Cutting Grocery Spending: A One-Month Review
Can I Feed a Family of 5 for a month on $500?
I’m sure the answer for many people is, laughably, yes. So here’s where I acknowledge my privilege — we’re never short on money for groceries, and for that I am so so thankful.
But in the future, that will most likely change. Right now, Jarrod is an officer in the military. His take-home pay is pretty cushy. In spite of constantly going wildly over our grocery budget, we still manage to squirrel away at least a quarter of his monthly salary, and tithe 10% to the church.
In two short (gulp) years, he’s going to be separating, and we will be entirely without income while he spends a year or three (still unknown on that) attending seminary in New York. After seminary, we have no idea what our circumstances will be. But one thing is for certain: priests don’t get paid nearly as much as O4’s do.
So, yes. Right now, it’s important that we get in the habit of limiting our grocery spending. Because someday very soon our income won’t be nearly as flexible as it is right now.
Why Did I Choose $500?
I can’t recall the exact reason, but I’m fairly certain it came from a Jordan F. Page video where she explains that she allots $100/month for each member of her family.
…
Okay, yes. Here’s her blog post that goes into more detail on that number.
I decided that if she can do it with a family of like…what is it, 9 people now? then I can do it with a family of 5. Heck, the baby barely counts as an eater! (Although those diapers do add up.)
Divided into weeks, it felt fairly manageable. $100 per week, plus an extra $100 of flex money for a Costco trip, or for Jarrod’s random Smith’s trips. NBD.
So What Went Right?
What went right is that I really did manage to get my spending down. I think. I can get a good weekly Smith’s order in of produce and miscellaneous things for like $50-$60.
Also in our favor: the fact that Jarrod was gone for 10 days in the middle of the month. He’s the big impulse grocery shopper. Well, no. I am too, but it’s different. He stops by Smith’s randomly on his way home from work to buy Gatorade and chips and things. I impulse shop during my weekly trips (although grocery orders curb that substantially!).
Finally, Jarrod’s parents were in town for the last week of the month, when the budget was suddenly nearly dried up. So I didn’t have to worry about groceries that week, because they are nothing if not incredibly generous.
What Went Wrong?
I went to Costco, is what. Woof. I decided I needed some church snacks for the kids, and then the impulse purchases took over. Blah! I think that shopping trip is really what sunk us, but it didn’t help that I decided to serve steak the last week of the month. Steak is $$$.
Did I End the Month On Target?
Well, no. The ending expenditure worked out to be $624.03. Not exactly on target, but not tragic, either. Two big BUTS though:
BUT #1: The last week of groceries was around $60 and was partly consumed in September.
BUT #2: I separated all our supplement expenditures (so like, my weird Trim Healthy Mama stuff, my mushroom tea, my ashwagandha gummies, and the various protein powders we both consume) and that category was…quite high. I’m actually going to continue the separation to gauge how much we regularly spend on crap like that.
In any case, it was a good start to a worthy experiment. You can bet I’ll be trying again this month. Once again, we have one BUT in our favor: we’ll be spending 10 days in Overland Park visiting Jarrod’s parents! I’m also not planning a Trim Healthy Mama store purchase in the near future, Jarrod JUST stocked up on protein powder, and I’m done with the adaptogens for the time being. (They were fun to play with but I’m not sure they impacted my sleep or lack of chill in any significant way.)
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