So, I'm trying to get my finances in order. I'm probably not asking in the best place (hah!), but here's a question, for all those of you who are employed and not living on college meal plans and ramen every night.

How much do you spend for groceries per week? per month? How many people do you feed on that? how much do you spend eating out?

6/3/2008 2:16:18 PM

How you eat is a controllable variable in your budget. Figure out all of your fixed costs first (mortgage, car payments, insurance, etc...). Once you've done that, you can see how much freedom you have to things like food. Having simple sandwiches every night as opposed to steak can make a huge difference in your budget. How you eat is very much a matter of how you can afford to eat.

Figure out how much money you have to eat with. Once you know that, you can then figure out how to best utilize that money. For my wife and I, food is our largest expense after housing.

6/3/2008 2:20:34 PM

i spend about $200-250/month on groceries. i don't really know exactly how much I spend at restaurants, but i'd guess at least another $150.

6/3/2008 2:45:06 PM

That sounds about right for me and my husband too^

6/3/2008 2:52:24 PM

yeah, except for that's just me

6/3/2008 2:53:50 PM

50-65 a week in groceries and 50 in eating out

6/3/2008 2:55:09 PM

I allow myself $100 week on food. It can be groceries or eating out, but it can't go over $100.

(I mean, I suppose it CAN go over, but that defeats the purpose. )

I probably spend ~$35-$40 a week on groceries, though. The rest is going out to eat with the girl.

6/3/2008 3:05:08 PM

i spend about 130 on groceries every month...probably spend about 20 on eating out every month

6/3/2008 3:06:08 PM

oh wait does this include drinking too? it's be hard to look over my statement and separate it all out

Quote :

"probably spend about 20 on eating out every month"

seriously?

6/3/2008 3:08:58 PM

~$50/week in groceries
and i try to keep it below $200/week in eating out

but i've got bad habits

6/3/2008 3:09:31 PM

My wife and I eat on ~$75 a week and try to limit eating out to 2 times.

6/3/2008 3:11:14 PM

^^^ Yeah really. It's at least $20 every time I go out to eat.

[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 3:11 PM. Reason : ^]

6/3/2008 3:11:28 PM

^^^^why wouldnt that be serious? might spend the occasional like 5 dollar at cicis, or the occasional 3.50 hardees student discount but thats about it...i cook my food...its more healthy

6/3/2008 3:12:21 PM

Don't know and don't want to know.

6/3/2008 3:13:03 PM

By playing the Grocery Game, I've managed to really reduce my weekly grocery spending to absurd amounts.

6/3/2008 3:13:06 PM

Quote :

"why wouldnt that be serious? might spend the occasional like 5 dollar at cicis, or the occasional 3.50 hardees student discount but thats about it...i cook my food...its more health"

i understand the cooking thing, i do a lot of it. but even for a student $20/month sounds exceptionally low.

^grocery game = coupon game?

6/3/2008 3:13:35 PM

i mean i dont buy random coffees from starbucks and dont eat out a lot...i dont think its that hard to believe...i bet you could live off 20 a month if u tried

[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 3:15 PM. Reason : ^pretty sure its called the grocery game but involves coupons...google "grocery game"]

6/3/2008 3:14:50 PM

damn dnl you must eat some cheap shit, haha

i spend around $50-60/week on groceries... but i guess that's a bit inflated cause i shop at whole foods & fresh market (shit's much better)

maybe $100/month eating out

i really don't keep track of it

6/3/2008 3:16:58 PM

or maybe i eat about exactly what i should be eating

[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 3:19 PM. Reason : i stock up on things like boneless chicken breast when its on sale, etc]

[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 3:19 PM. Reason : so technically i'd probably spend about 250/month in groceries but get it for 130]

6/3/2008 3:18:40 PM

i'd be willing to bet the things i buy are a lot better for you on average than what you buy

6/3/2008 3:21:27 PM

god damn man...not everything is a fucking competition...you need to get rid of this fucking holier than thou attitude

6/3/2008 3:22:27 PM

you're one to talk

6/3/2008 3:24:03 PM

Quote :

"damn dnl you must eat some cheap shit"

hopefully omar deletes this back and forth shit cause your trolling is redunkulous


\/ oh yeah...that makes perfect sense...i've really shown in this thread how i have a mindset that makes me holier than thou when it comes to being healthy...yeah

[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 3:29 PM. Reason : .]

