Im trying for $200 going for the $50 wk grocery challenge for july.
So far: week 1

-foodland
3 bags snyder chips @ 1.50 each
2 packs sugardale bacon @ 1.50 each
2 packs buns @ .75 each
2 packs sugardale hot dogs @ .50 each
candybar @ .50
sugar cookies @ 2.50
______total $13.00
-shop n save
cheese nips @ 1.00
5lbs ground chuck @ 7.75
noodles @ 1.00
egg noodles @ .75
1/4lb bologna @ .60
2lbs isalys ham @ 3.70
1/2 dz corn @ 1.44
_______total 16.24




~BUDGET: $200
~SPENT: 29.24
~LEFT: 170.76

My goal is $900. Sounds outrageous, doesn't it? But there are 11 in my family, not counting the dog and various cats..and we've been spending WAY over that for the last few months, so my goal would be an improvement! We'll see how this goes..
What bugs me about July is the number of holidays and events...besides the 4th, we have two birthdays in one week, and my dh will be out of town for his job for nearly two weeks...and then there's two swim meets I have to provide snacks for....Ah well, it's called a Challenge for a reason

I would love to get mine down to $200.00.We have two kids and two adults.I am going to be watching you this month and taking notes.

This is my third month setting a budget. It is hard to start and is a "work in progress" right now. What I did when I set my first budget was to look at what I spent in my previous month and vowed to get it down to something "reasonable".

My first month was May and I set it at $500. We spent $738 (ugh). I said I would try to get that down to $500 in June. We did well most of the month and then did a Costco run on payday during the last week. That ran us over again ($625). But, I had to look at it that we did spend over $100 less than the previous month, plus we also did some "stocking up" and that sets the amount higher.

I'm setting our goal again at $500 (we're a family of 6) and trying harder to get it down. Since I have now taken 2 months to get more of a shopping strategy, I think it will go better (at least I'm hoping so).

I think you do need to plan for those stock up months. Don't beat yourself up if you go over your goal. You did really well with the coupons! I had to figure my shopping pitfalls and it took a couple of months to do that.

In my situation, I found that making multiple trips to the grocers for the coupon "deals" caused me to spend more. I got some great deals, but also bought other stuff that we really didn't need to spend the $$ on. We went back to the payday Costco shopping runs instead and it does seem to make a difference for our family.

So, I suggest looking at your check register, etc. and see what you did spend during the month of June and/or May. If that sounds reasonable, then stick with that amount. Make note of if you did alot of stocking up last month and set your July budget according to whether you plan on doing stock shopping or just filling in stuff (milk, veggies, fruits, breads, etc...).

HTH and good luck!!!

WOW! That's amazing and I feel bad b/c we spent 600.00 last month on our family of 4. We did do some entertaining which runs the bill up.

$900 would be a tremendous improvement over the last few months..we've been spending more in the $1600 range! With little effort, I sat down and made a list of easy things to cut, and came up with $500 worth of fluff we can do without... and that didn't take into account the meals out for dh and I on date night. We usually do one bigger outing every two weeks, with mini or micro-mini dates in between. Often we'll go to our favorite place and split the entre because we've figured out we still get plenty to eat and the same friendly service, so why spend more?
The main thing I need to do is cut down trips to the store...oh, and get a backbone so I can either leave kids at home or resist their barrage of pleas for 'extras'..It's so remarkable that I get to our local store alone that on the occassions I do get there by myself, at least one worker will ask me, "No helpers today?" If there's more than one of them, even the older ones, I can't focus on the task at hand, and I wind up agreeing to all kinds of foolishness. I'm hoiping that knowing this will help me here...

Thank you so much for the advice! I admit that I don't stockpile at all and need to learn that too!! I always feel like I should just buy what I need as then I am not spending on something I don't plan to use soon but stocking up on certain things would probably pay off for me in the long run. Especially if certain things are on sale. So much to learn!! I will keep track of what we spend this month even though I am afraid to see the $!!! My 8 yr old is stick thin and eats like a horse!!!! I cannot even imagine the teen years!!!!!!!!