How To Work Out Your Grocery Budget

Knowing that you are spending the right amount of money each week for your groceries is important if you are looking to set up a budget. You have to have enough money to meet your grocery needs, but not too much that you waste loads of food and don’t have enough money to pay for your debts and other bills that you need to pay each month. With the average person spending, about 10% of their income on their grocery budget, yet the recommended is about 14% it is no wonder that people are struggling to have enough food to eat.

How To Work Out Your Grocery Budget

The only way that you can work out your grocery budget is to know your complete budget, making sure you have enough money for all the other expenses and to see what you have available to use for groceries.

Knowing what you can afford and what you currently spend might shock you, it is surprising how quickly groceries can increase and you will end up spending more on less food, mainly because of the economic changes in society, but there is also the possibility that you are not choosing to shop in the most economical grocery store.

You must take into account all the bills which you need to pay first, before you decide on the grocery budget. This is the most flexible aspect of your budget, you must pay your bills and expenses first, often what is left is what you need to split between the weeks in the month, some months you will have more than other months and making that work is vital.

Why Work Out A Grocery Budget

Spending money wisely is important, it shows that you are thinking about the money you have available and you are looking to make the best choices with that money. Spending too much money on your grocery budget is not going to ensure that you have plenty of food for your family to eat; often it can just mean there is more food thrown away and wasted because you were not careful with your food budget and bought more than you needed.

A budget helps you control that spending, it makes you think about the choices, which you make on a daily basis and that is good; it gives you a set limit, which you can’t go over and it teaches you control. Spending your entire grocery budget within the first week might mean that you have to force creative with your meal choices.

However, if you spread the budget equally over the whole month, you will have the same amount of money at the beginning of the month, as you will at the end of the month. It might mean that you have to use a list and a calculator when you go shopping, but seriously it isn’t that bad; yes there are times you can’t afford everything and you have to start thinking what you need and what you want. Once you can make those choices, it becomes easier to see when you can have the treats and when you know your budget won’t stretch that far.

Knowing the shops that offer the best value for money is important, it lets you get the most for your money, for me that shop is Aldi; it is the best shop with the best prices. This will stretch your money further every month, making sure you get the best deals and quality food.

Therefore, if you are wondering how much money you should spend on food each month, the official guidelines suggest around 14%, my thoughts suggest as little as possible, while still buying healthy and nutritious food, or as much as you can afford.