How to Fix an Out-of-Control Grocery Bill | Family Budgeting Strategies | 101

0:00 Right groceries, it is probably one of the bigger parts of our budget, but it can also get really out of control. And so today we're going to talk about it. Sometimes our budgets, if your grocery bill feels out of control, it's probably not because you're irresponsible, it's because you're under estimating. I see this a lot and we're going to talk about how to identify it and then how to solve it. Hey there, I'm Jules the budget nerd, and welcome to the Debt Rebel show. This is the place where working families like yours learn how to stop living paycheck to paycheck, crush debt for good, and build a life where money actually works for your family.

0:39 In about 15 minutes, I'll share practical family budgeting tips, tough love strategies, and actionable steps to move toward debt free living without the fluff, the shame, or the confusion. And I know a thing or two about this. My family and I have eliminated over $107,000 in consumer debt, and that was after I got my degree in economics. So stay tuned. This is going to be a great episode. So grab that coffee, your planner, whatever you need to make this a great experience. Maybe a snack if you're like me.

1:11 And let's make your money work for your family. Let's think about a typical week, especially when this kind of stuff happens. So maybe there's a late practice or some sort of late activity that's happening for one of your kids and you realize you didn't make it to the store like you had planned earlier in the week. And then your family's got to eat, right? Because we don't skip meals. We cannot skip meals. That is not a budget plan. That is not a good a good thing, especially for a growing family.

1:40 And so we just say, hey, let's grab something really quick. And I'm not talking necessarily the drive through, like maybe you're just going to run into the store really quick. Maybe you're going to stop by Costco and you're like, hey, we're just going to grab a few things. And the next thing you know, you've spent way more than you expected, right? So this doesn't mean that we're bad with money, even though we might think we are. So one thing that I see a lot when it comes to budgeting for food, because one, it's one of life's necessities, but it's a thing that happens frequently, right?

2:11 We, it's, we have to, whether we grocery shop once a week or maybe you're, maybe you're luckier and you can spread your grocery trips out a little bit longer. Typically the average family goes to the grocery store at least once a week. So we have multiple grocery trips in there. We've got some, maybe some quick drive through stops. Those are easy, the school lunches and then coffee runs, right. One thing that's important when we're talking about food is to separate those into in our budget. So this is something that's really helped us as a family is to keep our restaurants or take out type meals separate from our groceries and separate from household items like toilet paper and shampoo and that kind of stuff.

2:53 So keeping those things separate. The other thing when it comes to food is we make those decisions usually when we're and it's an emotional state. So we're tired. We just want the convenience and we don't want to feel like we're deprived because our food is a necessity of life, but also is it can be a comfort for us and a connection with our family. So we Add all those things together and then so there's the groceries and the eating out. We mix those up like I said. And then we put maybe a Costco trip in with those household items like toilet paper and paper towels and those types of things.

3:29 Or we go, you know what? It's just 12 bucks and we toss it in the, we toss it in the bin. So that's how we can get out of control with our our food budget. The real problem here is we are just kind of winging it. We're guessing instead of actually tracking and seeing how much we actually spend. So one thing that I see often is families will say I'm spending about $700.00 on food a month. You know, obviously this is going to depend on your family size and how many people you're feeding. Each of they think, OK, I'm, I'm spending $700.00, but it turns out they're actually spending $1100.

4:02 Now that's a huge difference, right? But it doesn't always feel like it when we're in the moment. So that's taking away from other things in our budget. This was a really tough one for me in the very beginning is there is the difference between reality and what we actually budget for, what you're actually spending versus what you want to spend. You can look back at, you know, your past bank statements and see, okay, these are the stores I typically go to. Here's the amounts I've actually spent on food.

4:27 You can save your receipts if that works for you as well and look at what you actually spend and then put that in your budget every single month. And if you want to work on reducing that, there's ways to do that too. And we'll talk about that in future episodes. But we can get into the comparison game where we will see an influencer on the social media. That's like, I got all this food for my family for, you know, $400.00 for a family of 6. That's awesome for them, but it might not be realistic because there's a lot of things that play with depending on where you live, your dietary restrictions, all types of stuff.

5:00 Maybe you have a picky eater in your household and they only like certain foods. Take that stuff into account when we're creating those food budgets because we want to make sure our families are fed and that is the is the number one priority. Everything else happens after that. So keeping a roof, rubber ahead, food in our belly and transportation to and from work is that survival mode budget that we talked about. But the food is one that is so easy to get out of hand because we are not realistic with ourselves.

