Do You Have a Grocery Budget?
I received this email from reader, Anna:
“I was just thinking it would be very interesting to hear from others on what their grocery budget is and the size of the family and how easy it is to stick to it.”
I think this is an interesting topic to discuss. Why? Well, first I think it’s very important to hear others grocery budgets and how every single one will most likely differ– which is a good thing. We all lead different lives and should have a grocery budget that fits our lifestyle…. NOT someone else’s.
I think sometimes we see how low others grocery budgets are and want to somehow be in their shoes… but by thinking that way you will easily be setting yourself up for disappointment. Instead, be proud of yourself for every single dollar you’re able to save and be even prouder for trying to stick to a budget at all.
My hubby and I love the cash only approach to budgeting– meaning paying with cash as much as possible. We take out $75 every Sunday for groceries, personal care items, and anything else we made need during the week (excluding dining out, entertainment, and gas). This is the amount that works for us and I feel great about being able to stick to the $75 cash we take out every week. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve gone over budget on previous occasions. When this happens, though, we try and scrimp in other areas to get back on track.
Alright, so now it’s your turn…. do you have a weekly or monthly grocery budget? If so, please tell us about your budget and why it works for you. What items do you feel you spend too much on? What keeps you motivated to stick with a budget? Let us know!
I am so glad this topic came up… I have been wondering what others spend and how to stick to it! I started couponing a few years ago, but my hubby lost his job and I was motivated more than ever to save every penny and cut down on all the wasteful things. I looked at all my savings last year and set an agressive budget. For a family of 5 (me and hubby, 14, 10 and 17 month old) we are spending $25 per week. So far this year we are on target! Believe me I did not think it was possible after starting and having a hefty stockpile and using every policy to my benefit (Publix, CVS, Wags, Rite Aid, Target) we are making it. This includes everything (paper products, groceries, baby care items, health and beauty needs)! Yes, some weeks I slim down if I need meat, but we have plenty of food and feel so blessed! I do not cook (meat) every night either so my needs are different then other families. If it was not for this I wonder what could of happened to my family. I am now teaching others how to save big and I am loving the reward.
Wow!!!! Great job on saving!! If your hubby doesn’t have a job yet then I hope he finds one soon ♥
good job sandra! $25/week for a family of 5 takes ALOT of work! I’ve done $25/week for a family of 4 for 3 months just to see if it was possible and it was so rewarding and challenging at the same time and I was amazed how possible it was! Good for you for finding a way to make it work through the hard times! Hope your husband finds work soon!
My husband too was laid off for just over 7 months (he went back to work a couple of weeks ago, thank the Lord!) I have always found it fun and challenging to see what I can save and that went into overdrive when he got laid off and I have only worked part time since our son was born 2 years ago. Well we made it with no problems paying bills & buying groceries, & on my part time wages only, and I give tons of thanks to coupons and shopping sales only. My husband couldn’t believe what I could save (he always knew I was a bargain shopper but never paid much attention to it until now) He now helps me clip my coupons and he even keeps a lookout for great deals. We have a huge stockpile of dry goods, paper products, toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc… and 2 freezers full! My husband has told all of his work buddies how much I save and now they are trying to get their wives to do it too, lol. I feel so blessed to have all that we do. Also a special thanks to Hip2Save for all of your wonderful tips and for doing so much of the couponing “work” for me 🙂 you make couponing even more fun and rewarding while makinging it super easy enough that anyone could do it!
$150/wk on groceries in No. NJ. It’s a high cost of living area and I find that items posted on sale often cost more here – includes toiletries, diapers and pet foods. Me, husband, baby, two cats & a dog. My DH and I both work full-time, my 1.5 yr old is in daycare – the three of us bring lunch each day, plus snacks. We eat dinner at home 6 out of 7 nights. We sometimes do takeout once, too – depending on whether we’re working late a lot. I only buy organic milk/yogurt for my daughter and lately buy organic veg for all of us. We eat a lot of fresh veg & fruit. I think we do really well with coupons/rebates! I love this site.
