Hi all-- First of all, thank you for all of your encouraging words on my "leaving hsing" thread. I will respond to some of my pms as soon as I can. Again, thank you all. . . The PS enrollement process has shed some interesting light on the overall state of "the system" but I'll post that at a later time. . . I am still so overwhelmed and busy and, quite frankly, depressed, that I'll have to take things one step at a time. Now, regarding my bankruptcy paperwork. . . I have been asked to list my monthly expenses. To be honest, I've never paid much attention to my grocery bill. I bought what I needed when I needed it and had coupons, etc. and stocked up on things when they were on sale and I don't really know what to list for my grocery expense. We are a family of 7: two adults with one child age 9, two children ages 7 1/2 and two ages 4. What do those of you who have a similar family spend on groceried monthly?
I only have a family of 4 (dh, me, ds 7, dd 4), so our monthly grocery expenses are about $300 a month (that includes toiletries and cleaning supplies not just food). We tend to eat out a lot though. I've heard we have fairly cheap groceries in my area (although that has been going up lately). I wish you the best of luck! I look forward to your next post on the state of the system.
For our family of 4 I average $500 a month on groceries. We eat out seldom and I enjoy cooking and buy what I want when I want (for the most part, I do look for sales). We track our spending in MS Money and that has been a big help for us so I know where the money goes and can see what I truly spend. Good luck to you as you face all these things.
We are a family of four with two dogs and I try my best to stay under 400 a month. It gets hard in the winter with fruits and veggies being so high, but in the summer we grow a lot in the garden so we save there also.
Thank you. This gives me something to go on. I forgot about our cats! I've always used coupons, but was not as diligent about it as my sister. She has taken it to an art-form and even had an article written about her in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. (The reporter even went shopping with her!!) Anyway, though, I have found that when I try to be a major coupon clipper, I end up spending more because I buy the things I normally wouldn't buy. Most of the things we buy are the basics. Since I'm trying to turn over a whole new leaf here in MI--from housekeeping to finances--hopefully I'll be organized enough to hunt down those super-bargains and stock up. As for growing our own food, I can hardly wait to try out "Square Foot" gardening next spring. (I even bought the teacher's guide that goes along with the book--I'll always be a homeschooler at heart, no matter what the future holds!!) I hope I can get into canning, etc. and would love to have a dehydrater some day. Thanks again for your input. . . now it's time to get to work gathering those documents and info. Ughh. . . .
We have a family of four with a dog, turtle, and two birds and our monthly budget for food, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, ect is $200.
For my family of 5 I spend between $400-$450 per month. That includes pet food (2 cats, dog, lizard, guinea pig and snake) cleaners and toiletries.
