If you don't have a budget, then you and I need to have a little chit chat. If you have a loose budget, then give your best estimate here. If you have a detailed budget, then this will be a breeze. Here are the things to factor in.
EXPENSES (I may have missed something, but I'm sure you get the idea)
groceries
dining out (it's food, after all)
cleaning supplies
toiletries
diapers
formula
INCOME
wages
food stamps
WIC vouchers
Now, here's what you're going to do. Take the amount of money (or money substitutes, like food stamps and WIC) that you spend on the expense category in a month. Then divide it by the number of people in your home. That number is what I want to know. Got it? Want me to clarify? Ok. If you spend $5000 dollars on food and household items each month and you have four people in your family, then your number for the poll would be $1250. Make sense?
Now, this is absolutely, positively not meant to be a contest to see who is the best bargain shopper or who has the most money to blow. Okey dokey? We all have factors that play into this that won't be apparent in a poll. Some homes have lots of food allergies and can only buy spendy food items, others may buy a lot of convenience items because both spouses (or a single parent) work, others have multiple kids in disposable diapers, prices vary throughout the country, etc. So, we won't judge anyone based on their average per person/per month number. This is purely for satisfying my curiosity.
I realize not everyone will be comfortable posting this information in the comment section for the whole world to see, so I'm going to put in the form of a poll on my sidebar. Please vote there, but you're welcome to comment here if you have something to say about it.
And then, I'll wrap it up with this little grocery tidbit. You guys know I love doing the Grocery Game at Rite Aid and Walgreens. I chose not to do it at Albertsons and Safeway because it wasn't the best option for us. However, I've been reading Frugal Living (which all you Portland area readers should also be doing), and popping into those two stores once or twice a month to pick up a couple freebies. This week I made a killing at Albertsons!! Three separate trips landed me with this collection of items.
(6) Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce
(1) Kraft Creamy Poppyseed Dressing
(1) Edge Shaving Gel
(1) Skintimate Shaving Gel
(2) French's Honey Mustard
(2) Lawry's Lemon Pepper Marinade
ORIGINAL PRICE (which would have been less if I'd been at my trusty old WinCo)
$42.70
FINAL PRICE
Zip, Zero, Zilch ... it was all free!!
Cool, huh?
7 comments:
Hope I did it right, although I'm not sure since the other people spend my entire food budget on one person. Well, we are very strict with our $50 a week food budget. I'm not good a freebies but I can make the dollar stretch! And I don't have to buy diapers which is a huge savings!
Hope you post the results, I've been wondering this too!
We do have a budget for food and it seems like I can never make it stretch far enough. I am always over by at least $50 per month. I really need to reign it in. My problem? I love to cook! So I cook, and buy groceries alot.
I think you need some weighting on large adult males vs kids...I think my average per person is a bit skewed. :) And a large portion of our current budget is work lunches out.
But it's a lot less than it was a year ago!
Maryanne - I am a bit surprised since you're such a penny pincher. But you're also a bit more of a free spirit than I am, so I can see you winging it month by month. :)
Angi - I'm sure you did it right. It could be that the people with higher numbers eat out a lot, buy all organic, and don't ever check for sales.
Kami - I'm sure your food is tasty. :)
Sarah - You're doing awesome and you know it. :) I realize the adult versus kid thing is a factor, but so is the diaper issue. This poll is hardly scientific, but it's the best I could do on a blog.
Good idea Bethany. We are a family of nine living in Uganda...this fact really makes a difference in our food budget. I voted for spending between $40-$49/person per month. This is a tad high but there are always those trips to the NYK pizza joint in the city! If we wanted to live totally local, and I wanted to spend an average of three to four hours in the kitchen daily, we could easily live off of half of our food budget--and if it ever comes to that I will be prepared :-) Thanks for all of your fun little posts.
There are 9 of us, and dh gives me about $900 a month to use on whatever I feel I need to buy. Groceries, eating out, clothes, toiletries, cleaning supplies, books, shoes, housekeeper or chore $, club dues, teeshirts for VBS, etc etc. Lately I have not been making it, and have needed to get an extra $100-200 from him which is a bummer.
Hey-- If you get any good deals on Olay Regenerist stuff, I want to try it out. My mom swears by the stuff. My grandmother always used Olay products too, so I'm willing to try it. But not willing to pay full price. Haha.
We spend $500 a month on a family of 6. I think I might spend a little more than that though as sometimes I run out of some things. But not much more.
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