This was the most difficult category in my budget to get an estimate from when I first started. Grocery bills are a constant, whether for a single person, or an entire family. However, families always seem to be trying to cut costs, especially where groceries are concerned.

The best thing to do is keep track of what you buy for groceries. This is going to be a real hassle for a month or two because you will need to keep track of your grocery purchases. All of them! All you would have to do is save your grocery receipts during that time and add them up. This should give you a good idea of how much you spend on a monthly basis for food. I have seen between 5-15% and 15-20% of the take home pay for the month spent on groceries. My family grocery budget is about 28%, but we group in the small items such as cleaning supplies. Do not include going out to eat; put that in a separate category or you will never make it to the next pay day.

With all of that said, the bottom line is that you need to spend what ever it takes on groceries to survive. In too many cases people will pay their bills out of their grocery budget. That is not going to get you out of debt. Utilities, food and shelter are the basics. Put them first no matter what your bills are or how many times you get called to pay you other bills.

Labels: Budget