How many in your household and what is your grocery budget?

sarriep

Thanks I'll try that. There's one near where I work.

eckythump

sarriep wrote: »

I was thinking of putting £400 on my DMP application with CCCS. I'd then aim to spend less - does this seem reasonable? We need a big rethink about how we spend money. I have started by taking my reusable waitrose bags to shop at Aldi!

how much do you spend presently?
if you cut back to much you may become disheartened if you don't meet budget.
better to leave yourself leeway.
you can always phone them up and change it if you find it easy to do.
If your OH likes to cook save money by bulk buying non brand essentials.
I always buy rice,oil and dried goods from the ethnic section of our local supermarket.
the prices and quality are very good .
tesco have 10l of oil for £7.99 at the moment.

Bambywamby

Normally I spend £50 per week on 2 adults & 1 teenager however, this month I am aiming for £140 for the whole month (£35 per week). It's early days but so far so good. x

Good luck x x

sarriep

It's shameful I know but I really have no idea what we spend. I tried adding up all of my debit card transactions for one month to see but I know we've used bits of cash too. We always used to rely on CC to top up our income but that's a no no now. They're all cut up! The debit card payments to all supermarkets came to about £420 but there would have been more too.
Things are really going to change! I've been using the online proce checker to find the best prices and have downgraded some brand names to supermarket own brand stuff although I'm keeping my Warburtons!

Keeping_Positive

CCCS and CAB might have recommendations for dmp limits. If not there is a DMP support thread on here that the posters may know more about agreed limits.

MiniLaura

What about trying to do a meal plan for a typical week and then adding up the ingredients you would use to get a rough idea of costs? Meal planning is probably the best way forward to reducing spends. Maybe try and think what meals you would eat in a typical week and cost them then plan shopping list around them? Aim to do a big shop maybe once a month and then only stock up on basics/fresh stuff?

Ive found using a cashback credit card for all my food, including the odd milk carton or loaf of bread gives me a really good idea of whats being spent in a month, and then paying off from my budget each month in full - im getting paid to do the food shopping! ( i know on dmp prob not possible but set aside x amount of cash or money on a debit card?)

Will be loads more good ideas and recipies on old style - there are threads on pack lunches for £1 per person per day i think!

Cornball

1 person, 2 pets.

It use to be:

• £30/week Grocery
• £30 breakfast and lunch at work

I realised I was eating more than half my meals at work and chucking loads of food at home. I have started making sandwiches for work but allowing myself a compromise of buying a veggie sausage roll and a piece of fruit for brekkie and a can of cold soda, some soup and some crudite (only 37p!) to add to my sandwiches for lunch.

My budget now is:

• £20/week grocery (rarely hitting that though *thumbs up*)
• £15 breakfast and lunch snacks (I hit this hard! )

I now I can do better. We should hopefully be getting a fridge at work again soon so I will be able to bring in a bit more.

sarriep

Meal planning sounds good. We've sorted out our freezer today adn are planning to eat through our existing food stocks. There's some really reduced frozen salmon in there from December but I'm sure it will be fine! We are going to try the big monthly shop and shop o the way to/ from work instead of making extra trips.
I am determined!

Thanks for all the advice

jo1972

Hiya,

Have you tried looking on the National Debtline's website, they have various factsheets and information to help you sort your budget out....here's what they say about housekeeping:


l

Housekeeping.This should include food, toiletries, cleaning

materials, newspapers and so on and a small amount for

entertainment and other spending.A rough guide would be

as follows.

Weekly housekeeping budget

Single person £35 to £45
Couple £60 to £75
Each child £20 to £35
Non-dependant £20 to £35

Monthly housekeeping budget

Single person £152 to £195
Couple £260 to £325
Each child £87 to £152
Non-dependant £87 to £152

You may find your total housekeeping bill is less
than these figures if you have a larger family and
bulk-buy and so on.Your non-dependant may cost
more depending on their age.

Working out a personal budget
Bear in mind that these figures are the guidelines for putting into a budget and showing your creditors or the court if it ever goes that far, so anything up to the figures quoted are reasonable. In my opinion, you could actually put a small fortune here and eat like royalty (especially if you are a poster on OS ). Just for my household, 2 adults a 16yo, 5yo and a 3yo I could budget £564 and that's using the lowest bracket for my younger two :eek:

Have a look at the self-help pack which will help you with all other aspects of budgeting and sorting out your finances (scroll down to no. 4)

tyllwyd

I don't think you should underestimate - food price inflation is very high at the moment, so if you get it wrong now and inflation continues in the same way, six months or a year down the line you will be struggling. To be honest, especially with a teenage boy in the house, I'd say £400 seems too low. If you can, I'd go for at least £600.