**updated**-Dave Ramsey anyone?

[rcalexander105]

Met up with @rcalexander105 last night to grab his copy of The Total Money Makeover. Brought it home and wife immediately started reading it, which really impressed me. Currently my wife and I are doing the envelope system. Each time one of us gets paid, I withdraw a portion of the mortgage, pay all the bills that are due and then withdraw money for groceries/entertainment/spending money for that week. We have set a grocery budget and if we go over, it comes out of our spending money. We have been doing this for about 4-5 months and have really seen a huge decrease in how and what we spend our money on. We would go and spend $400-500 a month at the grocery store and then another $400-500 on going out to eat. I live close enough to work, that I can go home and eat there which is a blessing and same for the wife. The only thing we haven't been doing is trying to pay down our debt quicker, which is our next step. I am really excited to get a plan together and execute it. I know this will take some time and discipline, but I am just ready to take control of our finances before it gets really out of hand.

Nice to meet you and best of luck to you guys! Let me know if I can answer any questions along the way (certainly won't claim to know all the answers but glad to shell out my $0.02 if wanted).

 

[UTfball68]

One thing is foe sure, as kids get older and eat full size meals, prepared food gets really expensive. Especially if you want to satisfy a teenage boy. Sometimes my wallet kind of misses that little kid with an eating disorder who would eat hardly anything. Now he eats 40% of the total for the family.

That’s something that has surprised me with kids...and mine are still under 2.5...I feel when we go out the wife and I could always do a decent meal for $25-30 and still can...I feel like I add a $5.99 plate of rice and grilled chicken for the girls, that bill becomes $50 now.

 

[trailhugger]

That’s something that has surprised me with kids...and mine are still under 2.5...I feel when we go out the wife and I could always do a decent meal for $25-30 and still can...I feel like I add a $5.99 plate of rice and grilled chicken for the girls, that bill becomes $50 now.

Yup. We feed the five of us at CFA or most fast casual places for about $40. The 'good' Chinese place is $50-60 but includes enough leftovers to make fried rice and turn into a second dinner. Same with delivery pizza, but it's at least 2 dinner meals and a lunch. We ate at our favorite Mexican place Friday night for $57, including a couple big beers. Any of those is an every month or two thing, or less.

 

[Ron]

Met up with @rcalexander105 last night to grab his copy of The Total Money Makeover. Brought it home and wife immediately started reading it, which really impressed me. Currently my wife and I are doing the envelope system. Each time one of us gets paid, I withdraw a portion of the mortgage, pay all the bills that are due and then withdraw money for groceries/entertainment/spending money for that week. We have set a grocery budget and if we go over, it comes out of our spending money. We have been doing this for about 4-5 months and have really seen a huge decrease in how and what we spend our money on. We would go and spend $400-500 a month at the grocery store and then another $400-500 on going out to eat. I live close enough to work, that I can go home and eat there which is a blessing and same for the wife. The only thing we haven't been doing is trying to pay down our debt quicker, which is our next step. I am really excited to get a plan together and execute it. I know this will take some time and discipline, but I am just ready to take control of our finances before it gets really out of hand.

Good luck!
The good news is the simple fact that you are even thinking about your finances and trying puts you in the rare category.

It does get easier, I promise.

 

[77GreenMachine]

Good luck!
The good news is the simple fact that you are even thinking about your finances and trying puts you in the rare category.

It does get easier, I promise.

This! Talking about it together and getting on the same page is the first and most crucial step. It is amazing to me how many couples I know that don’t talk about finances, keep money totally separate and has no idea what the other one owes.

Now before anyone gets all butt hurt, I’m not just talking about separate bank accounts and keeping money separate. While I don’t do that myself and find it strange, many people do and it seems to be more normal to most. I just mean one person has no clue what debt the other person has, and that is crazy to me. My sister is like that. She’s on the verge of having her car repoed and her fiancé who she lives with has no clue, she’s begging my dad or me to help her and asking him not to say anything. It’s just absurd in my opinion.

