How much per week!

kken

Have recently completed all the paperwork to start a DMP with CCCS so finally trying to regain control. Admitedly the prospect of paying our 35K debt for the best part of the next 15 yrs is daunting but i guess has to be done. After paying bills and CCCS payment it looks like we will have around £140 a week to cover all food, petrol etc for 2 adults and 2 teens (one 15yr old 6ft 3 human waste disposal unit) and really want to try to keep the food bill in particular down. How much do you lot realistically think a family of 4 can get away with paying foodwise in a week and any tips. What kind of budget are the rest of you working with re food. I have an idea of trying to squirrel away anything left over and try to start offering settlements to bring dfd down. Mind you, life seems to be conspiring against us right now. Car decided to be sick and needed £150 repair last week (we cant do without it) which has left us with about £100 a week for remainder of November. My teenage son had really wanted to see the new James Bond movie and before the car repair we had agreed we would go. He and hubby are there now, I fained illness so it would cost less and they could still go. He would probably have accepted it graciously if we had said he couldnt go but i wanted him to get to go. He is such a good lad, i dont want him suffering over my mismanagement.

paybacktime2008

Get over to the money saving old style forum. Loads of tips and recipies. You'll be surviving on a tenner a week if they have anything to do with it!

Good luck.

pepe2008

it will take discipline but after a while it will become second nature to save a bit here and there. It all adds up. good Luck

skintandscared_2

I have discovered that by switching down a brand or two, I have made massive savings on my shopping. We're trying just about every "value" product that Tesco sells!!! So far there's been nothing we wouldn't buy again. My shopping (for two of us) is down from about £90-£100 a week to £30-£40 a week!! That's for groceries, toiletries and cleaning products. I now menu plan and batch-cook at the weekend, filling up the freezer with portion-sized meals. I am now not throwing anything away at the end of the week and am embarrassed about how much veg and deli stuff I used to throw away

An added bonus is we both get to eat what we want when we want. Tonight my OH is having his favourite fish pie (which I hate) and I'm having my favourite spaghetti bolognese (which he hates) without any hassle whatsoever.

Maybe the teens will have to get Saturday jobs to cover the expenses of the "treats"...? I'm sure they'll understand your situation.

Best of luck. I'm just entering a DMP myself and it's a real eye-opener how much money I used to waste...

kken

hi skintandscared, have noticed your replies a few times just recently as even when i dont post, i lurk and i think from what i have read before you are in a very similar position as us. Will be interesting to see how things go - will certainly try to give you moral support on the way!!

MrsPorridge

I do one big shop once a month and then I batch cook. I use small dishes picked up at boot fairs, charity shops etc., and even foil containers. I then make lots of individual dishes e.g. cottage pie, meat pie with pastry etc. The night before we decide what we want to eat and then put it out to defrost. As Skintandscared said, this is great if you want to eat something different, or if one of you is going out or you are shift workers.

I have picked up so much information from the old style board and I would persuade you to have a look there. There are so many little tips and tricks they use that are great. I have bought my monthly shopping bill down to approx £150 for two adults and 1 child. Next month I aim to bring it down to the £100 mark - I know I can do it. Funny thing is, since budgeting we are eating much more healthily and actually seem to be eating more (which isn't doing too much for my waistline).:rotfl:

skintandscared_2

kken wrote: »

hi skintandscared, have noticed your replies a few times just recently as even when i dont post, i lurk and i think from what i have read before you are in a very similar position as us. Will be interesting to see how things go - will certainly try to give you moral support on the way!!

Looking at your other posts, yes I think we are!! I think I have about £10k more debt, but I don't have two teenage eating machines so I guess it evens itself out :rotfl: I'm going to be with CCCS too. Have sent out my forms and no phone calls yet, but I'm sure I have that delight to come... :rolleyes: Feel free to PM any time ... we can support each other! :beer:

skintandscared_2

One brilliant tip I got from the old style board on saving the cost of freezer containers is to put the food into bags, but freeze the bags inside the containers, so the food freezes in brick shapes. They stack in the freezer so you can fit loads more in!!

rubydoiwannabee

Hi and welcome,
We have two children one teenager and one aged 5 and a half. We have been menu planning now for the last four months or so and it has cut our food shopping down so much. We spend on average now £65 a week for the four of us, this includes everything and we only go on one visit a week. I can't recommend this approach strongly enough, before we started we were easily spending between £80 to £110 on any given week.

Good luck.

x

*twinkle*_2

We are in a similar position, we have a 16 year old and a 12 year old, I was spending at least £500 a month on food, I work in supermarkets so was constantly picking stuff up before going home so spending a fortune. Its now down to about £65 a week and i'm challenging myself to see how low I can get it

I'm working two jobs so I meal plan the week and then one day on the weekend cook and freeze as many of the meals as I can and then put a list in the kitchen so they know what they are eating that night. Its working fine and we are eating healthier.

As someone mentioned we did tell our 16 year old that she had to get a little part time job, I know what you mean about them not suffering for our spending, but its the best thing we did, after being reluctant she loves her job and having her own money, its also built her confidence and hasn't affected her A-levels.

Let us know how you get on xxx