Help me cut costs, 900/mo normal?

[Anonymous]

I tracked every penny we spent in January and put it in a spreadsheet.
It came out that we spent almost 900 in groceries (I am including diapers, wipes, paper towels, toilet paper, clorox wipes and misc. cleaning products).
We are a family of 3: me dh and 20mo.
This sounds like a lot of money... I have tried to stick to a menu and don't just go buying unnecessary stuff, but I guess it's not working.... we also spent $300 eating out.

Can you share tips and ideas, or tell me if this sounds normal spending?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Oh my goodness, what are you eating? Gold bars? I want some, whatever it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh my goodness, what are you eating? Gold bars? I want some, whatever it is.

Can you tell me what you eat? I need some help here.

[Anonymous]

We are a family of the same size, and spend a bit less on groceries, though more on eating out, so have a similar total. We don't really track our food purchases either (i.e. haven't been good at meal planning, etc.), so that does make me think your January grocery bill may be high. But a couple of questions first:

(1) was January a stock up month for you, so would be unusually high? I know I tend to get a lot of the paper goods (paper towels, TP, diapers, etc.) all at once, but then don't need those again for a while. Take this into account when examining your total.

(2) Do you find that a lot of your food goes to waste? I.e. leftovers that don't get eaten, food that goes bad before you get to it, etc?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your input. To answer your questions

(1) Not really, I will have to order diapers again soon, we will be good with paper goods for Feb though...
(2) No, we always eat leftovers, or nanny does, or dd does...

I should really make a harder effort at meal planning and seeing what it is costing me...

[Anonymous]

I started a thread on this quite a while ago, I'll try to find it.

You are including household supplies and toiletries, and they easily can add $150 to $200 a month depending on what you buy. Diapers and wipes add up, too.

So about $700 a month for food plus $300 for meals out. There's room to cut back, but I think you're pretty average for a lot of people in this area.

If you focus and shop more carefully, plan meals, etc., I think a family your size could be spending more like $500/month on food and $100 on household/toiletries. And maybe only $150 on meals out/takeout.

If you cut back severely, cook lots of meals from scratch and soak your beans and bake your bread, that kind of thing, reuse your ziplock baggies, you could spend more like $400/month on food.

I suggest you keep your grocery store receipts for a month and at the end, break it down into exactly what you are spending money on. Then you will have a sense of where you can most easily cut back.

[Anonymous]

OP -- if you are feeding the nanny for lunch, then that will also add to your expenses!

[Anonymous]

OP, that's about what we spend on groceries and baby supplies.

[Anonymous]

We're the same size family with a 19 mo, and we spend the same.

I clip coupons as much as possible, but we also tend to buy organic, and make/eat most meals in. So, I'm somewhat okay with the $900/month grocery bill.

Interested in reading any good ideas though!

[Anonymous]

17:59 here. We are eating homemade soup and cut up veggies. It will probably be lunch for the rest of the week (big pot). Total cost under $10 for the pot. Veggies another $10, but enough for several meals. Don't buy precut, they are much more expensive. I cut everything up and put in tupperware for easy snacking when I have a few minutes.

We often have PB sandwiches or cold cuts (store brand). Cut up veggies. At least one night a week we have whole wheat pasta/sauce. Meat with baked potatoes. Rice/homemade stir fry. Ground beef with homemade taco seasoning on salad with tortilla chips. Eggs are cheap and good for any time of day.

Nothing we eat takes more than 15 minutes to throw together -- I have a newborn and don't have time to cook fancy meals. Today's soup was made of odds and ends -- some burger, some carrots, some celery, some rice, tomato paste, a few parsnips, an onion, half a box of leftover chicken stock, garlic, spices to taste. Throw it all in there and simmer for 2 hours. Easy and cheap.

[Anonymous]

OP - how much of your groceries are prepared food versus ingredients for homemade dishes? I have a family of 5 and spend about the same, but I cook everything from scratch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - how much of your groceries are prepared food versus ingredients for homemade dishes? I have a family of 5 and spend about the same, but I cook everything from scratch.

Typical dinners are:
Lentil soup in crock pot
Grilled turkey breasts with mashed potatoes (i dont make the potatoes)
Meat with onion and potatoes
Pasta
Onion quiche (i don't make the shell)
Some other crock pot stuff

I buy a lot of bananas, grapes, tomatoes, bagged spinach, onions, potatoes, mini carrots, canned soups for my lunches, deli meats, organic eggs, tropicana orange juice...

I will do as another pp said and start identifying exactly what I am buying and how much it is costing me.

[Anonymous]

We often have PB sandwiches or cold cuts (store brand). Cut up veggies. At least one night a week we have whole wheat pasta/sauce. Meat with baked potatoes. Rice/homemade stir fry. Ground beef with homemade taco seasoning on salad with tortilla chips. Eggs are cheap and good for any time of day.




How do you make homemade taco seasoning? I'd love to do this to cut down on the salt in store bought taco seasoning.

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't think $900 is crazy, especially considering that includes diapers and cleaning products. My husband and I (pregnant) spend about $700-$900 a month on groceries. We eat mostly at home and pack lunches at work. We cook from scratch (including baking bread occasionally) and shop at WF almost exclusively with trips to Costco about 4-5 a year.

Good food (organic, local) is our priority.

One thing--you could switch to vinegar and baking soda to cut down on cleaning supplies. (We both love to clean). We save a lot of money using vinegar as our daily cleaning solution. It is much better for the environment and for humans. Just mix about equal parts of vinegar and water with some liquid dish soap into a spray bottle. Add baking soda to whatever surface when the mess needs some elbow grease/scrubbing. Baking soda and vinegar are both really cheap when you buy it from CostCo. We keep the stronger stuff (Clorox) around for tougher or grosser jobs, but we get lots of compliments on how our house looks/smells.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I don't think $900 is crazy, especially considering that includes diapers and cleaning products. My husband and I (pregnant) spend about $700-$900 a month on groceries. We eat mostly at home and pack lunches at work. We cook from scratch (including baking bread occasionally) and shop at WF almost exclusively with trips to Costco about 4-5 a year.

Good food (organic, local) is our priority.

One thing--you could switch to vinegar and baking soda to cut down on cleaning supplies. (We both love to clean). We save a lot of money using vinegar as our daily cleaning solution. It is much better for the environment and for humans. Just mix about equal parts of vinegar and water with some liquid dish soap into a spray bottle. Add baking soda to whatever surface when the mess needs some elbow grease/scrubbing. Baking soda and vinegar are both really cheap when you buy it from CostCo. We keep the stronger stuff (Clorox) around for tougher or grosser jobs, but we get lots of compliments on how our house looks/smells.

Doesn't vinegar stink? At least I don't like the smell, how do you mask this?