QE3 Away!: (EDIT: Now on the special unlimited nights and weekend spending plan)…

[an]

livinincali, I have to admit that my crystal ball is much more murkier than yours. So, I’m ready to change my investment if I see we’re clearly heading on one direction or another. My response to flu was that, if we see higher inflation, I can reach my goal of early retirement faster and easier. If we see long period of deflation, then I’m not as optimistic of an early retirement.

I don’t intend to fight the fed and the government. They’re doing everything they can to inflate the next bubble. I will just ride the wave.

[UCGal]

[quote=CA renter]
Wow, we must go through more food than you both do and probably spend more per item, too. We buy organic milk, eggs and fruit. We don’t spend money on much else, but food is the one area where we buy good quality and we really enjoy cooking and entertaining. Just checked on Vons.com, and the organic milk is over $6/gal., though we can get comparable milk for around $5/gal. Eggs run between $4-$5/dz. for the organic/hormone-free eggs. Needless to say, organic produce isn’t cheap, either.

AN, do your kids eat “adult-sized” meals, yet? That might be one factor that’s keeping your bills down. Of course, some kids eat very little. Ours…not so much.

We tried the Costco route but found that we couldn’t get out of there for less than ~$300, and still had to shop a week or so after that. Maybe we’ll have to try it again if you’re so successful doing it that way. Still, we have friends who shop at Costco, and their bills are as high as ours, or higher.

Good job on keeping your bills low![/quote]

We’ve been closely tracking our budget lately.
All in for food, toiletries, household, booze, eating out etc. we spend about $900/month for a family of 4.
That’s based on looking at purchases at Costco, Sprouts, Trader Joes, Vons, and misc. farmers markets.
I do not break it down by toiletries, vs food, vs booze. (that would involve breaking down each receipt – vs just categorizing a specific vendor in quicken.)

We don’t eat out as much as other folks… I eat at the work cafeteria a few days a week, and other days brown bag it. We go out to dinner or get take out on average once a month.

We mostly cook from scratch – use a lot of organic ingredients (organic eggs from costco are some of the cheapest organic eggs around.) We buy staples in bulk at costco or sprouts. And it includes booze – wine, beer, liquor.

Organic definitely kicks the price up… but I feel its worth it, sometimes.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

We mostly buy in the supermarket, but hit Costco for certain items that make sense in bulk … usually in matching pairs.

For example:

Wine & Cheese

Eggs & Bacon

Fiber Bars & toilet paper

[UCGal]

[quote=FormerSanDiegan]We mostly buy in the supermarket, but hit Costco for certain items that make sense in bulk … usually in matching pairs.

For example:

Wine & Cheese

Eggs & Bacon

Fiber Bars & toilet paper[/quote]
LOL. That made me chuckle.

[Coronita]

You guys are so behind in times (pun intended).

Why do you use toilet paper anymore??Just get washlet with a dryer….

I think costco has a cheaper made-in-china non-Toto versus too for like $300….

Since I don’t have a colon anymore, I get tired of wiping my ass with sandpaper all the time ….:(

No more dealing with toilet paper anymore (well, except for the guest bathroom)

[an]

[quote=flu]You guys are so behind in times (pun intended).

Why do you use toilet paper anymore??Just get washlet with a dryer….

I think costco has a cheaper made-in-china non-Toto versus too for like $300….

Since I don’t have a colon anymore, I get tired of wiping my ass with sandpaper all the time ….:(

No more dealing with toilet paper anymore (well, except for the guest bathroom)[/quote]
That can’t possible clean everything without any hand intervention.

[UCGal]

[quote=flu]You guys are so behind in times (pun intended).

Why do you use toilet paper anymore??Just get washlet with a dryer….

I think costco has a cheaper made-in-china non-Toto versus too for like $300….

Since I don’t have a colon anymore, I get tired of wiping my ass with sandpaper all the time ….:(

No more dealing with toilet paper anymore (well, except for the guest bathroom)[/quote]
I love the first line from the description, on Amazon:
To help you create the ambiance of a spa in your own private retreat

Bwa ha ha ha ha.

But I’m sincerely glad you found something that’s nice. I might consider one next time I have to do colonoscopy prep.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=UCGal]I might consider one next time I have to do colonoscopy prep.[/quote]

UCGal: That was probably a bit more information than we really needed, thanks very much.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=UCGal]
We’ve been closely tracking our budget lately.
All in for food, toiletries, household, booze, eating out etc. we spend about $900/month for a family of 4.

Organic definitely kicks the price up… but I feel its worth it, sometimes.[/quote]

UCGal: That monthly number is also right about where we are, too (family of 4).

It’s creeping up slightly now that both kids are in/hitting the teenage years, and it doesn’t help that one of them is a football player who tries to eat anything that doesn’t eat him first.

Costco is roughly 1/2 of the bill and we only go to Costco once a month. We have pretty much nailed down a monthly list that only varies slightly.

I read the circulars once a week and use coupons religiously and try to buy items on sale as often as possible, like spaghetti sauce and pasta and meats and then store/freeze them.

Like scaredy says: Load ’em up with the cheap stuff.

Bernanke can go on and on about low inflation, but he clearly hasn’t been to a grocery store recently. Inflation is definitely there, especially in the staple items, like milk, eggs, etc.

