spend too much on food?

[Anonymous]

For the first time ever, we looked at our credit card bills trying to figure out our monthly expenses.

Based on data for the past four months, in average spent $1,010 in grocery, and $507 in restaurants per month.

We're a family of four - two FT working adults with 4-yo and 2.5-yo boys.

So, would you say we spend about right in this category? I believe we don't spend frivolously, shop at Safeway/Harris-Teeter about 50%-50%, and often go to fast food or Chinese for eating out.

Where do you see we can cut back?

BTW, we also spend $2,000 in daycare, $3,000 on housing, $300 on cars, $250 on gas, $150 on phone/cable, $??? on breakfast and lunch, etc., and some other spendings I don't remember on top of my head. That's $7,200 + $??? per month! It's insane....

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

That's about what we look like too, except we are 2K on mortgage, $400 on gas and $800 on daycare. Our restaurant bill might even be more, but I am wayyy scared to even look at that. How I manage to go through a tank of gas per week when I only commute from my bedroom to the home office downstairs for work, beats the hell out of me.

[Anonymous]

How timely. We just did the same exact thing tonight because we just went down to one income, at least for a while. It's scary when you add it all up. My husband said one of his biggest shocks was our grocery bill. We are a family of three (2.5 year old) and are spending between $600 and $800/month at the grocery store. Lately trending more toward $800. And at least $300/month in gas costs. Of course these line items used to be significantly less...

[Anonymous]

$1K in grocery for a family of four sounds about right. we shop organic sometimes so for us it's about $1200 per month.

we eat out A LOT so i'm way scared to look at the restaurant bills too.

good luck.

[Anonymous]

We spend about 800 for a family of three, and I think that's astonishing. Granted, we pack breakfasts, snacks and lunches for ourselves, make our own coffee, and feed a nanny lunch (so no lunches provided at daycare). I clip coupons and am a bargain shopper. I try to buy organic produce (always buy organic dairy). It blows me away. We eat out a fair amount, mostly cheap stuff (not fast food, but no nice restaurants). I'm afraid to see what that adds up to. We need to go through this exercise with #2 on the way. Thanks for the reminder.

[Anonymous]

We average more like $600-$700 per month now, but I stopped buying all those prepared type foods and buy the basics. I tend to cook a big pot of something like stew on Sunday and we have that for a couple days. We've also been buying bulk chicken and grilling that when we get home and having that with a veggie. I used to shop Whole Foods all the time, now I go once in a blue moon and shop cheaper stores like Shopper's Food or Aldi. But I will pop into Trader's to get produce. It's really hard, no matter what you do. I go through all our clothes each season and list them on Ebay, then I take the money I make from that and buy gift cards for movies and eating out. I've had to rethink how we spend and what we buy.

[Anonymous]

It's not the grocery bills, it's the lifestyle. My mother says that people eat out too much, that we rationalize eating out with "I work hard, I deserve it".

She told me that driving to more than one store to do a weeks shopping costs me more than I save.

Her other big thing is that you should know exactly what you are going to spend on something before you spend it. Like, you should have a lunch allowance and take it to work each day in cash.

She also is constantly telling me and partner that this is just the beginning of some "significant economical shift" and that we should rethink our priorities.

She's an estate planner in Florida and she writes me these emails that just drive me crazy, but I'm starting to think she might be right......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not the grocery bills, it's the lifestyle. My mother says that people eat out too much, that we rationalize eating out with "I work hard, I deserve it".

She told me that driving to more than one store to do a weeks shopping costs me more than I save.

Her other big thing is that you should know exactly what you are going to spend on something before you spend it. Like, you should have a lunch allowance and take it to work each day in cash.

She also is constantly telling me and partner that this is just the beginning of some "significant economical shift" and that we should rethink our priorities.

She's an estate planner in Florida and she writes me these emails that just drive me crazy, but I'm starting to think she might be right......

She's your Mom, she's supposed to drive you nuts.

I think she is spouting some very good advice.

[Anonymous]

The grocery sounds about right, but the restaurant eating is high. And how much enjoyment are you really getting out of the cheap take-out and kid restaurants? Is it worth 6K a year?

We very rarely go to restaurants - only on nights when we feel like walking in to town and celebrating. WE probably only spend $100/month on restaurant eating.

Then, if DH and I want to splurge every now and then and get a babysitter, we can go to a nicer place and enjoy. Not even super fancy, but just quiet and relaxing. All those loud meals at kid-friendly places aren't worth the $$$ they add up to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not the grocery bills, it's the lifestyle. My mother says that people eat out too much, that we rationalize eating out with "I work hard, I deserve it".

She told me that driving to more than one store to do a weeks shopping costs me more than I save.

Her other big thing is that you should know exactly what you are going to spend on something before you spend it. Like, you should have a lunch allowance and take it to work each day in cash.

She also is constantly telling me and partner that this is just the beginning of some "significant economical shift" and that we should rethink our priorities.

She's an estate planner in Florida and she writes me these emails that just drive me crazy, but I'm starting to think she might be right......

OMG - your Mom should meet my DAD! He was visiting us over Easter and there was some debit card commercial on where everyone is paying with debit cards and the whole thing slows down because some poor guy wants to pay with cash. He went NUTS! He said that paying with cash was the only reality check alot of people had left and that encouraging people to pay with credit and debit cards was the "RUINATION" of the economy. He also has a rant about coming "economical shifts" that we have endured each visit this year. My DH says that he is just getting old, but I am starting to think about what he said.

[Anonymous]

We also went down to one income temporarily-started looking over our monthly expenses. Family of 3. Mortgage $1500, no car payments, cable $150, gas $150 (I drive a FIT 24 miles a day, husband is at home for the time being), nanny $1300 (in a share and part-time), [b]FOOD $650-750[/b] I was shocked! I go to certain grocery stores for certain items-Aldis, spahgetti sauce, noodles, albacore tuna...WholeFoods, meat and produce...Safeway, all other items...My Organic Market, my vegetarian food. I'm surprised with the high cost of food these days, that Aldis doesn't have a line wrapped around the building! In addition to our grocery expenses, our eating out expenses were around $200.

I cannot believe how much I spend at the grocery store. It's been predicte3d that gas will be near $5 a gallon by the end of summer-I'm sure food will go up too.

[Anonymous]

Aldis? i've been here for 10 years and never heard/seen this store, not even commercials. where are they?

[Anonymous]

Our food bill is high as well. We spend at least $200 every weekend at the grocery store (roughly $800-$900) a month for a household of four - three adults (we have an au pair) and a 1 year-old baby. I take my lunch every day to work and eat breakfast and dinner at home during the week. We do sometimes eat out on the weekends though. I do not even want to guestimate what we spend on restaurants or take-out.

[Anonymous]

http://www.aldifoods.com/index_ENU_HTML.htm

Years ago-when I was very very poor-I could take $20 to Aldis and walk away with 4 or 5 bags of groceries. It's a german grocery store-no shelves, only boxes. Little to none name brands, but occasionally they might Kraft. I will say that their cereals are good-$1 a box, sphagetti sauce-$1 a jar...and the albacore tuna is 97 cents a can. I will pick up a head of lettuce if I'm there-but never buy meat. My husband thinks the instant oatmeal is better than the name brands.

Only cash or debit card are accepted. I can still take $40 with me and come home with 4-5 bags of groceries.

[Anonymous]

I shop at Save-A-Lot for vegetables, oil, sugar,flour, rice, mac and cheese, butter. The rest of my food such as meats and anything else I go to shoppers. We had to stop eating out. We are a family of 5 and found that if we went to McDonalds we were spending about $35 at a time.