If you know me, you'll think this is weird. Professionally, I am a bookkeeper, a general accountant. Of course, I have a budget, well...I have an Excel spreadsheet where I plan what bills I'm going to pay. That is different than a budget. A budget takes your income, and lists what you will spend from that income. When you use a budget, you only spend what you make.
In my "spending plan", I have $300 every two weeks for groceries. Lately, that has not been enough. If I stay within that amount, I have $5.36 for dinner, $5.36 for lunch, $4.29 for breakfast, and $2.86 for snacks. That is the daily breakdown for four people, not per person.
This week, I will be adding up what some basic recipes cost. For example, last night we had Celentano Round Cheese Ravioli, homemade meatballs, homemade sauce, garlic bread, and a salad. It breaks down this way:
- $3.00 for Raviolli
- $1.00 for french bread
- $1.00 for Salad greens
- $3.00 for hamburger
- $ .89 for Tomato puree
- $1.00 for misc. (bread crumbs, seasonings, garlic, onion, butter, parmesean cheese, salad dressing)
I'm up to $9.89 for this one meal, and it didn't have a whole lot of meat in it. Even if I used spaghetti instead of the raviolli, I'd still be at $7.89. Maybe I could save on lunches:
- $3.00 One package of smoked turkey
- $1.50 8 slices of bread
- $ .50 4 slices of cheese
- $2.80 4 cups of yogurt
- $ .50 Misc (condiments, pickles)
$8.30, that is more than a spaghetti dinner.
Don't get me wrong, this is still way less than eating out. It is better for you too (Well, I cheat on the raviolli). But, eating is getting more and more expensive.
According to Grocery Savings - Your Kitchen is a Goldmine! by Cheryl Johnson,
"The USDA Food Plans at the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion suggests
that a family of four is currently spending about $100 to $116 per week based on
the "Thrifty Plan", "
I don't know how old those statistics are. I know that in the last year, milk has jumped drastically. As I research this, I will let you know how it goes. I really think my grocery budget is the one expense that makes my family complain less. If I skimp on dinner, no one is happy.
In an almost related thought:
Dave Ramsey had a single mom on his show today. I wish I could have shown her the way to FLYLady. She really needs her. She was a single mom who went through a messy divorce. She and the children have scars they are seeking counseling for. She was trying to decide to not go deeper into debt or take her kids to see a "$60 movie". I feel for her, my Hubby really wanted to go to the movie on Wednesday, but I just can't afford it right now. Here are some really good points that Dave shared with her:
"You can buy fun, but you can't buy happiness".
"You are confusing fun with being a good mom."
"Why does everything that is a positive memory have to
involve money?"
"Learning that life and time and money are finite is a part
of growing up."
"'No' is a character building experience"
When she asked what they could do to make good memories, he said:
"As a family minister to the homeless, that's a positive experience"
"You're not a bad mom by saying, 'No, we don't have enough money to go to the movies'" He actually went on to say that it would be bad mothering to run herself into debt until she was stressed out.
He explained what she was doing, and said that we all do it:
"You're medicating the hurt places in your life with purchases". He said you need to say, "Hey, I'm hurting", admit that you are spending to medicate and accept that it is not the fix. "You don't want to teach [your kids] that either...You're modeling for them."
She went on to say the counselor that she was seeing thought that giving in once in a while created good memories. I thought that was the worst part. He told her:
"Your life is America right now."
When discussing eating out, he said. "The point is, our standard of living has shifted...You were happy. You didn't feel deprived as a kid. (when they ate out only once every couple months)" "We cannot define the quality of our parenthood by the places we take our kids or the money we spend on them. Because, you will never keep up. Let's define fun, and let's have some, but let's not confuse it with happiness. Happiness is when I'm playing with my kid and he says, 'Dad, I love you'. That doesn't cost a dime".
He's a smart guy, maybe he can help us:
www.DaveRamsey.com
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