 

[trailhugger]

On food, my 2019 numbers for family of 4 (kids 9 & 5): avg $787 per month on groceries and $218 per month on restaurants. Not spectacular numbers by any means, but we did eat good this year

We spend about $100/week on groceries and I only make mac & cheese maybe every 2 months.

 

[Ron]

We spend about $100/week on groceries and I only make mac & cheese maybe every 2 months.

Crap we spent 300 this weekend....but we had fun.

 

[awheelterd]

Real question. What does everyone consider "geoceries"? Meaning, do toilet paper, shampoo, deoderant, paper towels, etc, count against your grocery bill or do you consider that a different category? I feel like anything that comes from a grocery store or from Walmart is groceries. My wife likes to break those non food consumables out as not groceries. IE, she has spent close ton $400 in the past two weeks at grocery stores and Walmart and when I said something she told me all the non food consumables she bought as well. IMO only thing she gets a pass on is baby formula. That shit is expensive. Especially that nutramgen stuff the Dr put the baby on last month. $80 for a normal sized container fuuuuuuu!

 

[UTfball68]

Real question. What does everyone consider "geoceries"? Meaning, do toilet paper, shampoo, deoderant, paper towels, etc, count against your grocery bill or do you consider that a different category? I feel like anything that comes from a grocery store or from Walmart is groceries. My wife likes to break those non food consumables out as not groceries. IE, she has spent close ton $400 in the past two weeks at grocery stores and Walmart and when I said something she told me all the non food consumables she bought as well. IMO only thing she gets a pass on is baby formula. That shit is expensive. Especially that nutramgen stuff the Dr put the baby on last month. $80 for a normal sized container fuuuuuuu!

Anything from the grocery store are groceries. Diapers, deodorant, chicken, doesn’t matter in my budget. Chances are pretty good even if we get hammered with non-food items, the cupboards won’t go bare.

 

[Fabrik8]

Real question. What does everyone consider "geoceries"? Meaning, do toilet paper, shampoo, deoderant, paper towels, etc, count against your grocery bill or do you consider that a different category? I feel like anything that comes from a grocery store or from Walmart is groceries. My wife likes to break those non food consumables out as not groceries. IE, she has spent close ton $400 in the past two weeks at grocery stores and Walmart and when I said something she told me all the non food consumables she bought as well. IMO only thing she gets a pass on is baby formula. That shit is expensive. Especially that nutramgen stuff the Dr put the baby on last month. $80 for a normal sized container fuuuuuuu!

We always break them apart, because we usually don't get groceries and household goods/toiletries at the same place. It's also easier to stay on budget for groceries if you don't have a bunch of non-groceries mixed in as well. We don't get paper towels and toilet paper, etc., nearly as often as we go to the grocery store, so that keeps things easier to track.

The point is that if you're keeping a budget, both categories should be tracked, but kept separate to keep things clearer to interpret and act upon. If you're tracking a budget, track a budget.

 

[Andy J.]

Real question. What does everyone consider "geoceries"? Meaning, do toilet paper, shampoo, deoderant, paper towels, etc, count against your grocery bill or do you consider that a different category? I feel like anything that comes from a grocery store or from Walmart is groceries. My wife likes to break those non food consumables out as not groceries. IE, she has spent close ton $400 in the past two weeks at grocery stores and Walmart and when I said something she told me all the non food consumables she bought as well. IMO only thing she gets a pass on is baby formula. That shit is expensive. Especially that nutramgen stuff the Dr put the baby on last month. $80 for a normal sized container fuuuuuuu!

Ours includes toiletries, paper towels, etc. we usually buy those things at the same places and I’m too lazy to break it out separately.

 

[Andy J.]

That dosn't seem too bad to me, if "restaurants" includes all family meals not coked at home (take out etc).

