Grocery Budget Review Challenge

[coupondink]

I would like to suggest a new interactive thread. The Grocery Budget Review!

A sort of Weight Watchers for grocery budgets!!


As you learn to coupon, your stockpile will grow. Once you have built your stockpile for a while, the next step is to analyze your expenditures to see where you can cut back.


I started couponing 6.5 years ago. I started an Excel chart (you can use a notebook though!) that tracked every cent I spend (and every cent I saved). I constantly pushed myself to find ways to lower my total yearly oop. Through this method I lowered my oop from $5,000 a year to under $50 a month.


Experts always say that when you go on a diet, you should write down everything you eat. Financial experts always advise writing down every cent you spend. When you write it down, you are conscious of it. I bet many people reading this don't even know how much they are really spending on groceries (or all spending) if they are not charting.

To newbies, my first advice is always : chart your spending. Keep track. Analyze the charts then. I think this thread will help people to be more conscious of what they are spending on, if they know others will be reviewing it.


I even go so far as to break down how much I spend at each store annually. I figured out in my third year of doing this that by doing that I can track where I am spending too much and try to avoid that store. This worked!


To that end, I suggest this thread for brave souls to put their grocery budgets for all to review. Then, we can all analyze those expenditures and offer up advice, tips, guidance to lower your oop. There is always room for growth!


My annual oop is under $50 for 2. You can do it too. Let us help you.



My suggestion would be for folks to post weekly or monthly how much they spent, for how many people, how long you have been couponing, and list what they bought that month. I suggest you list where you live as well, so others can point out regional deals you didn't realize. I know it is tedious....but I think we really be able to help someone together.


If you do post, please note we are only trying to help, and don't be offended by any suggestions. You do not need to follow anyone tips. Ultimately you can decide what is best for your family.


Who is first?

[mrsliberty]

I'll jump in... right now my grocery budget is $125 a week for 3 of us. I haven't been couponing at ALL lately, so it's atrocious. We also had to live on our stockpile a little while back so I'm just about starting with no stockpile. How would you like it broken down? Receipts from this past week/two weeks or what I budget in general for categories?

I have a list of several meals that we love and we pick 3-4 dinners (depending on how many leftovers) plus a standard Saturday and Sunday dinner. Then we have breakfast, lunch and snack items that are in separate "sections". It's a bit awkward and goofy, but this is our first step into becoming more organized and saving more like I used to be able to do when I was at home full time. We are going down from 2 incomes to 1 this summer/fall, so it's an ongoing project.

[VivaciousJewelz]

[QUOTE=coupondink;2963401]My annual oop is under $50 for 2. You can do it too. Let us help you.
QUOTE]

Under $50 a month or under $50 total?

[coupondink]

[QUOTE=VivaciousJewelz;2977228]

My annual oop is under $50 for 2. You can do it too. Let us help you.
QUOTE]

Under $50 a month or under $50 total?

depends on the month. My goal is under $50 a month, but it is usually much less. I went 2 years with $0 oop for the whole year (and it is looking good for this year to be a $0 oop for the whole year!)

[coupondink]

you can break it down whatever works best for you.

I'll jump in... right now my grocery budget is $125 a month for 3 of us. I haven't been couponing at ALL lately, so it's atrocious. We also had to live on our stockpile a little while back so I'm just about starting with no stockpile. How would you like it broken down? Receipts from this past week/two weeks or what I budget in general for categories?

I have a list of several meals that we love and we pick 3-4 dinners (depending on how many leftovers) plus a standard Saturday and Sunday dinner. Then we have breakfast, lunch and snack items that are in separate "sections". It's a bit awkward and goofy, but this is our first step into becoming more organized and saving more like I used to be able to do when I was at home full time. We are going down from 2 incomes to 1 this summer/fall, so it's an ongoing project.

[ScrappyDoo]

Do you do NBPR rebates and count those in your totals or is your ACTUAL oop (in other words not spending it and then getting it back in rebates) $50/month?

I WISH I could get under $300/month for my family of 4 but so far even with couponing I can't I spend about $350 - $400/month and get maybe 40-70 back in rebates and such. That is the best I have been able to do so far.

[coupondink]

Do you do NBPR rebates and count those in your totals or is your ACTUAL oop (in other words not spending it and then getting it back in rebates) $50/month?

I WISH I could get under $300/month for my family of 4 but so far even with couponing I can't I spend about $350 - $400/month and get maybe 40-70 back in rebates and such. That is the best I have been able to do so far.

I do NBPR and rebates, yes.

When I say I spent $0 oop for the year so far (and 2009), I mean the total oop after all is said and done (yes, including rebates). That means total oop after rebates, moneymaker profits, selling coupons profits, selling stockpile profits. I consider my total oop - > what I ultimately had to shell out of my pocket.

When I say I aim for under $50 for a family of 2, I mean averaged over a year. Although this year, I am at $0 oop still, as of July.

It is a lot of work, but you can do it. Hang in there!

The first step is to write every purchase down. Start tracking expenditures. That is what I am trying to encourage folks to do with this challenge. Unfortunately, I see noone wants to take the challenge. I can't stress how important it is to keep tracking of everything. If you do not know what you are spending, you will never be able to lower your costs.

[amylynne01]

I think that your OOP is unrealistic. You DO spend money on food - you don't walk out of the store paying $0.00. You do a lot more work outside to get that total down. Not every one counts their rebates and stockpile selling back into their budget. I save that money for other stuff like vacations. So I spend about $300 a month with heavy couponing and a decent stockpile, but after rebates, that total is around $200.

I think no one wants to take your challenge because there's almost no way to measure up to you (the host). People need realistic goals and incentive to do better. When they see someone who spends nothing, they get discouraged and turned off. Your OP also doesn't tell people HOW to get down to spending nothing, so people assume that you are an extreme couponer, another turn off.

I personally am jealous that you spend nothing, but I know how much work goes into that. I am not that dedicated or motivated at this point to do that much extra work, so I "suffer" with spending $300 a month, which is still pretty darn good for a family of 4 with one in diapers.

[anaj06]

I tracked it for the year 2009 and had less than $100 OOP up through the end of May. I tracked it the same way you did subtracting out rebates and money in from stockpile too. I lost track of it in May because work got busy and just ran out of time.

I'd like to try again...our biggest problem is dining out so I am going to track that too.

I have been couponing most of my life but as a way of life with stockpiling since the middle of 2007 or 4 years.

I will begin my tracking on July 1, 2011.

So far as of July 4th, I have spent $46.55 on consumables and $30.09 eating out. On July 1st I received $10 in the mail from rebates.

So, $60.64 total for 4 days...not great:( $30 of that though was peaches from a pick your own orchard which I canned for the year so it is a little skewed for just 4 days:)

[VivaciousJewelz]

For 2010, I spent $2500 total for the year with a fam of 3 (one being a new baby), so I think I did pretty good. While I like the idea of spending $0 oop... Honestly, I like to treat myself with food sometimes. Sometimes I eat out, sometimes I buy a Starbucks drink, sometimes I buy something without coupons. This year, I've been guilty of trading for a lot of rebates and then forgetting about them and letting them go to waste, though I HAVE submitted and received at least $300 so far. I'm not as diligent as I wish I was, but sometimes life stuff has kept me from couponing and rebating as much as I'd otherwise be able to.