6/3/2008 3:24:43 PM

not unlike the trolling you do on me?

speaking of holier-than-thou attitudes, you need to get rid of this mindset that you know everything about being healthy, because you don't.

[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 3:26 PM. Reason : also, i would hardly call that trolling]

6/3/2008 3:25:39 PM

lul

6/3/2008 3:27:44 PM

Fresh Market is complete garbage. It is the same food you get at your normal grocery stores for way too much fucking money. As for whole foods, it is another con. All the necessities I would need from whole foods (hygiene, etc.), exact same products, I can buy at HT for about half the price.

Purchasing at Whole Foods or Fresh Market does not mean you are getting a better product. It means you are paying too goddamned much for over rated products.

6/3/2008 3:33:03 PM

Quote :

"Fresh Market is complete garbage. It is the same food you get at your normal grocery stores for way too much fucking money. As for whole foods, it is another con. All the necessities I would need from whole foods (hygiene, etc.), exact same products, I can buy at HT for about half the price. Purchasing at Whole Foods or Fresh Market does not mean you are getting a better product. It means you are paying too goddamned much for over rated products."

no, their produce and fresh meat is far, far superior

plus whole foods has a much larger organic selection

believe me, i tried shopping at HT for a while and it was sub-par

6/3/2008 3:36:33 PM

Quote :

"no, their produce and fresh meat is far, far superior plus whole foods has a much larger organic selection believe me, i tried shopping at HT for a while and it was sub-par"

Problem 1) The Fresh Market Meat is practically identical to the HT meat

Problem 2) You are purchasing your produce at a grocery store

Problem 3) You are paying too god damned much money

6/3/2008 3:42:02 PM

100/wk in food for the wife and I.

There is a quick article in consumer reports about budgeting and debt.

Ill give you some highlights. all at most

20% of your gross income to car payments.

28% of gross month on house, including taxes.

36-48% on monthly debt payments. (best to avoid this step)

80% amount to borrow on your house.

6 months of expenses saved up in an emergency fund.

36 months for car loans. Going over this makes it too easy to get upside down on a car.

[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 3:43 PM. Reason : .]

6/3/2008 3:42:15 PM

mint.com

i just logged on and saw i spent $400 in gas last month, and ~$500 in food. then got sad, and logged out.

6/3/2008 3:48:50 PM

My money goes to the Bar.

6/3/2008 3:53:17 PM

just for me -- probably around $35-40 a week. but that's the projected amount. that usually ends up lasting me 2-3 weeks. produce and things go bad, but stuff like a carton of oatmeal or those rice-a-roni things when they're 10/$10 (i think that's going on @ food lion right now) will last forever.

6/3/2008 3:57:54 PM

Quote :

"mint.com "

hahahaha i know right

i was like WOW THIS IS COOL
and then it just kept getting more depressing

6/3/2008 3:59:17 PM

Probably around $50/week on groceries and another $60 eating out.

6/3/2008 4:02:30 PM

Oh, I have the basics down guys, but I do appriciate the advice.
I like wesabe.com and havent tried Mint, but I'm happy enough with Wesabe.

I know what I currently spend, and that's way the hell too much, and I'm trying to figure out what a reasonable "goal" spending is for living in Raleigh NC.
There are a couple areas to trim I already identified, but the food budget I wasn't sure what was sane - hard to set a Goal when you dont know what's reasonable.

And for the questions-
This does not include things like soap and shampoo. This DOES include any alcohol you purchase either out or at the ABC store or beer from the grocery store.



[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 4:32 PM. Reason : .]

6/3/2008 4:30:31 PM

lookin good moose

6/3/2008 4:34:43 PM

I spend about $125/wk on groceries and probably about $150/mo eating out.

