YNAB You Need A Budget

[spooksmcgee]

Let me know your spending on groceries PER PERSON. I am spending around $400 a month on groceries, and $150 a month on eating out, for one person. I'm cutting back the eating out while I'm on a new diet, but I'm wondering if my grocery bill isn't too high. 10 years ago, I was spending around $1500 a year on groceries. Almost $5000 seems like too much. And I think I waste a lot of food. For instance, many times I will buy a loaf of bread or bunch of bananas, then never get around to eating any of it before it goes bad.

[indigoEMT]

Laurie and I budget 50-75$ per week for groceries. And we spend about 100 a month eating out. These are averages so that would total out to 200-300/month in groceries for 2. Not bad--it's been a long time since I've added it up and looked at it like that - thanks for asking!

[Patzer]

My par budget has $175 for Groceries:Food and $60 for Recreation:Dining. This covers me and part of my daughter's food; she buys some of her own groceries.

For my lifestyle, the biggest driver of high grocery expense is convenience. I like the convenience of semi-prepared foods, but it's a lot cheaper to buy more basic ingredients and do more of the cooking work myself. it would be cheaper yet if I could get myself to do meal planning and stick to the plan, but I'm not there yet. I might never get there.

Patzer

[virago317]

We spend an average of $250-$300/month for groceries (household non-edibles are a separate category) for the two of us, so $150 or less per person. I'm lucky that my husband is a great cook and is willing to make most of our meals from scratch, so that helps us economize. We try to spend less than $100/month eating out, and a good month will come in under $50 for the two of us. $400 does seems awfully high for just one person... you may want to look into inexpensive and easy options like crockpot meals, which will only cost a little to make a lot of food that cooks itself while you're at work.

[meggyh20]

My husband and I spend about $400/month for both of us including all toiletries/household items/dog food for one big dog. We usually spend 100-150/month on eating out. We use the grocery game so usually we save anywhere from 40-60% on each grocery bill just buying what is on sale w/coupons. We also splurge on some things like fruit smoothie drinks, sometimes soda, and other treats. Your bill does sound kind of high and it sounds like maybe a little planning would help so you don't forget to use things you buy. My husband and I used to just go to the store and wander, picking up whatever looked good. Then we'd end up getting home with one meal's worth of food and a bunch of other random stuff that didn't go together. Now we at least plan a little and always have a list when we go to the store. However, we don't make a meal schedule and we often buy convenience foods. I know several of the people who use grocery game who feed families of 4-6 on our budget. I think it's mostly about being organized and knowing what's on sale. Hope that helps!

[llambe]

$437 avg over last 3 months for 3 including groceries/toiletries/household/school lunches but not dog & cat food That would be $145 per person.

Usually we spend $150 going out to eat however during the last 3 months we have forgone that to spend money on fixing up the front yard - our grocery bill went down during that time not up It's been a process for me though with the grocery bill creeping down over the last few years. For example, last year at this time the 3 month avg was $545 or 181/person.

Some of the changes I've made (over several years) are:
Making a list of what we actually use (vs. the yummy looking (or cheap) stuff that just goes bad)
Watch the ads so can buy what's on sale.
Stock up when price is low.
No impulse buying (ok to buy a "deal" for something that's on the general list)
Use coupons (utilizing free online resources like couponmom/hotcouponworld)
Follow a local blog to catch other "deals" (originally followed regional ones until found the local one)
Make a spreadsheet of items bought that calculates the average price (to see the real deals) - print out the avg price list so can check at store
If already have plenty don't keep stocking up (unless it's free w/coupon )

[maryea]

My dh and I spend about $400 a month (so abt $50 week pp) on groceries. This covers everything I buy at a grocery store and most things I buy at a drugstore like Walgreens, so covers more than food. We have very little money in our budget for eating out although I am increasing it a bit starting this month. Also we travel fairly frequently and sometimes we eat out more then (we stay in our RV or condos so we cook most meals). I also try to earn gift cards online for eating out whenever possibly. I just checked my budget and see that we spent $334 so far this year. So far we have not eaten out in June. And that amount is larger than usual because we just returned from a trip to Santa Fe where we cooked very little (rare up to now though will likely be the case more often in the future).

