grocery envelope?

[Momma_Bailey]

I think you have to tinker around and figure out what works and is most effective for your individual family. I get overwhelmed easily, so less categories (or envelopes) works best for us. I do not do an envelope system though, but plan to very soon. I did envelopes when we were first married with great success! Also, we try to spend only the true "bare minimum" each week. I literally take $100 out of my husbands paycheck and budget it the following way. It may seem extreme, but its the only way we *actually* afford for me to stay at home with our son who is developmentally delayed. (I keep telling myself this is only temporarily for the next few years while hubby finishes classes! )

$50 Groceries (This includes pretty much EVERYTHING - drinks, meat, snacks, tp, and hba stuff .. without coupons/sales and my stockpile this would not be possible!)
$30 Gas (I try to run my errands in early afternoon before hubby goes to work then he takes my car since it uses way less gas. If need be his car is here for me to drive and we're saving at least $10-$15/wk!)
$20 Misc (This is if we run out of money in Groceries or Gas, Couponing, Fast Food, Haircuts, Unexpected Expense, or things like Entertainment. I love the $1 cinema and FREE "splash pad"! )

[piedpiper]

I have 2 no spend day for this month so far. As for the envelope system I have one for food, one for church, one for transportation(public bus),and one for miscellaneous

[FrugalMom123]

The way we do our grocery budget -- We have a weekly envelope for food items. We have a separate quarterly envelope for non-edibles that we buy quarterly, like toilet paper, toothpaste, etc.

[Momto5RN]

mine is for food-pet food- paper- health + beauty and cleaning - anything i may pick up at grocery - CVS etc ( except prescriptions or back to school type things )

[Greebo]

Russ with YOUR wife, simpler is better. If she buys TP and personal care items at the grocery store, then make a grocery store envelope and MUTUALLY agree on how much goes in it.

The easier you make it for her, the more excuses you take away from her to not committing to your agreement.

[AnW819]

This came up at our FPU class last week. One woman had the impression that "my" breaking down the envelopes was too much. LOL.

We have groceries (food) and household goods (TP, Brita filters, etc) separated out. The main reason was because we buy bulk TP from BJ's so if it came out of the food budget it would (and has) reduced our grocery money too much for the 2 week period.

So Household goods only gets a little each payday but then only gets used occasionally.

Thanks Cea for this advise! I was putting all money in a grocery envelope, but we do a monthly trip to Sams, and I CVS and it would be much easier for us to seperate these things because Sams is not a weekly thing.

Thank you!

[Momma_Bailey]

Okay, I started the envelopes the beginning of the month!!!!!!


We're doing EXCELLENT -except- Back to School Stuff and when my baby sister visited! I did spoil her just a little! lol We also have 2 children's birthdays coming up so that will be another expense within a couple weeks. I have already started today buying their birthday presents and still was able to add a little extra $$$$$ to the envelopes! I've also managed to save over $15 in spare change just since mid July! We're paying with strictly cash for everything (we did this before, but only about 50-75% of the time!), so any spare change from a dollar bill goes in my purse then into the jar! We've also changed amounts in our envelopes, so we dont feel so discouraged. I never realized how stressed out and tight our budget made me feel until I posted my previous post! Now, that I've upp'd the amounts just a little bit for each category I can enjoy going to the groceries again and filling my gas tank up without worrying so much! Then if theres anything extra we're gonna save half and use the rest for family fun!

Groceries - $300/mo
Gas - $200/mo
Misc - $100/mo
Entertainment - $100/mo

[lyra]

I'm sorry,but what does HBA stands for? Health & Beauty? Please inform me. Thanks.

[Ceashels]

You nailed it!

[sunshine]

My grocery envelope has the money in it for all those things -- my budget account though has it all separated, so when I input my receipts into our software, I can see where I stand in various categories. . . . I split our grocery budget into:

health and beauty (not prescriptions - that's part of medical)
pet food
household (TP, cleaners, etc. - not maintainance as that has it's own budget category too)
meat
produce
beverages
bakery

That way I can see where we need to cut back or increase at any given time.

Eating out, at our place is included in the entertainment envelope.

[MissSeetonFan]

We may need to tweak it a bit but ours is according to store. Sort of separated by type. Walmart is generally diapers and health things. Maceys (local grocery store) is generally food, TP, etc.

It has worked for us so far.