We set a goal of ~$40-50 per weekend on prepared food. We rarely eat at a sit-down restaurant, mostly b/c we just don't get much out of it. The norm is, wife likes to take off from cooking meals on the weekend. We get take out on Fridays. Normally thats in the $20-25 ballpark. Sometimes we spend it all on a nicer meal like poki bowls or the "good" chinese place. Depending on what it is, leftovers are lunch Sat or sunday, and leftover spending $$ is used for Sat night. Sun night is back to a cooked meal.

We do pretty much the same thing. Wife cooks hardcore Monday-Thursday. We eat leftovers Friday and through the weekend with take out/pizza on Friday or Saturday night. We do occasionally sit in at Buffalo Wild Wings or the local Japanese spot to the tune of $50-$60.

 

[trailhugger]

Fair point. We probably spend an additional $100/mo on paper goods, dog food, dishwasher detergent, etc., through Amazon Subscribe & Save because HT wants way too much or doesn't have what we buy. We already have Prime and it saves me both the extra trip to Walmart or Target and whatever additional I might end up spending on stuff we don't really need. It varies a little but $600/month for the five of us (kids are 8, 6, and 5), plus the two dogs.

Weekly groceries for us is, typically, fresh meat, sandwich bread & tortillas, fresh fruits & veggies, graham crackers for kid snacks, cheese, eggs, and milk to last us the week. I choose meat and produce based on what's on sale. Most everything is HT store brand or whatever is cheaper by the unit price. I buy canned and frozen produce when it is on sale, extra bread to freeze if it's on sale, cereal/granola/oatmeal for kids' breakfasts when it's on sale, peanut butter & jelly (or make my own) and frozen pizza when it's on sale, and miscellaneous dairy when it's on sale. Milk for the week is at least 4 gallons of whole milk. If it's on sale, I might buy 4-5 gallons at a time.

We eat CFA or other fast-casual like Moe's or Five Guys *maybe* once a weekend, usually for lunch, and Chinese or Mexican is like every other month. Pizza delivery we do about once a month. That's probably $125-150/month. @shawn eats out for most lunches because crazy work schedule but that's probably in the neighborhood of $60/week?

 

[shawn]

@shawn eats out for most lunches because crazy work schedule but that's probably in the neighborhood of $60/week?

I do a pretty good job of availing myself of free lunches. Total for last month was $355.60. That included lunch for 10 one day, lunch for 4 another, lunch for 2, (all of these reimbursed), plus a hot date at Angus Barn one night and taking the kids to the chinese place. Only bought lunch for myself two days.

 

[Jody Treadway]

I do a pretty good job of availing myself of free lunches. Total for last month was $355.60. That included lunch for 10 one day, lunch for 4 another, lunch for 2, (all of these reimbursed), plus a hot date at Angus Barn one night and taking the kids to the chinese place. Only bought lunch for myself two days.

You were drinking that night at Angus Barn too.
I have the texts to prove it.

 

[Cherokeekid88]

Real question. What does everyone consider "geoceries"? Meaning, do toilet paper, shampoo, deoderant, paper towels, etc, count against your grocery bill or do you consider that a different category? I feel like anything that comes from a grocery store or from Walmart is groceries. My wife likes to break those non food consumables out as not groceries. IE, she has spent close ton $400 in the past two weeks at grocery stores and Walmart and when I said something she told me all the non food consumables she bought as well. IMO only thing she gets a pass on is baby formula. That shit is expensive. Especially that nutramgen stuff the Dr put the baby on last month. $80 for a normal sized container fuuuuuuu!

Anything at grocery store except diapers and wipes is considered groceries to us. We buy target brand diapers and wipes and wife has a red card that saves us 5% and sometimes they have deals where you get a gift card too..

 

[orange150]

We buy target brand diapers and wipes

FWIW we flip flopped between Costco and Amazon Subscribe and Save for diapers and wipes. We found that to be cheaper for our region.

 

[trailhugger]

We also used Subscribe & Save for diapers (and then pullups) & wipes and found it to be cheaper than Target and definitely worth not dragging babies to the store.