We are a family of 5, (myself, hubbie, 4 1/2, 2 1/2, and 9mths). I have 1 in diapers, 1 in pullups, and I also do in home daycare. During the average day, I have a total of 7 children in my care. 2 of them are on formula, 3 of them are on baby food. I only provide diapers/pullups for my children. My overall budget for personal care items, dining out, food, and any odds and ends for the kids is $125/week. I would like to get that down further and am working hard on doing so. I think my biggest down fall when I really started couponing was that a good deal was too hard to pass up, whether I needed it or not. So, a little more practice and I’ll get this down!
We set up a budget at the beginning of the year and have been sticking to it well.. We set up 150$/2WKS for groceries, 60 for household/personal care, and 100$ for eating out.. this seems like a lot compared to others.. but I just started couponing 1 month ago.. and am starting to stockpile and thing I will see quite a drop shortly.. to get my hubby into the couponing thing I told him whatever we save in couponing from the grocery/household budget will go towards a big screen tv he wants:) he was pretty excited about that! After that we can re look at the budget to see how much we are spending once I coupon and put that towards out debt..
By the way. it is just me and my hubby…
I started using coupon’s (seriously) March 14th. I can not wait till April 14th to find out how much I spent and how much I SAVED:) I know that it is going to be more than my budget, but I am working on building my stock pile. I try to stick to $100 a week for groceries, toileteries and dog food we are a family of 4 plus 2 dogs;)
WE always had a budget of $200 every 2 weeks for groceries only and honestly seemed to have a hard time sticking to it! I don’t know why when we are a family of 4, but since I found Hip2Save I have been able to cut it down to $120 every 2 weeks and am trying my darndest to cut back some more! Thanks Hip2Save
I’m fairly new to Hip2Save but have been using coupons all my life. I LOVE this site!! I think I’m addicted. We are a family of four and we have never had a budget for groceries. The closest Walmart/Walgreens/Target is 45 minutes to an hour away so I just can’t hop in the car for every good deal. I try to go to Walmart/Walgreens once a week or so. How long does it take to stockpile? Any tips?
It took me 6 months to stock pile. I started with paper products and then cleaning supplies and then personal care products. I went on to food items. I was new to all this an dI didn’t have a computer when I started. Fist I would tell you to but 4 to 6 newspapers per week. You found Hip2Save at a good time. Do this differently then I did. Start with the great coupons you have and when you see a great deal posted, buy several of that item, before you know it you will be stock piled and loving it. I started with paper products because I have great coupons. Toilet paper coupons were $1.00 off, and paper plates coupon was $2.00 off. I paid .50 for paper plates. I stocked up for a year! I bought some on ebay. I have only done this a few times. Several months ago I bought $3.00 Snuggle coupons recieved 20 for $2.50. If I would have paid full price I would have paid $70.00 for 20 boxes, I only paid $9.60. Not bad. Take your time, you will get there!!!!!
Thanks so much! I thought I was doing good with one coupon on a product but clearly the more coupons I have the more I can stockpile! Thanks for the tip. I will try to be patient.
I wouldn’t buy multiple papers; I would just buy multiples of the coupons I wanted from couponclippers.com or some such place. I usually end up not using half the coupons from the paper and papers cost nearly $2.00 each here. Also, do you have a grocery store closer? I never shop at Walmart. They don’t double coupons and many of the prices aren’t that great. The ones around here are NOT coupon friendly. I have better luck at Meijer, Kroger or Cub foods, combining coupons with sales.
I do my grocery shopping at Walmart because it’s the closest — there are a few small family-owned stores closer but the prices aren’t that good and they don’t have much of a selection. I would love it if I had a store close by that doubled coupons! I know Collin says not to be “brand loyal” so in the past month or so I’ve been clipping almost every coupon — only to end up throwing them out at the end of the month because I didn’t use them. Thanks for your help!!
