"Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable."George Bernard Shaw
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You talk about a question without an answer! But, I'm
going to try to answer it anyway.
First, when we are talking about setting an exact dollar amount
for groceries for each family that asks, that's almost impossible.
What we can do is allot a portion (percentage) of our income for
food.
There again, you have all of the variables like the size of your
family, eating habits, etc. Also, a family with a low income may
have to allot a larger percentage of their income toward buying
food.
The question I would like to ask you is how much are you spending
on groceries per month? I would have to say that most people
wouldn't have any idea.
Better yet, how much could you be spending on food? In other
words if you are currently spending $600 on food for your family
let's try to cut that down to $500 or even $400. But first you
will need to know how much you are spending now.
This is going to be a real hassle for a month or two because you
will need to keep track of your grocery purchases. All of them!
Now, we can make that a little easier but you will need to have
your finances set up a certain way. I always suggest that you
only use 4 categories for your budget. These are Housing, Other
Bills, Household Expenses and Savings.
Your grocery bill would come under that category of Household
Expenses. If you have your finances set up this way each member
of the family will have an allowance each payday for things
like car gas, lunches, parking, snacks, etc. Doing it this way
would eliminate the need to keep up with each family member's
food spending except for the family pizza night.
All you would have to do is save your grocery receipts for about
30 to 60 days and add them up. This should give you a good idea
of how much you spend on a monthly basis for food.
When you have this information it's time to start looking for
ways to cut that figure down as low as you can and still provide
good nutritious meals for your family.
If I started telling just the ways I know of how to save on
groceries, this article would turn into a book. There are
endless ways to cut back on your food spending. The best way
to start learning is to search the web. Here are a couple of
web sites you can start with:
The Frugal Shopper
http://www.thefrugalshopper.com
Money Saving Grocery Tips
http://homeparents.about.com/od/groceryshoppingtips/
Grocery Saving Tips
http://www.grocerysavingtips.com/
With all of that said, the bottom line is that you need to spend
what ever it takes on groceries to survive. In too many cases
people will pay their bills out of their grocery budget. This
won't work. Water, Food and shelter are the basics. Put them
first no matter what your bills are or how many times they call
to harass you.
I know you are still looking for a dollar amount for your family.
If you pin me down I would have to say about 15% to 20% of your
income could be spent on food. For a family making $3000 a month
that would mean you would set aside about $450 to $600 for food.
This is great unless you have teenagers that go through the
kitchen like vacuum cleaners.
About the Author
Terry Rigg is the author of Living Within Your Means - The Easy
Way http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ebookadpage.html and editor of
the Budget Stretcher web site. Join the thousands of subscribers
to The FREE Budget Stretcher Newsletter and get great articles,
tips, downloads and a lot of Budget Help by visiting his home
page at http://www.homemoneyhelp.com
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