Grocery Challenge 2012

[RobertaD]

Welcome to the Family Corner Grocery Challenge!

Grocery prices are going up and up, and we are all trying to keep our food bills DOWN!

Here's where we set a goal for our monthly budget and then track to see if we can beat that goal by spending less.

Everyone can participate! Just state your budget goal for the month, how many in your family, and what your grocery budget includes (food only, or do you also include pet food, non-food items, health & beauty, etc.)

[RobertaD]

I'm doing a pantry & freezer challenge in January so I'm going to keep my grocery purchases down to $150 including cleaning & pet food.

I'm going to use The Coupon Savings Tracker excell spreadsheet to help me track my purchases, coupon use and which stores I shop more at this year.

Roberta

[happymomof4]

Roberta I am. It is 3 of us for January and I include all food, paper, hygiene and animal food. I will set my budget at $500.

I just spent $202 for 1/2 of hog today. Not sure of the lbs yet.

So I have $298.00 left to spend.

[kathymac]

Roberta, I definitely want to take part in this challenge. Food is the one area of my budget that keeps going up and up. I really need to buckle down and get it under control.

There are only 2 of us, a cat and a dog. I include all food, cleaning supplies, health & beauty and pet supplies as part of my food budget. About once a week, my two daughters, son-in-law and daughter's boyfriend come for dinner. Boy those young men can eat! I am going to set a budget of $500.00 to start. I'm hoping to get it lower as time goes by and especially in the summer when I will have a garden going.

I went grocery shopping today and spent $131.26. That leaves me with $369.74.

[RobertaD]

These were interesting.

Feeding the Hungry Family http://www.stretcher.com/stories/04/04jan05a.cfm?DSP0104
　
　
Frugalize your groceries http://www.bankrate.com/finance/video/video-frugalize-your-groceries.aspx there are 3 others in the series that you can watch.

Roberta

[cau]

Count me in , I'm feeding 6, 5 adults and 1 14year old girl,1 dog and 1 cat. I'm not sure how much to set it for. I'm trtying to do a pantry & freezer challenge.

[Sweet Magnolia]

I would like to join in too. It's just the two of us and a dog. I spend about $250 a month on food, cleaning supplies, health and beauty and toiletries. I bought groceries and everything else yesterday and spent $169.74 so that leaves me $80.26 to finish out the month for milk, bread and other odds and ends. We are on a fixed income and need to cut back on groceries, etc.... if we can.
Hugs, Paula

[justEricka]

I'm in...at home I have 2 girls...2 gerbils..a fish and 2 hermit crabs...I'm going to set mine at 150 this month...and fix it as we go along..

[LaurieS]

I'm just subbing for now.

I've never been real good at keeping track of the grocery dollars. I'll just watch and see how it goes before I jump in.

[Johnnysgirl]

Cau, I'm like you, not sure what number to set. Of course it is just dh and I here plus one dog and one cat. I really shouldn't spend too much BUT I must say I am very frugal in most areas of my life EXCEPT food. I deny myself very little when it comes to food, if I want it I probably get it. I do keep track of food only and HBA, pet food, cleaning, etc. in a separate category. I will also see how I do in January, am trying to use up stuff in the freezer and cupboards this month and will check back in and report.

Thanks for starting this thread Roberta, I always loved it in the past, hope many will participate.

Jacki