Does anyone else have this problem?

[my4littlebuffaloes]

I am very good at making up a budget each time dh gets paid. I figure it all out to the penny just like dave ramsey says to. And then life happens and I don't follow the budget at all for the next 2 weeks, until dh gets paid again. Stuff comes up and I have to rearrange things to cover them.

I also do the cash envelope system and it does work well for us, because I never spend more than the money I have on hand. But it always ends up that all the cash ends up covering groceries by the end of the month. Say I divide it up to have 10 in toiletries, 20 in gifts, etc and then I go shopping and take my gift money and find a gift for 7. Then the change just gets lumped in with groceries.

so while I don't overspend based on the money we have coming in, I overspend on groceries every single pay period. This summer I upped the grocery budget and that has really helped, but with winter heating coming quickly, I won't be able to afford to spend that much on food. I will be back to just $400 a month (a lot for some, not enough for us) and I don't know how I am going to do it. I want to stop raiding the other envelopes and let them build up. I want to actually follow our written plan each pay period.

How does everyone else do it? It just seems the days go by and there is never time to sit down and analyze where we are at. If I didn't do the cash envelope system I would probably be overdrawing our account because I can't keep up. Any ideas?

[ladykemma2]

what is the stuff that keeps coming up?

[BlessedMomof2]

I don't have any ideas, but wanted to wish you good luck and I hope your able to find something that works.

[kimmy4433]

I too have no advise but wish you luck. We should probably go to an envelope system as DH just got paid yesterday and all of our money is gone, and only 1 bill got paid. (50 for groceries, 250 on loan payment, and 25 in the bank...plumbing in Michigan is horrible right now)

[justpeachy92]

I am right there with you this time of year.The unexpected things always seem to be with school. The schools seem to $10 and $20 me, last week Monday they come home with order form for school shirts, what they have to wear on field trips. I am like well we don't need these yours still fit from last year. The kids can't wear them as they are gree, the color for 4th grade, they need the 5th grade color. Two days later they need money a field trip. First week of school my daughter asked to do chorus, okay no problem. Yesterday she comes home with the order form for those shirts, which cost more then the class shirts did. My oldest started high school this year, apparently because her school doesn't have a PTA the students have to pay $20 for class dues each month, and she needs money for a field trip too. Maybe it is a sign of my age or something, but I honestly don't remember needing money for something for school everytime I turned around.

[forHISglory]

Keep a list of what keeps coming up. Study the list for any categories that need their own envelopes, such as school expenses, etc. You may need to do some rearranging of categories to make this more realistic.

[happydog]

Are you planning your menus and shopping only from a list for those items? It's really, really easy to go overboard with food purchases, unless you really limit yourself only to purchases for a well-defined menu. Ask me how I know. lol
If you stockpile, make sure you allocate part of your grocery money for that purpose as well.

For me, this is the hardest part about budgeting--the daily dollars, not the big stuff. And really, if you are staying within the total you've set for your monthly/weekly living expenses, you're doing better than most. It's when you completely go over that it gets bad in a hurry.

Maybe it would help to have a separate envelope to put the "change" from other envelopes into? And then just make a solid commitment that once the grocery money is gone, it's gone. That's it. No double dipping. Most of us won't truly starve when that happens. lol We might have to resort to less favorites that are hanging around our cupboards, but there's usually *something* to eat.

Also, look for ways to stretch the food budget. Find some frugal recipes to try; when you're menu planning, consciously work towards reducing the cost per serving of your meals.

Good luck! And don't feel too bad--I know I *always* end up tweaking the numbers a bit. As long as the bottom line is still within budget, you're doing well.

[momofslg]

I read that you're overspending in groceries. Do you shop the sales? Do you have a stockpile? Do you plan your meals for the week?

I have started to plan the meals for a month at a time, that way when I go to the grocery store I know that if I see chicken on sale that I will need X pounds for the month and I will buy then. In my meal planning I try and have 1 meatless meal a week. This saves us a bunch.

