Do you have a monthly budget for your grocery spending?? Since January this year, mine is $500 a month for a family of 5.  When I first started couponing, I didn’t keep track of the amount I was spending, I was just buying, buying, buying!

Thanks to quickbooks I was able to go back and see how much I usually spent in a month for groceries….and it was over $900 a month(many months a lot more!).  That’s when I decided to set a budget and try to stick to it!!  If it’s the end of the month and we need something, I still buy it even if I go over budget.  I call this borrowing from next month=]

Things I include in my $500 grocery budget…

*all food & beverage items

*cleaning products

*paper products (toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, tampons, pads, etc)

*eating out

How my budget got completely blown in April…. The last two weeks of April I was sick & my husband had to take over much of the cooking & shopping.  After Pizza Hut, Subway, and a grocery trip with just 2 coupons, we were over budget. I’m not sure how much over  because I didn’t even keep track as usual!  Instead of “borrowing from May” I decided just to start fresh:)

So my tips are:

*Set a budget for your household items & keep track of your spending.  Everybody’s amount will be different depending on the size of your family and the area you live in.

*Don’t get sick because husbands can blow a budget – ha ha=]