How Much I SPENT on GROCERIES In JanuaryReal Life Family Budget #save

$550 for a family of 4. 1 dog so we don’t spend too much on pet food. Home products I purchase mainly from Sam’s.

Hi Lori! We unfortunately had some very expensive and unexpected expenditures this month (I'm looking at you new heat pump and emergency surgery for our cat, doctor and dentist!) I was determined to eat out of our pantry/freezer and do as little spending as possible. We spend $40 a month for a milk share so I couldn't cut that but I did us my MyPoints rewards for a $25 gift card to Sam's Club where I was able to get fresh produce for 2 weeks and a rotisserie chicken I utilized for about 6 meals. Other than the milk I spent $60.37 on food and $20.03 on household items which included toothpaste for .31cents using my CVS rewards and $1.04 for packing tape again using my CVS rewards. I am definitely utilizing all my rewards. Fetch and Upside on top of the others I mentioned. No eating out, we have to get this debt paid off and no extras at the store. Everyone in our household understands the importance of paying off this debt thankfully. I can make homemade treats but I will not buy juice, candy, bread, anything I can make myself basically or that we don't actually need. I'm right there with you regarding animal feed. We do buy organic chicken feed so it is more expensive and I always pick up about 5 bags because it's a bit of a drive and we don't want to run low. That will run us about $140 😮 more than I spent on our food! I should be able to start selling some eggs though to offset that cost and I also bake sweet breads and sell them locally. I can't wait til garden season to help out even more! Keep on going Lori, you got this! ❤

You did so great on your grocery budget! We are a family of 5 with two teenagers and a preteen. I've chosen to keep groceries and all household items under one budget category but I do keep a separate out the dog and chicken feed. We spent $575 on groceries/household ($600 is the budget) I'd still like to try and get that expenditure down even though I budget for $600. Animal feed was $100 for two dogs and a few chickens and is pretty steady at that number. We previously had 3 cows and 4 dairy goats but decided to sell them for a season. It wasn't really a financial decision at the time. We sold them because my husband was diagnosed with cancer for a second time and was doing chemo and radiation and we decided that our energy wasn't going to spent on taking care of livestock. PtL he is finished with treatment and healthy again but we have still decided to hold off on buying new animals. The extra money that we would have spent on animal feed is now going towards 3 kids in braces and inflation. We went over our eating out budget of $100 and spent $160. I'm bummed about that but historically eating out has been our biggest budget buster and we've made huge progress in getting that number down so I'm trying celebrate the improvement and not beat myself up too my about it. Keep up the good work. I really appreciate your transparency and sharing what you're doing to cut expenses. It really helps to hear how others are making ends meet, especially on one income.

I spent $1800 on groceries and household items in January 😳

Rebate apps have helped me, along with using coupons

I have two 50-lb dogs and over the last month I’ve spent $300 on their food, medicine (one has bad allergies and joints), and accessories/toys. I can definitely cut down on that by eliminating the nonessential items I buy for them, but I am super impressed that you spent less than me with the huge amount of animals you have! I will say though, I don’t have children, and treat my dogs like my kids, so that’s a big reason I spent so much too haha

I get the idea of treats being hard. How about having the kids agree a list of favourite treats - maybe 30 of them and pick one of those each week depending on sales or a new item that is on sale - 1 per week. Everyone deserves a treat once a week. As for husband, he makes the money so I get it. Even he can be on a budget. Have him make a list too and give him the things he likes based on the sales. A kind of menu of all the things he likes that you can choose from based on this week’s specials. Would that work?

I will agree that taking cash helps for me too. Last time I went to the store I did take cash and I ended up having $17.++ left over. This was amazing because to be honest I was spending $200+ over each time I went to the store (twice in one month). It was much easier to ask myself do we need it or can I go without this item. I really thought it was because of prices going up but I have always kept track, it was mostly my choices. You are doing an wonderful job!!! I know that we are working on things that can help our families in different ways. Way to go
I started something a few months back- I ask everyone at the dinner table one night for any suggestions of meals, snacks, or desserts for the next two-three time (I shop for this length of time). I try to ask that each person request one thing. We do a dessert once a week and a cookie once a week. Meals I can be a bit flexible. I try to make their requests happen within reason but will look at prices of things and try and make a wise choice. We don't eat out at all so I do try to keep the ideas of how to keep everyone working on the same goal in mind. We are paying down debit and we all are working together. I enjoy setting the table with our table clothes, dollar store candles every night, and we have a few nights a week where I like to play different types of music. We do our cookies on Wednesday night to help people feel loved on and then our dessert on Sunday nights. These things have helped take the focus off the "food" and help us to focus on one another.

