“Currently I am working on cutting down my food bill. I added it up for Jan 2016 and nearly passed out. It was beyond ridiculous, for three adults!” – M
This reader tallied her food expenses for a month and was shocked at how much she had spent.
Food is typically our third highest monthly expense, right behind housing and transportation. It’s not a fixed number each month, like the rent or loan payments.
So, even if we don’t want to change anything else in our budget, tracking food expenses and subsequently lowering them can make a positive difference to monthly cash flow.
What would an extra $100-200 or more each month mean to you? In our case, we have used it to pay down debt, invest it and boost emergency savings. Over time, even small amounts of money can make a huge impact if used wisely.
I’m a big proponent of tracking expenses and adjusting spending to keep it in line with your life goals and values. But, if the task of tracking all of your expenses seems overwhelming, focus on just one category (in this case food). It’s an easy and effective way to make a difference and start the habit of expense tracking.
What could you do to make the biggest impact on lowering monthly food costs? Use one month’s expenses as a guideline to begin to make changes.
How do I track food expenses?
Are you a pen and paper sort of person? Get a little notebook to carry for the purpose of recording your food expenses as you go.
Smartphones are a great way to track expenses. Two apps to consider are Expenses OK and Spending Tracker. Or you could just use the notepad on your phone to record the expenses.
Mint and Budget Tracker are two of the many online options to consider if you prefer tracking on your computer. Personally, I prefer to simply create a Google sheet and track my expenses that way.
How often should I record food expenses?
Do what works best for you – daily, weekly, or monthly.
Don’t want to record daily food expenditures? Save your receipts and tally them weekly or monthly, either on paper, in a spreadsheet, or one of the apps listed above.
Paper receipts not your thing? Take a picture of receipts to total later or use OneReceipt, an app that takes the picture and tracks spending.
What exactly should I track?
Track everything food related! Expenses include everything from dining out, gas station snacks/drinks, morning lattes and, of course, groceries.
Don’t cheat! You are only fooling yourself if you skip recording an expense here and there. Dishonesty will not lead to positive results.
What’s next?
Once you’ve tracked your food expenses for a month, you should have a clear picture of where you are spending on food. Take a hard look at where you spend the most and all the little things that add up over time. Start cutting back in those areas first.
I’m not a coupon person. Next week I’ll post how I trimmed my family’s grocery budget from $500-600 down to $300/month without clipping coupons.
The fact that food expenses are not fixed means just what you said: It’s an area that can make a difference to overall money flow. We’ve cut back by about $100 per week on average – and that’s just for groceries. We rarely eat out, and that probably brings it down another $50 per week. When that extra money is channeled in the right direction – like debt repayment or savings – what a difference it can make! Good advice here, Amanda.
Thank you!
Wow! That’s great – $150 per week savings can really add up! And absolutely, the savings is lost if not directed toward debt repayment or savings. I think many people tend to underestimate how much they really spend on food. Tracking food expenses can indeed pay off.
This is definitely something I need to do. Considering it’s May 2nd and all food related expenses I’ve brought so far have been covered by the company I work for, this would be a good time to start. I might cry when I see the results:/
Yes, it’s a great time to start, Latoya! Hopefully you won’t cry:) but at least you would know if it’s an area in which you could save money!
Wow $300! That’s so impressive! My fiancé is a health and fitness nut so our food bill is crazy. Organic this and tons of grass-fed meat. I like that we’re making health choices with our food but it’s killing my wallet!
Thanks, Julie! We eat pretty healthy – not all organic, but in the summer the majority of the produce comes from our garden, so that helps a lot. We buy grassfed beef once a year and try to make it last, and cutting back on the meat helps keep costs down. I understand wanting to eat healthy and, sometimes, it can definitely cost more.
We recently started tracking our food expenses (the past 3ish months) and have been SHOCKED at what we have been spending on our little family of 3! It definitely has encouraged us to pay more attention to what we are buying @ the grocery store!