Ideal Grocery Budget for a Family of 4
Budgets typically tell you what you can’t afford to buy. However, its only your resolve that can keep you from buying such things anyway. It takes resolve to hold a family together and to raise children in a home. And if there is one thing that a family needs, it’s a strict adherence to budgets which can helpfully stretch resources as much as possible.
Its important to keep to budgets nowadays because the average family has two children. So, most heads of households must balance grocery budgets for four people. That is not always easy to accomplish because the average grocery budget for a family of four is about $4,500 annually, which is a 2% increase from the previous year.
When you add in paying for takeout and dining out, it’s totals about $8,000 annually. If you need to develop ideal grocery budgets for your family of four, here are some resources that can help you develop them.
1 – Parents.com
This Parents.com webpage features a downloadable budget plan that can help you spend $200 monthly on a family of four budget. The writer of this budget strongly recommends that you segregate toiletries and household supplies to a separate budget to allot more funds for food. Also, its good to decide on what you can do without before going to the grocery store.
For example, the writer, the mother in a four-person family with two small children, doesn’t buy brand name food, doesn’t buy orange juice unless it is on sale, and makes the use of coupons unto a religious practice.
2 – Frugal Farm Wife: Life Well Lived on a Budget
Elise is a married mother of two small children. She maintains this blog which she uses to share tips on frugal family living. However, Elise consider frugal living as strategizing how to live smarter, not just cheaply.
On Elise’s page, you will find her custom-made $40 per week grocery budget, and accompanying shopping list, designed for two adults and four small children. Elise also offers recipes, canning and preserving tips, meal plans, and various budgets and expense lists.
3 – Living on a Dime
This page has a detailed grocery budget plan to help a family of four spend $150 a month on groceries. It should be noted that this budget plan is designed to accommodate two adults and two small children specifically.
You’ll find grocery lists and accompanying foods and recipes to help you design meals for breakfast, lunch, dinners, and for healthy snacks. There are also recipes and free newsletters offered on the site.
Always Tailor Your Budgets
These budget plans should always be used as a guideline that your can alter to fit your own lifestyle. Modify budget plans as needed, stretch leftovers as much as possible, eat out as little as possible, and always keep an eye on coupons and local grocery sales. A family budget, especially one that needs to feed four people, should be improved upon as needed.
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