Question on food and gas expenses.

[amd25]

First, I'd like to thank everyone on here for all of your wonderful answers to the questions I have asked.

We're filing on the 23rd of June and moving out of our relatives house and into a rental. We are still working on our Schedule J. I asked the lawyer about food and gas expenses because until recently, living with family, they were helping us with food costs too. We are a family of four (two adults, two children) and he said that we could put down up to about $700 for food and now that we are both working, $400.00 for gas per month. I am not sure that we've ever really spent $700 a month on food because we have been on a strict budget for a very, very long time, however, we do have to buy additional food now for lunches for school and both my husband and I for work. Does this seem overboard for a family of four? I just don't want to get to the 341 and the trustee say that our banks statements don't reflect that or something.

One thing to mention is that the lawyer said to estimate 'future' costs because we aren't moving into the rental for another week or so.

Thanks for input!

[keepmine]

Food and energy costs are exploding. My wife and I spent $300 on food last month for just 2 people and I don't feel like we did any extravgant shopping. For a family of 4, that seems high but, when you factor in lunches for everyone and just general inflation, maybe not.
A lot will depend on what is the custom in your district. SAme thing with estimating future costs.

[amd25]

The food in our area seems to have gone up. I know it's killing us in gas, so gas costs, I can see being that much between the two of us. Food though, I cringe at the thought that in the future even I would spend that much on food! Thank you.

[danaf]

Yep - on the us trustee website under the means section, up to $752 per month for food for a family of 4 is allowable so $700 is fine. And operating costs up to $211 per month per car is allowed. So sounds like your attorney is on base. Good luck!

[amd25]

Thanks danaf, I appreciate your answer.

[AngelinaCat]

amd25: I was used to going to our favorite food store and spending about 50.00 for a couple of meals with leftovers for 2 people, and so should last 4 nights or a little longer. This did not really include non-food items such as toothpaste, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. And this was with careful shopping, etc.

Yesterday, the same excursion to the same store, for almost the same type of purchases cost $67.00.

[amd25]

Thanks for the reply. We try to budget what we can, but it's really hard when you're making lunches everyday to take with you and then eating at home - we rarely eat out.

[tay666]

The food in our area seems to have gone up. I know it's killing us in gas, so gas costs, I can see being that much between the two of us. Food though, I cringe at the thought that in the future even I would spend that much on food! Thank you.

While you may not spend that much for groceries.
You are still allowed to claim that much.
I can easily see a family spending that much if they aren't shopping around, and are buying name-brand products.
They aren't requireing you to cut your budget to the bare minimum to survive, just allowing the normal expense to eat reasonably.
As for costs going up, tell me about it.
6 months ago, I could do all our grocery shopping and spend about $250 a month for the three of us.
Now, doing that same shopping is costing about $400 a month.

[Cali]

I am a family of 4 in SoCal, and our food expense was 900$. Our gas expense was about the same as yours.

[laurannm]

We are a family of 5 in MA and our food expenses over the past few months are close to $1200/month, and we buy store brands/use coupons wherever possible.

Our gas is about $50 more, but I also travel 100 miles round-trip to work every day

[Frogge]

I have calculated about $500 in gas for 2 vehicles (50 mi RT to work for both of us) and about $1200/mo food expense - family of 5 in KS.

We eat leftovers 2-3 times a week, but also eat many convenience foods (microwave meals and on-the-go stuff) to save time running around to activities. I try to make 2 big trips to the grocery store per month, and buy staples/replenish in between.

[amd25]

Thanks to everyone, and oh my gosh, that is a lot in food. It all adds up though. I went yesterday and didn't even get that much, it was almost $120.00 and it wasn't all store brands either - Walmart too.

[Cali]

I am sure my groceries will be hitting 1000 or more soon.