How much do you spend?

oouurr__aayylleeyycan

£120 a month for me and my boyfriend, though we both have separate budgets for what we eat at work. From speaking to other people though I know we're on the low side of what people spend on average but we've just managed to get it down to a fine art now as to what not to buy haha x

nakabi

I spend 350 for 2 adults, a 2 year old and an 11 month old. I use coupons when the stores double and triple them, buy items only on sale, hardly buy any processed food, buy produce from the farmers market & the international stores. spend a total of $400 including laundry detergent/soap/toiletries.

I live in Raleigh, NC

jacquelyn_erika

On just groceries, for 2 of us, we spend a minimum of $300 a month.

jrich1

Our budget is about 200/wk for a family of 4, but that includes stuff like diapers, paper towels etc too.

MalyMal

I am also in Canada, New Brunswick and for myself and my faince we spend about 300-350. I just recently started couponing and really budgeting and I have managed to save about 40 bucks per grocery bill !!!

Hopelessbird

Realistically $1K for 2 people in Boston. This includes groceries (+paper products) and dining out.

momma3sweetgirls

I'm in the NE US and spend between $600-$800 a month for our family of 6 (kids ages 7,5,3,1). I rarely use coupons and make my weekly menu based on what we want rather than what's on sale. I'm sure if I did it the other way around I'd spend less. My husband always says that life is too short to eat 'cheap' food.

mrsrice86

We usually spend around £350-£400 a month for 2 adults and 2 children (age 1 and 2). That includes nappies for one of the kids, and baby wipes. That also factors in cleaning products and things like that.
So i don't think that's too bad.
I shop at tesco. Gotta love the clubcard points lol

HeidiMightyRawr

£300 a month for myself and my boyfriend. (This includes general household items such as cleaning products and toiletries.)

Caffeinewitch

About $400 - 500 a month for 2 people in the Baltimore/annapolis area. This includes toiletries, paper products and cleaning products, plus cat food and litter, and enough food to have a dinner party at least 2X a week.

twistofcain

North Texas; we spend about $300-500 a month for two adults, a toddler and a newborn. Usually if it is around $500 we have made a trip to Sam's to stock up on bulk items(fish, beef, chicken, etc) for the month. We usually do that every couple of months or so.

marsellient

I'm in southern Ontario, Canada and estimate that I spend $400-$500 per month for two adults and a weekend teenager. I do plan meals and make lists, and buy as much as I can on sale, but I also buy what I want. Thanks for posting this. I thought my spending was way out of line, but it seems it's not.

nakabi

Realistically $1K for 2 people in Boston. This includes groceries (+paper products) and dining out.

WOW!!! That just blows my mind away!

tdmcmains

I'm outside Boston, MA and probably spend $100/week for a family of 4. I feel like that's relatively low. We cook almost everything from scratch, don't eat out much, and don't but much processed anything (except cereals and things for the kids) and I feel like that keeps prices down for us. maybe.
in the summer we grow most of our own veggies which is awesome too. I can't wait til summer!

blv0267

About $800-900/month for a family of 4 with a teenage boy and a teenage girl. We live in Maine.

000WhiteRose000

I spend £60 for myself and when my husband is home from offshore it's 80-100 per week x

SmartAlec03211988

I spend $225/month on food just for myself.

Tanners2202

About £300 a month for me my partner and a very very hungry Bengal cat. Plus that includes a take out once a week on treat night which is when we have alcohol too,which is also included...
My mum bought up for kids on 1 wage and no benefits,she taught me how to budget lol

kylee_marie

i actually posted this same thread a few months ago and the answers made me re-evaluate how much we were spending... it was around $900 a month. we have since cut it down to about $500-600. I joined a co-op near our house that is $23 a month for veggies (1x a month delivery). I also shop at our local farmers market for produce. Almost all dry goods, milk, etc. i buy at Aldi and the rest i try and clip coupons for. We have also started eating at home a lot more so i am very happy with that number.

charlotte66

i spend about £200-£300 a month on 3 of us and the baby and usually have meat etc left over in freezer

oh forgot also the dog who eats real meat and the cat!

slay0r

Time to be horrified.. I think I spend about £400 (about 650 dollars) on food for MYSELF for the month..yes JUST ME. I eat insanely healthily and love my food so I just eat faaaaaaar too much.

