How much did your food bill drop when your son went to college?

[Anonymous]

I remember my dad claiming that their water bill dropped a third when I left. (Family of four, two girls). We are a family of four, two boys and I am wondering what bills will decrease. Any surprises? Good and bad?

[Anonymous]

Household stress level dropped considerably when DD went to college. I love her dearly, but the drama was exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Our electric bill dropped by about a third. Our son would have all the lights in the basement on all night. Plus the hot water for his showers. Food bill also dropped. I can actually cook and have leftovers now.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't mean you will save money though... Payment just goes to different place - the school.

[Anonymous]

Not noticeably in our case plus it got offset by us going out to dinner more since we aren't focused on family dinner or sports or whatever. And as pp pointed out the $60k tuition makes a dent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not noticeably in our case plus it got offset by us going out to dinner more since we aren't focused on family dinner or sports or whatever. And as pp pointed out the $60k tuition makes a dent.

This is exactly us too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't mean you will save money though... Payment just goes to different place - the school.

Exactly. While my weekly grocery bill decreased dramatically, his meal plan plus the extra we have to add to make it last all semester equals no savings at all.

[Anonymous]

I'm not expecting the grocery savings when DD goes to college in the fall to come anywhere close to offsetting the meal plan cost. I think the water bill and the electric bill will drop a bit.

[Anonymous]

OP, I realize that the college has more in cost. I just was wondering what people saw on the home front.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't mean you will save money though... Payment just goes to different place - the school.

+1
Dining plan is a huge expense.

[Anonymous]

Our kid will go to state school an hour away. Kid will stay in dorm but come home of the weekends.

I expect to save nothing. I expect that a week's worth of laundry will be brought home for me to take care of. I expect no changes in my Costco bill (cause kid plans to pick up all supplies from home and not buy at school). I also expect to buy/cook food and freeze for the kid to take to dorm as well as send a big bag of groceries with him to college.

On the other hand, in-state tuition cannot be beat.

[Anonymous]

Neither go away to college or stay home is what I told my kids. The above scenario does not work for me. My young adults need to learn how to do laundry and iron, manage their nutrition and budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Neither go away to college or stay home is what I told my kids. The above scenario does not work for me. My young adults need to learn how to do laundry and iron, manage their nutrition and budget.

A kid can go to a school relatively close by and not come home that often. My DC goes to a nearby state school and only comes home when there are breaks. All laundry, etc. is done at school. That said, we'd love to have DC come home more often, but this works for them. So DC is "away" at college but still getting in-state tuition. Just because a kid chooses to go to school close to home doesn't mean they're actually coming home all the time.

[Anonymous]

Certainly not enough to offset college tuition (or even college meal fees)!

[Anonymous]

My mom said our grocery Bol dropped in half (family if 4) when my brother started college.