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Hoping the food budget is getting under control

June 7th, 2012 at 08:15 pm

We budget $700 per month for groceries and household (including some but not all the diapers we use, plus wipes). ($754 if you count the amount I escrow to save up for our summer CSA vegetable farm share.) We don't even try to get all organic like LuckyRobin (whose post inspired this train of thought) and yet we still struggle to meet $700 per month. We're constantly going over this amount, and I've occasionally refreshed our funds with budget surpluses. We're not going to have many surpluses this year, probably, so it's even more paramount that we stick to it.

A couple months ago I started feeding our Amex card rewards, which is 6% for groceries, straight back into the grocery budget. That's about $40 per month. That's helped somewhat. Also, if anyone wants extras like ice cream or chips, they now pay that back in from spending money.

I'm hoping now that the CSA share is about to kick in, our weekly grocery expenses will get under control for the summer at least.

When SL starts going to daycare, she'll need compostable diapers during the day since our daycare lady doesn't do cloth ones. So, starting in August, I'm upping our budget to $750 per month. So, if you add $54 for the CSA and $40 in Amex rewards, our grocery/household budget will be at $844 per month.

Hopefully AA will potty-train this year and help ease the diaper costs that are one of the main sources of pain for our budget. We haven't been pushing her but plan to start in earnest in August if she hasn't shown any more interest in self-training before then.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Hoping the food budget is getting under control”

  1. rob62521 Says:
    June 7th, 2012 at 09:54 pm 1339106058
    1339106058

    Hopefully the potty training will ease your budget.

  2. crazyliblady Says:
    June 8th, 2012 at 01:58 am 1339120722
    1339120722

    I have the same struggles with the food budget. I make a list, take coupons for products I use a lot, and watch for sales, yet it is frustrating because the costs keeping going up. This year I started a small garden with tomato plants out of the idea that if I could be less dependent on the grocery store, I could spend more on paying off debt and savings. I also started going to the farmer's market. I don't have any tomatoes just yet, but it probably won't be long. My goal tomorrow is to spend no more than $120 on the groceries (people food and household supplies). Pet food I consider separate.

  3. ceejay74 Says:
    June 8th, 2012 at 02:57 am 1339124238
    1339124238

    Ah yes, we also include cat food and litter in the grocery budget. Luckily our one cat doesn't cost too much in that department!

  4. SicilyYoder Says:
    June 9th, 2012 at 01:35 am 1339205755
    1339205755

    I think it is easier to cook from scratch and get deals if you have a home-based business like me. I find that I do much better when I am at home. I get stressed when I'm out doing my merchandising job and don't eat like I should, although I try very hard.

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