This post comes from partner blog The Simple Dollar . This is a question I had from a reader (we’ll get to the cheeseburger in a minute): "My question is about budgeting for food. I’ll be starting my first real job soon so I’m setting up a list of monthly expenses. I haven’t yet lived on my own, so I don’t have a good basis for estimating monthly food expenses. Could you shed some light on the matter?" My rule of thumb is this: For one month, save the receipts for every food item that you buy, whether it’s at the grocery store, eating out, or anywhere else. Then add 10 percent to that. That should be your food budget for a month. Why add 10 percent? I find that almost every budget works better with a bit of breathing room in it. Most months, you’re better off coming in under budget so that you can put the excess away for debt repayment or savings. Also, this allows you to easily handle small emergencies within your monthly budget. You already have the slack in place to handle a blown tire
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