5:29 How do we, now that we know this, what do we do? Track your, track what you're spending on food for the next 30 days. You don't have to worry about cutting anything out. Operate out your categories for groceries, eating out, and then most convenience items that you maybe run into a convenience store or drive through for. And then the next thing is budget for a real week. Not an ideal week. And so you'll hear me. I said week, right? Not the whole month. Just pick one week and plan out your budget for that week and see if that's something you can stick with for your food for your family.

6:04 And then the last one is building in margin for busy seasons. I was just talking with someone on threads the other day and she's getting ready to go on maternity leave. So they're padding their their food budget more right now because they're getting ready to go into a busy season for their family. And so they're stocking up on a few extra things, maybe stocking the freezer and having more supplies on hand. And so they're going to be spending a little bit more so that when that time comes for their new baby to arrive, that they have the food that they need in their household to feed their family, right?

6:39 So remember, this all is information. This isn't about shame or regret or feeling down on ourselves. We just want to be honest with ourselves. And this is the best way to get that progress going at a faster pace than we might have in the past when it comes to addressing certain categories or maybe our whole budget all together. But food is an important one. And when we are most honest with ourselves and we create a budget that's based on our real life and not like our ideal life or the quote, UN quote perfect life because that doesn't exist, then we're going to feel a lot more peace about spending the money on, on food.

7:16 But we're also going to give ourselves permission to just say it's not always going to be perfect. And this is 1 category that it can get. We can overspend very easily. So when we get this figured out, maybe you've in the past, you thought, you know what, OK, I am spending $700.00 a month on food. And then you find out you're actually spending $1100 a month on food. It's $400.00 of overspending. And not that it's, this is especially since it happened in the past, it's information. So it's information for you to make more informed decisions moving forward.

7:50 If you continue to move forward with the $700.00 budget, you know now that you have $400 to do something else. Or if right now it's really important for your family to have specific foods and that's what they cost. Because that's one thing that we can't control, right? We cannot control the cost of food. We can just control what we buy. And so there's, if you check out episode 11, there's some more tips to, to help you with food and the meal planning part of, of raising a family. But if you want to stick with that $700.00 budget, then do it.

8:20 If you need to increase it, increase it. This is 1 area that's very important. Once you get it figured out, you will be in your sweet spot and it'll be easy to take care of the rest of the things. And it's, I called, it's the first domino. Once we get this figured out, then the rest of the things are going to be a little bit easier because they're not quite as fluctuating as the class of food. And you might have heard me say this is one of the areas that for for our family and our debt elimination journey, that it was one of the last things for us to get under control because I'm I didn't really learn how to cook until we became debt free.

8:58 And so food was kind of the the area that we got out of control, but I also needed the convenience because I didn't know how to prepare meals. This is 1 area that we aided till the very last minute to rein in. I now suggest this is the first area when it comes to eliminating your diet that if you can get this dialed in, the rest is going to be a little bit easier for you because you'll know you'll have food in your cabinets and in your fridge for your to be able to feed your family. You'll be able able to make confident decisions when you go to the grocery store and you'll also be able to save more money because the average American family throws away over $1000 of food every single year.

9:42 So when we talk about that emergency fund, that's your emergency fund right there. So if we can get this part of your budget dialed in, you're going to be able to get to that debt free date faster because you're not going to be wasting money year after year, month after month, week after week. But you're also going to be able to stop putting your groceries on credit cards and be able to make those decisions for your family with ease, with confidence. And I hope that this was really helpful for you.

10:11 And if you want some additional support, I've got the grocery Reset playbook available and you can find that on my website at Jewels, the Budget nerd.com/groceries. And it's going to walk you through it is a step by step process on how to get this part of your budget dialed in so that you can stop putting groceries on credit cards and you can start making those empowered food choices for your family without breaking your budget. This is how we win at this at the budgeting game. But if we don't know these numbers and we don't, we cannot win a game if we don't know the score.

10:44 So this is going to help you get set up so that your family doesn't have to keep putting groceries on a credit card and you can make those strides towards your financial freedom. All right, we'll see in the next episode. Thank you for tuning into the Debt Rebel show today. Ready to take your family budgeting to the next level? Stop that paycheck to paycheck grind and start living debt free? Head over to my website, debtrebelpodcast.com. That's DEBTREDE podcast.com to grab resources, tools and tips to make it happen.

11:22 And don't forget, subscribe, leave a review. And if you know another family that will love hearing today's episode, it would be such a gift for both of us, your friend and me. If you share this episode and remember your debt free life starts with one brave step and I'm cheering you on every step of the way. We'll talk soon. Debt Rebel.