I saw that you stated that you shop at Wal-Mart because their prices were cheaper than your local grocery stores, I used to think that too about ours until I started playing the grocery store/couponing game in full gear 🙂 The closest Wal-Mart to me is 30 minutesaway (I live in a small town) but one of them is right across the street from where I work so a lot of the time I would buy all of my groceries there because it was conveinient and they were cheaper than my local Country Mart (or so I thought) Last year I started to shop the sale ads only each week at Country Mart. I would stock up on items that I could get super cheap and then anything else I would buy I would pick up at the Wal-Mart or whatever was cheapest and convienient for the week. This has saved me TONS! and I am giving business to a local business. Country Mart also doubles any coupon under $0.50 every day of the week (added bonus if the item is also on sale, which is almost always since I mainly shop sale ads & use coupons on those items now that I have a great stockpile) Also Piggly Wiggly doubles anything $0.99 and below everyday of the week & Apple Market doubles $0.55 and below (at least the ones I know of near me). When meats are on sale I stock up, Farmland Sausage goes on sale $1 a roll pretty regular around here and when I see that there are $1 off 2 rolls coupons in the paper I am sure to get extra papers that week, I usually pick up 15-20 rolls of sausage for $0.50 a roll after coupons and that’s a great deal considering Farmland Susage usually runs $2 something a roll regularly. Off brand Frozen Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast usually goes on sale around here for 3.98-4.98 a bag and when it does I get 2-3 bags because it usually runs around $7.98. Sales around here cycle about every 6-8 weeks so when it is on sale pick up enough to last you until that sale comes back around. 10 for $10 deals are also great because they are usually good name brand items that you can also find coupons for, Pilsbury buscuits went on sale about a month ago 10 for $10 and I had $0.30 off coupons that doubled so I got Puilsbury buscuits for $0.40 a roll (not bad considering they usually sell for $2 or more) and then I just incorporate them into meals so that they get used before the expiration and then the sale has usually came back around by then. Hope this helps someone and sorry for being so lengthy 🙂
Also another tid bit…When I see an awsome Deal at our local grocery store, especially 3 or 4 day sales) I go in early the first day of the sale if I can and get what I want, then I go back another day or so later when they are almost always out of that great sale item and I get a raincheck for it (if they ask how many you want always overshoot the number because you won’t have to get that many when you come back but if you do decide that you want that many you are guaranteed the price, also most rainchecks are good for 30 days so if you got what you needed or that you had coupons for that first day, then you can wait until you have used what you got or until you can come up with more coupons and then go back and use your Raincheck.) I’ve done that with the expensive Sargento Shredded Cheese when it was on sale for 2 for $3 and I had a ton of $2 off 2 bags coupons. I bought 20 bags of shredded cheese (I know, sounds excessive but yes we do go through quite a bit of cheese and you can freeze it!) We had went through all of that cheese in 30 days and then I had my raincheck and more coupons so I was able to score even more shredded cheese for just $0.50 a pkg after sale and coupons! That cheese usually runs $4.89 a bag at our grocery store, so that’s a 89.7% per bag! Lastly, my local grocery store has been having coupon flyers at the checkout for probably the last year or so (they are all manufacturers coupons so can be used anywhere, and it just looks like a large newspaper insert). They are free and they never care how many you take (the checkers know me so well that they usually thow a handfull of them in my sacks each time that I am there, lol, it’s amazing how many people pass these great coupons up at the register, and they usually have extras still once they expire and they have to throw them away!) the items that are in these flyers usually go on sale sometime during the valid period for them so that just equals exra savings for those items if you can wait for the sale and stockpile (that’s where I got the sargento cheese coupons, free clorox products {I scored 45 free bottles of bleach, clorox wipes, and green works products, and that’s 45 of each of those items, not total} also they just recently issued a new flyer and then the next week had Dole Salad mixes as well as Oscar Myer Hot Dogs on sale 10 for $10 then with the coupons out of the flyers it made the salad and the Hot Dogs just $0.50 a pkg, and again both of those items usually run over $2 each so that’s a 75% or more savings! and you usually don’t have to buy 10 of the item to get the deals, they ring up $1 each whether you get 3 or 10 of them) Again I hope this helps someone 🙂
I don’t do the drugstore game. (I would say can’t but hate that word).
