Grocery Shopping budget thread

BitterAndTwisted

Are you talking about the total amount needed to run the house (food, utilities, everything else) or just the food-shopping and household whatnots?

I suspect the best way to find out the minimum needed for household shopping would be for you both to keep a spending-diary and the receipts and then to review it together after about a month or so, so you can differentiate between what was necessary and what was a discretionary luxury. From there I daresay you could reach a consensus on a weekly or monthly amount to aim for.

SmlSave

Hi

I created a spreadsheet to work out the house budget. The easy ones of course are set bills like tax, water etc. The other ones like DIY, food etc - I added up and divided six months of receipts to find a mean average. I then saw where I was over spending -food and drink - and have reduced this for savings.

Now I update my spreadsheet everymonth and if we overspend in Oct we have to underspend in Nov.

Hope this helps

Linda32

When I worked out how much to allow for food (and try to stick to that), I kept a list of how much I spent for the month, then just knocked £5.00 off that for the month afterwards.

For example, I used to spend more than £75.00, so I chose this amount to do the Grocery Challenge, and with abit of planning, I seem to be coming in under that.

Its all in the planning really, but it must be a plan that suits your lifestyle or one you are likely to stick too.

Butterfly_Brain

I have a spreadsheet as well. That covers all the bills and direct debits etc. Then I can see how much I have left and I try to save a bit every month, so what is left is for food etc.

Best advice is to meal plan write a shopping list and go from there.

I know that you are in Turkey but the prices here are rising sharply, every week when we go shopping things have gone up by 2p - 50p per item and some things even more :eek: factor in the V.A.T rise in January and things will get even more pricey.

HTH

de1amo

my beer has gone up from 2,25tl to 3,50tl in 12 months so as you can guess inflation is high here too--about 10pc is the Governement stated amount but its higher in reality!!--i am doing a food and good diary this month--i cop all the bills and my wife does the food and day to day!--i need to examine her habits of money management closer!

jackieglasgow

My new plan is like Csarina's in that I have the cash which is for the food petrol etc. which is drawn out at the start of the month, and the receipts go in the tin when the money is spent, so I can watch where it's gone. I also sit with the month's direct debits and work out what's dues out, and what's due in, and then put some other money aside for extras, which gets put in another tin (for things like days out, the cinema and so on.)

mi_jardin

When I get paid I put the money for the DD's in the bills account so it doesn't get spent, pay the council tax, pay the credit cards and put the petrol and food money on the credit card (so reducing the interest a little bit).
I put a piece of paper in my purse with the amounts on, then when I buy petrol/food I deduct that from the total thus keeping a tally.
By doing this all I am left with is "spending" money, though trust me there isn't much left, which is mine to spend on bits for the house, bits for the garden/lottie etc etc. Any thing left over is put onto the CC the day before payday whether it is £10 or 50p.

de1amo

i have done a spread sheet for my income and outgoings--i have a nil balance !!--i didnt realise this state of affairs because we had racked up so many interest free credit payments for our home improvements- and all the utlities etc that i didnt know whether i was coming or going!-i dont have any money to allot to trivial things like food lol-

Mrs De keeps is financial affairs close to her chest and i feel we need a show-down because i am max'd out and feel we have no real system in place for rainy day money!!--she has a spreadsheet but its all in Turkish to baffle me!!--i know how much our business pays her so shes not poor!!

Penelope_Penguin

de1amo wrote: »

How do people come to the concensus about a budget for housekeeping the house?!!!

Take a look at the Grocery thread. That will help you see what you're curently spending and then give you tips on how to reduce it to a level you;re comfortable with.

If you think you'll be able to save, I'd recommend moving that money straight into a savings account as soon as you're paid. That way you won't miss it and won;t be tempted to spend it

I'll add this to the Grocery Budget Thread later, which will give you more ideas of what others spend.

footballmanagerwidow

Hi All,

I was just wondering if there's anyone out there that is regularly shopping for and feeding a large family? I have 4 children (8,5,2 and 1) plus an OH and a labrador, and however hard I try I just cannot get my weekly shopping bill below £140 I dont know why it's so difficult for me, I tend to go on a big shop and then within 2 days i'm back in the supermarket because I need something else. I'm a bit of an impulse buyer and find it difficult to stick to a list, esp when I go somewhere with a clothes/homewares section! I have an Iceland, Co-op, Sainsburys, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Aldi near me and I tend to dip in and out of each - i'm not loyal to one particular one. My youngest 2 are still in nappies, however the baby has just gone onto cows milk so there will be a definite saving of a fiver or so a week on having to get her a box of formula weekly! DH does drink quite a bit indoors, which I really want him to stop doing, and this adds alot to the bill...otherwise i'm not particularly over the top I don't think.

Anyway, how much does it cost you to feed a large family and does anyone have any advice for me? I really need to buck my ideas up here