How Much Should I Spend on Groceries?

[Music] well welcome to the rachel cruz show okay today we're diving in to how much you should really spend on groceries okay here's what's interesting the average american family of four spends between six hundred dollars and thirteen hundred dollars a month isn't that interesting but here's why i look at you guys any extra money you could save any extra money you can save it's amazing because it helps you win with your money goals that much faster now i know with groceries it can feel impossible but trust me it is possible to lower your grocery budget this is like the one area it's time it feels like all the time that we bust it the cruise household because some months it's like oh well actually we don't spend that much because we had x y and z and and other months was like how do we spend this much money in groceries like what's going on i mean it just like does like this depending on our life and all of it and it's hard to predict that's what i find hard i'm like oh my gosh it's just it can be so overwhelming and i'll be honest too i even spent a little bit more on groceries a few months in a row because we did like a grocery delivery service so they marked up some of the items and did all this but at the time it was worth it because of our schedule and everything and then oh it's just it's nuts grocery shopping we need it we got to eat all the things but listen it's just tough it's just a tough part of the budget when it comes to food so i get it i get it but i want this video to help break down how much you should be spending and maybe where you can start saving some money on this okay so that is the question how much should i spend on groceries well if you're on baby steps one through three which means you're building up your starter emergency fund of a thousand dollars or you're paying off all your consumer debt or you're building up your fully funded emergency fund of three to six months worth of expenses then i would recommend spending 10 to 15 percent of your take-home pay on groceries say that with an asterisk because remember this needs to fit your life your budget has to be realistic and also your percentages they may look different than what i just gave you depending on your situation okay so if you're a millionaire and you're living like no one else you're on baby step seven and you're just like rocking and rolling making crazy money you have no bills well 10 of your budget is probably gonna be a lot of money yeah you probably don't want to spend all that on food or maybe where you live makes a big difference right if you live in kansas versus new york or san francisco your grocery bill is going to look different if you have 21 kids versus if you're single with no kids your food budget is going to look different so you really have to figure out what works with your family but here's the key is you have to stick with it so for the cruise family we always break out our food category into actually three different categories you ready we break out groceries so okay this is what we're buying at the store all the things restaurants restaurants it is it's it's my love language i love going out to dinner winston and i went on a date night and came out of the restaurant category but i was like this is what i love i love being served i love not having to cook i love that the dishes get taken away from me and i get to leave the restaurant i mean it is it's like it's just my love language uh i mean so much so i love to see that restaurant category because i take full advantage of it yep there's 15 left who do you think is getting a spicy chicken sandwich with american cheese large frying large sweet tea this one i'll use it up every single penny of that restaurant it's gone because of me i will i love it and then we actually always break out to costco i had to start doing this because for me to enjoy costco i love buying in bulk i love all the special stuff that costco has it's like all these stuff that i'm like this isn't this isn't my normal grocery store sure i'll try this street corn that's absolutely delicious and i get like eight packs of it and it's wonderful and i want to be able to shop freely at costco and so when i talk about a budget it's not constrictive it's not like oh i can't do things i'm not on a budget no remember a budget is permission to spend you get to spend and actually enjoy your spending because it's in control so i get to walk through costco a little bit more freely and happier because i know here's my costco line item in our budget so anyways that's what we do i know that's probably like really specific for some of you some of you it's not specific enough but that's what we do in the cruise household for the food budget but listen if you are one that finds okay when it comes to groceries specifically we continue to go over we continue to go over over and over and over here are a couple of things that you can do to save money okay number one meal plan this is what winston and i do every sunday night we look at the calendar ahead and we say what's going on monday night tuesday night wednesday night thursday night friday night and we plan everything out and the nights that we're home and we cook i know exactly what we're cooking because then the groceries come on monday that's our grocery shopping day it's mondays so i know and it is amazing when you have a plan and you're intentional you actually save money that way you guys cause if you are last minute and you're trying to like impulse buy something and run you know pick something up to go at a restaurant like you just end up spending more but when you can plan it out and you have all the food that you need you save money number two make a grocery list yes this is this is so key it's kind of that old those old school grocery store uh people say like don't go hungry make a list all that's true but the list thing is so good because you have it's right there it's right there so you're not gonna impulse buy you just get exactly what you need and everything in one trip next take out cash for groceries okay this is big for those of you especially if you're just starting budgeting this is huge cash is amazing so let's just as an example say you budgeted 600 for groceries every month well you go to the bank pull out the 600 you can put in an envelope put it in your rachel cruz wallet whatever it is have cash there then when you go to the grocery store you use that cash to pay for your groceries and the amazing thing is once the cash is gone it's gone it's like a built-in accountability it's just there and you're able to say okay this is how much i have left or this is what we have to plan around because that's how the money is i mean it's so visual and it is so so helpful next try discount grocery stores like aldi so smart shopping isn't always what you buy but where you buy and seriously people save so much money like half their grocery budget is just gone it's amazing they can save half of it just by making a switch on where they shop so places like aldi are amazing for that also shop generic so switching from name brand to generic on things like pet food shampoo coffee medicine like so much stuff i mean you're basically getting the same product but it's more inexpensive you save money that way and it's gonna feel like you got a raise you just feel like wow i really did save so much money and last but not least use coupons so there's so many digital coupons now whether it's money-saving apps or things online if you just google the word coupon it's amazing you know with your store with it like stuff will come it's amazing so take the time and look to say okay hey i can save some money here and there and again when it comes to these kind of things whether it's money saving apps or coupons the only way it really saves you money is if you're gonna buy the product in the first place okay so don't see the coupon like oh here's some extra stuff i want no if it's with the products you need it's amazing that's it so if you want an easy way to keep track of your grocery budget means you need a great budgeting tool and my favorite is every dollar yes this is our budgeting app and it comes with ramsey plus and so ramsay plus will make your money work for you learn how to budget pay off debt invest and so much more with ramsey plus it has our proven step-by-step plan that works and right now you've got nothing to lose by starting a free trial just text rachel plus to 33789 and get your free trial going all right i hope this helps you these little tips help save money and you guys as much money as you can save per month especially those of you on baby steps one through three man you can make so much progress so much faster when you are intentional with your money and things like groceries yep that can go over the budget really easily learning to save on those can change everything because remember i want you to take control of your money and create a life you love you

Channel: The Rachel Cruze Show

Views: 39,521

Keywords: the rachel cruze show, the rachel cruze show youtube, money, budget, how to save money, budgeting, personal finance, rachel cruze, save money, how to budget, debt, saving money, save, how to make money, ramsey, finance, how to get out of debt, debt free, How Much Should I Spend on Groceries?

Id: BtcwZNH1_Vg

Length: 8min 41sec (521 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 27 2021