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March 24, 2016 · Leave a Comment

How Much Should My Grocery Budget Be?

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Budget· Budget Tips· Saving

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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?

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Only you can determine what your financial goals a Only you can determine what your financial goals are. If that means you're adding money to your savings account, or contributing to your retirement, while you are paying off debt, then so be it!⁠
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March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠ .⁠ House: $51 March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠
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House: $511.13⁠
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Total Paid in 2021: $8,258.84⁠
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Extra Payment: There isn’t one this month since we were $25 away from zeroing out the budget for our February 15th monthly paycheck. That $25, and monies left from our January 15th paycheck, covered our OOP costs for Hubs’ filling. We also have some savings goals coming up that need to be met, making our debt payments a little lower for the time begin.⁠
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The battle for who can charge what tonight is abou The battle for who can charge what tonight is about to begin. 😬⁠
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A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a bit in our February Budget Check-In about how much of this I think we'll owe, and you can check that out on my YouTube channel if you're interested, but I wanted to say here...⁠
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It was a lot of money for us at the time. Our kids were 6, 2, and 3 months old. I don't think we even had $500 in savings, and I just left a part-time teaching job because it wasn't paying the part-time daycare bill, so paying our portion in full was just a dream I didn't think was achievable.⁠
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Nearly 10 years later, we are still paying off our debts. Student loans suck. But I see this bill as a reminder of how far we have come. Seeing a bill like this doesn't stress me out like it used to, and I know we can easily create a plan that can get it done and out of the way.⁠
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It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budget It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budgeting categories are working out for the pay month.⁠
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Food is looking good this far into our paycheck, probably because miscellaneous - which includes eating out - took a hit with unexpected purchases. Pet is low for this time of the month, and Household is spot on.⁠
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Fuel looks like it'll be lower than last month (yay for weeks of snow days & delayed school starts), and Therapy had one more appointment than initially planned.⁠
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Garden, Dental, Medical & Propane are not included in these estimates so far because those expenses are coming from sinking funds. Once we're done with the month and review the budget, I'll move over the total amount spent from those sinking funds.⁠
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How's your paycheck budget coming along?⁠
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Automating your finances makes saving money and bu Automating your finances makes saving money and budgeting more convenient, and therefore easier on you. Out of sight, out of mind, right?⁠
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Me? I'm going to set up our sinking fund transfers to automate every payday (the 15th of every month). Our bank set up a feature on their app where we can schedule savings transfers now, and I'm going to take advantage of it!⁠
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Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone a smidgen overboard this month!⁠
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I foresee a goal for March's paycheck to at out less than twice. That's where this category went awry. $99.16 of it went to eating out. 😑 Some of it was avoidable, but not all of it. Having to drive to multiple appointments in one day during snow squalls and rearranging our whole day was one of those unavoidable instances.⁠
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Tracking our expenses - much like a budget review - is vital to sticking to your budget!⁠
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