[UCGal]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook][quote=UCGal]I might consider one next time I have to do colonoscopy prep.[/quote]

UCGal: That was probably a bit more information than we really needed, thanks very much.[/quote]
Hey- Flu started it!

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=UCGal][quote=Allan from Fallbrook][quote=UCGal]I might consider one next time I have to do colonoscopy prep.[/quote]

UCGal: That was probably a bit more information than we really needed, thanks very much.[/quote]
Hey- Flu started it![/quote]

UCGal: You know you’re in trouble when you start using FLU as cover.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=UCGal][quote=Allan from Fallbrook][quote=UCGal]I might consider one next time I have to do colonoscopy prep.[/quote]

UCGal: That was probably a bit more information than we really needed, thanks very much.[/quote]
Hey- Flu started it![/quote]

UCGal: You know you’re in trouble when you start using FLU as cover.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Dupe.

[CA renter]

[quote=AN]I think the type of food you eat/cook makes a huge difference. Here are some examples:
Pho:
– Whole chicken (~1-5, depending on if you buy on sale or not)
– Veggies ($2-5)
– Noodle ($2)
So, for $12, you can easily feed 4-8 people, depending on how much chicken you eat.

Spring roll:
– 1 lb of sliced pork ($3-4)
– 1 lb of shrimp (~$4)
– Veggies ($2-5)
– Noodle ($2)
For $11-15, you can easily feed 6-8 people.

Or you can go for less fancy meals and get make stir fry beef + soup & rice:
– 1 lb of beef $3-5
– Veggies for soup ($2)
– Rice ($1)
For $6-8, you can easily feed 8-10 people, depending on your beef to rice consumption ratio.

This is might be why our food bill is much lower than yours. Although CAR’s is right that we don’t have 2 full grown kids. Our oldest is already eating almost as much as my wife. But this won’t affect the cost much, because as you can see above, the type of food we cook can feed a lot of people for very little money. It’s better and cheaper than your $1 burger + fries at McDonald. CAR, like I said, my aunt does an even better job than us, since she cooks 95% Asian food while we’re closer to 50%. She also only buy stuff that are on sale and freeze them for future usage. She grows most of the veggies they eat. She feeds two teenage boys and two teenage girls. So, her food consumption is A LOT higher than ours. But, just based on the food she cooks, I don’t think her food bill is nearly as high as ours, even with more people eating.[/quote]

Okay, our family eats more meat, and I think the prices per unit are pretty low. Is that Costco, or? Also, the price for veggies is close, but also seems pretty low. We eat more veggies, and probably more fruit (we eat way too much fruit!). We’ll be working more on our garden this fall, too, so hope to be more like your aunt soon! We don’t feed our kids cheap calories, which is probably why our food bills are so high. What about drinks, spices, etc. to go into the food?

No matter what, if you’re really keeping your total bill at $600 or less, you are doing exceedingly well. I’m going to use some of your ideas here to see if we can bring ours down as well.

Thanks for everyone’s input on this! 🙂

[an]

[quote=CA renter]Okay, our family eats more meat, and I think the prices per unit are pretty low. Is that Costco, or? Also, the price for veggies is close, but also seems pretty low. We eat more veggies, and probably more fruit (we eat way too much fruit!). We’ll be working more on our garden this fall, too, so hope to be more like your aunt soon! We don’t feed our kids cheap calories, which is probably why our food bills are so high. What about drinks, spices, etc. to go into the food?

No matter what, if you’re really keeping your total bill at $600 or less, you are doing exceedingly well. I’m going to use some of your ideas here to see if we can bring ours down as well.

Thanks for everyone’s input on this! :)[/quote]
I figure you guys would eat more meat. Asian cooking tend to cook the meat in a way (through seasonings) where you don’t really want to eat too much meat at one time. Not like you can with a slab of steak. So, the same amount of meat can feed a lot more people than if you just lightly season and bake a slab of steak. We also love our rice. So, when you fill your stomach with rice, you tend to also eat less meat as well.

In term of price, I find the Asian supermarkets (most of the time), have meat and veggies that are much cheaper. Have you tried out Zion market in Clairemont? Here’s their weekly special: http://zionmarket.com/sale/store1.htm. As you can see, 1lb of shrimp is $4.99, or whole chicken for $1.59, or pork spare ribs for $2.99/lb, or napa cabbage 3lb for $0.99, or 3 head of lettuce is $0.99, or 2lb of plum for $0.99. You can find plenty of meat at other Asian supermarket either in Mira Mesa or 99 Ranch that have several different cut of meet for less that $5/lb. Our cheap calories is rice. We love rice and I would feel like I’m missing something if I don’t have rice for a few days. When we’re lazy, we can take one fillet of fish, season it well and bake it. That one fillet can feed both of us. This is also my favorite: http://www.theravenouscouple.com/2009/08/ca-kho-to-vietnamese-braised-fish-in-clay-pot.html. It’s super cheap to make and it’s salty & sweet enough that you would eat a lot of rice with it, so you don’t actually eat a lot of fish.

Regarding drinks, my house is water only. We don’t buy soda, or beer or wine. Spices are cheap and they last a long time, so I didn’t really count them in. Fish sauce, soy sauce, and oyster sauce are some of our main seasoning. They’re $2-3/bottle and the last for months.

[Author]

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