Thursday, May 19, 2011

Monthly HouseHold/Grocery Budget HELP?

Just curious, how much do you spend on household items and groceries for your family in a month?
And how many are in your family?

Obviously I'm a couponer and I try to spend as little as possible but think I sometimes have unrealistic goals even with coupon shopping. Our families budget needs more tweeking.

We try to stay at $300 for our family of 5(two in diapers) but keep finding that we go over every month. That does include ALL household items(diapers, wipes ect...) and groceries. I've stock piled a bunch the past couple of months in all neccesities so if I didn't go to the store at all for 4 months.... the only things we would be lacking are the fresh basics... milk, eggs, fruits and veggies(we have frozen fruit and canned veggies but it wouldn't last 4 months, maybe 2 but the garden shoudl start producing soon), and bread(but I could make my own).
I think we save more and spend less than the average family but I still feel like I keep spending too much. We are also trying to stock pile CASH for a down payment for a home so I'm feeling like I need more help on my budget but keep falling short, way short on my goals.
I'm feeling like I may be too hooked on finding great deals... whether for the pantry or for the home.
 
Any thoughts?
 
Seriously, don't be afraid to comment:)
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4 comments:

Unknown said...

We spend $300 for our family of 5 a month. I spend between $100-$125 every 2 weeks at Aldi and I get the other food items and other household items at walmart or kroger. Which is usually between $50-$100 for the month. We cloth diaper. If you're not doing that already you should consider it. Also consider making your own laundry and dish detergent, unless you can get it for next to nothing with a coupon. Also planning out menus will help you to buy only food that you need for the week. That way food that didn't have a plan won't go bad while you wait to get around to using it.

Julie said...

Thank you Heather! I have been trying to find a bit of time to make my own laundry detergent. Do you make dish detergent that you can use in the dishwasher? And if so, do you have a recipe? That sounds like my budget but I coupon too so I feel like it should be less. Do you coupon with all of that?

Julie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nicole said...

I spend about $50 a week for a family of 4. This includes all of my grocery and household supplies. I have gradually lowered it to that amount over the course of about 6 months. This is only possible with coupons and sales. The only exception is for case lot sales, and then I will spend a little more, but I am building a storage to be used for at least 6 months...and this only happens about twice a year. :) It is possible to save a lot but it takes a lot of time and effort... there are months that it just can't happen, but you try again the next time.

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