Family of 5 – 2 adults, 5 yr old, 3 yr old, 1 yr old
Toiletries + paper products + eating out/entertainment + anything at Home Depot/Lowe’s + all clothes + books/gifts/toys + birthdays/holidays + anything purchased online = 600/month
We have a family of six (me and my hubby, three boys 17,14,11 and a girl 7, and a dog). All members of our family,except the dog, eat like an adult. I work from home and the others take lunches. Five months ago, our monthly budget for groceries, personal products, pet food) was creeping up toward $700/month. At the end of the week, mother hubard’s cupboards were VERY BARE. In November, I started stockpiling and couponing. This month I spent $425 and actually have LOTS of food, toiletries and paper products to spare, and a donation stash!) My budget was $450 this month. I had a personal goal of $400 and almost made it. I’d love to get the budget down even further when I have more fully developed my stockpile and couponing savvy. Thanks for all you do!
Me and my husband have been taking the Financial Peace University class through our church and it is wonderful. In this class we have been learning how to budget lots of things, including our groceries. We are a family of 5 and take out $100.00 cash for groceries a week. We have made this work as well as we can each week. We look at the local sale flyers and through our coupons to see where we will get the best deals and then that is where we go. We have the envelope system for groceries, gas, heating bill, blow money, and trash service. This has been the best thing that has happened to us!
Yeah, we are a family of 8 (2 adults, kids aged 15, 13, 10, 9, 7, and 5), 2 cats and a rabbit that eats more than the 2 cats combined. We used to spend $150-plus a week and it was barely enough. Now that I stockpile/coupon, we can do it for under $100/week (usually around $80) and believe me, we have PLENTY of food.
My husband and I have a budget that stays between 100 and 150 a month depending on what we need. Our goal is always 100 though. Usually if we go over its because we needed a lot of essentials. I think the biggest thing that throws us off budget is meat. So, I’ve learned to watch sales and stock up when i can. With a lot of recipes, i’m able to cut down the meat and use half a pound instead of a full pound. This really helps stretch dollars.
We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 3 year old, 1 year old) living in VA. Our grocery budget is $100/week. This includes toiletries, paper products, diapers, cleaning supplies, produce, meat, etc. I usually am close to my budget, but did my BEST budget shopping when having cash in hand. I too seem to be stuck at cutting my trips to the grocery store by 60%, but am determined to knock it down even more!
Before starting couponing (last August), we were spending $750 a month on food/toiletries/diapers/household items for just me, my hubby, and our (now) toddler. Starting this January, I set some serious goals (even though we had been saving for months now), starting with $450 for all of the above for a month, and then decreasing it by $50 every month thereafter. So, February I spent only $400, then March was $350. I am hoping that this month I can get it down to $300 for the month. We are expecting our second child any week now, but I hope to keep it down to $250/$300 each month from here on out! Thanks for your help here!
We are a family of 4, Myself, Husband, 4 year old son and My Mother….. My sister in law came over one night and talked me about coupons. I started in mid Feb. and gave myself that time to learn how to do it all. Then March 1st I have tracked everything on a spread sheet, I don’t have today’s trips to the stores on it but here is were I am.
$1078.74 worth of stuff $658.63 in coupons Paid $445.06
My goal for April is to get the budget down to $300.00 next month for Food/Personal Items & ect. I really think this can happen. I have had to put myself on a schedule or I would run out for every sale. So I am going to Publix 2x a month, (maybe a small trip for a good deal) Target 1x a month and BJ’s 1x month. If that does not work there is always May…. Thanks for all your help……
I have no idea what my hubby and I spend each month on grocery and household items. I love this site sooooo much and recently started seriously using coupons (have a binder as of sunday and i love it). He doesn’t take it very seriously and he stops all the time and buys powerades and other snacks and it adds up. We pack lunch everyday and I cook atleast 5 nights a week. Even though i buy snacks for home and to take to work…he wants something else. Any ideas on how to keep a snacker on budget?
