• About Me
  • Disclosure
  • Shop

Making Cents Matter

  • Home
  • Resource Library
  • Budget
    • Budgeting Tips
    • Our Monthly Budget
    • Meal Planning
    • Free Printables
  • Debt Free
    • Debt Free Tips
    • Our Debt Free Journey
    • Free Printables
  • Saving
    • Ways We Save
    • DIY
    • Free Printables
  • Recipes
    • Recipes
      • Breakfast
      • Lunch
      • Dinners
      • Instant Pot
      • Slow Cooker
      • Soups
    • Meal Planning
    • Preserving Food
  • Garden
    • Gardening Tips
    • Preserving Food
  • Shop

March 24, 2016 · Leave a Comment

How Much Should My Grocery Budget Be?

This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.
Click here to read my disclosure policy.

Budget· Budget Tips· Saving

4shares
  • 4

It’s one of the most often asked questions in the budgeting world.  “How much should I be spending on groceries?”    When people start budgeting and hacking away at unnecessary expenses, they seem to have a preconceived notion in their mind that they absolutely have to get their grocery budget down to a set number for their family size.  I’m here to tell you, it’s just not so!  You heard me.  There is NO one set number to need to get your grocery budget to.  And here’s why.

grocery budget

Grocery Budget Depends on Location

Where you live determines what you will pay for groceries.  States like Hawaii, California, New York and New Jersey all have higher cost of living, and as a result, higher grocery costs.  While PA may not be within the top 10, it’s certainly a state with a higher cost of living than other states like Texas, Tennessee and Louisanna.  But this doesn’t apply only from state to state.  Grocery costs can also within a region.  Grocery stores local to me run different sales than stores in the next town an hour away, and their retail prices can will be different too.

 

It Depends on Your Diet

If you eat all organic, unprocessed foods, you can expect to pay a little more than someone who’s buying processed foods.  If you’re on a gluten free diet, or have egg allergies, you may be paying a little more for your food.  In our family, we don’t use regular milk.  The boys drink lactose free milk, while Lady Bug drinks soy milk.  For me, this means I’m spending roughly $35 per month on 5.5 gallons of milk.  If they were able to digest regular milk, I’d be spending under $20 month.

 

Depends on What’s Included

I include household and personal care items in with our grocery budget {although this month I have started breaking it down into different categories}.  Since I include items besides just food in our grocery budget, it makes it difficult for me to compare my budget for my family of 5 to someone who has a $400 budget for a family of 6 and they include only strictly groceries.  The playing field isn’t even.

But it’s not just groceries vs. household.  What about lunches?  Some people budget lunches as a separate line item in their budget rather than buying items to pack for lunch.  For our family, our $500 per month budget includes all meals eaten at home as well as packed lunches for Hubs, Bookworm and Monkey.  Occasionally Hubs will eat out for lunch, but that money comes from our Fun money category for the month.  For the last 3 years, I have packed the boys’ lunches every single day of school.  Buying certain lunch box friendly items may raise my grocery budget slightly, but it also saves in the long run by not buying school lunches.

 

Do You Cook From Scratch

Cooking from scratch can save a lot of money.  If you prefer to make things from scratch, your grocery budget will be less than someone who prefers the ease of convenience foods.  Making things from scratch doesn’t have to stop at recipes though.  Simple things like making your own chicken broth and vanilla yogurt are simple, wonderful ways to make the most out of your grocery budget.

 

Other Factors

Do you garden?  Buy a lot of fresh produce when it’s in season and preserve it somehow?  Have a stockpile?  If you do, your grocery budget will be different than people who don’t have access, space, or the resources for this.

If you do garden, are you able to garden year-round?  Most years, I’m not able to garden from the beginning of late October through the end of March.  It’s simply too cold for anything but the crows to thrive outside.  But some people in Washington and Oregon are able to have shard, lettuces, and carrots growing in their gardens in January.  Then there’s places like California and Florida.  A few years back Hubs and I were in Florida for spring break in March, and there were fresh strawberries.  That doesn’t happen until June for us up in the north!  By the way, I’m completely jealous of you folks that can have winter gardens.

All that being said, if you want a good starting point for your grocery budget, the USDA publishes estimates on the cost of food every month.  According to their estimates, our family should be spending $606.80 a month under the thrifty plan.  While we do spend less than that a month, some of our dietary restrictions make it hard to reduce our bill any lower.  If we wanted to get “liberal” with our grocery prices, their estimates suggest we should be spending nearly $1,198 a month on food.  For reference, that’s very close to what we were spending each month before we started to get our budget under control.

