Washington Babies

$10,692 - Poll inside

the amount of money the average american family of four spends on groceries each based on a study conducted by consumer reports shopsmart magazine.

 

I know we have good shoppers here, myself included, and that total blows my mind. figured monthly thats just shy of $900 a month in groceries. I figure toiletries must be in that total too. I come nowhere even close to that, I am even less than half. So either these average americans eat really good and I dont or we are all just really good budgeters.

 

so I fiigure its time for a poll.

[Poll]
Dawn - Wife of Brian 09/25/2005 - Mother of Eli Jace 03/12/2007 and Kai Evan 10/17/08

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Re: $10,692 - Poll inside

  • That is nuts!! 
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  • Does that figure include eating out?

    Jen - Mom to Jillian (10/2008) and Hayden (4/2010)

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  • That must include eating out (and Starbucks).  
    Mama to Z - 5.5 years, G - 3.5 years, & M - 1.5 years.
  • If we don't watch our budget, we can spend that amount per month on groceries. I was shocked the first time I added up our monthly total.
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  • We don't even have $900 in our budget extra a month to spend on food in general that includes eating out and starbucks! Yikes.
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  • I hate when toiletries and household items are included in grocery totals! The MM girls do this all the time, yet they can tell you how much they spend on formula. Break out your baby?s food, but not your dog food or Windex? 

     

    Groceries and dining totals between $550-$800 month.  Lower months are generally followed by a higher month. Toiletries and household items are categorized as such in Quicken. 

  • I haven't added it up in a while, but recently I have been shocked at my grocery totals.  I don't know if it is because I go less frequently or things are more expensive, but the amount each time has been creaping up.

    I go less frequently because I have been doing milk delivery and a farm box, so less need to get perishables.

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  • imageJDCSKF:
    If we don't watch our budget, we can spend that amount per month on groceries. I was shocked the first time I added up our monthly total.

    Yup... here too. I was shocked, but I dedcided ignorance is bliss and still dont watch it. Embarrassed

  • imagepreston18:

    I hate when toiletries and household items are included in grocery totals! The MM girls do this all the time, yet they can tell you how much they spend on formula. Break out your baby?s food, but not your dog food or Windex? 

     

    Groceries and dining totals between $550-$800 month.  Lower months are generally followed by a higher month. Toiletries and household items are categorized as such in Quicken

    Is this your method of choice for tracking?  We have been spending absurds amount of money for the past four months.  We can't figure out what we are doing differently and need to do so ASAP.  We don't want to have to go into our savings when we are recklessly spending.

    M + K = 05.16.09 | A.P. = 02.27.11
  • That seems crazy high, even if I included eating out and Starbucks we wouldn't be close to that. I guess though if you have two people working full time and eating lunch out every week day, and then if you go out a few times on the weekend, it wouldn't be hard to get to that number.
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  • Oh hell no.  we spend $400 MAX on groceries.  (but if they include eating out, it probably is closer...my DH eats lunch and starbucks almost every day - a habit I'm trying REALLY hard to break him of!!)
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  • That seems crazy high but I don't really track what we spend so maybe we are spending that much. I buy a lot in bulk and usually plan my meals off of what we have in the pantry and freezer. We don't eat out often but I do have a starbucks habit and if there are no leftovers the hubs buys lunch...we are both trying to stop this but it's hard! I've been meaning to work on our budget but I'm lazy.
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  • We spend $600/month on groceries alone, and I usually try to use coupons when I can. How do you guys spend so little??? It's actually a struggle for us to stay within our budget. We also have a $300 dining out budget that gets blown out of the water each month.

    I'd love to save more $$ on groceries, so ladies who don't spend much...where do you shop? what do you buy??

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  • "we dont eat (0%)"

    Hahaha, Yes

     

    Until next month we're only a family of two, but we used to spend around $400 a month on food. When my fiance lost his job we realized that was kind of ridiculous and cut it down a lot. Since then I'm not entirely sure how much goes towards our groceries, but I would estimate $250.

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  • For a family of 4, with kids older than 10 I believe it.  Last week we had a family of 5 stay with us and I spent and extra $350 on food for them alone, for 1 week.  This included a gallon of milk a day, chips, cereal, veggies, fruit and lunch meat sandwiches every day.

     Our family of 3 doesn't come close to half of that each week but I take lunch (instead of eat at home where food is more accessable) and we have a toddler who doesn't eat much.  As he grows, I can see this amount going up considerably. 

    BIG Brother born 10/19/07 little Brother born 1/31/12
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    imagemommymeg83:

    We spend $600/month on groceries alone, and I usually try to use coupons when I can. How do you guys spend so little??? It's actually a struggle for us to stay within our budget. We also have a $300 dining out budget that gets blown out of the water each month.

    I'd love to save more $$ on groceries, so ladies who don't spend much...where do you shop? what do you buy??

    Meal planning and stocking up during sales is key. I am not the best couponer, but I do save a lot of money by shopping sales.

    We plan our weekly meals based on what is on sale that week. I get most of my meat at Costco, but only out of convenience, not because it's cheaper. Then, I plan meals around the ads.  I find that planning ahead and only buying what you need for each meal saves a ton of money. I also stock up on things like tomato sauce, canned crushed tomatoes, beans, and baked goods when they are on sale (also a huge money saver). And I don't buy a lot of jarred/boxed/prepackaged food.

    We only eat out once or twice a week, and we don't have crazy Starbucks habits.We average between $30-70/week in groceries. Our budget is set for $70 a week. The weeks we are lean are usually Costco weeks. We only spend between $400-500/week and that includes EVERYTHING, not just food. 

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  • imagemommymeg83:

    We spend $600/month on groceries alone, and I usually try to use coupons when I can.

    Coupons are great. I clip coupons from every ad we get and I print them off websites like coupons.com. Couponmom.com is another great site that will email you when stores have sales and/or coupons available. They help you get items down to mere pennies each.

    imagemommymeg83: We also have a $300 dining out budget that gets blown out of the water each month.

    I would try to cut back on this as much as possible. Cooking sucks (gahhhh, so bad), so dining out on a lazy night can be really tempting. Since we kicked our habit though, we've saved hundreds each month. When you absolutely need a break, make sure you join the mailing lists of your favorite places. A lot of restaurants (both dine-in and fast food) will email you really great coupons each month.

    imagemommymeg83: where do you shop? what do you buy??

    We try to do a lot of our shopping at Walmart and Grocery Outlet (I know, I know...but the money you'll save really is worth it). When we shop at regular grocery stores (Fred Meyer, Safeway) we watch sales and stock up on them. Also, store brand foods are usually just as good as the name brand and sometimes quite a bit cheaper.

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  • I really wanted to vote "We Don't Eat" just for fun... :-P
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  • How bad is it that I do not even know what we spend on groceries! We European shop though, we rarely do a full on shopping for the week trip. I go on more frequent little trips. I do find I spend way less now, with meal planning. I know what I need.

    I would never think to include toiletries in my grocery totals. Besides, most toiletries are free, or almost free using coupons. (shampoo, hand soap, body wash, toothpaste, etc)

    I have a big Starbucks habit, but our weekly Starbucks visits come out of our personal "play" money. We both get the same amount for any lunches out, Starbucks etc. On the weekends, when together, we pay out of the joint fund. In act, I call my personal account, my Starbucks fund. Lol
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