Coming clean on grocery spending
First off, I love goals. Love them. I tend to set really unrealistic goals that I couldn’t possibly ever reach, but I still love them. However, when I mentioned my Spend Less Money on Groceries-Goal, I wasn’t quite fair. I didn’t want to admit how much I’m normally spending each month on groceries…
No. I don’t want to.
Alright, ok fine. I’ll admit what my average monthly grocery spend normally is. It’s around $400. Yes, $400. And that doesn‘t include eating out. (Although I usually only eat out 2-3 times per month.) I “justify” this by the fact that I don’t spend money on drinks, like most of my peers, because I just don’t really drink that much. Anyways.
grocery receipt
(source)
We’re 9 days into this month, and I’ve spent $132. It probably doesn’t SEEM like I’m doing better, but part of the reason it’s high, is because I had to buy Coffee, Truvia, & Vitamins when I was at the store over the weekend. (These are things I tend to buy in bulk, so I only buy them every couple of months.)
Anyways, the goal is to spend less than $250 this month. That means I have a little over $100 less.
Now that I don’t have to buy almond milk, I think that will help. I know it’s not that expensive, but it’s usually my excuse to go to the grocery store, and every trip to the grocery store means I buy more things I probably don’t need…
Do you have a grocery budget? Or do you just buy what you need when you need it?
My other goal that I’ve been running toward (ha, pun. I’m so clever.) is the Monument 10k. I ran 6 miles last week, so I know I can at least run the distance. Last night I was aiming for 7, but in the middle of mile 5, my ipod took a fall (ok, fine. I dropped it. Twice.) and it FLEW off the treadmill. (Um, yes, this happened twice. In a row. In the span of about 5 minutes.)
And that was it. Bye bye ipod, thank you for the magical gift of music that you gave me for so long.
(source)
Time to buy a new one!
What kind of ipod/MP3 player do you guys have? I had a classic, but now I’m leaning towards a nano, so it’s smaller and less likely to be thrown off the treadmill. Recommendations?
<3 Liz
I have the same grocery goal. Though I haven’t been keeping track b/c I get distracted and forget to save all my receipts. bad jenn.
anywho – youuuuuuuuuuuu can dooooooooooooo it! <3
I use Mint.com so I don’t have to save the receipts! Otherwise I’d never know what I spend, haha
I try to make a grocery list but always end up rummaging through all the isles and getting random things than I ended 🙂 I can’t help myself though I love doing groceries
I always find that making a list really helps me stay on budget when I grocery shop! When I have a list I usually am more likely to get in, get what I need, and leave without buying too many non necessities! 🙂 I totally understand though! It can definitely be hard! The list saves me every time! I hope this helps 🙂
Ehhh I defintiely need to be better at sticking to a grocery budget. I should start by making one haha. It’s hard because I love grocery shopping!
I jsut bought a new iPod nano a few weeks ago (my last one was stolen!) and absolutely love it! I like how it’s also a touch pad, like my iPhone, and so small and convenient to bring around.
Haha I love grocery shopping too!!! But clearly, this hobby has spun out of control 😉
That sucks your ipod was stolen! (My first ipod was stolen. Sigh.) I think I’m going to get one of those new nanos though 🙂
It took me a long time, but I finally do have a grocery budget. My best advice for you is to start by meal planning each week. Make a list of exactly what you need with a general amount for each item. Don’t buy anything that’s not on the list and try to stay as close to the estimated amount as possible. Once you do this for a few weeks you’ll start to learn a general estimate of how much you need to spend each week. Then set a constant weekly limit. That’s what I did and now I’m got everything fully in control.
G’luck with your goal.
HOLY CRAP, GIRL. $400 on groceries? Somebody is a creative chef. I could live on cereal and salads if my fiance would let me, but he insists on cooking every night. I think we spend … maybe … $200 a month for the two of us? We buy a lot of meat, which he grills in bulk, so we can eat a few dinners out of it. Really, all things considered, meat isn’t very expensive, and it lasts a long time when frozen, so it saves money.
I have an iPod nano, and I looooove it. I think I would die without my iPod. I can’t work out without it!
P.S. I think it’s awesome that your iPod flew off the treadmill twice. Not awesome that it’s broken, but awesome as in the actual action. I probably would have peed myself laughing.
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Twitter: @GlamKitten88
I think my hubby and I spend about $300+ each month, but he buys his lunch every single day (I bring mine). And we probably go out about 6 times a month.
I can’t believe how much I spend on JUST ME!!!! ahhhh this has to be fixed!
Thankfully right now my parents are paying for my groceries (since I’m interning full time and thats not a paid internship). BUT I still try to monitor how much I’m spending on my food! i don’t eat out often at all so that saves $
i have the shuffle and i cannot feel it at all wheni run which is VERY important to me!! hmm i def worry about spending too much but in my life right now.. i dont have to worry YET.. haha
WOOHOO! yes do the 10k!
Our grocery budget is what is left of my paycheck once I get paid, so I would say it is $50 a week. I shop every week for produce, so I never go over that $50, but thats our budget. We do pretty well, but my hubby doesnt eat like me, so that helps a lot.
I have an ipod nano, but the older version with video. I got it 2 Christmas’ ago and they have already discontinued them. I love it though!