How I Adjusted My Wants and Needs When My Food Spending Was Killing My Budget

(Lafayette, LA) - Dealing with inflation, in particular, with the price of groceries, has been no joke in the last couple of years. The cost of everything has gone up, and it just seems like prices will keep rising.

I don't know about you, but every time I turn around, I am astonished by how much prices keep going up. Only having to deal with one person and two fur babies in my home does make my life so much easier than families with kids, but we are looking to cut a little bit, or a lot, out of our food budget.

Get our free mobile app

I have to point out that I budget for everything. I budget for the common stuff like electricity, gas bill, water, insurance, etc. The one thing I don't budget for is food, wrongly thinking, well, I'll always keep that until control, it's just me. I was wrong.

It was time to cut back because who can pay for that stuff? When it went on my credit card, it was easy not to think about it, but then the charges and interest were eating up my budget!

When it's just you, paying for food, in many respects, can be just as expensive because you still have to buy the loaf of bread and milk.

We are all fortunate that there are tons of apps and websites now that can show us where and how we really spend our money. What shocked me was how much money I was spending on food, and, partly, I didn't want to know. There's the brutal truth.

When I finally had enough courage to use one of those apps to analyze my spending, I was extremely disappointed in myself because I was spending way too much on food. No wonder my whole budget was out of whack.

I would shop often based on what I "needed". Well, let's be honest: there is a big difference between what I wanted and what I really needed. Junk food is a "want" and not a "need".

You might recognize yourself in some of these things I identified about myself. When shopping for food, it can be very tempting to buy the items you want rather than the ones you really need. Another pitfall I fell into, and you may do this as well, is that I would buy what I thought I needed and put it on a credit card, which makes it really easy when you don't think about it. Ouch! I would always buy things that didn't help me stretch my food budget.

Another problem I noticed with my spending is getting stuck in the mindset that it's probably just easier for me to get something and take it home. That's, in part, true, because I am a HUGE fan of leftovers, so no food goes to waste on that end. The problem is that it's expensive.

Another issue with food spending for me is not setting a budget. When I finally sat down and looked at the research, I was able to determine what a reasonable amount of money per month to spend on my food budget is, and I was spending WAY too much! And, guess what, I was putting it on a credit card, which was just compounding the amount I was paying for food.

Wants Versus Needs

While looking at all the numbers, I had to have a serious conversation with myself about the difference between wants and needs. I used to do a pretty good job of identifying what I really needed versus what I wanted, but I had gotten into a very bad habit (and a costly one) of just not thinking it through and getting what I wanted.

When deciding what my budget should be, I wanted to know what financial experts think, so I turned to Dave Ramsey, a nationally known money expert, who shared information about the USDA's estimate of the average single person's budget. This is one of the key takeaways:

The USDA estimates $299–569 for a monthly food budget for one person, $617–981 for a couple, and $1,002–1,631 for a family of four.

So, I decided on $363 for each month. I started at the beginning of April, and it will go through April 30.

Another huge lesson I learned was to write down each food purchase. I keep a running tally of everything I purchase and consume, including when I buy a Coke here at work.

Writing down each purchase and trying to stay within my budget has been very sobering for me. By April 4, I was already wanting to run out to get a plate lunch every day, and after looking at my budget, I knew I couldn't do it. It forced me to really consider when to buy a plate lunch. And, yes, I'm still getting plate lunches, but not each day.

READ MORE: HOW LAFAYETTE SAVES MONEY AT THE GROCERY STORE

I am in the middle of the month, and surprisingly, I am doing well with the budgeting. I have only spent half of the money I budgeted, and I'm pretty excited that I have been able to do it. I don't have to worry about all that stuff being on my credit card, and I'm getting much better at cooking!!!

It's not necessarily fun to plan what I'm going to eat for the month, but I am so glad I started doing that. Not only does it save me more money, but it also saves me the headache of constantly wondering what the heck I was going to cook.

It's pretty amazing what one change in your budget can do. Now, if I could only figure out more ways to cut down on healthcare! Ouch! Now, whether it's food or some other area of your budget, feel free to share your tips!