We used to be a $200.00 a week in groceries family, but recently due to a financial demand I have HAD to cut back. I kept track and for the month of February I only spent $327.00 That includes all groceries, H&B, diapers, formula and all baby items, cleaner and paper products, birthday cards and my sons birthday party. Thanks to a TON of coupons (I joined 2 coupon trains and have been contacting companies directly for them) and good advie from ths webiste, preplanning and sticking to grocery lists, and luckily I have a stock pile of items I can pull from. I try to plan my weekly menus with ingredients we already have and just need to buy 1 or 2 additional items for each meal.

I was just like you to start with. I saw people posting these ridiculously low monthly bills and thought NO WAY. But it is possible. I didn't realize how much impluse buying I did before hand. I have still been able to stock pile a lot of food even with this budget thanks to all my coupons and sales.

I just got back from the store:
skim milk, egg beaters, shreeded cheese, 3 boxes of spinach, formula (free can coupon from company), schick refills (4.00 coupon) 4 pk Dannon smoothies (free coupon from calling company) 32 oz contantaner Dannon (1.00 coupon) Jones Sausage (free after sale and coupon), salad dressing. Total $20.00

I must need serious help! I spend $300 or so a week! I cook from scratch and my husband takes leftovers for lunch. There are 2 adults and two children, 7 and 3. What am I doing wrong? I even use coupons when I can?

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Dawn

We spend $150-200 per month for our family of four (2 adults, a 6 yr old, and a 16 month old).

That does include EVERYTHING we buy, as I don't have it separated. That includes our toilet paper, HBA, dog food, and misc clearance finds.

I usually do one big shopping trip per month and then one or two smaller ones to pick up milk, fresh fruit and veggies.

I plan our menus weekly and keep a pizza in the freezer at all times for those nights when supper just didn't happen. We order pizza delivery about once every other month or so, and eat out less than that.

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We are family of 6 and I spend $200-$300 a month, that includes everything - HBA, paper products, cleaning supplies and school lunches for 2 kids.

I do once a month cooking, and rarely use convience foods.

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DS-16
DD-12
DD-5
DS-2

I spend $80 to $120 per week for us - family of 4.

$50.00 a week here! This includes H&B which I normally can get for free with use of coupons and stockpiling... I have a garden for fresh fruits and veggies in spring/summer, and I can or freeze what I can that is left, sometimes though I do have to buy frozen veggies, but I watch for really good sales plus adding coupons to get them near to nothing. This is with 2 adults and 1 child 14 months old who is eating table food.. What has really helped me alot save is using thegrocerygame.com I coupon everything I can, and hardly have anything that I dont use coupons for! My H&B products are about free most of the time... Plus also I forgot we buy 1/2 a cow every year, and freeze it, it runs around 300 bucks in my area, for a full organic grass fed cow, nothing bad in it.. In the long run it saves us a bunch, and I have beef year round, and use it for parties etc.. And I have friends that butcher pigs and chickens, so if they have some up for trade we will trade some beef for whatever they have No expense in having to run the store for meat.!

PM me if you want to know more about the grocerygame.. I dont mind sharing!

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Tara, wife to Jason, mama to Jayden 12/23/06 PG with #2 EDD 8/3/08 ~ non vaxing, co sleeping, cding, bfing,AP family.

We are a family of 4, sometimes 5(my teenage stepson is here every other weekend) and we spend about $100 a week on food and other household items. Some weeks we spend less, but it seems like every week it always ends up being around $100, even though I always use coupon/sales and shop at Aldi for basics, etc. I would love to cut my grocery bill a little more and I keep trying, but it just doesn't seem to work out. One problem we do have is drinking about a case of Pepsi/Diet Pepsi each week!

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SAHM TO 2 GIRLS
6 years and 19 months

I think a lot of this is location, too. I am pretty good at being frugal, but the lowest I've ever gotten for two is $180/month, and that can't be maintained. I live in So. Cal. and everything is expensive. I do visit my family and dh's family on the rural east coast, and their groceries are a lot cheaper.

We spend about $400/month for 2 adults & a 2 year old. Most of our veggies are organic from a CSA. I waffle between trying to have the lowest grocery bill possible and buying local and organic, which is better for the earth.

But cheddar cheese at Costco is $2 a pound and the local cheese is $12 a pound, so you see the conundrum.

I am really impressed with the $80 to $100/month budgets. That is just not possible here, unless we had a decent garden, and then I'd have to add in the water bills.

I also wanted to add it depends on if you buy organic, and what you actually eat. Meat is more expensive than beans and rice. Fruits and veggies are expensive too. We tend to eat 7 servings of fruits and veggies per day, per person, and that can really add up.

My boyfriend & I are about to move out w/ our 20 m/o DS & I have to budget for groceries. We have been going to the store & buying our own food now & then for about 2 months and everytime we go we spend about $100. I really want to learn to budget better & use coupons but I dont even know where to start! I would really love someone to help me if they are willing.

Also, this may sound stupid but Im new here so what is HBA???