I'm spending $65.00 a week for a family of 4, and that includes all cleaning and health and beauty products.


TIA, Lori

I spend around $130 a month these days, including toiletries, for 4. $35 of that is milk now that DH is away. Actually this month I only spent $45 excluding milk lol It pays to have your DH go away for the month!

Oh that includes cat food and litter too. I challenge myself every grocery trip to beat the previous month. :)

$200 - $250 for a family of four - that is all organic, whole foods.

My budget is $50.00 for food, cleaning supplies, HBC and dog/cat food. I actually spend anywhere from $40-$65.00 a week. Oh, and we're a family of four.

Help! I need to take lessons from all of you! I'm spending at least $100 a WEEK for a family of four, one is 9 months old and barely eats anything!!

I try to keep the costs down and I don't think I buy extravagant amounts of food, or anything real expensive. What am I doing wrong? :confused:

we are a family of 3 and we spend 150$ a month. All things included, toiletries, pet food, cleaning supplies, etc.. And all whole foods, fresh foods, NO mixed prepackaged foods.

We spend about $350 a month for family of 6, but I can reduce it to around $250 if I OMC because I make enough for dinner and lunch the next day. I usually OMC for a few months then give it a break or a couple. I think I spend more in the summer because I want more convenient food and I hate to put things in the oven when it is hot, as if it is ever HOT in the PNW, LOL!

Kristan

wow,

i thought i wass high onprices lol. but i spend anywhere from 64-100 a month on a family of 3 soon 2 be 4. and we always have allot of leftovers left before the next month time to shop.

you big spenders. lol just kidding. but thats my budget 64-100 a month. that INCLUDES. tissue, from sam's we get the one that has 36or 48 rolls in it, and they last us over a month. and soap and everything.

i shop at save a lot, and kayes, and everyewhere, except KROGERS' avoid KROGERS' unles they have a sale. lol, krogers food is exspensive. i spent 50 bucks there one time and came out with like 5 bags:eek: i was like no way.

so it can be done. trust me, and when u are in hard times and money is tight. we always spend 65 a month. and that includes meats, and all. i don't use tampons or pads, since i was using cloth diapers. for my pads, and had them for over a year. and they are still good. i just take them and fold them like a pad, and sew them up and down the sides, and for light days i take 1 and cut it in half, and do the same and have 2 pads from one diaper. oh yea and i use the cheap kind from walmartt. gerber i believe. 12 for like 12 bucks, and they have lasted me over a year. the only thing i did wrong was bleachthem, and got major holes and tears.

hth

I need help too!!! I'm spending about $100 a month for a family of four (one 7 months) and thats with help from WIC. I thought I had something going on with my cheap shopping. Are we eating to well?

Any suggestions out there for those of us who are apparently spending TOO MUCH!

I spend between $25 and $30 per week for the 3 of us- it inculdes everything and we eat meat every day just about.

Originally posted by miltay
I need help too!!! I'm spending about $100 a month for a family of four (one 7 months) and thats with help from WIC. I thought I had something going on with my cheap shopping. Are we eating to well?

Any suggestions out there for those of us who are apparently spending TOO MUCH!

I'm confused, , you are spending 100$ a MONTH and you think you are spending too much? I think spending 100$ a month is INCREDIBLE! I aspire to get that low and I am the queen of cheap!

BIG TYPO. I meant $100 a WEEK! Wish it was a month.
:eyes:

I need help too!!! I'm spending about $100 a month for a family of four (one 7 months) and thats with help from WIC. I thought I had something going on with my cheap shopping. Are we eating to well?

i hit the pak n save every 2 weeks and spend about 60-100 each time. more if alot of staples are on sale, less otherwise. i dont 'usually buy nonfood stuff like tp and detergent, i get that at Costco every 6-8 weeks. i'm always looking for ways to cut it back but really food wise that amount is ok for us. We get a little caught up at Costco if we all shop together, dh like the electronics and tools and i get all excited w/ the books and clothes, lol.

I spend about $500-600 per month for a family of 7. That includes all toiletries and sposies right now for 1 child. Also includes cleaning supplies... basically anything you can get at the grocery store. We do eat meat and some packaged stuff too. I have 5 kids and get easily overwhelmed, so I have been making some non-crunchy (sposies, some packaged foods) choices in order to be a more gentle mama. :)

miltay, what part of the country do you live in? Maybe you could save your receipts and make a list of what you buy for the month and we could give you some tips? That may be a bad thing to do though... don't know if I could open myself up like that, lol!

