car/transportation
food
travel
utilities
clothing
entertainment
And what's been your biggest savings triumph in that area?
me: Food -- over a 35-year period, my family has saved perhaps $79,625 on groceries alone. I'm guessing at this, but I think a typical, similar 4-adult thrifty family spends about $450/month on food. My family currently averages about $275 for 4 weeks. That's a savings of $250/month or $2275/year. I'm guessing that we had similar savings over the years, as our grocery spending has always been very low. Over 35 years, that's $79,625. This is just my estimate on others' spending. According to USDA's chart, my family should be spending $887.20 per 4-week month, in the Thrifty Food Plan.
Is there an area of spending in which you avoid scrimping more than others?
me: For my family, I would have to say housing. We're willing to do without a lot of discretionary spending, so long as we can live in our house on a large suburban lot. We would rather not travel, keep the house on the cool side in fall and winter, not eat out or go to movies, have 1 car instead of 2, just so we can live in our current house. It's not huge, but it's big enough that we've all been able to have our own space (4 introverts, 1 extrovert when all 5 were living here). I know that others may feel much differently, and choose to live in a small house so they can afford more experiences, or spend less time preparing meals, or not keep a garden, or shop for specific clothing or cars.
Have your spending and budgeting priorities changed over the years?
me: We spend more on food at the grocery store now, not only because of inflation over the years, but we buy more "luxury" foods (like nuts or dried fruit other than raisins, or pepperoni for pizza) than we did when our kids were younger. We actually spend less on restaurant meals and entertainment now than we did when our kids were growing up. We wanted to provide some of the fun activities for our kids as other kids had, and that included a Happy Meal or two, trips to Coldstone Creamery, current "kid" movie at the theater, one time at Chuckie Cheese for each kid. Now, we really don't care about eating out or going to the movie theater, and that's not just due to Covid. We now enjoy picnics in a park or at the beach, not because they're frugal, but because we enjoy the scenery of natural spots.
With the current rate of inflation, will you make sacrifices in some areas so you can afford more in others?
me: The sacrifices that we'll make will be in the "extra categories" like travel, entertainment, and new clothing, so that we can enjoy more of the basic comforts, such as heating and good food. We'll still be adding to our general savings account and retirement accounts,
How about you? What are your thoughts on both your past and future budget priorities?
