maize Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Around 20% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Less than 4%. My family are all "small eaters" and local california produce are cheap. So even though my area is high COL, groceries are very affordable even for local grown organic produce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Roughly speaking, about 15%. There are three people in our household. It is what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 We spend 22%. That includes all groceries, toiletries, dog stuff, and eating out. Our mortgage, utilities, insurance, and all things home related are pretty much exactly the same percentage. Our health insurance is quite a bit less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I agree, however, if you are trying to get your budget to a zero based budget as YNAB and DR suggest, it is helpful to know what percentage you spend. If DR recommends 15% and you only spend 10%, you can see that you have 5% left of your budget to put elsewhere. The reverse is also true. Dawn What good is it to know the percentage?? If I say I spend 3% that doesn't tell you if I'm a great couponer or if I make a million dollars a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Once Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I have six at the table.....four 'adults' and two kids. I spend about 12% of net income on groceries. ...and I agree with other posters.....percent doesn't always reflect the info you are looking for. I also agree that my goal isn't always to spend as little as possible on food.....we need it to be good enough quality to nourish us and that is easier in some locations and times of the year thathers. I hope you can find some balance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CupOCoffee Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 About 17% here, and that includes all household goods, personal care products, and food/litter for 2 cats. It does not include eating out, because we don't. MAYBE pizza once a month, but that's it. ~coffee~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoxcell Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Yikes, I think we spend about 30% of our net income on groceries and it gets worse all of the time. Our Mortgage is lower than our grocery bill. We are in the low income range though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted January 2, 2014 Author Share Posted January 2, 2014 I agree, however, if you are trying to get your budget to a zero based budget as YNAB and DR suggest, it is helpful to know what percentage you spend. If DR recommends 15% and you only spend 10%, you can see that you have 5% left of your budget to put elsewhere. The reverse is also true. Dawn Yes, exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHASRADA Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 We spend more on food than rent too. I wish that made me feel better, except I only have 3 kids, not 10 :). Of course, we also live in a small 3-bedroom townhouse, so your rent might be a bit higher. So many variables... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 About 15% (just a touch less) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 What good is it to know the percentage?? If I say I spend 3% that doesn't tell you if I'm a great couponer or if I make a million dollars a year. that's why I referred to how many day's take home pay. % has too many variables for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 that's why I referred to how many day's take home pay. % has too many variables for me. Even that has too many variables for me. My dh gets paid by the hour with a specific starting rate regardless of how long the job takes. But some days he could make a couple thousand, another day he could make a few hundred and then some days there's nothing. There is such thing as regular work or working hours in his line of work. We pay ourselves wages off of what he earns so percentage is more regular for me to use, but then you are right in that it really doesn't tell anyone anything because no one knows what our net personal income is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMV Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I tend to agree that the percentage doesn't necessarily reflect how frugal/savy one is as this is directly dependent on total income and strongly influenced by family size. I think category percentages can be helpful to look at in a more global or community sense to give policy makers a better sense of the situation or to allow service organizations to better target interventions and projects. For us, Food/Household Supplies/Gardening Costs are lumped and budgeted at ~7.5% of projected post-tax income for 2014. For 2013 this category ended up a bit under our budget and likely just under 7% of our post-tax income (DH hasn't exactly done our taxes yet but he is very good at estimating accurately). We actually budget in real numbers for categories based on what we feel are reasonable/likely expenses (as opposed to assigning a percentage to each category and then calculating an amount from there). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 About 25% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I tend to agree that the percentage doesn't necessarily reflect how frugal/savy one is as this is directly dependent on total income and strongly influenced by family size. I think category percentages can be helpful to look at in a more global or community sense to give policy makers a better sense of the situation or to allow service organizations to better target interventions and projects. For us, Food/Household Supplies/Gardening Costs are lumped and budgeted at ~7.5% of projected post-tax income for 2014. For 2013 this category ended up a bit under our budget and likely just under 7% of our post-tax income (DH hasn't exactly done our taxes yet but he is very good at estimating accurately). We actually budget in real numbers for categories based on what we feel are reasonable/likely expenses (as opposed to assigning a percentage to each category and then calculating an amount from there). We don't budget on percentages either........... I had to do a quick calculation to figure it out............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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