Grocery Shopping budget thread

415SanFran

hi, what about water rates, and anything car related?
also all the different insurances.

JulieGeorgiana

Phone £11 line rental
Broadband, sky (I pay £22 for sky, and get broadband cheap at £7.50)
TV Licence £12.37
My content insurance is less then £10... don;t have buildings insurance!
Mobile phones ??
Water £38.78 (Based on 2 adults, 1 child in a 2 bed maisonette)
Gas & Electric £80.00 (Based on 2 adults, 1 child)
Council Tax ??
Rent/Mortgage??

Car Costs:

Service, Tyres, Breaks, MoT, Insurance AND petrol!!

Food Costs (2 adults and 1 child)

£60 every 2 months at the butchers
£40 a week on food, including EVERYTHING

Mash swede or carrots into potatoes to hide veg!

Blend tomatoes into food...!

Blitz soup!

Mine never ate veg... introduced it slowely... now he eats everything!

I hope this all helps!

missychrissy

Hi

If you survived at uni on a limited budget I'm sure that you can do it again. There are lots of threads on this site for feeding yourselves well very cheaply.

I live on my own with visiting children and grandchildren and my 'supermarket' bill is around £10 per week. I use my slow cooker regularly and right now have it on with some 'reduced' steaks, red lentils, barley, onions, carrots, green beans (needed using up) and seasoning. I buy pulses such as lentils/split peas/marrowfat peas etc in bulk at Costco and regularly cook soups and casseroles using them. If there are 2 of you then I would assume that you can budget on £20 per week although I would anticipate that it will take a bit of practice. I don't buy any sweets/cakes/biscuits/fizzy pop etc as I don't think there is any nutrition in them. I keep my bread in the freezer and defrost a slice at a time as I need it. I always cook in bulk and freeze future meals, especially one sized portions for taking to work.

I had children that had particular likes and dislikes especially when it came to veg. I got around this by liquidising onions/mushrooms/carrot/swede etc and adding it to recipes eg Shepherds pie/casseroles/lasagne etc. I have a mini Kenwood chopper these days that would be ideal for doing that.

bride2be2012

Thanks for the replies! Looks like I've though of most of the bills then:

We're in Scotland so water charge is lumped with the CT. Will be doing without Sky, my mobile is a work one so they pay for it, will have to budget for OH's but he only spends about £15 a month on it. Only need contents insurance as we're renting. I've budgeted separetly for our car running costs.

Yes, I did live on quite a limited budget when at uni, but I relied on the bank of mum and dad way too much, but its about time I managed to stand on my own two feet! At least I have some idea of budgeting for a household, OH still seems to think that the food cupboards magically refill themselves lol! And cooking the tea involves getting a pizza out the freezer and sticking it in the oven, bless him!

Penelope_Penguin

bride2be2012 wrote: »

With regards to grocery shopping, how much would be a good amount to set aside each week? I enjoy cooking and baking and will have a slow cooker. Also any suggestions on how to disguise veggies so my OH will eat them (he's worse than a 3 year old!) welcome!

Welcome to Old Style and good luck in your new home :beer:

This thread gives some idea of the budgets of others I'll merge this later. You can also post your SOA on the Debt Free Wannabe Board and the experts there will help getting your bills down (you don;t have to be in debt, either )

I'm sure there's a thread on disguising veggies, but can't just find it; I'll keep looking

Penelope_Penguin

Disguising veggies thread

stiltwalker

Hi there, congratulations on your new home, I hope you'll be very happy there.

A contingency fund would be useful I don't know what savings (if any you have) but it's always good to have a small pot to dip into for anything that needs replacing such as small household electricals or for any other unforseen expenses.

I know it sounds early to start but also consider a Christmas fund for next Christmas, as your first in your own home you may not have things like decorations and you will want to make your home lovely for your first Christmas even if you go back to parents for the actual day. It's also nice to know that present money for Christmas and birthdays throughout the year has been taken care of and you don't have to find it ut of your regular budget.

LJM

i would be inclined now (sounds daft) but start stocking up on dry store cupboard bits you would use for baking/cooking such as herbs/salt/pepper cleaning products/cloths/towels etc silly things that will bump the cost of your shopping bills but if you just pop a box aside and fill as and when you see an offer you will have a basic storecupboard/cleaning cupboard to start with. we are a family of 4 2 adults and 2 children i tend to spend between £40-£50 a week on food shopping and i also put £20 a week away in a pot for emergencys extra bill/more shopping etc. all our bills are DD so that makes it easy. i would take the opportunity if you could now to start also putting money away for your tv license doesnt have to be alot a few pounds a week set aside is money you dont have to find later on, you could also do this for other bills/costs as well.

bride2be2012

thanks for all the suggestions guys, much appreciated.

Well, we're one step closer now to getting our house, heard today we passed the credit checks (big relief, mine history is far from perfect!) so hopefully will be moving in the new year :j

Loving this part of the forum, espec all the recipes! Off work ill today so spent ages going through them all and saving the ones I like! Has even given me a bit of an appetite so must be on the mend lol!

de1amo

When i was a kid my mother always had 'her' housekeeping and had to keep within this budget. For many years in my life i have lived a single life where i just spent on what i needed--i thought i was os but i am beginning to realise i am not as careful as i believed.

i am married now and my wife runs the roost'(house) but we have no fixed budget!! its very haphazard but we both know we want to build up some savings for a rainy day aside from the mortgage savings and know economising in the home is one place we can gain.(the mortgage savings in my signature are from an old endowment and not up for grabs!!)

How do people come to the concensus about a budget for housekeeping the house?!!!