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When does scrimping go too far?

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AnnieO1234
AnnieO1234 Posts: 1,722 Forumite
in Old style MoneySaving
Okay, I'm putting this here because I know you guys will understand the premise where other boards it would just be flamed. (I have now learned how to work the forum a bit better too since I was last on this particular board!)

Anyway, so as part of OS I'm a member of various groups that aim for £ per day per person on food. That's the poverty line. So what is your take on this following situation, do you think this is too far or reasonable?

2 adults, toddler and baby, 3 wet fed cats and a rodent. To include nappies, toiletries and everything else is looking to spend £100 per month.

Now I don't think it's do-able. At £1 per person per day that's £112 every 28 days without the animals or toiletries etc.

Thoughts welcome.
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  • midnightraven3
    midnightraven3 Posts: 2,720 Forumite
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    I think its probably too far
    is it doable? yes
    will it be varied and nutritionally balanced? unlikely
  • AnnieO1234
    AnnieO1234 Posts: 1,722 Forumite
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    I'm glad it's not just me at least. I really don't even see how it's do-able - at all. Thanks for your thoughts.
  • frosty
    frosty Posts: 1,169 Forumite
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    It depends how you shop,I only buy reduced food at tesco and can buy a weeks worth for £6.00 or less,we are a family of three adults.If you can bargain hunt then it's easy to do.Depends how much time you have and whether you have access to big supermarkets.
  • AnnieO1234
    AnnieO1234 Posts: 1,722 Forumite
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    Frosty - does that include animal food/bedding/litter though? As well as nappies and other toiletries. I get what you're saying, but then adults can more easily deal with deficiencies than two kids.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    Get rid of the animals for a start, that could save you £30 to £40 a month.
  • Owain_Moneysaver
    Owain_Moneysaver Posts: 11,357 Forumite
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    Obviously you start by feeding the rodent to the cats. :-)

    Swap to reusable nappies and stop buying toiletries apart from soap / shampoo / deodorant for special occasions.

    Grow your own vegetables, send the cats out to hunt spring baby rabbits (casserole with carrots and celery) and start going through the neighbour's bins after dusk.
    A kind word lasts a minute, a skelped erse is sair for a day.
  • rach_k
    rach_k Posts: 2,236 Forumite
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    You could use cloth nappies. It costs about £1 a week to wash them and you can get them very cheaply preloved or by buying the more basic types, but whether or not that would be a good saving would depend how much you spend on disposables.

    Do the cats have to be exclusively wet fed? Swap them to half dry food and you could probably save money.
  • YORKSHIRELASS
    YORKSHIRELASS Posts: 6,305 Forumite
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    Well yes you can eat very frugally. If you cut out meat that would save quite a lot, you could cut out all the extras that most of us eat, things like garlic bread with your pasta, a yoghurt for pudding, that sneaky packet of crisps. But how far do you go? You could drink water instead of juice - and do you really need tea and coffee? We could all cut down a lot.

    We spend £70 a week on all laundry, cleaning and food for essentially 4 adults (my youngest is 16). We eat quite well for that but I know that a work colleague spends the same for her and her husband and she thinks that she doesnt spend much.

    I think £100 a month for a family would be a real stretch but at the end of the day if that is all you have then I suppose you have to do what you can.
  • jadziad
    jadziad Posts: 120 Forumite
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    edited 11 March 2017 at 10:16PM
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    Let's think about it in terms of one of the most common calorie dense foods: potatoes. At Morrisons, a 12.5Kg sack of spuds costs £5. This contains (from a brief Google search) around 13625 calories. For 2000 calories per day, the cost for *just* the potatoes would be 73 pence per day, not including energy costs for cooking.

    So... it would be tough. You would need cheaper potatoes!

    Alternatively, if you only ate porridge oats, they cost 75p for a 1Kg bag which contains 3725 calories. If my maths checks out, then this would cost 40p per day for 2000 calories. So, cheaper than potatoes.
  • trailingspouse
    trailingspouse Posts: 4,035 Forumite
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    edited 11 March 2017 at 10:57PM
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    OH and did a 'live on £1 a day' thing for charity a while ago. We managed on £10 for 5 days. But we were hungry, we were bored, and we couldn't afford to buy fruit. And our £1 a day went entirely on food. So - yes it's doable, but if you don't have to do it, don't - it's not healthy. And if you don't have to live like this, it begins to look a bit like you're playing at being poor, which is iffy.
    No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...
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