I had a friend who spent that much for a family of 4 (although no WIC). She was curious why we spent so much less and we asked her if she bought a lot of prepared foods and name brand stuff. She said nope, not at all.

Weeellll... then I was there when she opened her cupboard one day. All Campbell's soups and namebrand stuff, lots of it prepared. Heard her talk about always having a Stouffer's Lasagna in the freezer "for those nights" when she didn't want to cook. Dh worked for her dh for a while, and he always had Yoplait yogurt and other prepared/name brand things to eat.

My point isn't that she was making bad choices, b/c they were her choices to make of course. But her perception of what she was buying was entirely different then what the reality of her grocery shopping.

So my suggestion would be to record for one month absolutely everything you buy, and each item amount. Then take a look at that, noting which things you could do without (mine would be the inordinate amt of $ I spend on ice cream, lol!) and which you could make from scratch easily (for example making pancakes from scratch only takes a few extra minutes).

Another thought is to look at what types of items you are buying. It's cheaper to make homemade stroganoff then Hamburger Helper for instance. My friend makes Minute Rice which is *insanely* more expensive then regular. It saves her only 10 minutes of prep time (which just sits there, not like you have to stir rice or anything). She knows and it's worth it to her.. not judging her choice, just some things to calculate.


Make small changes... switch from soda to Kool Aid if that's a temptation. Then go to water only etc. Make a thick white sauce rather then buying those nearly $1 cans of cream of ... soups. Buy oatmeal in bulk for breakfast rather then having eggs or cereal. Lots of the "little things" can really add up.

I used to be really great at frugal grocery shopping. Now I'm just on survival mode... as in: what can I buy that will help me survive my chaotic family lifestyle!! :) So not trying to dole out advice like you "should" follow it, just giving some ideas of things that have helped me (and will again when I choose to implement them).

We spend about $250 a month for our family of three. I try to buy as much organic as possible b/c I think it's really important, even if it is a little more expensive. I consider it an investment in our health. I buy very little packaged, processed food and make all of our "treats".

Ugh! I'm so jealous! Right now, we spend about 400$ month for a family of 3! I'm working on it though- I'm fed up with huge grocery bills! Today I went to our local super wal-mart, and managed to walk out of there having spent only 55$. That should get us though the week.

We do tend to buy a lot of pre-packaged foods, which I think hurts our wallet in the long run.... but it is hard to spend time preparing meals when we both work! Plus, I've never been too much into cooking- quick and easy appeals to me.

But, if we ever want to get out of debt and eventually buy a house, I guess I better start buying less pre-packaged food and meat.. (dh is a real meat, potatoes, and veggie man- wants to have that kind of dinner every night!)

Blessings and peace...

Aimee
:butterfly

Originally posted by das madchen
But, if we ever want to get out of debt and eventually buy a house, I guess I better start buying less pre-packaged food and meat.. (dh is a real meat, potatoes, and veggie man- wants to have that kind of dinner every night!)

Blessings and peace...

Aimee
:butterfly

My family is the same way- we eat meat every day. I make it affordable by buying it in a warehouse type of store or at a regular grocery store when it's on sale. I don't spend more than $.29 per lb for bone in chicken, $1.50 per lb for boneless chicken breasts, $.99 per lb for hamburger and $2 per lb for beef. It's hard, but possible if you buy in bulk when you find a good price and divide the huge amount of meat up into meal size portions. I double wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze the chunks in labled ziplock bags.

I hope that might help a little.

I've been bugging dh about getting a membership to Sam's or Costco. I'd love to start buying bulk, but I am not sure where we would put it all! Makes me wish we had a deep freezer- but we live in a condo and have no place for one! Those are good prices that you are paying for meat though!

I guess my issue with trying to find inexpensive meats is that I am rather picky about the fat content. I like my ground meat to be at least 91% lean and if I eat steak, it is usually sirloin. I like red meat a lot, but I can't stand it if it is too fatty- ugh! Chicken is a little easier to find good deals with, so we tend to eat that more than anything else. I also like to eat fish at least once a week, but again, that can get more pricey.

How do you find the quality of meats at warehouses, compared to smaller grocery stores?

Aimee

Originally posted by das madchen
I also like to eat fish at least once a week, but again, that can get more pricey.

Aimee

I just came from Costco, boneless salmon filets we on sale for 2.39 a lb in 4-5lb pieces. I bought 2 and cut them up. I used to buy it in the supermarket and thought 4.99 was a deal, lol!

Wow!!!

I stumbled upon this thread and will now keep checking this forum. D/H and I really need a budget -- have never had one. Our finanances are getting pretty tight.