I have a wife and 2 kids

6/3/2008 4:47:25 PM

Because I'm a dork, if anyone wants to know-

All things are calculated per person including both groceries and eating out. If you listed x people, I divided by X. If you listed a range of x to y I took the average.

Values for 1 person/ 1 Month
150
160
160
170
187.5
200
260
340
375
400
500
1000

Rounded to nearest $

Average is 325
Average without outlier of 1000 is 264
Median is 230 (halfway between 200/260 for even # of values right?)
Most common Value - 160 (too small a sample to be useful).

[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 5:07 PM. Reason : .]

6/3/2008 5:06:12 PM

between the girlfriend and i, we spend about 150/wk on groceries and another 175-250/wk on dining out. i tend to shop at discount places like publix and kroger, and she shops almost exclusively at whole foods, etc.

food is something that i dont budget on, really. I love eating and socializing, and I consider most of the dining out as part of my "fun money"

6/3/2008 5:44:07 PM

^ you realize that means your spending ~20k a year on food if thats accurate right

6/3/2008 6:06:54 PM

that's between two people who eat out a lot

6/3/2008 6:08:52 PM

ok myabe i was off

Quote :

"In the past 30 days, you spent $622 on Food & Dining."

6/3/2008 6:09:39 PM

thats fine, i just wanted to make sure you realized that between the 2 of you, you eat a mid-sized car every year.

6/3/2008 6:24:41 PM

I spent over $700 at one bar last month.

6/4/2008 4:00:05 PM

Im reading a book on finance/investing now.

It says that statistics show that out of 100 americans age 25, by the time they reach 65. One will be wealthy, 4 financially independent, 95 will be unable to maintain thier lifestyle.

Says there are three types of people.

1. Borrowers. Live for today people. Live in the nicest houses, mortgaged with no money down on an ARM, charge everything to credit cards and pay mins, save nothing, take out home equity lines to finance vacations and other no necessities. Are one event away from disaster. Lose a job, accident and cars are repoed, house foreclosed, and claim bankruptcy. They blame it on bad luck. But they robbed from tommorrow to pay for today.

2. Consumers. More responsible than borrowers. While borrowers spend with a credit care mentality, consumers spend on a paycheck mentality. These rely on one basic question. CAN I AFFORD THE PAYMENT? If they can make the payment they make the purchase. They dont save or take advantage of Roth or 401ks either, they would like to save but would rather buy things. These too are one event away from disaster. They are renting thier lifestyle month to month.

3. Keepers. The minority of americans fit in this group. They go through life dreading debt, and while others focus on income, they focus on wealth. They make no more money than the other two groups but over the course of thier lives will gain significantly more money than the other two. They live on one premise, pay yourself first, then spend whats left. They typically dont carry any credit card debt. They use credit cards as a convience and pay them off monthly. Thier debts tend to be on mortgages they can afford at fixed rates and school loans which increase thier earning potentials. Tend to buy used cars and keep them for a longer period. They tend to have cash reserves and retire independent and wealthy.

6/4/2008 6:20:12 PM

GRRRRR... well since mine was locked...

Quote :

"So, now that I'm a student again, I'm making $600 less per month and I need to start watching my bottom line. I've come up with a figure of how much I can spend on personal items per month--food, clothing, entertainment etc... Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep track of it, though? Or have stories on how it worked for them? Like maybe just pay in cash? Thanks"

[Edited on July 21, 2008 at 2:08 PM. Reason : kjl]

7/21/2008 2:05:49 PM

http://www.mint.com seriously!

7/21/2008 2:08:36 PM

^ 2nded

7/21/2008 2:09:06 PM

Quote :

"It says that statistics show that out of 100 americans age 25, by the time they reach 65. One will be wealthy, 4 financially independent, 95 will be unable to maintain thier lifestyle."

bs

Quote :

"Says there are three types of people."

eh, its not quite so clear cut

7/21/2008 2:13:24 PM

I use mint.com


I just want to know a good way to stay under budget during the week since I don't have access to my accounts when I'm out shopping...

7/21/2008 2:26:46 PM