# Is it so uncommon to have a strict grocery budget?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-so-uncommon-to-have-a-strict-grocery-budget/780463>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 22, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-so-uncommon-to-have-a-strict-grocery-budget/780463 "2017-02-22T13:21:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 9

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-so-uncommon-to-have-a-strict-grocery-budget/780463/161 "2017-03-05T06:11:01Z")

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> [@octopus](#):
>
> But if you want to save and invest for retirement, college, a new boat, or other large purchases careful budgeting can help optimize that.

I think one of the factors in this thread is that, while quite a few of us have responded that we have some sort of budget, the things we budget more carefully are always the biggest items. For most of us, groceries is not one of the big items, so it doesn’t get budgeted specifically. For the OP it’s really big, so it makes sense to budget for it specifically.

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**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-so-uncommon-to-have-a-strict-grocery-budget/780463/162 "2017-03-05T06:33:57Z")

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True. I think for some higher income people (meaning, higher than ours), or even non-parents of modest means, just buying groceries of any kind instead of restaurant meals automatically curbs their spending to some degree.

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