We easily spend $100 - $150 per week on groceries/cleaning supplies/personal products. Plus, we eat out about 3 times a week! We're definitely doing something wrong.

I recently took stock of our cupboards and we seem to have a lot of stuff -- rice, soup mixes, etc. I am going to try to base recipies on this overstock.

I do buy a lot of convenience foods. I also try to buy organic. We don't eat meat, but we do buy soy products such as veggie crumbles and these are somewhat expensive -- probably more expensive that hamburger meat and I don't know that I could buy them in bulk.

Do y'all use coupons? Search ads? Go to different stores? This will be some work for me. Our family four consists of me, D/H, 3 year old and 17 month old. It's so hard to go shopping with kids and my time w/o kids is so rare -- don't exactly want to spend it going from store to store.

We live in an expensive area -- San Francisco Bay area.

I need to learn how to be more frugal in a lot of areas. Also, I feel we have so much clutter. Our house is Florida (from where we moved two years ago) was twice the size as our house here -- much cheaper too.

Our mortgage is HALF of our monthly income. I really need to learn some tricks regarding groceries.

I buy diapers or pull-ups for D/S, but he is potty training and I don't use many. I use cloth diapers for D/D. I hardly buy anything from the baby section of the store.

Please give me ideas. I read some ideas and have taken note -- welcome more ideas.

Thanks!

Rondi

We spend about $50-60.00 a week for a family of 6, 2 adults and 4 kids under 9.

I buy as much food as I can in bulk and I try to make everything from scratch, including mixes for later use. I have severe MSG and sulfite allergies, so processed foods are out. Plus we do get WIC, get a free Costco membership, and have a grocery closeout store. I also get commodities.

I keep my cupboards full with at least a months worth of food.

Originally posted by das madchen
I've been bugging dh about getting a membership to Sam's or Costco. I'd love to start buying bulk, but I am not sure where we would put it all! Makes me wish we had a deep freezer- but we live in a condo and have no place for one! Those are good prices that you are paying for meat though!

I guess my issue with trying to find inexpensive meats is that I am rather picky about the fat content. I like my ground meat to be at least 91% lean and if I eat steak, it is usually sirloin. I like red meat a lot, but I can't stand it if it is too fatty- ugh! Chicken is a little easier to find good deals with, so we tend to eat that more than anything else. I also like to eat fish at least once a week, but again, that can get more pricey.

How do you find the quality of meats at warehouses, compared to smaller grocery stores?

Aimee

I have a tiny over the fridge freezer, so I can't buy like 40lbs at a time the way I'd like if the price is really good, but I do buy 10 or 15 lbs at a time. If you repackage your meat yourself into packages double wrapped in plastic wrap and then stuck in a ziplock bag, you can fit a lot in a little freexer. Of course I only have meat and frozen veggies in there (and coffee, but that's a personal weakness LOL!). Ice cream and whatnot takes up a lot of room. I don't even have s shelf. :)

As for ground beef- I used to buy the 85% , but I've since read that cooking it and then rinsing it for a few minutes in hot water and then blotting well on paper towels can significantly reduce the fat content on the meat. Now I buy the 73% and I feel reasonably confident that I can boost that to 85% by careful rinsing and blotting. Maybe you could try it with the 85% and see how it tastes/ feels to you.

As for quality, I've never heard anything negative about warehouse stores meat quality. It's all brand name meat, unlike the big sale meat at grocery stores, so I'd guess that if names matter (and I'm not sure if they do or not), the Costco meats would actually be better. I've never noticed a difference in any brand's quality, though. Their handling practices seem very safe, though. In my warehouse club, the meat handling is done in a refridgerated, plexiglass walled room right in front of the meat cases, so you can see exactly what goes on. It's neat to watch, although probably not for a vegan. :)

Good luck! You know, at many warehouse stores, you can get a 1 day pass to try it out.

Well, I'm convinced that I need to get a membership to Costco! It sounds like more work, with having to repackage your meats, but the savings would be well worth my time, I can see! That is good to know that they give a trial one-day membership. I might try to head over there this weeknd and see if they offer that.

I'm also impressed with the prices for salmon that a mama listed- WOW... I'm happy if I can get it here for 6.99 lb!

I am really getting into this money saving with my groceries! I am so tired of writing a check for 100 (or more!) each week for everything we need. It is time to take action! Thanks for all the great ideas, and for giving me the lowdown on shopping at the wharehouses.

Blessings and Peace....

Aimee, mama to Julia 9.4.01 :butterfly