We are a family of 5. Hubby is a meat and potato kind of guy, and DD1 won't eat seafood, DD2 just likes to eat, and DS is the energizer bunny who need refueled often.

I went to Kroger and Aldi's, and the drug store and here's what I got for $103.79

4 gallons milk (all 5 of us drink milk)
2 dozen eggs
1lb cheddar cheese
2 lb mozzarella cheese
3 lb boneless chicken breasts
2 jars spaghetti sauce
2 heads lettuce
2 cans green beans
2 cans corn
3 lb bananas
1 cucumber
3lb onions
rice
chocolate chips
2 lb brown sugar
1 lb deli ham
1pkg tortillas
sour cream
cream cheese
stick butter
hot dog buns
egg noodles
3 bags chips
1lb pepperoni
5lb sugar
blue cheese salad dressing (splurge)
sausage links
24 rolls toilet paper
tube of sausage
10lbs potato
3 cans OJ concentrate
1 loaf bread (will buy 2 more later this weekend)
3lb ground chuck
4 lb meatballs
1pkg brats

still need to get some bacon ( I have a pig at the butchers and don't know when it will be ready to pick up so holding out as long as possible) and some more milk, eggs, bread, and fruit next week. soo probably another $20.00.

These are the meals that we have planned from September 19 - October 4

Pizza and salad
ham and bean soup w/ homemade bread
grilled chicken tortilla wraps/ fries
chicken w/ homemade noodles
BLT's'/ fries/ fruit
enchiladas/ rice/ salad
biscuits and gravy/ hash browns/ eggs
meatball subs/ salad
stuffed green peppers/ corn/ bread and butter
pot roast /potatos/ carrots/ bread
bean burritos/ rice/ fruit
ham and cheese quiche/ hash browns/ fruit
roast beef sandwiches/ mash potatos
bbq chicken/ baked potato/ green beans
Pizza and salad
ham/ scalloped potatos/ corn

For lunch we eat leftovers/ pb&j/ homemade lunchables/ deli meat sandwiches,egg salad
for breakfast we eat bagels/ cereal/ toast/eggs/ pancakes/ french toast/ waffles/ muffins.

Hope that you can see that it's possible to feed a larger family and not spend a ton of money.

[mommy4ever]

This is a hard one! There are a few things I've noticed.

1 the cost of EVERYTHING is going up.
2. the kids are eating MORE and MORE every year!

I'd suggest doing what you can for now. IT's hard to cut back. Could you post a typical grocery list? Perhaps there are some shortcuts that we can help with?

What I have done, and works quite well. In the months where we pay lower utilities, (may to September when the furnace is off), I use those months to stock up. Things we will eat. No point on storing all kinds of things you won't use. In the fall, I typically splurge and buy a 1/2 side of beef and pork. This will last us 6 to 10 months, before i need to get anything other than poultry. This year I made jams and preserves that will last us the winter. I have about 100lbs of flour for baking, so I don't need to buy cookies etc. My girls make batches of banana bread, pumpkin bread, etc on the weekends for the next week. I do muffins,Breakfast sandwiches, etc. So we don't need to buy those. My kids take a stainless steel water bottle to school. They can put whatever. DD9 wants to buy milk at school. I told her no. She has insulated school bag, with ice pack, we can make cubes of frozen milk to keep her milk cold. I'm not spending 50¢ for 1 cup of milk!

I have started menu planning extensively. I find grocery beudgets are ruined by the fact I ever only plan suppers. Everything else is by the seat of my pants! So I also plan lunches for those at home, bag lunches for those out, and enough leftovers for dh. Breakfast for myself and dh are always planned as well.

I keep a detailed inventory of my freezer, and EVERY menu plan starts with that list. What do I have, what can I make with it. Then it looks at the sales. Right now I have over 1 month of meat in my freezer. I'm not buying any more. I'm ordering my beef soon, so I want to use up the older cuts and start fresh.

