Grocery budget calculator

The budget that sticks is one built from what you actually spend, not a number picked out of the air. Enter your last few months, get a monthly and weekly figure, then check how this month is going.

1. What you spent on groceries

Add up your grocery receipts or card statement for each of the last few months. One month works; three is better.

Last month ($)2 months ago ($)3 months ago ($)

2. How this month is going

Optional. What you've spent so far this month, and today's date.

Spent so far ($)Day of the month

How to set a grocery budget that you'll keep

Start from your real spending

Most people underestimate what they spend on groceries. Before choosing a number, add up two or three months from your receipts or your card statement. That average is your starting budget. Cutting it by a third on day one is how budgets get abandoned by the second week.

Count the same things every month

Decide whether household items (paper towels, cleaning supplies, toiletries) bought at the grocery store are in or out, and stick to it. Mixing it up month to month makes the numbers impossible to compare.

Think in weeks, track by the month

Groceries come in weekly lumps, so a weekly figure (the monthly budget times 12, divided by 52) is easier to shop to. Check the month as a whole halfway through: if you're well past half the budget by the 15th, the second half needs to be lighter.

Bringing the number down

Once you have a budget that matches reality, lower it by finding real savings, not by willpower:

Store brands for the staples where you can't tell the difference.
Unit prices instead of package prices. The unit price calculator shows when the bigger pack is really cheaper.
A price book of what you pay for your regular items, so you know a good price when you see one. Here's how to keep one.
Checking receipts for items rung up twice. See what to do if you were charged twice.

Whatever savings you find each month, take them off next month's budget. That way the number goes down because your shopping got cheaper, not because you went without.

What do other households spend?

The US Department of Agriculture publishes what a nutritious diet costs each month at four budget levels, by age and household size, in its Food Plans: Cost of Food reports. It's a useful sense check, but your own receipts are the better starting point: they reflect your stores, your area and what your household actually eats.

Let your receipts build the budget

Receipt Treedoes this from the grocery receipts you scan. It suggests a monthly budget from your last few months, less the savings its Receipt Check found, then shows what's left this month, whether you're on pace, and which stores the money went to. There are no categories to set up.