So, in an effort to get some debt paid off this year, my wife and i have decided to take a long look at our budget and make some changes. this is what we have come up with. These ammounts are split between the both of us.
$200 - Gas every two weeks
$200 - Groceries every two weeks
$400 - Spending every two weeks
We also have 300 a month going into savings.
I just realised this past week that the grocery money needs to double. We spent 200 sunday for just 6 meals and a few odds and ends...
What do you guys budget, and does it work?
I make sure to have at least two days a week where I don't spend any money at all - I eat whatever's in the fridge/pantry, gas tank needs to be filled the day before, etc. That's helped a lot because it makes me think more when I do pull out the card, and I prioritize my errands better.
that is actually not a bad idea.
I have not had to make a real budget in over a decade…This year I do…
I've never had to hard core budget, but I am careful with what I do with my money. The only area I keep a sharp eye on is Dining Out. That one will drain a lot of money real fast, which I could accept if it was for quality meals, but the reality is that most of it will go to fast food, and I will not allow myself to waste good money on bad food.
So you guys dont make and try and keep a budget? like for bills, mortgage, car payments, etc??
I made a spreadsheet when i was 19 and in college...and my wife still uses the same exact spreadsheet today...expanded obviously, but we keep and forecast everything on it. Id probably use it if i made 60k or 600k a year, it just makes forecasting and money mgmt so much easier.
I agree about the food though. That one KILLS us...It is too easy to just skip cooking and go out. I thought we would save a ton of money cooking dinner at home...been doing it a few weeks now, and i have to say, we are eating better, but groceries cost so much money its really a toss up as to what is more cost efficient.
200 a week for 6 meals (dinners) + a few odds and ends VS. 30 a meal x 6 dinners a week out, 180 dollars...no cooking or cleaning needed.
hrmm....
If I want to save... I try not to spend or think about spending like Jekka said couple days of the week, for me that works great because before I know it it's been 5 days of no unnecessary spending, and then I get my check again.
I never like to pay for things like with credit, debit, or check, unless absolutely necessary (for instance, buying something online). You pay with cash and you ensure that you not only are paying attention to exactly what you're spending, but you're also having to make trips to the ATM to get it, so you're not as apt to blow it impulsively. Of course, this assumes you're only getting as much cash as you need on your ATM trips. It's always good to travel with a light wallet. Another must is to make lists of exactly what you want/need when you go shopping for groceries, or really, anything else. If you don't know exactly what you want, it's easy to get seduced into buying extra crap. One way I have tremendously slashed my grocery bills is by not buying microwaveable stuff like sausage-egg croissants and not buying ready-made stuff like frozen pizzas. That stuff is pretty expensive, and doesn't taste as good as what you can make from scratch with a few minutes extra work. Slashing out a lot of snack crap is good too. This doesn't apply too well to San Antonio I guess, but doing outdoors things like hiking or swimming in the ocean is a very cheap and extraordinarily rewarding upgrade from blowing money at the movies or buying a new video game.
Last edited by baseline bum; 01-19-2010 at 04:40 PM.
second the cash thing.
With our new budget, we have given up our check cards all together...its to easy to spend willy nilly with them
we get cash out each sunday and split it in our envelopes for our different categories...if we need gas, or spending money..we get it from the envelope...if there is left over at the end of the week, we take it out and put it in our RBFCU savings (short term stuff)...its kind of neat to try and see how much surplus we can make at teh end of the week.
I canceled all my wife's credit cards. Problem solved.
I'm confused. You said in order to pay off some debt you wanted to look at your budget and make some changes, and the change you came up with was to spend MORE on groceries?
I'm confused. Is this your before budget or after?
3 people at $15 a day for each person for food times 30 days a month = $1350. It's freakin hard to keep the budget under that some times, especially if we're both busy with work and neither feel like cooking.
still we try to do at least two nights a week with cereal night, a couple of nights cook real meals and a couple of nights eat out at places where we can work the menu.
works out alright.
barring the short term credit hit, yeah, I need to do the same with the few dept store cards she has....
..except for the Victoria Secret angel card. She can keep that one.
We decided to buy more groceries, thus limiting the "going out to eat" it is turning out that eating at home costs close to the same, if not more than eating out...which surprised me.
your not really saving if you in debt........so not sure how big your debt is but put that 300 towards it and hopefully you will be out in no time.
How many people are you feeding @ $200 per 6 meals?
nice pic.
Even with the 300 a month going to our emergency fund, I will still be completely out of debt by 2012. No car notes, No CC debt.
My goal is to get our savings account up to $10,000 also, which i think will happen around the same time.
I don't spend anywhere near that much for groceries per person, but if you can afford it go right ahead.
I really don't budget my money at all. The only thing I do is keep a tight balance on my checkbook so I know how much money I have at all times. I live pretty cheap so my expenses stay pretty low. Plus, since I live alone and am not supporting anyone, all my money is all mine. Much easier to save money without a wife spending it behind my back.
Seriously? How? my meals this week consist of lime / chicken tacos (last night) pork chops, Ribs, grilled chicken, Chili, beef stroganof type stuff...thats not extravagant in my opinion...what do you eat that could be so much cheaper...im all ears because id love to reduce that.
i think we have a Central Market/Whole Foods shopper!
nope, HEB on Culebra and 1604. Feeding 2 adults and 1 kiddo. few lunch items thrown in, and maybe 1 or two toiletries...but not much else. Maybe im just totaly doing it wrong, i dunno. Im open to suggestions. What do you spend a week on groceries?
Most of that doesn't really sound expensive.
Last night we had spaghetti. We spend 2.00 on a pound of ground beef, 2.00 on a jar of sauce, 1.00 on spaghetti, and 1.75 on HEB fresh bread.
That's less than 7.00 and easily feeds five with leftovers. That might be one of the cheapest things we eat but on average we don't spend a lot more than that, except on the weekends. That's usually the time that I have more time to cook and because of that make more extravagant meals.
For a family of 5 we generally spend between $130 and $170 on groceries per week (including toiletries and pet items), depending on the menu. If you plan your menu for the week before you hit the store it saves a lot.
Man, breakfasts can be dirt cheap. Chorizo and eggs cost almost nothing. French toast costs nothing to make, and tastes incredible if you slice some banana and stuff it in the middle. Pancakes are cheap. Oatmeal with some fruit in it is dirt cheap. Omelets are easy and cheap to make. For lunch, sandwiches are cheap unless you're buying premium stuff from the deli.
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