Give him his own CASH weekly budget… he can spend it on snacks, or eating out for lunch or whatever else he likes. Once it’s gone, it’s gone…so he will have to choose wisely. 🙂 My husband and I get $20 a week each. You’d be surprised at how much you can pass up when you know you only have $xx.xx to spend!
We are a family of 5, (myself, hubby and three kids) and we average about $100 per week, total for all the stores that I shop at. This includes groceries, paper products, over the counter meds, and cleaning supplies. Since following this wonderful site, I have seen that number decrease over the last few months. I look forward to going back and checking my spreadsheets to see the actual svaings. We decided this year to put our kids into a private Christian school, and I realized that this site was going to help me to make this dream happen. So far, we are able to have the kids in the best school ever, and still be able to feed our family. We have been blessed so much by all of your hard work Collin!!
I became a “couponer” about a year ago. My daughter was three months old. Before she was born and up to that point we were easily spending well over $400/month on food alone for just the two of us. If I had to guess, I would say that we spent close to $200 (maybe more) on toiletries, household items and incidentals. Crazy! When I first started couponing, I can’t say that I saved money–I just bought more stuff for the same amount of money! My hubby has helped settle me a little, and since September I am happy to say that I stick pretty close to $350/month for food for the three of us. Much of our diet is dairy free and we don’t eat meat everyday. Also, we eat very little prepacked foods and lots of fresh produce, which cuts out a lot of the grocery store deals that one can get. Our miscellaneous budget is now $125/month, and we didn’t spend it all this month! So for our family, I am very happy with the budget that we are able to stick to with our needs. Thanks to Collin, we are able to stock up on toiletries cheap (my hubby loves the “store” in the hall closet. never has to worry about requesting what he needs) and then buy stuff we may not have (ex: Toy Story 1 & 2!) and still stay UNDER budget.
I have a family of three plus 6 pets. Me, my husband, 11year old son, dog, 4 cats and a rabbit. I dont have a grocery budget, but since I started couponning only 6 weeeks ago, I spend only a fraction of what I used to spend and have all my pantrys, kitchen and bathrooms stocked to the ceiling. We cook at home 6-7 nights a week. Since we are well stocked with almost everything including meat inthe freezer for 3-4 weeks, I just buy the mega bargains that I get with coupons. This week, I only needed bread and milk, so I spent $60 bucks on stocking up. I love this site and I am addicted to couponning. It’s my new favorite hobby………..my MONEY SAVING hobby!
I have a rabbit too and I have found that Walmart has the cheapest rabbit supplies—hay, food, and bedding. The only thing I ever get at Walmart is pet supplies. I have yet to find a coupon for bunny supplies!!!! You can get a huge bag of food for under $8.
This is a nice way to also get to know each other. : ) Hello, I’m Sandy and shop for a famiy of 3. Husband, myself, and daughter in her 20’s, one dog. Budget for me is kind of different how I count mine. I take out $200 weekly. This is for ALL grocery type products, gas, eating out and clothing ! Meat and clothing are the bigger issues. Good deals to be had at fashion bug Yes I will go to a resale shop by my mothers GREAT deals to be had there in clothing too. Happy to coupon and laughing as I have a years worth of laundry soap and snuggle stockpiled Ha ha ha ha have fun !
