2006 Grocery spending up 13%

I just imported the rest of my 2006 credit card data into Microsoft Money, and found that grocery spending is once again our second largest annual expense after our mortgage payment. I've already shared my grocery shopping strategy that I've used to cut our grocery spending, so let's look at my actual grocery spending numbers for 2003 through 2006:




I actually started to actively reduce my grocery spending in August of 2003, and it still cost us more than $7000 for groceries and personal care items for a family of four that year! After I refined my shopping strategy through increased use of coupons, sale prices, and stockpiling, I was able to reduce our 2004 grocery spending by about $2000 followed by an additional reduction of about $300 in 2005.

Our 2006 grocery spending bucked the downward trend of the previous two years as it increased by roughly 13% (~$650). While I have attributed some of this increase to grocery price inflation, we also have increased grocery spending by choosing to purchase more organic and "natural" grains, produce, meats, and dairy items. I believe that such a dramatic increase in spending will not continue to be the trend moving forward though, as I don't expect to make any major changes in spending habits in 2007.