I do eat out quite a bit, I don't bulk buy and I'm very spontaneous so I can't really plan or do anything in that sense lol..(plus I never know how much exercise I'm doing can vary between 30 mins and 3 hours daily so that makes an impact!

msarro

My girlfriend and I budget 60$ a week for food, and most of the time we come in largely under budget. All of our meals are home cooked save for the one or two times a week we go out for dinner.

Milliebear66

I,m in the UK and spending around £250 per month for me and my Fiance, eating healthy cost more i think in the UK, if you want to eat junk and fast food it would be loads cheaper, but would be terrible on the waist line!!! do all you other Brits agree???

I've actually found the opposite! When I used to go shopping I would just grab anything that looked tasty, including crisps, chocolate, pastries, cereal bars, ice cream...

Now i'm actually thinking about what I buy, so I buy less. My main tip would be - get your fruit and veg from Aldi! I know there is a bit Aldi snobbery in this country, but the quality is good and they are cheap enough that I can pile them in my trolley without worrying about the cost! I'm a student too. It has really opened my eyes to how much of a rip-off fruit and veg is in the major supermarkets...

Oops, forgot to say how much I spend - I average about £80-£100 per week, feeding just myself.

I have, this week, decided NOT to do 'top up shopping' myself and my teenage son would cost about £60 a week but I spend so much on 'just popping to the shops on the way home for milk'' when we all knwo I buy more than I go in for. I do shop in Lidl for fruit and veg, it is much cheaper but quite limited so still purchase more from Morrison. I agree about healthy food costing more .. if I stocked my freezer with (I use the term loosely) food, from Iceland then it would be so much cheaper, I refuse to eat that rubbish BUT, 4 chicken fillets are £7.. WTF.. that's only a meal for us .. could eeek it out to 2 meals each byut .. food is expensive

LHAMON2009

I spend roughly the same maybe just a little bit less. Mine comes out to be roughly $80 per week for just me and my husband. I too would love some ideas to cut costs.

stef827

I live in Colorado and we spend up to $350 a month for myself and my husband but that also includes paper products, cleaning, toilitries, and baby stuff. I am a crazy couponer and have stocked up on things and don't have to purchase them for several months at a time sometimes

stormieweather

An arm and a leg....seriously. Family of 4 (sometimes 5, when my son is home), one dog and one cat. Everything, including cleaning products, pet items and personal products run about $275 per week. We eat all natural and mostly organic and my 6yr old, myself and my partner take our own lunches to school/work (no eating out).

strunkm4

I easily spend $500/month for myself, my fiance, and our 3 year old. It's probably more, but I'm telling myself it's only $500.

Mommareed4

Ohio here..We spend about $300 a month for a family of 6. We go by a tight budget and usually have nothing left by the time we re-stock LOL.

Grlnxtdr0721

For a family of 3 (almost 3 year old included), I spend about $400/ month on food. This doesn't account for the "run ins" to pick our son up more juice, cheese, or gummies, and it may be more depending on what my recipes call for. I have been trying to spend more time in the produce section that normal, and not as much in the aisles. I use coupons when I have then and when I remember. I would really like to know how these women buy all of those groceries for like $5 or less!!!

bcattoes

Excluding alcohol, about $300 - $350 per month for 2 people during the Winter. Less during harvest seasons because we grow quite a bit of our own veggies, but I don't can or freeze much.

We have a big freezer and pantry that are always pretty full, so I'm not sure how much it would be if we bought only what we were going to eat that month.

ETA: The amount above is for total groceries, not just food. Probably a little more than 3/4 of that is food.