When I think about going out to eat, I think about these things… we have $200,000+ left on the mortgage, $90,000 of home maintenance on the back burner, 3 kids to help go to college, 2 potential future weddings to pay for. If I cook some fun food here and there, hubby is just fine eating all meals at home and packing a lunch when we need to eat on the road. Friday I wanted burgers and onion rings. I stopped in at Aldi and spent an extra $10. Family was ecstatic. It wasn’t quite Red Robin onion rings but it was great nonetheless!

Yes, sometimes my husband will pick up some cereal for the kids or chips that look good. He does that just a handful of times a year. I simply cannot fuss at him. If he did the same to me, it would feel emotionally abusive so I refuse to do it to him.

I budget $160-180 every paycheck (paid every other week). This month I did $350, I included tp, laundry detergent, etc. as needed in that. Ate out more then I would have liked, I'll admit (twice one day, I so didn't want to figure meals that day). I figured maybe should look at planning what my mother and I eat each meal, with some extra if i can for changing of mind or need (something coming up that I didn't forsee).

I have 1 dog. I spend 200.00 on her food and treats per meal nth. Her meds are another 130.00 per month.

Do you ever watch Appalachia Homestead? Patara is a homesteader who lives in Tennessee. Shes great and knows all about livestock. Please check her out! Love your channel.

Going into February I want to stick with my budget and cut down my spending in nonessential items. This is especially at Aldi. I have a good stocked pantry where I want to start planning my meals and cooking. When I get home from working/school I don’t feel like cooking or that I’m hungry. I even want to stop buying snacks while I’m as the retail job or budget in how much I can spend there.

Its nice to hear a similar story when it comes to spending. I do love the piint you made about separating food items from household and animal expenses because i lump them together and try to spend only $100-$150 a week but that was including that stuff and then wondering where all the food went i bought. I also need to be more mindful of what we need to eat through and what we have so im not buying repeat items. Some ideas maybe to save on your animals is a trade situation where someone who has money but not space wantscto home a horse maybe they cpuld pay you with hay for your animal in return for housing their animal that they care for. Or after Halloween some local farms asked on the free sites for peoples left over pumpkins and gourds for their animals. I always try to find the deals for fast food like wrndys $5 biggie bag, reward points, at chipolte i get 2 burrito bowls and use our own tortillas at home and feeds our family of 4, chinese buffet sometimes has a certain day or time they have a reduced price just knowing those things helps so you can still wat out but do it for less. Or not order soda just water and lemon that alone saves $10-$12 for 4 people eating out. Or if you know something big is coming like a holiday a trio just say we doing other things this month so we are doing less of the extras that month so kids know up front and understand like yeah we arent goingbto go eat out this month butvwe get this other fun thing instead.

We are a family of four and I spend between $400 and $500 a month on food and household items, not including pet food. I currently have three cats, three dogs, 6 chickens, and I feed the birds, as well as just taking on a day feeding community cats. This month I spent about $160 on pet food, cat litter, treats, and pine shavings for the chickens. Next month I'll have the added cost of a bag of dry cat food for the community cats, but I did take advantage of an offer Chewy had and ended up with a $30 gift card to put toward the extra cost. Pet food has gone up significantly (like everything else) over the last few years. I'm paying $10 more for the same cat food, and about $8 more for the same dog food. No real solutions there since my pets aren't going anywhere.

I spend about 800 dollars every month for just me!!!! Whole Foods Grocery store that I think Amazon owns ……their prices are out of this world!!!!! Someway in MARS!!!!!! BUT THEIR FOODS AND PRODUCTS ARE FANTASTIC!!! I only eat organic and it’s great not to get all those TOXINS. ……….. or at least a lot less!!!! LOL!!!!!! I AM TRYING TO SPEND LESS MONEY…. I BUY SUPPLEMENTS THEIR WHICH ARE AMAZINGLY HIGH PRICED BUT ITS NOT THE JUNK YOU GET AT WALMART OR CVS!! You are doing a fantastic job!!!! You have lots of animals that must be nice to have those animals….. ☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️☮️👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍great video….

You’ve done a great job!
I’m sorry you had to let the horse go and I know you all love the other animals. That’s hard. Blessings to you Lori. ❤️

I think you did well. Catching grocery items on sale helps a bunch.