The heart of the matter is this: please don’t get caught up comparing your grocery budget to someone else.  Everyone is different depending on situation, location, and dietary needs.  It’s okay to wonder for an estimate, but don’t dwell on it and let yourself get frustrated over it in the end.  You’re comparing apples to zucchini.  As long as the end result is a reasonable grocery budget that sufficiently feeds your family, you’re going in the right direction.

So now’s the time to spill.  What’s your monthly grocery budget, and what’s your family size?  Do you include toiletries and household items in your grocery budget?  Do you have a garden to help cut your bill?

Related Posts

  • Berry Coconut Crumble BarsBerry Coconut Crumble Bars
  • How To Determine Your Budget CategoriesHow To Determine Your Budget Categories
  • October 2018 Debt UpdateOctober 2018 Debt Update
  • Homemade Condensed Cream Of SoupHomemade Condensed Cream Of Soup
  • 30+ Frugal Pantry Staples30+ Frugal Pantry Staples
  • Instant Pot Shredded ChickenInstant Pot Shredded Chicken
4shares
  • 4
Previous Post: « 5 Mistakes Beginner Gardeners Make
Next Post: 2016 Debt Free Progress: March »

Reader Interactions

Want access to our resource library? Sign up for our free email list!

* indicates required

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube





makingcentsmatter

This is what school looks like when it's a hybrid This is what school looks like when it's a hybrid model, and your house does not have unlimited space. I was standing in our kitchen when I took this picture, the kids behind me making lunch.
.
Our district is carefully monitoring our local infection rates, and we are currently in a hybrid form. That means they divided the district into two groups; half are in school on Monday and Tuesday, the other half on Thursday and Friday. They are offering an all remote option, but Verizon for some reason supplies our house with speeds so slow that it would shock a tortoise. Remote was a no-go.
.
This set-up has taken some trial and error to get to where we currently are. Because no matter how prepared you are and how much you've planned, once you're in the weeds, actually doing it, there is no telling how your best-laid plans will work.
.
Our home is a 1800sqft one-story, open living area, 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom, ranch-style house in a very rural area. It has no home offices. No guest bedrooms. Yes, that is a desk in the corner of our dining room. 🤣
.
Each kid gets their own color bin for their school work. This includes school-issued Chromebooks and other standard items they need to get work done - headphones, pencils, and so on. When we are done for the day, we clean up everything, place them neatly in these bins, and place them in cubbies (on my current left) at night while the Chromebooks charge.
.
I do NOT bother to clean up at lunchtime. It would take us more time to clean up and reset everything than it takes us to eat lunch. So we only pack it all up for the day and call it done.
.
During the day, I sit between my younger two and field any questions they may have, troubleshoot technical issues we all have, and be the overall bouncer when things get off-topic. My high schooler will occasionally emerge from his bedroom, which opens to the kitchen. So he is close by when he has questions.
.
Please remember that with all things in life, you need to work with what's available to you. And there is no shame in that. Don't ever feel like you're not doing good enough because it's not picture perfect. Work with what you have available to you, and you'll do amazing things.
School is in session, the garden is slowing, and I School is in session, the garden is slowing, and I’ve finally realized I haven’t shared our payoff numbers for July or August. Yeah……
.
Please keep in mind, we are paid monthly on the 15th, but we don’t go by a “monthly” budget. So I have to go back and look at these numbers based off their due dates in the calendar. Because our pay falls in the middle of the month, I can’t tell you what portion of our income went to debt. It’s going to vary paycheck to paycheck anyways because our priorities vary with each check. Nothing is ever the same month to month, and pay to pay.
.
That said, inJuly we paid off $2,694.43.
In August we paid off $1,673.40.
.
The difference here is that our priorities shifted between the two months.
.
During August, we were doing more prep for whatever school would look like this year, and we had some savings goals make their way to the top of the list as well.
.
Of those goals, in August we made progress!
EF Reimbursement: $146 / $1,200
Checking Buffer Reimbursement: $227 / $500
Vet Sinking Fund: $40 / $200
.
Remember this is a journey, not a race. There is no point wearing yourself ragged and still making no progress. Make progress where you can, and celebrate it. Even if it’s $5.
.
It’s progress, and that’s what matters!
While I wait for the canner to finish the last rou While I wait for the canner to finish the last round... I rearranged our recipe binder. It's only taken me 8 or so years. 🤣😶😭
.