Family of 4 + 2 dogs…. $500 a month for all… groceries, laundry/toiletries, diapers/formula, gas, eating out. We started the middle of Jan and have stuck to it! Cash only has definately helped! I even had $80 left today (end of the month)! Our biggest challenge was cutting back on eating out. It’s tempting, but with all the food I have stockpiled, I just don’t have an excuse. 🙂
I use the Envelope method where we put in $200 each Monday(becuase I am a waitress and work only Sundays and Tuesdays So I usually have at least $100 after my shift on Sunday) We use that for the weeks groceries and anything special like eating out. We put anything we have left in our vacation fund. I am hoping that I can cut down much more now that I am paying more attention to what we are spending. I would say before I would spend an easy $250-300 a week on groceries, diapers , and cleaning products. We are usually able to save about $100 a month from that $200. Our family is a family of 6(myself, Hubby, and four sons 11,10,9, and 2 1/2) I cannot wait to be done with potty training!!! So far so good!
I never had a budget but I know that typically there is a certain amount of money left over in my checking account at the end of every month. It’s usually around the same, give or take $50 bucks. Since December it’s been slowly growing, so something is going on!!!
It’s me, my 15yr old son and my 8 month old son.
I volunteer at a food bank, so they INSIST I take 2-3 bags of food every week (for 4 hours work.) and I help my church on Saturday and they always INSIST I take 2 bags of expiring goods (because it will go to the trash). So staples we don’t pay for: onions, potatoes, greens, fruit, canned food, rice, noodles,cereal, etc. except for a few special things. This is something you could mention on your blog. I’m going to mention it too. Food banks need more than money and donations, they need labor. And a lot of the donations go in the trash because (other than canned food) they cannot give away certain perishables that are past expiration. So they often unload these expiring meats and foods on their volunteers (e.g. you should cook it that night and freeze it). It’s a good way to stretch the budget and to help the community in the process.
Secondary to that, coupons and deals make my hygiene products very cheap. I often buy things I don’t use because my family and friends could use them.
I spend about $100 per week on everything except bills. This includes food, household, beauty, take-out, diapers, formula, entertainment, everything.
And I am trying SUPER HARD to make it even less or to get more value from what I buy. Wish me luck!
Wow on the info on the food bank – I know I always think that they need items and labor doesn’t even occur to me even though my son used to volunteer at one. I think I will look into that. Thank you for mentioning it.
I wish you all the luck with shrinking your weekly spending and finding all those great deals 🙂
Right now our budget is about $300 a month for groceries, personal care, and general household stuff. (Seems high compared to others on here 🙂 ) My husband & I are both unemployed right now so we eat at home pretty much all the time. The eating out budget is less than $100 a month. I’m thankful for this site because I have couponed all my life but now I have been able to take it to a new all time high. I think I can get our grocery bill down to $250 a month soon since my stockpile keeps getting bigger! 🙂
I hope you both find jobs very soon ♥
Our budget is about $250 a week for groceries, for a family of 5. That is almost all organic food, including specialty items for one child that has multiple food allergies. Our personal care budget is about $100 a month, and is again higher because most of what we buy is natural (Tom’s of Maine toothpaste and deodorant, Seventh Generation and Method cleaners, Burt’s Bees shampoos, etc.).
SO glad to know I’m probably NOT overspending then, as we eat almost exclusively organics too (except when an item is impossible to find organic – then as ‘all natural’ as we can find) and do all natural personal care/vitamins/supplements, etc. We are a family of three (two adults, one preschooler) and spend probably $125 a week, sometimes less, which is about half of what you guys do (and we have half the people, so hopefully that’s spot on!). My husband has soy, peanut, bean, & legume allergies (I know, yikes right?!) so it makes lunch and suppertime more expensive since his only source of real protein is often meat and at this point in the game, I just don’t have the time (or energy?) to make a meat meal for supper for him and a veggie meal for our son & I. Anyhow, thanks so much for your post. It helps to know I’m not overspending. 😀
Glad my high grocery bill could make you feel better. 🙂
We are a family of 8. All boys ages 12, 11, 9, 7, 5, and 3. I have 3 (yes THREE) still in pull-up/goodnights and we spend about $600-$700 a month on groceries. That MAY sound like a lot but once upon a time it was $1000-1200 a month!! I’ve been couponing for a year now and I am THRILLED to cut my budget almost in half. And the best part is I have built up a large stockpile too.
