Extreme Couponing for Normal People: Food Plan Budgets

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Food Plan Budgets - Where does your family fit in?

10:07 AM | Posted by 2busymom2six | | Edit Post

I was looking at the latest USDA Food Plans Cost of Food and was doing some figuring based on their numbers and my own family size to see how my EXTREME couponing food budget compares.

For my family size (which is quite large!), we have 2 adults and 5 children (still at home). The "Thrifty" Plan estimates that a family of my size would be $226.35 - $251.50 per week. While the "Moderate" Plan estimates $374.22 - $415.80 per week. Nearly DOUBLE!

I was afraid to even calculate the "Liberal" Plan! (But I did just for the heck of it!) The "Liberal" Plan for my family size was a whopping $446.49 - $496.10 per week! Holy cow!!! THANKFULLY, I am not any where near those numbers!!!(Not even pre-couponing days!)

When I am very disciplined about shopping for only sales and using my coupons, I am actually lower than the "Thrifty" Plan by $75 - $125 per week. Depending on what I am shopping for in any given week, that may fluctuate between the higher and the lower of the numbers. On average, with coupons and sales, I spend $150 - $200 per week for my family of seven (7), plus our pets. When I strayed away from couponing from time to time, that number would be around the "Moderate" Plan, but thankfully NOT as high as the "Liberal" Plan! I couldn't imagine having that much of our family budget "eaten" up! (Pun intended!)

This got me thinking.....where does your family fit into these plans? Are you on target? Would you like to trim more from that part of your budget and free that money up for other things? Couponing can and will provide that opportunity to your family, if done diligently and with a strategic plan! The good news is you can start TODAY! Check out my Couponing 101 Series to learn how to cut your family's food budget by 50% or more!