I miss the days when zucchini was my problem. Now it's tomatoes. I can only find so many ways to use up spaghetti sauce! So the next 50lbs or so will be chili base and unseasoned sauce.
.
On top of this school is starting with a hybrid in building & online system. And I'm seriously slacking on some things I need to do. I'm not good at juggling multiple things and the balls are falling. But I keep reminding myself... be patient. This too shall pass. This is only a phase. So I pick and choose what's the most important, focus on that and go from there.
.
So if you feel overwhelmed with your current phase, remember, this too shall pass. It's okay to rearrange priorities. It's okay to take a breather.
.
This too shall pass.
If you didn't start finding interesting ways to ge If you didn't start finding interesting ways to get rid of the squash, can you say you even planted any?
.
Good news, I'm almost caught up! Bad news, the garden has more.
Super busy here... but I wanted to share that wins Super busy here... but I wanted to share that wins can come in super small packages. I thought I'd spend $380 to clean the band instruments in this house. I ended up spending $234. So the remaining $146 can go to reimbursing what I pulled from our EF.
.
No matter the win, celebrate it!
.
What are some wins you have had lately?
In total we have 15lbs green beans, 10lbs cucumber In total we have 15lbs green beans, 10lbs cucumbers, 5lbs blueberries, and countless zucchini and squash with more on the way! My weekend is spoken for... and this isn't all of it. 😳
Rather than looking back through all our non-month Rather than looking back through all our non-monthly bills for the year and try to remember what I paid and when I paid it, I make a note of how much it was on our bill pay tracker. That way I can easily tally it up at the end of the year, set our sinking funds next year accordingly, and not spend more time than is necessary on this... because kids and all.⁣
.⁣
Anyone else do this? Do you have a different method of tracking these expenses?⁣
.⁣
This particular printable is in my Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MakingCentsMatter⁣
It's also part of my budgeting workbook, also in my Etsy shop.⁣
Good news though... there's a very similar free version in my resource library as well. Links are in my profile.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
⁣
#budget #budgeting #sinkingfund #savingmoney #savings  #cashbudget #cash #cashisking #frugalblogger #frugalmom #frugalliving #financialgoals #budgetprintable #personalfinancetips  #personalfinance #debtfreejourney #debtfreecommunity #debtfreeprogress #bs1 #bs2 #bs3  #makingcentsmatter #financialfreedom #debtfree
Probably an unpopular opinion here... but these tw Probably an unpopular opinion here... but these two things are NOT the same to me.⁣
.⁣
𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 paycheck to paycheck means that you're using all of your money for expenses with none left over for savings. This usually happens when you're not aware of where you are spending your money, and how much you are spending. For us, this happened in the form of those tiny expenses that can add up to even larger expenses, and then an unexpected bill comes and you have nothing left to cover it.⁣
.⁣
𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 paycheck to paycheck means that you are giving every single cent you earn a job to do that aligns with your priorities - like in sinking funds, savings, expenses, debt payments, etc - until the next paycheck. You have the money on hand to cover some unexpected expenses, and you are mindful of your spending so that you're not leaking money through small purchases.⁣
.⁣
This doesn't mean that there still aren't bad months. Murphy's Law does happen. But you are aware of the spending, aware of the priorities, and where your money needs to be allocated.⁣
.⁣
So... just because you're budgeting paycheck to paycheck doesn't mean you're living paycheck to paycheck.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.
June's paycheck was a doozy! I haven't looked forw June's paycheck was a doozy! I haven't looked forward to a paycheck since we first made the switch to monthly pays. It was so bad we've got a new order to things.⁣
.⁣
Good news is that if our state keeps closing things down, we should hammer this out in no time!⁣
.⁣
To see the full breakdown of how bad June's paycheck was, check out the June 15th Budget Review on our YouTube channel here https://youtu.be/gXoEo33hIYQ. Link is also in the bio.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.⁣
.
Load More... Follow on Instagram


Gymboree Sale On Now!

Copyright

I love it when you share our content! Please keep in mind that all content, images and text on this site are property of Making Cents Matter. Feel free to use no more than two photos on your own site, provided that a link back to my original post is included. Do not crop, edit, or remove any watermarks from any of my images without obtaining written permission from me first. Thank you!

Copyright © 2021 · Captivating Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in