Question for those who live alone

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Long story short, I'm planning on buying a house and I'm trying to make an estimated budget of how much living out of home/paying a home loan is gonna cost me. I've made some decent estimations of pretty much most things (utilities, council rates, car expenses etc), but I'm pretty much stuck on one thing; food and groceries. I have no idea how much a weekly bill at the supermarket will be for a person living alone.

So the question I pose: How much do you spend on groceries/food/non-food items each week?

Food costs me about $350 a month if I'm allowing for a good diet.

As for the non-food items, I don't know, my roommate likes to get them at the 99 cents store so I imagine not much. I usually throw in $100 for additional expenses to these types of budgets, which might be something like having to buy new shoes, a minor car repair, band-aids, etc.

If you will be buying a house, I imagine you have to factor in lawn and garden care. I had to buy some gardening supplies today. Every few years, gutters need to be cleaned, and chimneys and air ducts should be cleaned every once in a while. I imagine the house will also have to be painted every 10 or 15 years depending.

Wow, it must be great to be THAT organised. lol

I'd say £4 a day is reasonable if on a budget and don't mind eating unhealthy, maybe a bit more for bread and the like, so about £30 at least, I'd say £10 a day is reasonable for a normal person so £70 per week. Really if you go via cheap frozen food stores and shop smart, stock up on basics like tins and things like flour for cooking stuff, then you'd be closer to the £30 per week mark.

Non-food items is a bit harder for me to comment, most of my household cleaning things are natural so things like 9p vinegar, 59p baking soda, I use 60p conditioner and no shampoos or anything - it does help to go to home bargain stores, it's difficult to say if you don't know what you'll be getting, I'd maybe say to add another £10 per week to start off with, see how it goes from there.

Maybe start off budging a little more, particularly to get stocked-up, maybe take some time to make a few shop runs before moving out or at least look at prices (such as on supermarkets web sites that often allow you to shop online, that'll give you an idea of costs).

It really depends on what and how much you eat... it also depends on how broke you are, right now I'm really broke so I'm spending in the neighborhood of $10 or less a week on food, if I wasn't broke it would probably be in the $50-60 a week bracket.

The majority of my food is bought there. Noodles, Yazoo Strawberry milkshake, and loads of foreign candy.

you could always try it for a week or two to see what happens

I live alone and I spend around £10 - £15 pounds per week, but I also make sure I visit people who will feed me at least 3 to 4 times a week. It will depend on wether you want value products or premium products i.e supermarket own brands or brand names. You can also buy ready meals, which can cost £4 pounds for 5 meals, if your working then it will cost more if you buy out and less if you prepare your own food, don't forget you will need cleaning products and washing powder, but you can safely budget for £25 pounds or 50 dollars per week.

i have to spend roughly $150 a month in food and other sundry items. there is no fat in my budget. i get lots of scratch-and-dent stuff at the local "shop n' hop" surplus store. living in a tin can has its advantages in terms of low taxes [$450 per annum] and relatively low heating and cooling costs. only driving once per week into town for sundries saves money on insurance and gas. driving a 14-year-old vehicle saves also, since it is paid for and old enough not to need full comprehensive insurance coverage.

This was my entire weekly expenditure averaged for the whole of 2010:

Food £23.84

Bills £55.68 (council tax 14.81; gas 10.01; electricity 7.70; house insurance 5.97; land line 5.96; dentist 5.55; water rates 2.95; TV license 2.73)

Travel £4.50

Pocket money £29.53

Medical £6.66

DIY hardware £5.75

DVDs £4.62

Computer & music hardware £5.44

Stationery £0.53

Total = ~ £136.67 per week.

I've paid off the mortgage so there's no accommodation costs, apart from the occasional home repair, which can be sporadic and costly, and therefore difficult to factor into a budget).

Also add a further 4 or 5% to allow for 2011 inflation.

says it all really

That's mostly nicotine gum...or did you mean the numerology?

I am terrible with money, my sister's fiancee takes care of it for me.

We have a system. In the beginning of every month we all go out to eat, then go to BJ's, a Sam's Club type of wholesale store, bringing about $180 each. $180 at a wholesale store will buy quite a lot of food and non-food items, enough so that each month one can add to a growing larder of essentials.

I don't know if this helps, but our system works pretty well. It prevents us from wasting money by making impromptu purchases at more expensive stores throughout the month, as well as letting us easily keep track of monthly expenditures (one receipt, as opposed to many).

The "eat before shopping" is also a very good system. Definitely try to incorporate that into your budget. You'd be surprised how much money you will save by shopping with a full belly.

Yes, it was the numerology that amused me.

I try to eat healthy and like a variety of food so for me it's worth spending less on other areas and spending $150 a month on food. I could get by on far less, but it would be not good for me, and processed food (I prrefer cooking as much from scratch as possible).

I average about $350 a month in groceries. I've lived in my house for 7 years and utilities are the biggest expense after mortgage. Especially depending on what kind of heat you have - I have oil and the past winter was a pain in the checkbook. Then there are always maintenance costs coming up unexpectedly, more so in the first few years after you buy. Just this week I decided I needed some trees pruned - will run me over $500!

around $150 a month if a take some care to choose cheaper alternatives and cook most of my own meals, but dont really compromise on the variety and quality. Twice that if I dont pay attention and forgo any planning.