only pay $250 a month to help out with utilities/bills
the 2500 a month includes everything! Including $840 for savings. is this normal/realistic???
@cbee: i want that bread and bagel recipe!! :)
375-450 max a month, which is not too bad. We eat pretty healthy and mainly cook things from scratch. Your health is definitely worth spending a little extra for healthier items.
What we do in order to shop smart is make a list of what we plan to have for meals that week, just get what we need meal wise, plus a few snacks for the week and cleaning supplies and/or personal products. We also do price ad comparing at Walmart (you search local sale ads, find the cheapest price and tell your cashier) along with clipping coupons. I'm no crazy couponer, but it it is nice to knock 10 or so dollars off the bill. We grocery shop every Friday night.
P.S. I'm in the deep south.
I think FL is no different... About $400 a month for me and FI.
I would say 75 - 100 a week! Depends if your buying really healthy food and lots of meat. We always buy our chicken, ground beef from Costco and freeze into meal size. I also eat alot of yogurt and buy it there as well as it can be pricey at grocery stores. I'm in Toronto, so I'm sure it depends on where you live also.
WHOA! Where are you ladies shopping???? Holy high grocery bills! LOL! We spend about $120-250 for the month OR LESS. I'm super CHEAP and like coupons and stock up on sales. Not much beef at all, lots of chicken and veggies. We're not lunch eaters, but I have cerals and oatmeals for breakfast foods. DH is a picky eater, so we save money there. I also don't buy any junk food. So no cookies, ice creams etc. Instead I buy rice cakes, peanut butter and special K chips. I split shopping at as many places as I can depending on what's on sale and on the best price. For instance, I only buy paper products or trash bags from walmart typically unless they're on sale elsewhere. It's just cheaper. Or I shop at CVS when they give you exracare bucks back. Try to buy in bulk, but only on certain things. Like your meats and portion them out to freeze. Last time I went shopping was 3 weeks ago and we still have plenty of food to make it at least 2 more weeks of dinners. :)
Hey we're date twins!
Well anyways, we've spent around $275 since we've been married, so a lot less than other ladies.
probably $200 a month. Thats including, cleaning products, bodywash, shampoo, dog food etc,
We dont buy meat other than lunch meat and chicken breast. We hunt so we harvest alot of our own. We also grow a garden in the summer or buy from farmers market for veggies and fruit which helps cut down cost alot! We never have to buy eggs either- My parents always let us have as much as we need from their farm chickens.
I think it depends on your lifestyle. You do like hotdogs and beans or filet mignon? It's a hard question to answer IMO. Good luck with setting a budget though. I do think it is important to start that out early.
@ThePrincessMaggie: HI twin! Congrats!!
@MrsRuby: I forgot the farmer's market! We do the same and have a store called "m&s produce" where I get all my fresh veggies crazy cheap. No hunting for us though!
Damn Australia is expensive! We spend about $650 per month on groceries alone - that's not including any meals out or alcohol. We also don't buy organic (DH occasionally does for chicken but I don't), although we do tend to buy good quality meats here. Fruit and veg are ludicrously expensive so it adds up quite quickly.
Adding in our eating out costs (dinner out once per week most weeks) and occasional bottles of wine and we spend over $1000 per month on food.
Yeah, Australia sucks for cost of living.
Holy crap! These grocery bills are so high to me! I spend about $50 every two weeks on myself, and FI and I usually average $100 every two weeks... so $200 a month. We don't eat super healthy organic (which is super expensive, if that's where these other higher figures are coming from) but we don't eat THAT bad. And for household/toiletries... it's not that much more, since we just buy as needed and there are a lot of coupons out there for that stuff. We have never even done food coupons, it would be less money if we did I'm sure.
(I watched a lady at Walmart hack her bill from $93 to $47 today just by using coupons.)
Hi twins! How is married life!!!?
Well. DH & I decided to try budgeting $400 a month for groceries.
We will see, we will try not to go over. & if we are under, we will put the $ in our savings. ;)
Fingers crossed!
Thank you ladies for all the replies , you are all awesome!
Btw.. Wow, Australia is very expensive... Out of curiosity,
@Ree723: what is the average pay for a teacher in Australia? Here in fl is 36000 starting. It sucks.
About $400 a month. We eat really healthy, and make all of our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners Monday-Friday.
@TheFutureMrsLamkin: Congrats to you too!
@cubaneli: Hey! Married life is great :)
@cubaneli: I'm not sure of the starting teacher salary in Australia. I was a social worker here (currently a stay at home soon to be mum) and I was making $56,000 starting out. I would think teacher salaries would be about the same. Salaries are higher in Australia because the cost of living is ridiculously overpriced. Also, as a comparison, minimum wage here is about $15.50 per hour - I think that's about double the US?
@Ree723:wow, yes, i did think it would be way more because of cost of living. thanks for the info!
yes, i think its $7.50 here wow, australia is expensive! I would love to visit some day! :)
@UpstateCait: You should never have to pay for toothpaste, deodorant or body wash. There are coupons in the SmartSource and RedPlum flyers all the time. Use them when the item is on sale and get them free. I do this all the time and have a huge box to give to the women's shelter.
Razor blades? nor so much...
My philosophy is spend more on food, but eat healthy and unprocessed. My budget is about $325 per month, but FI eats out a lot and that doesn't include the times I eat out as well. Food will get you!
I'm really surprised that most people's grocery bills are so high. My budget is around $175 a month, but usually end up spending $200. I've been trying to get it down to $150.
I'm a huge couponer and make efforts to still eat healthy. I don't eat organic, but still pretty healthy. If I add on eating out, it would be another $120.
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