Expense Calculator question...

[ducksinarow]

I am using a expense calculator (online) to see get a list of what we spend each month. The food part is one I am curious on. Does this count even when we occasionally get the kids a happy meal or something? Or is this just groceries? And how much is ok to list there? (hubby, me, and 3 small children)

[ducksinarow]

Good grief, no wonder we can't pay our bills. Shesh! When you get it all in front of you like that and added up it's really a shocker.

[StaciMM]

Expenses will vary between familiese & areas. I have a similar family-2 adults and then a 3, 5, 7 year old. When we're going very basic, we stay under $90 / mo on groceries. But you want to consider that by getting rid of the credit cards and such, you can have a 'normal' life which probably doensn't include living off of spaghetti dinners and PB&J lunches every day. So for us, I project $125-$150 per week to be a normal grocery budget for us.

Edited to comment-meant $90/wk, not per month. OOPS!

[ducksinarow]

You can eat for less than $90.00 a month? How do you do it? I pay that amount every 4 weeks for school lunches alone for my older two.

I didn't even add any credit cards into the expense calculator. I put in what we would be paying with them gone and we are still upside down.

[StaciMM]

School lunches for my 2 are $1.60/day so $64/mo while in school or annualized at $48. In 2 years, all 3 of mine will be in school. They're little now (7, 5, 3). Some meals they eat alot of, others they don't.

We don't buy much meat, unless chicken breast is on sale for $1.99/pound (then we go over $90 'cause I stock up). The main tip is to start by making a list and plan out the meals. Make a list for 7 days, and plan 7 dinners/lunches/breakfasts for whoever will eat at home. Then, survey the kitchen to see what you already have. From that, make a list of what you need and keep to it as much as possible. I got annoyed with my husband last week because he went grocery shopping-spent 2X what I normally do, but also has stuff to carry over into next week. We DID NOT need the 2 cake mixes he got though!

Sample menu for the week:

5 week nights choose from the following:

Hamburger helper ($2.50 for meat + $1 for meal, store brand)
My kids love these!

Spaghetti ($3 for sauce & noodles and that is enough for 2 meals)

Salsbury steak & brocoli & cheese (the meat is a frozen cheap entre, $2.50
or so, the b&c is frozen, about $1 is enough to split among the kids)
*the salsbury steak is a favorite, so I always include broccoli & cheese too

Lasagna (cheap entre also, $2-2.50, sometimes I'll add a frozen veggie for $1)

Tuna helper (less than $1 for the tuna, $1 for the meal)

Grilled cheese & tomato soup

Name brand meal in a box type dinners-Banquet does some, others do also. ($3.50-5 depending on the brand and sale, but they include a meat item; there are also some for $3-4 that don't include the meat and you add 3-4 chicken breasts)
**These are easy, but generally need 30-45 minutes to bake

For breakfast, cereal generally-I buy the large storebrand bags, $2.50 a bag usually try to have 2-3 kinds on hand to keep variety; on weekends we'll sometimes do bacon & eggs & toast

The kids lunches are at school, except for my youngest. She often has leftovers, or canned food like Ravioli, etc.

During the week, I tend to eat sandwiches, or some of what the kids are having. On the weekends, the kids will get fryer food at least once (chicken nuggets, fries, etc.); we'll sometimes do pizza-$3.50-4 for a decent grocery store pizza and 2 make a meal for us. We'll also make home made tacos from time to time, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. If on sale, we'll buy brats/sausages.

For my husband, we try to keep on hand some things that are quick & easy. He gets off one job at 6am and goes into another, comes home-does lunch for him & our youngest, and then they lay down for a nap. So, cheap microwave things like no-name hot pockets, and also the microwave rice in a pouch things that are out now. (They're about $1 each.)

We buy about a gallon of bread a week, and keep sandwich supplies on hand. We do buy soft drinks, but I'm loyal to the best deal-not a brand name. I look for sales, and if its not a good deal, I don't get it.

Sorry-didn't mean to go so long but maybe the ideas will help someone. I dont' think this is the healthiest way to go, but for when things are tight it can be done.

