Advice and Motivation needed for a newbie

Have you checked childcare on HMRC - your 3 year old would be eligible for 30hrs funding from September and there is the new tax free childcare. I know childcare is such an expense!

Have a look around what you can sell - we just did two car boots (cost of £10 each time for the pitch) and we made £235 - just selling baby stuff, clothes, other stuff from loft - BE RUTHLESS!

Take a look at ways to earn money such as Swagbucks or product testing - my husband got paid to Shave!

Meal plan is essential - and switch brands/supermarket, I've saved so much, for example switching mthly food shop from Tesco £150 to Aldi £85.

Hi Emma, that sounds really hard. Is your husband a NQT? Sounds like it from his salary. Will he be getting an increment in September? Might make things a bit easier. Is it worth you working? If you look at take home pay less childcare costs, travel costs and then work out what you might get in tax credits you might be better off not working or doing a Saturday job when your husband can have the children.

Good luck.

I think it's worth exploring your options with the sofa. Especially with two very little ones, you could find someone jumps up and down on it, someone else spills something, and your expensive sofa could be a bit knackered before you've even finished paying for it which would be sad! There are budget options, I got my sofa from Tesco for less than £200, it's very comfy and looks fine.

I'll tackle the food thing for a start - you definitely don't need to worry about the littlies going hungry - nor indeed you or your OH either! Some ideas:

Shop in Aldi/Lidl
Try to build your meals around what is available in the Super 6/Pick of the week / "front of store" offers
Eat meat every other day at most
Cook a roast on a sunday that enables you to stretch it for a further few meals - so a whole roast chicken as someone else suggested - roast on Sunday, more meat taken off for a salad on a Tuesday and then the picking of the carcass for a risotto on wednesday along with stock made from the carcass. Whatever you cook always think about what you can "roll over" into another meal - so a big pot of bolognese sauce might do spag bol one night, and a single portion of the remains stretches out with a tin of kidney beans and some spice to make a chilli for you & OH the next.
Always shop to a list, and never shop when you're hungry.
As someone else has said - don't take the kids!

Give some thought to meals you can cook that suit everyone - life is too short to be cooking multiple meals for people plus you'll end up with fussy kids! The least fussy kids I know are those who have simply had a plate of food popped in front of them the same as everyone else is eating and they've been left to eat it, and that also has huge advantages for the family budget as you don't waste as much.

You can certainly knock the odd £80 a month off that shopping bill, and I'd suggest a bit more too. Take a look at the Old Style board for some great ideas to make your budget stretch, and also think about how family favourites can be made to a lower cost too.

A good starting point is to go through your fridge, freezer and cupboards and make a note of everything you already have - then the next week's meal plan is made using as much from stores as you can - just buy fresh stuff.
You can also go back over the receipts from your last few months shopping and identify all the branded stuff you buy - then look as and when each item needs replacing to buying a non branded and cheaper alternative. There will be some stuff that will be a no - but you'll definitely find other things that work for you. Similarly with fruit and veg - look for the "non standard" stuff that works out cheaper - it tastes the same!