We did not have a budget for groceries, but since I started couponing(January), my husband says that my credit card bill has dropped an average of $900-$1000 dollars a month!!!! We have a huge pantry and it is stocked better than ever. I opened up a Christmas account and have deposited all of my rebate checks in that account. I already have over $150 saved for Christmas. My husband is thankful for this website!
oh! I like that rebate check idea! I think I’ll use it…secretly! should be fun!
We have a famly of 6 (4 kids under 10). Before couponing I spent $750 a month. Now I try to keep it around 400-500. We used to run out of quite a few things at the end of the month, and now we always have a large stockpile of food! That amount includes some going out to eat. I put $750 in a separate bank acct. at the beginning of each month, otherwise it always somehow gets spent. Our family budget does not usually have room for extras, so I get to use whatever I don’t spend out of the $750 on things like clothes, gifts… and we don’t have to stress everytime someone needs a new something. Also, sometimes I get to buy stuff for ME! and it’s really nice! I try to spend the least I can on all pantry/personal care items, so I can buy loads of fresh veggies and fruit!
My family consists of my husband, me, 6 yr old girl, 1 yr old girl. I go grocery shopping about every wk and a half to every 2 weeks. I spend $ 100 on those trips. In between i’d say we spend about $50 more. So we’re up to $250 and once a month to a month and a half i buy meat and other goodies at costco and spend about $150. Then diapers are $35. So now $435 and we really don’t spend a lot on personal care items i get a lot for free and have a big stockpile. We spend at least $50 on eating out every month. Seriously i don’t know how we make it every month but we manage. Oh and i do splurge every once in a while and buy a laundry basket of fruit for $15 bucks from bountifulbaskets. The rest of our income goes to bills and morgage.
We are a family of 8(hubby, myself, 2 boys 13 & 11 and 4 girls 9,4,2 &11mo) we were spending about 1200 mo for groceries(YIKES!!!!) between weaning hubby down from eating so much meat, and of course everyone else following, I”m about 7 mo into couponing now and this month we spend just over 500!!!! I”ve been stocking up madly, our pantry is loaded as are the freezers. I believe we could live for about 6 weeks without much trouble other than a little fresh fruits and veg. I’m aiming to get us more like 300 for April.
We do have some special diets to keep in order so we spend more than we would if those weren’t part of life. the 2yr old has celiac disease so she is on a Gluten free diet, her food alone is about 100-150 mo right now. we also have dairy allergy across the board, 3 with peanut allergies, 2 with tomato allergy enough that we have to cut it out for them.
We also have 2 boys 18 and 10 and 3 girls 16, 15 and 12 who are here part time. 3 have special diet needs as well
A HUGE thanks to Collin for all her help in getting us here! 🙂 we’ve been able to nearly finish our house with the savings!!!!! 🙂 You’ve been our angel!
I’m a college student with a part time job and support from my parents. I’m grateful for their help and feel motivated to make the most of their money. I have set a goal of $200 dollars a month, or $50 dollars a week. I hope this goes down as I start to stock up on things. I live by myself and so I’ve just recently started freezing left overs or making double batches of things and freezing what I don’t use right away. Cooking for yourself definitely helps. I’ve drastically reduced how much I eat out and host dinner parties instead. I have a dog and was thrilled to see the Purina ProPlan coupons in the Sunday paper. My monthly “income” (parental aid) is about 1,000 dollars unless I make more in my job. It is really hard to stick to this sometimes, but in addition to couponing and wonderful people like Collin, Mint.com is a fabulous budgeting site. I found it through the walletpop ad on this page. I feel like if I can learn to make this work while I’m single, I’ll do wonders when I have a real income.
