My Budget

We are a family of 4. Two adults, one day-time potty trained toddler, & an infant. This is my budget.
$10/week for diapers
$17.50/week for formula
$75/week for all food (excluding eating out), toiletries/HBA, paper products, cleaning products, batteries, OTC meds, etc.

$10 a week in diapers is from when both were in diapers. I probably have 6-7 months worth of pull-ups here so I should probably just adjust the amount we're putting towards it. Huggies are my preferred brand followed by Pampers but if there is a good enough sale I'll use just about anything. Afterall, he's only going to poop in it! :)

Just because we have the budget for it doesn't mean I'm spending it. One example is that I don't actually buy diapers every week, I wait until there is a decent sale on my preferred brands and buy some then. Formula is another example of this. I have done SO well with the formula budget that I still have 20 cans in the top of my pantry and haven't bought any formula since the end of December. I'm setting that money aside every week for when I do need to buy a little more.

That last category doesn't include eating out because we have a bad habit we are trying to break.

How I Calculate My Savings

I am calculating my savings pretty much based on what receipts say I saved. This would include the savings on a sales price versus the regular price in most cases. My opinion is that if I needed an item immediately, that is the price I'd pay so I am still saving it. By stocking up on certain items I am able to wait until another sale comes around and I just buy more at a cheaper price. The amount I pay on a gift card is savings. The amount I get in a RR, Catalina, ECB, GC, etc is not counted as a savings until I spend it. Many people like to talk about the "net cost" of an item AFTER RR or ECBs. An Example:

Buy 2 deodorants for $5 get $2 in RR back. I will only count the $2 as savings when I spend it on a future purchase since that's when it will actually reduce my OOP costs.

Updated Feb 2, 2009