Questions for you:
Do you have a weekly/monthly grocer budget?
Have you ever tracked exactly how much you spend on groceries?
Happy savings!
~All thanks to God~
~All thanks to God~
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Over budget already!
I am trying to do a $50 a week grocery budget. I am keeping track of my spending using a handy dandy little excel spreadsheet that I got from I Heart Publix...or was it Deal Seeking Mom? Now I can't remember where I got it from. But anyway, Beth helped me add the dates in for the whole year so that all I have to do is enter the amount I spent each week and the amount I saved in coupons/sales that week. I am really excited about doing this so that at the end of each week/month/year I can see just how much I have SAVED! If I knew how to upload a file, I would put it on here to share with you. Until I figure out how to do that, if you want it, let me know and I will email you the excel file. Anyway, I am on the 3rd week of this month and I am already over my budget! Yikes! Just too many good sales right now. I am a firm believer in stocking up on items when they go on sale if I have coupons for them. And this particular month, all the foods that I eat are on sale. I've got 25 healthy choice stuffed into the extra fridge in the garage(they were .50 a piece!!!). They also have Boca burgers on sale this month at Publix....SCORE!! I love boca burgers and they are so expensive. So, I had to stock up. And now, I find out that they are putting the Morning Star Farms meatless sausage that I eat every single morning on sale this week BOGO. Ugh....I HAVE to buy that while it is on sale. It NEVER goes on sale. So, I am hoping that even though I am over stocked and over budget this month, maybe it will even itself out next month. Hey, I'm new at this. I'm only a 4 month old couponer. I am learning as I go. So, at the end of the month next month, I will see if I have spent more than $400 in 2 months or if it truly evens out.
Questions for you:
Do you have a weekly/monthly grocer budget?
Have you ever tracked exactly how much you spend on groceries?
Questions for you:
Do you have a weekly/monthly grocer budget?
Have you ever tracked exactly how much you spend on groceries?
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4 comments:
Going over budget this month really will even out next month. It's okay. Why pay $1.50 next month when you can pay $.50 today?
We spend about $300 a month for food. This has been the trend for quite a while. I use lots of coupons and usually only shop the sales (unless the basics aren't on sale anywhere, which is rare). I know I could do better and possibly bring it down further, but that's the point where I'm not buying any of the extras (i.e., ice cream on sale, the really lean meat when it's on sale). If one of us lost our job, those are the types of things that would go, but right now I don't mind buying them because they make us happy and aren't complete budget busters.
I can't wait to hear your totals. You should do it each month. :)
Oh, I wanted to add that I do total it up for each month. But I usually do it every six months or so. What I do is go through the debit and credit card statements (I use credit whenever possible to get the 3% cash back at grocery stores but only some stores take credit). Then I calculate the totals for each of the past months. Most of the time it comes right around $300. But sometimes there is a $400 month (lots of good specials or in-laws staying with us!), but then the next month it will be in the low $200s.
I am hoping it will even out next month. I think it will :) If not, it's still good to keep track of what I spend!
I did decide not to count items like makeup, over the counter meds and diapers. I don't consider those things "groceries." It's a work in progress setting up my little system here :)
I don't count those things as groceries either. Occasionally a cleaner or a bottle of shampoo might be hidden in there, but that's about it.
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