I got this message from a Sarah yesterday and decided it deserved a post!
“I was wondering if I could get more information about your budget. As I am utilizing sales in conjunction with coupons and stockpiling, we are seeing our outgo become lower and lower. As such, we’re reevaluating our grocery budget and I wanted to see how the “queen” (you!) does hers. I know you spend @ $40-50 per week on groceries. I’ve also heard you say you have a separate budget for diapers and formula. Is the $50 per week strictly food? What else do you have have separate categories for (toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc.)? Any insight would be great. ” ~ Sarah
For us, (and it will be different for you 🙂 ), we stick to $40 – $50 /week, because I know we can. We have a nice stockpile, and most of my purchases each week are produce, dairy and good deals.
:: Our budget includes all food items, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and paper products.
A few things I always separated out from our budget were formula, diapers and coffee. Those were absolute necessities that tended to kill my budget, and it kept me more motivated to separate them out. I didn’t have to dread the weeks I purchased them because they didn’t eat up my budget. Now, if that gets you motivated – do it! But be careful not to put to many separate budgets out there, then you will be setting a budget for everything extra you want! Make sense?
Before you arbitrarily set a number, I HIGHLY recommend you sit down and see what you have been spending previously. My “Getting Started” post shows you how to do that. One caution – don’t set your budget at half of what you are currently spending. Set realistic expectations. The more unrealistic your expectations, the greater chance you will get discouraged and scrap this savings thing altogether. For instance, if you have been spending $1,000/month on grocery items – keep it there for a few months.
==============================================
Follow the steps below to get you started on the savings track.
1. Week 1: Determine what you have been spending. Do a grocery budget outline. Know your weekly budget.
2. Week 2: Meal Plan from your freezer, pantry and sale ads.
3. Weeks 1 – 12: Start slowly purchasing great deals to build up your stockpile. Between your meal plan and your stockpile, stick to your weekly budget number you set.
4. 3-4 months for budget to decrease – It will take a few months before you start to see a significant decrease in your spending each week.
Here’s why: You are now purchasing what you normally purchase, plus starting to stockpile. Some people actually see a slight increase in their spending the first few weeks – because you are in stockpile and buy needs mode. Your needs are more now than they will be in the future, because you have NO stockpile to pull from. As your stockpile slowly grows, your need to spend more will decrease.
5. After 4 months: Meal plan from stockpile, only purchase “needs” and “great deals” each week.
==============================================
Be sure to check out my Budgeting Series topic links below and in particular my post on Writing Your Budget.
Do you have any great tips on how you do your grocery budgeting? Share it with us in the comments!!
I have been putting my weekly budget (in cash) in a coffee mug in the kitchen each Friday. When the money is gone, I can’t buy anything else until the following Friday. This works ok, but I have added a “just in case” extra budget for those fabulous deals that I really want to get a ton for my stockpile.
Your point of it taking a few months to see a decrease is a huge tip! As a relatively new couponer, I think that can be discouraging and having it explained is very helpful!
So when you separate out the coffee, diapers and formula, do you create a budget just for those items also? or how do you budget for those items?
Julie – Since diapers and formula are for a season, I just determine how much I will need, since they are a necessity. But, I try really hard to use my tools I have to get those on sale and stock up as much as possible. Coffee is just something that gets bought no matter what, but again, I have certain places I find it at a rock-bottom everyday price, and it is a pretty fixed cost for us. I hope that helps!
My budgeting comes from Following Dave Ramsey course 100%. everything follows into place.