Hubby and I live in So. ME and spend about $65-$75 a week on groceries (shopping in NH) – this usually includes any paper supplies, toiletries, ect. We brown bag 99% of our lunches and cook all of our meals at home. We eat lots of fruits, veggies and pasta, with meat usually incorporated as part of the dish, but not the primary part of the meal. We try to buy organic as much as possible and I only use coupons every now and then (I still haven’t got the hang of it!). We have a VERY small apartment so I have no stock pile what so ever and am always having to buy what I need for my recipes each week. We do buy our basic stock items at Sam’s club (toilet paper, olive oil, soap, shampoo, dish soap) which has lasted us for almost 6 months! I also make all of our own cleaning products from things like baking powder and vinegar and the like. At the moment it’s just the two of us with a little one on the way! Since we plan on doing cloth diapering I don’t foresee the grocery bill increasing to too much. =)
We were budgeting $150/wk for a family of 4 for several years- (2 adults, 12yr old, 6yr old), and were considering raising that limit to $200wk, because we were finding our cupboards bare before the end of the week! I’ve been couponing and using this Hip2Save and SouthernSavers for about 2-3months and I am spending about $100/wk for the past 4 wks- including all sort of extras like makeup, extra TP, games for upcoming BDays, etc…. We are stoked! We have more food in our pantry than we ever have and hope that our budget just gets lower and lower and our pantry fuller and fuller! Thanks Collin for this site- I would never be able to figure all this our on my own!
I cryed when I saw what you, guys, are able to do. I admit that I have a spending problem, last month we paid more than $6000 on credit card bills. I use my credit cards for everything, and I agree, I get carried away and just buy without thinking that I need to pay the bills afterwards.
But starting today, I want to start spending $100 every week on groceries. Gas will probably be another hundred. But I hope we can do this within $1000 a month.
I bookmarked this page, so from time to time I can read it again.
Thank you, God bless every one of you! Have a happy Easter!
So I was trying to read all these comments for REAL and all I could see out of the corner of my eye was Collin dancing around in fast forward mode on the right side of the screen- how HYSTERICAL!!! and distracting- i think you’re advertising your banner ads in your lemon t-shirt- haha! Does anyone see this?
I love this blog- you give the best money saving tips and you’re an absolute RIOT! I’m glad you have fun doing this- I really enjoy this everyday!
I guess I’m not doing as bad as I thought. We are a family of 7 (me, my husband, and 5 kids ages 9,8,7,6, and 6). My 6 year old son eats just as much as my husband. Then we have 6 cats and 2 dogs ( one dog is actually the neighbors but they stopped feeding him about a month ago so we took him under our wing). Our weekly budget for “food” is about $100, before I started couponing 4 months ago our weekly budget was $250. This does include breakfast and lunch for 5 kids everyday but excludes my husbands meals when he works out of town every other week. Our weekly budget for “personal items” is now at $30 a week. I am finally at a point where I am happy with my stock pile; even though I don’t have 30 Air freshners!
i’m a terrible budget girl. I have 4 children and we run around CONSTANTLY! Also kids come to me daily needing anywhere’s from 15-40 for something at school. I spend about 300 per week on groceries/eating out/ and household items. Way too much!
It is just me and my boyfriend. I only spend $300 on all food and bath stuff. I just wish I could get better deals on TP and PT, well any paper products. I can go to Sams and get TP for 21cents per roll in a 72 roll bag, and have not seen any deals that is cheaper than that….has anyone else?
I struggle with my budget of $150 per week for groceries, toiletries, diapers, etc for 2 adults and 2 kids (4 and 2). One is in diapers and one in pullups. We use cloth diapers about 1/2 of the time for cost and environment. I have been couponing for about a year. We really focus on eating healthy and limit processed foods. Milk and yogurt are always organic and fruits and veggies on the “drity dozen” (such as strawberries and apples) are always organic. I have a stockpile of (healthy) cereal, pasta, spaghetti sauce, frozen vegetables, whoe wheat bread, shampoo, conditioner and razors – but my stockpile is not where I would like it. Anyone else in the same situation? Any suggestions?