The last 2 weeks, my bill has been under $100. I'm feeding, dh, myself, ds14, dd11, dd9, dd4, and 4 daycare kids. And I should mention, I don't shop with coupons, Canada doesn't get much for coupons except for processed foods, I don't worry too much about the sales either, I look for the best price by flyer, and determine if it's worth the trip, and we are eating at this point about 75% organic foods. I haven't been able to go 100% yet. Working toward it. I'm not finding it more expensive, just making different choices, changing recipes etc to accomodate what I can get.

You do a fantastic job with your budget, it could just be a little boredom on your part of the same old same old, or just need a fresh set of eyes to tweak it a bit.

When I get it done, I'll be posting my menu plan of the week. Working on it now. Maybe it'll give some ideas?

[my4littlebuffaloes]

Thanks for the tips. Keeping track of what comes up is a really good idea, that would help eliminate surprises in the future. I know some of it is pet stuff, some school stuff, birthday parties the kids are invited to, dh's work stuff, etc. I do think part of the food thing is the kids are eating more and the cost of everything is up. I just bought 7 things at the grocery store and it cost $26.05! 4 lbs of cheese, 2 gallons of milk and egg replacer (dd has food allergies, which of course ups the food bill).

I think honestly I don't have enough money in the food budget, so I raid the other envelopes to give me more money. The kids just eat so much! Especially fresh produce. I do menu plan, but base it on what I have in the house. I tend to shop the sales to fill my pantry and then make stuff from that. I rarely buy anything that isn't on sale other than milk, eggs and produce and I certainly try on those things LOL, but some weeks none of it is on sale.

I know I need to do a better job of evaluating what is a need and what is a want. I also love to use cheese in recipes, which is funny because dd is allergic. I just make stuff that you add cheese to at the end and pull hers out. But instead of making cheesy potatoes, I can just saute the potatoes with seasonings and dip in ketchup. Cheese has gotten very expensive over the past few months. Figuring out a way to cut back on it would help.

I guess I need to find a way to force myself to stay within the budget in each category, not just the total. thanks for the tips, keep them coming!

[my4littlebuffaloes]

Lisa, thanks for taking the time to give me an example of your shopping and menu. I love seeing how other people shop and eat, it helps me with ideas and areas I can work on. It is harder dealing with the food allergies, because I have to be brand specific on things for dd. I can't always get the store brand, although sometimes I can only get the store brand, if that makes sense. I have to buy soy stuff for her, which is pricey and I use rice milk and egg replacer in baking and that is expensive. She is also allergic to beef, so it is only turkey hotdogs for her, there is only 1 brand around here, oscar meyer that she can eat. It is things like that, that make it difficult, but still I need to work on it. I am very impressed that you got everything you needed for 2 weeks for $100. Way to go!

[happydog]

Do you have a soymilk maker so that you can make your own soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, tofu, etc.? If not, you might look into getting one when you have a little excess cash. It will save you a TON of money over buying the prepared stuff. It will pay for itself very quickly. You can make a quart of rice milk or soymilk for pennies. Plus, you can control exactly what's in it, which can be helpful with allergies. Here's a link to the one I have and love:

http://www.soymilkmaker.com/

They have a lot of recipes on the site too, which are very helpful.

Also, consider ordering lecithin online in bulk. It will be a lot less expensive than buying the small containers at the store. It keeps for a long time, so you might as well stock up on it. My DH and DS are both allergic to eggs and poultry meats, so I sympathize. We eat a lot of vegetarian meals because of it.

[momofslg]

You can substitute soy flour for eggs in your baking. I'm not sure of the exact measurements but do a search and you will find what you need.

[mn30]

Hmmm, this an interesting thread. I think I might have an idea that might work. Let's say you have $100 a week for food. Take only $80 with you, and leave the extra $20 at home for when you run out of gorceries later in the week. I've been working with method for a few months now and has worked for me.

[Greebo]

If you are raiding the other envelopes for food money, then yes, your budget needs to be adjusted.

Budgets are not carved in stone. A budget that doesn't work is useless. Your budget is a plan for how your money will be used, and the plan has to be realistic. Having it on paper, on purpose, will help you figure out when you have to raise the food budget, where the money for food will come from.

Food is priority #1 - something else must, therefore, get cut back.