Budgeting can be difficult, not because the process itself is complicated but we get in our own way. Dave Ramsey says that personal finances is 20% head knowledge and 80% behavior. The same goes with grocery budgeting. For example, we all know that when we are hungry while grocery shopping that we end up buying things that we don’t need. Goodbye Grocery Budget, mama’s hungry. So, here are my two simple tips that have helped me get a handle on this whole grocery budgeting thing!
1. Plan your Spending: Choose A Dollar Amount and Stick to it
I know, I know this is not life altering but it is the key. Choose a number that you want to spend each month and don’t spend more than that. Bam! Success achieved! How do you choose that magic monthly grocery budget number? Painstakingly, go through past budgets and identify how much you’ve spent. The main word back there was “pain”, it’s a pain to do this. Then “go low” and choose a lower dollar amount.
How to Choose your Budget without going through Past Expenses?
However, if you would rather not go through past spending, there is another option. Jordan Page from Fun, Cheap or Free says to start by spending $100 per person per month. Basically, a family of 4 begins with a $400 monthly grocery budget. I say to start with that number and then adjust to your individual needs. However, I started out lower than this and found that I could maintain a monthly grocery budget that is lower than $100 per person. You may find that food allergies might be greater than $100 per month. Don’t get discouraged, it may take a few months to find out what works for your situation.
What if you Fall Behind?
Also, if your running behind and don’t get to dividing your weekly allotments until the middle of the month there is still hope! Just take the remainder of what you have left in your grocery budget and divide that number with how many weeks you have left (if you go to the store weekly).
Full and half sheet Grocery Printable included!
2. Divide your Monthly Grocery Budget into Smaller Increments
A Monthly grocery budget may seem daunting to some of you; It felt daunting for me. I remember I thought I was sticking to my monthly budget but my small purchases here and there would throw me off. Naturally, It was so much harder to track. I always thought I was close to $800 per month. But more often than not, I was spending closer to $1000. This isn’t Rocket Science but breaking up my monthly budget into weekly increments or of how often I go to the store, helped so much.
The Overarching principle is PLANNING
I’m not a planner by nature. Sure, I like things to be organized but organizing my finances was a foreign concept. In my budgeting post I talk about “forecasting your finances” (I really like alliterations–they make me very happy) and it’s so important to do that. Prior to getting to know Dave Ramsey, I had an idea of what I wanted to spend on food. Yet, our idea of budgeting was merely tracking out spending at the end of the month and let’s be honest we didn’t even do that all the time. Our goal was just to check our account at the end of the month and make sure we had money left and if we didn’t, spending would just come to an abrupt halt.
What if you Suck at Planning Sometimes?
I go to the grocery store every week and it’s so much easier manage because I know what I should spend every week. Ideally, I plan ahead and know exactly what I need to spend that week. Truth bomb coming at you: I don’t always plan meticulously. Now that I have been budgeting this way, I know that if i’m not on top of things with grocery budgeting I need to spend around $160-$180 to make sure I don’t go over my monthly amount. So, there is hope for people who get distracted, get overwhelmed or forgetful. Essentially, you do not have to be some kind of robotic financial calculator, you can still have success being a regular ol’ human!
The EveryDollar App Plus is Awesome!
The Everydollar app changed how we budget and it’s so much easier! How do we know what our budget is at any given moment? I will tell you! We use the app EveryDollar. All I have to do is glance at my phone and my budget is right there. There is a free version where you input everything manually and one that costs $10 a month that connects to your Bank (totally worth it). It sends you little notifications of purchases or payments on the app and then you categorize it.
There are many budgeting apps out there. We tried Mint and it did not work for us because of the automated categorization of purchases. We would get lazy and just let Mint take care of our budget. As a result, we would check it very infrequently. When we did check the account, we would waste so much time trying to recategorize things. (It was kind of a nightmare.) Basically, we didn’t have a grasp of what our finances actually looked like.
EveryDollar Plus, on the other hand, holds us accountable. The app sends a purchase or bill notification but I have to categorize it myself. Similarly, I often have to itemize my receipt into different categories. It may not be as convenient as some other budgeting tools but it forces us to pay attention to our spending. One of the best things about Everydollar is that my husband and I both have access to it all the time on our phones and most importantly we both use it!
Hi, great tips. I will definitley use these. I tried subscribing to your blog to get your future posts recieve to my email but it didn’t work. Could you please fix it for me. Thanks