You can eat for less than $90.00 a month? How do you do it? I pay that amount every 4 weeks for school lunches alone for my older two.

I didn't even add any credit cards into the expense calculator. I put in what we would be paying with them gone and we are still upside down.

[ducksinarow]

Thanks for the info. That was very nice of you to list it out like that for me. Unfortunately my medical condition makes it so that I can not eat a lot of what you listed above.

[StaciMM]

No problem!

Still the idea of going grocery shopping w/ an agenda is a good one. They set the store up for impulse buys so you gotta have a little amunition against that!

Thanks for the info. That was very nice of you to list it out like that for me. Unfortunately my medical condition makes it so that I can not eat a lot of what you listed above.

[ducksinarow]

I know that's right. And never go when you are hungry. I've made that mistake numerous times.

[Whittio]

There's no way a family of 5 could spend $90 a MONTH?? Was that supposed to be a WEEK? Thats much more reasonable.

I know I buy a lot of expensive things for my husbands lunch, but eating out would be more then what I buy.. and my kids don't go to school (I home school them) so they're home for 3 meals a day.. but I spend $225-$250 a MONTH at Costco, and another $75 at Walmart per month (napkins, cereal & toilet paper etc), but every week I spend another $160-$200 at Food 4 Less!

We don't eat extravagant meals either! Very basic things.. tacos, lasagna, manicotti, baked chicken etc..

I'll also say that all the money I spend at Costco/Walmart & Food4Less also includes household items and pet foods etc. But my gosh, $90 a MONTH?? That just can't be right?!

[StaciMM]

YES-$90/wk. Sorry-I didn't notice the typo.



[QUOTE=Whittio]There's no way a family of 5 could spend $90 a MONTH?? Was that supposed to be a WEEK? QUOTE]

[Genenco]

I am using a expense calculator (online) to see get a list of what we spend each month. The food part is one I am curious on. Does this count even when we occasionally get the kids a happy meal or something? Or is this just groceries? And how much is ok to list there? (hubby, me, and 3 small children)

Where the heck is it? I've been looking for one to really show me the money!

[Whittio]

WHEW! I thought I was WAY over spending. I pride myself for being frugal too! I know we spend a lot more on grocery's because we're in California, things have been going up and up for 1 1/2 years now. I remember not too long ago, my budget at Costco was $200 and weekly was $90, and I didn't HAVE to shop at Walmart for things.

But we offset our grocery shopping with the fact we hardly ever eat out. I pack hubby's lunch every day, and as I said, our kids are home all day.. and eating out happens maybe once every couple months. (unless it's cheeseburgers @ McD's or tacos at TacoBell.. but even that only runs us about $12 and it's not very often)..

ANYWAY.. I was thinking a family of 5 for $90 a month, that hardly pays for milk these days! LOL

[StaciMM]

We don't eat out much either-but Red Lobster's all you can eat shrimp is back and that's the one thing we enjoy. So we went today. Turned out we had horrible service, took them about 20 minutes each time to bring out more food. I'm the kind of customer who speaks up when things are really good or really bad. Wasn't trying to get free food, but they took off the charges for the shrimp.

[ducksinarow]

Here is the expense calculator. Hope it helps you!

http://www.ca-bankruptcy-attorneys.com/calculators/expense_calculator.html

Ohh and thank goodness you meant a week. I was trying in my head to figure out how you do it for 90 a month and couldn't wrap my brain around it at all.

[SpencerB]

woah!

Expenses will vary between familiese & areas. I have a similar family-2 adults and then a 3, 5, 7 year old. When we're going very basic, we stay under $90 / mo on groceries. But you want to consider that by getting rid of the credit cards and such, you can have a 'normal' life which probably doensn't include living off of spaghetti dinners and PB&J lunches every day. So for us, I project $125-$150 per week to be a normal grocery budget for us.

Edited to comment-meant $90/wk, not per month. OOPS!

I was going to say, that's incredible! I downloaded a toolbar a while back that helps me get printable grocery coupons but it was still over $90.00 a Month! Thanks for the edit.