Eta: I am sure I could get this amount down if I really wanted to, but I prefer to buy some organic products and the meat from Whole Foods, plus I allow some $$ for keeping my stockpile built up. There is always plenty food in our house and that's nice when our grown children decide to visit.

Also, The above figure is what I remembered but I just now checked my budget and this year so far we have only averaged $326.24. So I'm pleased. I am trying out a little different way of shopping now and I hope that I can maintain this decline or even go lower...but will see.

[LeNea]

For just me, I usually spend about $250 a month on food. Most months, that works out to about $150 for groceries and $100 for eating out. If I'm out of town a lot that month, it'll be more like $80 groceries, $170 eating out, and when I do not want to leave my house in the depths of winter, it's more like $180 groceries, $70 eating out.

Using up stuff is key to keeping the grocery bill under control. You'd be surprised at how many meals you could make in your pantry right now without going to the grocery store. I cooked dinner for 12 last night without having to run out and buy anything, but I did use up some staples that had just been sitting around. Stockpiling stuff on sale doesn't do good if it never gets used and just gets thrown out! When I think I need just general "groceries", I sit down and make a list of all the meals I could make with what I have on hand. Once I make those, *then* I go to the grocery store. I try to plan what meals I want or would like to make in the next few weeks, take in a shopping list, and stick to it.

[AnimeMom]

Stockpiling stuff on sale doesn't do good if it never gets used and just gets thrown out!

This line really resonated with me. Similar to Jessie's rule about "give every dollar a job" I think I need to give all the food I already have on hand/in my freezer/in my refridgerator a job, rather than continually going out and buying more! (even if it is on sale.)

Great point!

AnimeMom

[Grondhammar]

My wife and I have been wondering a lot about this a lot. We spend about $900 per month on food (avg $150/person), breaking down to $850/mo groceries and $50/mo eating out. My parents told me that's way too much, but for a family of six (one toddler, three teen or near-teen) it appears we're not too far off average per person.

[maryea]

[quote="LeNea". Stockpiling stuff on sale doesn't do good if it never gets used and just gets thrown out! [/quote]

This is so true! This is why I do not do any stockpile shopping the last week of every month...and I plan my meals around what is already in my stockpile and unless I really have to I don't shop at all for groceries that week.

[DaveCrom01]

We spend $75 per week for myself, my partner, and her 17year old daughter (Canadian dollars).

It's not a whole lot, but we do supplement it over 4 months of the year through my growing our own vegetables. I know it's not everyone's favourite thing - but I also hunt, which provides turkey, duck, fish, and (if I'm lucky) venison which can last 6 months. I charge the hunting licence to the "shopping" category just to make sure I do save money!

We don't have an eat-out budget now, we're paying down debt like crazy since we got YNAB!

Dave

[WairereRose]

I spent $432.20 last month for me plus one teenaged boy - and we had two teenaged boys for the last week. Alternate weekends my son is away, and the other weekend I have my daughter as well, so the average is two people all round, plus one cat. I charge the cats food to groceries as well. Since there are 4.333 weeks to a month, that's pretty well spot on $100 per week, or $50 per person per week. That includes all cleaning and hygiene products also.

[5996lauderdale]

Last month we spent 120 dollars for a family of 4 and we lived off the stockpile. This month the budget is 300 dollars. I highly recommend using coupons in conjunction with sales. Also buying enough of the items when they are on sale to last you till the next sale. There are all kinds of websites to help with this. The one I use is the grocerygame.

[volfan85]

Our average monthly grocery bill for a family of five, including three teenagers is about 225.00 each month for groceries and another 200 or so for eating out. I keep household supplies like toilet paper etc. in a separate account so the 225 is just food supplies. We do have a garden, mainly because we enjoy it. I am not sure that it helps out with the food bill that much as it is hard to get my kids to eat vegetables! I try to cook as much as possible from scratch (much easier in the summer when we are not at all those school activities!) I would love to cut the eating out portion of that bill down and am usually pretty successful with that in the summer, but it is very hard to do during the school year. I do include the price of school lunches for the three kids, plus me as I am a teacher, in the eating out portion so that takes up a little over 100.00 each month during the school year. I match coupons to sale items at the grocery store and that is a big savings each month. I also plan our menus around what is going to be on sale during a particular week at the grocery store.