When you say "oh I spent ___ amount on groceries", what do you include? Is it just food? When I say groceries, I also include baby food/diapers, dog food, paper products, cleaning supplies and toiletries. I hope that some of you mean just food because there is no way I could do all of it on $150-$200 a month! Especially with the cost of formula and diapers! Now if it is just food, well then I could. def. get away with that.

__________________
I am officially a mommy! Nathaniel Kenneth, 05/01/07 & wife to Hubby Kenny


http://mommysavers.com/boards/journa...wjournal&j=122

Well, I don't buy formula or diapers. I hardly buy any cleaning products and when I do they last a long time (maybe I don't clean as much as most of you do?) I do count whatever I buy when I am getting groceries. I did buy paper towels and laundry soap when I bought my groceries. I did not buy dog food, but that is only about $15 once a month for 2 dogs.

__________________
~Happiness is a large family~

It's kind of tough because I buy everything at different places. Cat and dog food come from Costco and I usually just total everything from Costco (which now includes diapers and wipes) as groceries. Cleaning products, on the other hand, usually comes from Target or WalMart and I don't usually throw these two stores in my grocery amounts.

I used to include everything, but lately I've been seperating out non-edible products and taxes. That way, I know exactly what it costs to feed us.
I keep a spreadsheet of all purchases and when I'm listing them, I "bold" the non-edible items so I can see them easily.

__________________
Children Learn What They Live, And Live What They Learn.
What have you taught your child today?
When life throws you a curve ball...it's up to you how you catch it!

I have separate budget amounts for food (in or out) $300, household (paper towels, tp, cleaning supplies, lightbulbs, batteries...) $125, and baby (diapers, wipes, kids' clothes) $75. We use the envelope system. For a while I got tired of moving everything back and forth between envelopes when I shopped at Target and bought items in all three categories, so I put the entire amount in one envelope. This didn't work for me--it made me feel like I had more available to spend than was actually there. So back to the tedium of separating everything out, but I am now able to come in under budget each month.