The dreaded grocery bill! It is something I loath. Every week I seem to spend past my budget that I set for myself.
I take $250 every week from my husbands paycheck. This is supposed to be my money to get grocery's, fill up my gas tank, give my kids lunch money (for the days they don't want to pack), buy diaper, formula, baby food, laundry detergent, etc. And still have cash left in the bank to save for a rainy day! So my husband says. This argument happens every week and has lasted for the past 10 years.
Every week we have the same discussion. "Why do you only have $20 left in your account?" he asks. I reply with the usual "Well, I don't see you complaining when your eating the food and are getting dressed in your clean undies everyday!"
I turned to my Facebook friends to find out what their average food bill was. I must admit, I was feeling bad thinking that I am spending way to much and maybe there was a better way of handling this budget.
Well, interestingly enough, I only spend about $50 to $100 more than the average family of 4 a week. And, I am a family of 5. One of which is a 4 month old.
I am not a huge coupon person. I do use them, but you won't find my sons carriage parked by a dumpster. I don't understand nor have time for the whole coupon craze!. I had someone try to explain to me how to get $200 worth of groceries for $29 bucks. But, I still don't understand. My coupons, they tell me to save, expire. So, I can't hold them until there is a great sale on shampoo and then use all 20 of my coupons and have a stockpile of shampoo my family will refuse to use because it is the generic of some cheap brand name! They tried to explain the idea of getting things for free after an initial investment at the Drug store with the loyalty card. They said you buy one item and get the rewards for them and just pay for each item separately and you keep getting the coupon. One I don't have time for that, and two they put a cap on how many you can buy for that reason. I chuckled when I was told to use a coupon website. I don't need a coupon to buy 2 joint medications to get $1 off. I want coupons that are for the things that I need every week!
I am finding the grocery store difficult and frustrating. Prices have gone up on most items. This is in part because of the price of oil. It looks as though we will be battling these outrageous prices for the foreseeable future as they said gas is supposed to go over $5 a gallon.
Fruit prices are ridiculous. How are we supposed to feed our families healthy food if we can't afford it. If I want to buy my family grapes for the week there will be a trade off. That means maybe will be eating the on sale chicken with the $2 off coupon (Check the sell by sticker it expires tomorrow!) for 4 nights out of the week instead of 2 nights!
I buy almost all of my items on sale. With a few exceptions. Cereal is one. My family is very particular, no generic and they eat the same thing every week.
I think it is sad that we cannot feed our families healthy food without a trade off. I also think it is sad that we have to go broke doing it. There has to be a way to tackle the grocery store madness!
If anyone out there has budgeting tips or tips for using coupons, without using them crazily (Please, no dumpster diving tips!). Please let me know. I can't be the only one out there that has this problem!
~Melanie
OK Melanie here goes.....
ReplyDeleteI am not a huge coupn person either but I do stock up when they are on sale....Such as Fiber One bars..They are usually on sale for 2/5 or, so I have a coupon for $1 off 2 so I buy 6 which ends up being $12 for 6 boxes. Doesnt seem like you are saving a ton , but there is 4 weeks worth of snacks for my husbands lunch and my daughters....The secret I think to food shopping is to buy what is on sale and stock up then. Tuna is another example it was .88* a can at CVS so I bought 20 cans because it hasnt been on sale in awhile.....
I usually spend about 200.00 a month and buy all my meats when thhey are on sale. I also shop the flyers....Johnny's has a great meat selection and stockk up and freeze. This means that I only need to spend about 50.00 a week on odds and ends. and no I do not have diapers and formula so that is extra but I also do not buy milk at the grocery store nor do I buy bread at the grocery store.....I usually buy milk at the convience store(almost always 2/5 or 2.99) I go to the hostess outlet in Braintree and buy our type of bread for .89 a loaf and freeze it(it usually is 3.59 a loaf at the grocery store) So I basically spend about 50.00 a week on food house hold items....
I know I know people will cringe when I say this but WALMART in Quincy about 7.00pm at night is the best place to shop.....Food items are anywhere from .35-.55 cents cheaper on everything....Not to mention the savings on laundry , household items......
There is no science to it its just a matter of shopping the sale flyers I think......
Thanks Macjack99. I do go to the hostess shop. But usually only buy the snack cakes. I will have to grab some bread from there next time. I will also go to the Walmart and give that a try.
ReplyDeleteDo you find that there is one grocery store you favor more because of sales? Or, do you change stores every week because of the sales?
Hi Melanie,
ReplyDeleteI usually always shop at Shaws. I use to shop for school (HS) and would shop at Shaws 1 week and S&S another week and the bill would be 20-25 dollars more when I shopped at S&S. I do know that the S&S in Braintree is about 35-50 cents more on items than say the S&S in Quincy. I will go to Roche Bros or Sudbury Farms when they are having a meat sale but do not usually do my main shopping there as things are more expensive. As I said I find Johnnie's in Weymouth as great meat sales and there meat is excellent (except the hamburger, we like Shaw's better)Another example is say steak tips, when they have them at shaws for 4.99 lb I will by 3-4 packs and break them up into smaller packs for 1 night dinner (hence I get about 6-7 meals out of the 4 packs of meat)Overall, I like Shaws and aside from having to get rain checks on certain items when they are on sale, I usually stick with them. But I also look at CVS and walgreens too because they have some great sales on certain items that are way cheaper then the grocery stores........