Grocery Budget Undergoing Overhaul
It is clear from the results of this month that the grocery budget needs an overhaul. Which actually, is understandable. My three year old eats more every day it seems, my 11 month old is starting to eat enough to actually add to our grocery bill, and prices just keep going up. A month ago I was paying $1.99 for a gallon of milk and today I paid $2.59. That’s more than a 25% increase. Not every item has gone up that much of course, but since I have really been paying attention the past few months, the majority of our grocery items have had at least a 10% increase.
Our average grocery spending this month was about $103/week. If I raised the budget to $100/week, I would basically be adding $100/month to our budget. I’m not sure where I am going to find an extra $100, but I guess that will be the goal. I am going to keep being very conscious of what I am buying and keep working at finding good prices and buying on sale and hopefully, I can trim a little off that number but also not keep fighting a losing battle against a number ($75/week) I may never actually hit. Hopefully prices at the grocery store stabilize and don’t go up any more for a while.
True to form, I spent $103.98 this week, $68.79 at Aldi and $35.19 at Walmart. I bought two unplanned item, a loaf of garlic bread ($1.20) and a box of cinnamon cereal for my kids ($1.95) for a total of $3.15 on impulse items, or 3% of my total spending. So I did okay there. I have been letting myself buy things on sale in bulk to save money “down the line” which I know is also increasing my spending a bit. Next month is back to 4 shopping weeks vs 5, and we are actually going to be out of town for most of a week in October so less groceries that week. My spouse’s employer is sending him out of town to a conference and we are all going with him free of charge. 
The only thing we have to pay for is fun. I’ve been looking forward to it for months! I’m going to set the grocery budget for October at $350 ($100/week except our out of town week $50) and see how that goes.
Ah, groceries. You gotta eat, right? 
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September 29th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
I started worrying about grocery prices about a year ago but the fact is that food prices have been skyrocketing (or so it seems) over the last year or two.
So even if you try to cut back - the grocery bills keep going up.
Mike
September 30th, 2007 at 2:00 am
Here’s how I’m keeping my grocery bill down.
I just bought a new car which I hated to do but need safe transportation. But along with the new car is new car insurance.
The added expense is driving my grocery bill down…you guessed it, I’m eating less.
Somethings just got to go, except when my 10 year old son stays with me. He has to eat, growing boy eats like a bird…a little at a time but constantly eating.
Curtd
September 30th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Ugh, prices!
Curtd - that’s an interesting strategy! You know, it never seems like my three yerr old eats that much until I take into account he also is constantly eating… lol
October 1st, 2007 at 7:49 am
I’ve often felt like doing that, CurtD. But I don’t think I eat terribly much anyway and I get low-bloodsugar headaches. *sighs*
Otherwise I’d like to cut out eating altogether! It’s one of the biggest items on our budget. :-p
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Can one cut out eating? That’d be almost as useful as cutting out sleep….
(my teething infant is working on that one for me already
)
October 4th, 2007 at 7:44 am
I so hear you on the grocery prices! Groceries where I live are up about 30% over two years ago, because of salaries of store clerks (MUCH higher cost of living now) and also higher gas prices. Two years ago, I paid $2.79 to #2.99/gallon for milk; now it’s $4.25. For store brand milk!!
Louisiana has a weird price-support system for dairy farmers. Last week, Walmart brand cottage cheese (which we used to eat a LOT) went from about $1.89 for a 24 oz carton to #2.99. Two years ago, it was about $1.49. Dairy and meat prices have wiped out my budget completely. They’re up anywhere from 30 to 50 percent some weeks; everything else up close to 20%. No Aldi’s here, either. I ran the numbers in the computer program for now versus 3 years ago (when we actually had a friend staying with us and another mouth to feed….still waaaaay higher. Ugggh. Good luck!