That’s a really good idea. I think this might be a nice compromise.
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Yes. My personal allowance spending is out of control. I’m currently figuring out a reset for it. Christmas is thankfully mostly figured out already.
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I’ve definitely been doing a budget reckoning lately, and need to continue. I feel like summer is always my spendiest time because I’m usually traveling, visiting friends, cooking for them and generally having fun. That compiled with buying things for my house just…was a lot this year. My grocery costs were pretty over the top ($500 for just me) so I’ve been working to get that under control.
I’ve personally had to change some of my food shopping habits and start buying some less expensive brands and less organic produce/meat as well. Less fun snacks, too…I don’t love shopping this way, but I need to save money for other things, so right now it just is what it is!
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BJ hit what I wanted tl say about food stuff- also that if you get way off base you might need a reset again (me right now!) or even if something else like meds or an infection messes you up.
And meerkat said the amazon thing - if you sit on it and don’t pay for prime you can still get delivery!
I am doing a food and house and clothes tracking this month, so I know where to tighten or not
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That’s so good to know. It’s also tough because I take so many meds all the time so it’s like…hard to know what is doing what! At least I know what a good reset diet is for me!
Clothes is also an area where I’m a bit stumped because if I ask DH he says $0 and that he doesn’t need anything and then I’m like, “but you said you wanted sweaters?” and then he’s like, “oh yeah but just a few sweaters and jeans”. 
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We used to have this set up and I need to do it again. It helps me settle on what is a need and what is a want and what is a need now and what is for later. Looking over our purchases the past few months they were, like, dining chairs for the kids which have been a big QOL improvement for them. But I want to be really thoughtful about my outdoors and gardening purchases and buy as little as possible before our asbestos fencing is removed & replaced.
I think keeping a physical list up of our takeaway purchases over the month could be really good for us and eye-opening. I will tape paper to the pantry door for that today. But I suspect its just… We have more people. The smol one now demands her own meal’s worth of food.
Actually a HUGE win for our family was that we found a frozen pizza we liked! Dairy allergy in both babies meant it’s been off the menu for 5 years. Baby girl has already outgrown her allergy and she LOVES pizza. Throw on some garlic bread, plus fish fingers for bigger kid and we have a very easy cheap meal that takes the same energy as takeaway. So thats where I’m putting my problem solving: how to replace takeaway with super cheap quick food that also feels comforting.
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I think you guys do a bunch if takeout burgers too? When I notice we are doing that a lot I get frozen burgers- and then as with all frozen food I cook them on a sheet pan in the oven.
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Do you mean just the burger patty or the whole thing with bun? I will think about this one. I have started switching us in a few ways:
- I get a Large hot chocolate and the children share it with me instead of buying their own that they dont drink
- Some fast food places do roast chicken, ao i got a whole roast chook and that did us a couple lunches
ETA i am also running out of freezer space again, we have a small fridge/freezer and a bar freezer. Maybe i should include upgrading space next years budget
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After my divorce almost 2 years ago I kept my expenses the same and was fine. The past year I have cut every discretionary expense or made less expensive substitutions in order to live on my income.
To keep my grocery bill down I shop once a month and then pick up perishables in between. When my son was staying with me we spent 400/month which included cleaning supplies and some toiletries.
My friend dyes my hair, I get it cut twice a year, dogs get groomed every 12 weeks and I do baths in between, have 100 cash for eating out, keep easy stuff in the freezer for when I don’t want to cook, etc.
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Just the patties, and then we use our weird bread or tortillas. But it won’t work for everyone!
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It’s great to hear what everyone is doing and thinking about! I have a random question now.
Do you include household items (tp, cleaning stuff, soap, etc.) in your grocery budget or is it separate?
- It’s part of our grocery budget.
- Household things are separate.
- IDK what’s happening but I love polls.
0 voters
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As evidenced by my budgettober goals, we have a “general household” category. Paper products, bath and body stuff, supplements etc, toys, home furnishings, etc all end up in there.
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We usually buy cleaning supplies, trash bags, and paper products at Target (for paper, sometimes Costco) and it typically gets lumped with general “shopping” because I can’t be bothered to split transactions. Same trip might have personal care products, OTC meds, minor clothing (underwear, t shirts, socks), greeting cards, etc. Foods do sneak in as well, usually treats (frozen pizza, cold brew coffee, candy), but are usually a lesser fraction/objective, so it doesn’t make sense to classify that way. One thing I’m enjoying about Monarch app is it lets me attach receipt photos so I can investigate my target habits after the fact if the mood strikes.
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I used to track food separately from other stuff, because I wanted to see what each category was.
Now, household supplies are just one clump because we divide that bill. I do pull out any personal items that I buy at the store, for the same reason.
I do 99% of the grocery shopping, but sil buys odds and ends. He buys a lot of parsley for some reason. I think parsley is pretty insipid and would not make a special trip for it. But.
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That’s so random!
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I started tracking household and home improvement separately, because it was also a category that vacillated wildly for me. Household = trash bags, soap, tape, stamps, and other necessities. Home improvement = curtains, blankets, and other larger wants and needs. With 2 categories, I’m less likely to look at one big vacillating number and think, fuck it, it’s all blown to pieces anyway.
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And then at the end of the month, I have all these parsley receipts to add in! LOL
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It just so happens that the cheapest grocery store by me is Winco and their paper products are also cheap so I can get everything at once. I never include home improvement in this category either.
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If it’s stuff we need, i.e. cleaning supplies, soap, toiletries, I don’t mind lumping it into Groceries. If it’s decor, it tends to end up in Household (though that can still include “needs” sometimes). I’m overall terrible at actually reviewing and modifying my spending, so don’t take any of this as advice!
Can relate, though, that while we had medical expenses (both human and Tinkerbell), that inflated our spending, overall other spending managed to creep up.
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Late on this, but: I definitely need one, but I suspect it’s not happening until Jan. Trying to remind myself that our expenses being double what I’m used to last month is…
- wedding/vacay travel
- Human dental work
- Human new work tech (reimbursable)
- using a new tracking tool and actually seeing Human’s spending which was always there (and not worse than mine!
- anniversary date night
This month is busy with work plus birthdays plus booking Xmas travel, November always ends up full of gift shopping, and December is actually more on the downslope except covering the occasional grocery run or meal out while with family. But Jan is where I can get my head back on!
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