 

[Cherokeekid88]

We also used Subscribe & Save for diapers (and then pullups) & wipes and found it to be cheaper than Target and definitely worth not dragging babies to the store.

might need to look into this. We thought pampers was the only way to go till someone at my wife's work told us about Target brand and that they were just as good and cheaper.

 

[Chris_Keziah]

We also used Subscribe & Save for diapers (and then pullups) & wipes and found it to be cheaper than Target and definitely worth not dragging babies to the store.

I had checked previously and it was cheaper just to go to the Walmart market than it was on Amazon. The unscented no name brand wipes from walmart is what we used but I never price checked them against Amazon.

might need to look into this. We thought pampers was the only way to go till someone at my wife's work told us about Target brand and that they were just as good and cheaper.

The Costco ones are pretty good if memory serves but the closest one to you would be the one near the mall in Winston.

 

[RatLabGuy]

... and definitely worth not dragging babies to the store.

It didn't take long for that bar to get pretty high in our family.
And once they aren't babies, you get the joy of having stuff just "randomly" ending up in the cart..
Kids + grocery trips = painful

 

[UTfball68]

It didn't take long for that bar to get pretty high in our family.
And once they aren't babies, you get the joy of having stuff just "randomly" ending up in the cart..
Kids + grocery trips = painful

The kid thing is a nice benefit, and I can probably count on one hand the number of times my wife and/or I have stepped foot inside a grocery store in about 2 years to do our entire weekly grocery shopping. We're 100% online ordering now with 50% of our 'groceries' come from Amazon, 25% we do drive-up pick ups and 25% we have delivered. I was worried at first that we'd just start getting distracted and adding anything we saw to the cart with the online shopping. However, I've found online ordering forces us to have a dedicated list and searching for what we actually want/need...or it's an auto replenish order. This prevents us from walking aisles and then throwing arbitrary crap in the cart just because we we're adults and no one tells us no. It also helps prevent getting distracted and having to go back to the store 3-4 more times during the week because of the things we forgot, and you can never just go in any get one thing, you see other 'gotta have items' too. With the two kids, our entire grocery bill (including diapers, toiletries, etc) is $150/wk give or take $25...previously, just my wife and I were pushing $200(it was just extra crap and snacks)...edit, and my wife and I thought we were doing well at $200 because its what was budgeted, we weren’t going out, and our other budgetary categories were being fulfilled...but again, a cart full of doritos and swiss cake rolls really adds up. That’s the part I really like now, is we’re within budget across the board, but still looking for areas to cut.

 

[trailhugger]

Amazon Elements wipes are good. I was buying either Pampers or Luvs diapers from Amazon and would still end up buying the Target brand if I was there for something else (like their brand of children's ibuprofen) because the cost was close enough not to matter.

It is definitely a luxury to go to the grocery store without 'help' but my children almost always go with me. Because life skills.

Round trip, it takes an hour and the store is 12-15 minutes' drive one way. They know the things we usually buy and know it's not ok to take things off the shelves unless I ask them to. They are old enough now that I can send one or two up the aisle, or even an aisle over, for something with confidence. They understand that we check for the lowest price and don't need to buy it if we have plenty at home. They help check over produce so we don't bring home anything bruised.

They also know some of the staff and converse with them easily. They help unload the cart, bag the groceries, and help unload and unpack when we get home.

 

[trailhugger]

To be fair, I've had my grocery routine down for at least 15 years, probably 20, so learning to manage with the kids was less work. Doesn't mean I didn't take advantage of the chance to go alone when it was available and doesn't mean I didn't ever tell them we'd leave the cart and go home if they didn't straighten up (any mean it).

 

[rockcity]

So for y’all that order everything online, how do you do with produce and meat/seafood from the counter? Just take what they give you?

I like to pick through produce to get things not over ripe or old. Like Avacados. I’ll get two that are ripe, 2 that are almost ripe, and some tbat are firm, so that I have some for the week and not have to eat brown, mushy avacados on Friday.

Im picky with seafood and meat as well...


How do you work around things like that?