I feel your pain on trying to keep to a budget and enjoying life with a dinner out. We are here for you! I appreciate your honesty and all the best figuring out how to responsibly feed your animals.
I’ll private message you on what we spend monthly on groceries. Here in Canada -it is NOT cheap.

Thanks!

Thank you for always being authentic, vulnerable, and intentionally forthright in your videos. It really is rare this day & age. You are amazing and such a gift to us. ❤❤❤

It is so interesting to see how much other people spend per month! Food really has gotten expensive! I haven't sat down and wrote down everything we spent, but for our family of 8, going on 9, I would say $600 for groceries (more than half of our kids are 5 and under), $45 for toiletries/household goods (excluding diapers), and maybe $100 for diapers and wipes. Ouch! That hurts typing that!

Some local groceries here will give food scraps from the veg department to local farmers who ask for it. Also, I remember when I was a child our school had food scraps from lunches that a local farmer picked up for their pigs. Maybe you can find something like that?

I haven’t totaled January yet but I tried a no spend month so I’m excited to see my totals.

Thank you for being so transparent. I need to start separating the household items also. We have a lot of animals also, but not large animals. I keep a list of all animal expenses; food, litter, medicine, supplies.
This may be too personal but I’d like to see how you do your budget. I love how you lean toward simplicity without being extreme.

I’m new to your channel, thanks for the honest video! I have goats and chickens and yes, goats waste a lot of hay! I collect it and use it as mulch for my garden paths. Their manure goes into the compost. Both of those products I don’t have to buy for the garden. I track my chicken expenses and I have a line at the bottom to subtract how much equivalent pasture raised eggs and meat would cost, and last year that would have been over $1,000. It makes the chickens look more cost effective! 😂

Have you thought of only having the cow and chickens? You are doing great!

You did great on your grocery budget! Our hay bill is around $300 each month for our animals. We will be downsizing some in the Spring.

I started tracking our grocery spending last January and for a family of 4 in Washington state we are right around $650 a month. This doesn’t include eating out but we rarely eat out. Not because we don’t want to but a 2 hour round trip to a crappy restaurant just isn’t appealing to anyone. And I only shop once every 2-3 weeks. Again because the stores are so far and during Winter I drive even less.

I started saving my receipts from going out and I had 8 hundred dollars in just coffee (not Starbucks) in one year ! I don’t buy coffee out anymore. You need to add your eating out in with your monthly groceries. If you keep track of what you spend eating out you’ll probably be shocked. 💰💵💰

December January one adult two cats my two adult daughters live with me have spent $788

I easily spend 1000 a month on groceries and household and pet food ... its taking every penny and getting worse

You gotta count eating out in that grocery shopping budget. Next month you may spend more at the grocery store, but actually ate out less… so if all you tracking is grocery food specifically, you may not account your success that you actually saved more because you ate out less. Small steps, become more aware each month… something i think will help you from becoming lazy with this is to require yourself to figure/find a way to save a little more each month. What trick did you think of, what did you hear someone else do and you put into practice. If you include this in your videos tallying up the end of the month, maybe it will be motivating to stay on top of this if you make this promise to yourself.

It is just me and my husband but I spent right around $300 this month. But that was with us eating out of freezer and pantry. I usually spend at least $400 or more every month. You did great with a family of 5.

I think you should be proud, any money saved is great. ❤

For a family of 5 I am so proud of you, Lori. I am here to make sure March and April won’t slip! I live alone so I don’t spend nearly as much as that but I also have a huge pantry so spending 118 on produce and a few meats is all I spent. I also stopped buying bread in January. But you did great!❤

Lori, you did awesome on your grocery budget. I have a budget of $700 with 5 adults/teens 2 of the teens are boys and they eat more than my husband and I put together. My husband goes with me shopping all the time because he has late stage dementia and can't be left alone but with taking him with me he does pick out things that he will eat he is picky and pretty much only wants processed freezer foods and even if I makehim some homemade convenience foods he doesn't want it he wants the stuff from the freezer section part of it is he has paranoia at this stage and he doesn't trust people cooking for him. I think i might try to cut the food budget in other areas I just have to figure out what we are going to cut the other thing is my husband and I eat all meals at home and my teens eat all breakfast and dinners at home during the week they get free lunch at school and on the weekend we all eat at home. I got 6 pounds of chicken breast for $6.01 so that was one good deal but i also got the walmart family size frozen sausage patties 20 in a bag for $2.50 a bag i bought 4 bags we already cleared a bag out of the freezerbecause last week we had breakfast sandwiches 3 or 4 days because we had 8 inches of snow in Tennessee one other good deal I got today was jimmy dean breakfast sandwiches 8 count in the box for $2.75 a box I got 2 boxes and I also got big bags of temptation cat treats for 99 cents they are close to $5 for the big bags got 2 I figured the cat would have treats for a while. Lori you got this and i will help motivate you and hopefully make some changes in my budget . Take care and stay safe friend!

