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My original post only included groceries. I did not factor in what I spend for meals at work. In that case, the major grocery shopping is approximately $300/month for my family of 3 but there are the day to day things we pick up here and there so that's probably another $20-$30 per week. I like to keep my freezer stocked with meats and fish but sometimes we forget to defrost something. I spend about $12-$15 per day between breakfast and lunch while at work. There are times I bring something but more often than not, I do buy while I'm here. We order pizza 1-2 times per month so that's another $20-$40 and Chinese take out maybe once a month but that's never more than $20.
I'm not accounting for hubby, as he's not working now.
One day I calculated how much I spend ONLY on coffee at work. It came out to almost $450 and that's calculating only 1 cup (I rarely buy 2)! We have coffee in the office but it's like like mud.
$600 for groceries (includes the bulk plus the random day to day small stuff)
$250-$300 for breakfast/lunch
$60 for pizza or Chinese takeout
How much do we spend? A whole fricken lot lol. It's amazing how we don't realize how much we spend until it's on paper.
My original post only included groceries. I did not factor in what I spend for meals at work. In that case, the major grocery shopping is approximately $300/month for my family of 3 but there are the day to day things we pick up here and there so that's probably another $20-$30 per week. I like to keep my freezer stocked with meats and fish but sometimes we forget to defrost something. I spend about $12-$15 per day between breakfast and lunch while at work. There are times I bring something but more often than not, I do buy while I'm here. We order pizza 1-2 times per month so that's another $20-$40 and Chinese take out maybe once a month but that's never more than $20.
I'm not accounting for hubby, as he's not working now.
One day I calculated how much I spend ONLY on coffee at work. It came out to almost $450 and that's calculating only 1 cup (I rarely buy 2)! We have coffee in the office but it's like like mud.
$600 for groceries (includes the bulk plus the random day to day small stuff)
$250-$300 for breakfast/lunch
$60 for pizza or Chinese takeout
How much do we spend? A whole fricken lot lol. It's amazing how we don't realize how much we spend until it's on paper.
This is why I do write it out. We were over $800/month at one point, with take out and fancy beer and no one knew why we had nothing in savings. Its hard to beleive $650/month is a cut back! And I cook almost every meal...hubby takes brown bag lunch and we make our iced coffee - jeeze
It true you don't realize how much you spend until you take a good look at it. This is why I take out $300 at the beginning of the month. That's all my money to spend on groceries, drinks, dining out, necessities, toiletries, etc. When it's gone, it's gone and that's it for the month. Sometimes I run out on say the 25th of the month and then I just have to deal with what I have at home till the next month. Other months I have money left over and just add it to the next month. But its my way to always stay at the $300 mark every month. For some it wouldn't work but for me I've been doing it for years and works wonderful for me.
This is why I do write it out. We were over $800/month at one point, with take out and fancy beer and no one knew why we had nothing in savings. Its hard to beleive $650/month is a cut back! And I cook almost every meal...hubby takes brown bag lunch and we make our iced coffee - jeeze
Oh dang it. I didn't factor in beer! That's something we keep on hand and hubby doesn't drink cheap beer either. I wouldn't even know how to calculate it because he's all over the place with it and I don't ask. I do know that sometimes he buys single bottles (they're probably 32 oz or so) and they're just under $10 each. If I let him do the grocery shopping he would buy whatever his hand grabs and not look at prices, that's why I do the bulk shopping. I see what's on sale and often times I use store brands. There are certain things though that we will not buy store brand and stick with name brand. We don't eat a lot of cereal but when we do buy, he doesn't like store brand. I'm ok with "Ring O's" whereas he wants Cheerios. There's at least a $3 difference in price sometimes. When we rented we had more disposable income so we spent way more.
It true you don't realize how much you spend until you take a good look at it. This is why I take out $300 at the beginning of the month. That's all my money to spend on groceries, drinks, dining out, necessities, toiletries, etc. When it's gone, it's gone and that's it for the month. Sometimes I run out on say the 25th of the month and then I just have to deal with what I have at home till the next month. Other months I have money left over and just add it to the next month. But its my way to always stay at the $300 mark every month. For some it wouldn't work but for me I've been doing it for years and works wonderful for me.
This is super smart! I have a friend that took a financial seminar and said that this was the the number one tip to take away. Most of the time we have no concept of how much money we are spending, especially when one is quick to swipe the card. It's almost as if money has no value on a card- you can't actually "see" the money leaving your pockets so you just swipe without thinking. She uses a similar tactic with using a set amount of cash, especially when she goes out for dinner or drinks. She'll take, say, $60 and that is ALL she can spend that night. So if she wants to dink the night away, she'll have to pick beer over top shelf liquor. Of course she can always use her card if she runs out of cash but when that happens, she is very conscious that she just went over her limit and will think twice about whether or not what ever she is buying is crucial/necessary.
$300 per month is not nearly enough for us two. We don’t eat a lot of packaged foods/pastas/rice dishes, etc., so it’s hard to make cheap food. We do eat out a few times per week. I also buy breakfast at work and some snacks throughout the day. It’s hard to say. But just on groceries, $300 would not last us a month. Maybe more like $500 and even then, some meals are enjoyed out.
And our $600 doesn't include beer and hooch either.
But the maraschino cherries for the Manhattans and the lemonade for the whisky sours are in there.
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