How much do you spend on dining/groceries/household

[HundredK]

How much do you spend on eating out, groceries, and household items each month, and for how many people?

I am working on setting our budget, and this is one area where I have the most play. We have historically been spending $1,500 - $2,000 per month for 2 adults and 2 dogs on eating out, groceries, and small household items. That included eating out most nights and being as liberal as we liked with our choices. I am trying to cut that to no more than $1,200 per month, and am debating whether it might be possible to go lower.

I am wondering how I compare to what you guys do?

[DaveInPgh]

Wow. I couldn't imagine spending that much. I currently don't have access to the spreadsheet where I track that information, but I estimate between $600 and $700 for dining out and groceries. Bump it $100 if I include household items I often buy at dollar stores/drug stores.

[HundredK]

Wow. I couldn't imagine spending that much. I currently don't have access to the spreadsheet where I track that information, but I estimate between $600 and $700 for dining out and groceries. Bump it $100 if I include household items I often buy at dollar stores/drug stores.

Can I ask for how many people?

[MonkeyMama]

$650/month two people groceries/household. 4 people + 1 cat.

We were at $500/month for literally about a decade, and my kids have pretty much always eaten more like adults than kids. But my 13yo grew like 5 inches last year and we bumped up our grocery budget to $650/month to reflect our new reality. (It really just kind of happened over night - that's a 30% increase!)

We home cook the vast majority of our meals and mostly drink tap water.

Dining out is hard to peg. We average about $100/month but most of the time that is treating other people or celebrating. For the most part, we don't eat out. It's usually a more rare occasion or because we are going out with other people.

Edited to add: I'd say we are very frugal grocery shoppers, but tend to more just "buy what we need" one week or month at a time. We are not "stocker uppers" for multiple reasons.

[DaveInPgh]

Can I ask for how many people?

Ugh, I meant to include that. 2 adults, 1 child, 1 dog

[msomnipotent]

I don't restrict my food budget at all. I might buy $1,800 of freezer beef and a year supply of canned goods and tp one month, and then not shop again (except for milk and veg) for another 2 months. I have a dog, 2 cats, and several fish that all get premium food. I buy several months worth of their food at a time, which can be several hundred dollars upfront. I find it much easier to have a spending limit on things we buy repeatedly and stock up as much as possible, and have a limit to how many times we eat out per month. My goal is to spend the least amount possible and save money in general, but this probably won't work for you if you are budgeting to save a specific amount per month.

To answer your question directly, a very rough estimate for 2 adults, one preteen, and the animals would be about $800 per month. It might be closer to $1,000 if my RA is acting up and we have to eat out more often.

[Fishindude77]

I'd guess something like the following:
Supper and drinks 2X per week @ $65 = $130
Mine & wifes lunches approx. 8 per week @ $10 = $80
groceries $150 per week

TOTAL = $360 / week or $1,440 / month

Pretty crazy actually, $17K+ per year

[DaveInPgh]

I'd guess something like the following:
Supper and drinks 2X per week @ $65 = $130
Mine & wifes lunches approx. 8 per week @ $10 = $80
groceries $150 per week

TOTAL = $360 / week or $1,440 / month

Pretty crazy actually, $17K+ per year

When it comes to food expense, my best efforts for controlling spending are lunches. Working in downtown Pittsburgh and being frugal don't go well together. Most of my coworkers focus their energy on where they are going to eat vs. how much they are going to spend. I simply refuse to spend downtown Pittsburgh prices for food I can get much cheaper near home. So I probably pack my lunch 90% of the time.

Dinner and evening snacking is when food starts making a big impact on my wallet

[GoodSteward]

2 adults
2 older children (9 and 10)
1 young child (under 2)
2 small dogs

We Budget per two weeks:
260$ food at home
70-90$ for eating out(eat out when we travel on Sundays to church)
70$ for household items
64$/ month for dogs that includes planning for meds, vet visits, and grooming.

We do find ourselves going over on most of these fairly often, but not always. The goal is to stick to it, but if we need t go over it happens. Food and eating out can be one of the easiest ways to ruin a budget and make the money you thought you'd have at the end of the month much less. The only way to make a strict budget and stick to it is to plan out meals. Otherwise, you will never make it work.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

$800/month for 2 adults and 4 and 6 year old for groceries. Eating out at that point probably $25. We were running lean this year. Our minimum expenses outside of rent were under $2k/month with everything. Now well I'm not sure. I'll let you know in a couple months when we get back to the new reality of eating out when we feel like it at least 1x/week I bet or more. Because we spent the past 4 months eating out all the time due to traveling and no groceries and this month barely any groceries either. DH doesn't need lunches anymore so our grocery budget has gone way down.

[disneysteve]

We have historically been spending $1,500 - $2,000 per month for 2 adults and 2 dogs on eating out, groceries, and small household items.

I honestly don't know the answer to the question because we don't use a budget or track our spending in that way, so I can't give you a number for comparison.

I would suggest, though, that you start by breaking down that total into 1)eating out, 2)groceries, 3)pet expenses, and 4)household items. Until you see where the money is going, it's really impossible to figure out where cuts can be made.

If you are eating out most nights, I'm sure a big chunk of that money is going there. But it would be a good idea to at least separate out the pet costs from the human costs.

[kork13]

We have 2 adults & a 1 y/o. We spend $400-$500/mo on groceries, and around $100/mo eating out. I love to cook, and ALWAYS make enough for at least 1-2 days of leftovers (I grew up & learned to cook for a family of 5-7 people, so I only know big portions). The leftovers typically are used for lunches at work. Not having to spend $5-$10 per person, per day, every workday saves us a bundle... that amount is literally double the monthly amount that I'm saving for my son's future education.

[scfr]

I agree that household, pet, and food/beverage categories should be kept separate. I would suggest keeping grocery (food & beverage) and dining out expenses in one category simply because part of managing finances is making choices and trade-offs.

Here is one approach to consider. Look up your household demographic on this chart, and decide which plan you would like to be in (thrifty plan, low-cost plan, moderate-cost plan, liberal plan). So, if you are a 2 adult household, 1 male and 1 female, both ages 19-50, and you want to follow the moderate-cost plan to begin with, your monthly budget would be $610.50 (with 10% adjustment for family size of 2).

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/CostofFoodJul2016.pdf

When working to reign in food/beverage spending (and yes, I include alcohol in this), I find it really helpful to keep track of the monthly food/bev budget on the refrigerator, so you can record expenditures as soon as you get home from the grocery store (or restaurant) and can see how much you have left for the month when you are preparing your menus & shopping list.

Good luck. I think you've selected a great category of your budget to work on.

[Magnificence]

For the basic costs of living I spend for two adults and 3 dogs approx 3k in the month

[james.hendrickson]

2 adults
2 older children (9 and 10)
1 young child (under 2)
2 small dogs

We Budget per two weeks:
260$ food at home
70-90$ for eating out(eat out when we travel on Sundays to church)
70$ for household items
64$/ month for dogs that includes planning for meds, vet visits, and grooming.

GS, if you have a few spare moments, I'd love to hear how you are able to keep your home on budget. I spend that much for a family of 2.