Thank you so much for all you do. Right now things are about to change financially for us. My husband is working, and hes getting his retirement. But, they over paid him $6000
So hes having to pay that back in 30 days. Or, they'll hold is check for 6 months. That's a 1,000 a month that we won't have for awhile. That's going to hurt. im a big worrier. Im so worried about everything. Im the type of person who won't eat so they'll have enough. We're doing ok.
I'm trying to learn and be more frugal. Just keep us in your prayers, please.❤

I think you did great for the month of January. Your non food budget was really great. Listening to you actually makes me want do better too. And I like to eat out at least once a week. It gives me a break

Look at it this way dear lady, I spend more than that ( im sure im not alone) on my house hold pets. Your animals give you something. Eggs, milk , meat (if you raise for that). So in my humble opinion you are DOING GREAT!

Just as of this month, we increased the grocery budget from $350 to $400. We feed 2 adults and a 3-yr old. However, this number includes all the paper products, toiletries, pullups, etc. We also host a monthly group Bible study for about 30 people and I have been furnishing the meal, but have recently gotten others to help with some parts of the meal. So the bump in the budget has give me some breathing room, which is really nice!

I am leaning more on using the cash system myself the past couple months funny how you rethink those purchases when using cash. I take out $300 a month that has to cover groceries, toiletries, eating out ( I rarely do that maybe once a month with my friends) we are all 3 frugal so lunch out is usually $10 for each of us. My sister and I get together each Wednesday at her house along with her husband and 2 adult kids if they aren't working we have lunch which is usually leftovers from her house that her husband saves and we watch a movie together ( her kids have streaming so we usually rent a movie for about $5 each time). It all just takes mindful spending and menu planning. Anna In Ohio

First of all I am so proud of you for making a conscious effort to Keep within your budget. At the first of every month I buy all of my household items such as shampoo, batteries, soap, shaving cream, toothpaste, laundry detergent, hand soap, razors, aluminum foil, parchment paper, toilet paper, trash bags, over the counter pain medication generic Tylenol, etc. The cost is 150. For groceries I spend $400 for a family of 3. I try to limit paper towels except washing hands after handling raw meat. My hubby & MIL are not so conscious. We use cloth napkins. I try to limit use of foil & plastic wrap & try to use glass containers for leftovers. I have a separate budget for dog & cat food, cat litter, pet treats, pet vitamin supplements, vet visits.

I keep a log and subtract from each budgeted category. Groceries is always my toughest area eventhough it is only the two of us. My budget is $300 but I spent 399.56

Great video. TY 🎉🎉😊❤
I always seem to spend more money on groceries 😩if I use a credit card. I have NO self control!! I buy more than I need and even if my card gives cash back rewards, if i can't pay it off by the due date, I'm paying finance charges. Then I'm definitely paying more than I planned. I find, that when I meal plan, use what I have in the fridge, freezer and pantry, shop sales and pay cash...I only buy what I need. It cuts my grocery budget in half for the month.. 😊❤

Lots of homeschool moms without access to farm animals would probably love to make a feed donation in exchange for a tour around your homestead. I was homeschooled and we went to a few mini farms growing up.

I really enjoy this video and it sounds like you have a solid plan. Sticking to a budget on anything is a learning process from week-to-week, month-to-month...taking stock, like you have, of what's gone before and planning ahead with what you learned this month. I think you'll do well this year, just keep learning.......

It doesn't matter whether we are at a toy store or at the grocery store, I tell my son that he can take a picture of it or add it to the list and I will get it when it goes on sale or he can save his list for Christmas and his birthday. He knew that it would work out better to get more later when they were cheaper. It was too hard for me to separate household goods from groceries but I have heard that it helps some people. Interesting information about the animal feed cost because many people don't talk about that cost to get their milk and eggs because it isn't certainly free. Currently $145 spent on groceries and $20 for takeout both for family of three which are within budget. This was super interesting!!

I’d love to see you do a collaboration with Christine from Frugal Fit Mom- she might have some ideas on other ways to save money, and it would be fun content. You are doing great! I just decided to be tougher on no food when we’re out “just because”. Once I figured out how much we spent on coffee or French fries, I said we needed to cut way back.