Grocery shopping for months with 5 weeks.

jack92

Just curious about the way other people handle their grocery budgets when the month has 5 weeks rather than 4.

I used to put extra money aside for groceries in those months, but now we can't afford to do that - the monthly budget simply has to stretch to 5 weeks rather than 4 :eek:

What do you do?

Jack92

kiwichick

Yep,me too. I dont budget weekly for food, I do a set amount monthly as DH gets paid monthly. This is my first OS budget month so will be interesting to see how it goes. Its not looking fantastic so far

Bargain_Rzl

I work out what the budget should be annually (12 times monthly budget), then divide it by 52 so I have a weekly budget. In my case I worked it out the other way round because my food budget dates back to when I got paid weekly. So:

£20/week on food
=£1040/year
=£86.67 a month

Or in your case (the other way round) say:

£100/month on food
=£1200/year
=£23.08 a week.

What I do is I budget monthly (£87, as shown above) but spend weekly (£20). On months where there are only four weeks I carry over £7 in the food kitty to the next month, to subsidise the months where there are 5 weeks. Sometimes the kitty is slightly in the black, sometimes slightly in the red, but it all balances out over the course of the year. The only thing to be careful of is when you actually have 5 long months in the year (for example if your regular weekly payday is Friday and New Year's Day is a Friday, 31st December that year will also be a Friday so you'd have to divide your annual total by 53 instead of 52...

katglasgow

I stuggle a bit in my 5 week months as my £150 per month means I only have 5 x £30 to feed 2 adults 1 toddler and a cat (instead of 4 x £35 with a tenner spare for a takeaway!).
I have been thinking about various ways in which I could help and I am planing to save up my tesco vouchers to use during my 5 week months. I also get monety off vouchers from market research which I save up too and I check my till receipts very carefully for mis pricing (if Asda overprice you and you complain they give you a £2 gift voucher).
Of course the other thing I could do if put my spare tenner (aka takeaway) into a savings scheme and use that for the 5 week months too.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

I do my shopping 4 weekly so dont have that problem.

PP
xx

MATH

The five week months are a great opportunity to do the store cupboard/freezer challange or failing that to invite yourself round to family/friends you havn't seen in a while;)

Murtle

I go with Math on this one!!! Five week month = oh my goodness I didn't realise!! Hmm what interesting concoctions can be made from the bits that fall out the freezer!!! Coq au vin and pasta was a recent revelation, shame the coq part was chicken drumsticks!!! OH had fun trying to eat that one!!!

GreenFingers_2

My own budgeting spread sheets are structured strictly by Week – week numbers 1 to 52 and dated Week Ending the Saturday. I find this method very convenient especially for allocating the yearly expenses such as Car Insurance, House Insurance and so on over a full year. As I operate on a weekly cycle in my small male brain – lol… now, now ladies stop cackling – hee hee … I can see instantly how my budgeting is going… easy peasy…

jack92

Thanks all for the responses Think I'm going to have a change of plans for the grocery budget and do something similar to Bargain Rzl.

Jack92

Queenie

Jack92 - I'm in agreement with Bargain Rzl .

Most bills are paid by dd on a monthly basis: a 12 month year.
Dh used to be paid 4 weekly = 13 month year.
Community Charge and water rates = 10 month year

It was a nightmare!! The only way to restore sanity of any degree was to calculate the *annual* amounts (for income, this did not include potential overtime as it wasn't a fixed amount) then divide those figures by 12. Even though my C.Charge is paid over 10mths, the surplus 2 months are still sent via direct debit into the C.Charge savings account.

For groceries, I set myself a montly budget based on a 12 mth year.

By keeping to a menu plan, you can even cater for "longer" months simply freezing ahead. For example, if you make just one extra meal per week for freezing, at the end of a 4-week month, you would have four extra meals. By the end of 2x 4 week months = 8 meals and so on. By the time your 5-week month comes along, you should have plenty already tucked away in the freezer to safely not worry too much about where the next meal is coming from.

HTH

Frugal_Fox

I shop fortnightly. We have a budget of £240/month to feed two adults, two children - with healthy appetites! one large dog and 3 cats. This also has to include any household items too.

I tend to follow Bargain Rzl format - so multiply £240 by 12, then divide by 26 weeks = £110. I shop on a Friday - so we always have 'plenty' of food for the weekend, I also menu plan - so only buy what I know I need.

As for shopping fortnightly - its saved us at least £30 on each weekly shop. We get a weekly veg and fruit box - so always fresh. Typically have to pop to local store for more bread and milk - but like to know I'm supporting local stores - not just lining the pockets of big supermarkets.