how do you all do it

ozzyfan_2

Hi Earwig

I budget for on average 4 people to feed each month (somedays its 3 people somedays 6) & what I now do is make a meal plan for the month, buy it using Tesco online shopping using a code from the Tesco thread (I can usually find one that gives £15 off £100 spend) Monthly shop is around £120. Then I allow £20 a week for any top up shopping, milk, bread etc & anything else that we need stamps, bus fare etc. Once the £20 is gone then I have to wait till the next week but I'm usually left with some money at the end of each week.

Also I now don't waste any food, anything left over gets made into something else eg left over bread into breadcrumbs then frozen till needed, leftover veg into soup, bananas past their best get made into banana or carrot cake etc.
My wheelie bin is only a quarter full this fortnight, before it would have been overflowing!

I try to make things last longer, had a pack of bacon last week & made 2 quiches, BLTs & put the rest in a fry up.

I've got a slow cooker & breadmaker which are really useful.

This makes my total shopping for the month for food £200 & we eat really well.

I'm on a dmp too & CCCS have said I need £400 a month for a family my size for food so I'm saving the £200 that I save along with any other savings I make so that I can increase my monthly payment to them at the next review.

Also have been keeping a spending diary which has been eyeopening & really helps.

Hope that this gives you some ideas, its taken me a while to get organised with my budget but its been worth it so don't give up

sammy115

I have to say on first look £60 on hair and fags - can this not be cut down.

Look at telephone and internet combined. I am on tiscali. £19.99 for both.

And the £200 for other. Can you not throw that at your debt (or better still when you have built up a substantial pot as each debt account in turn if they will accept a full and final settlement figure.

Gas and electric - look at other suppliers.

Keep a spending diary. Very important if you can't quite figure out where your money is going to.

HTH

Sam

sammy115

sorry posted last message when i hadn't got to the end of the other posts

I am an idiot!!

sarah0404

Earwig, I was like you, I had a rough food budget (of £60-£70 a week) but I found I was always going to the shops during the week for milk and bread and coming out with £15 worth of stuff. So really I should have added that onto my food budget. I've been cutting back on things for a while, and food was the last thing to tackle. If you pay for everything by debit card then you can go through your statement at the end of the month and find out how much you REALLY spent on food. Add in takeaways and lunches out. Everything food related. I found that I'd spent £30 in the one week on takeaways!!!! :eek: That sounds really terrible!

I've set a new budget. £50 a week for a family of 5. I also have a misc. budget of £40 a month, which I can use for the odd takeaway, buying stamps, magazines, CDs or whatever.

Look over all your bank statements. Find out exactly what you spent on what. I often felt I didn't know where my money was going. Once you know where it's all going you can set your budgets. I found I had a "spare" £400 a month. Without my budgets to stick to that would have just got swallowed up and spent on who-knows-what. Now I know I can afford to pay £200 a month to each of my credit cards. I will have paid them off in just over a year!

I hope this helps you a bit. You really need to know where your money is going. I never used to take much interest and left it up to my partner (who did a terrible job of it!) I've got a little accounts book and I've written the dates of when direct debts come off and how much they're for, so I now know exactly when money is coming out of my account. My partner logs on to digital banking most days to check our accounts. And when I do ever use the cash machine I always get a mini statement. Before I used to just take my money and run! When I was little my mum used to have a little grey book that was stuffed with recipts and invoices. She used to spend ages writing it all down and adding stuff up. I used to think it was totally boring and that I'd never do that. Now I am becoming my mum! :eek:

Toothsmith

ms_london wrote:

The dentist plan seems extortionate??!! Who is that with? Could you get a better plan?

To clarify things here, I think Earwigs 'dental plan' is an interest free/low interest sort of deal offered at some dental practices to fund the initial course of treatment. It is basically like a bank loan, but typically at a much lower interest. So no - she wouldn't be able to cancel it.

I'm with everybody else about the smoking though, especially roll-ups.

Never mind dying - that doesn't concern me! But from your teeth's point of view, you may as well have spent that money getting a good set of dentures. Your teeth will not survive long smoking roll-ups.

QUIT! And do it now - never mind stress levels.

Ali-OK

Stopping smoking is a toughie to do, I won't deny it! I'm on Week 6 and the £100 a month I used to spend goes straight to overpayment on debt. You can get patches and stuff on prescription from the Docs, support from Cessation Groups, but you do have to want to stop. (Don't see it as giving up, see it as stopping something completely poisonous and tell the 'Nicotine Dragon' to b****!r off!!)

I think starting the spending diary is crucial, you can really see then where every penny is going. Get 'infront' of your money, you can control it then and make choices accordingly. Ask yourself if something is a WANT or a NEED, say no to wants (I find small treats are good at the end of the month if you have something left over out your budget, not just after you've been paid!).

Other things I've changed or chucked... Sky has gone, contract mobile gone to PAYG, food shopping down from £60 to £15 a week (for 2), cheaper car insurance found.

Invest as much time as you can on money saving, bargain hunting, making money (Quidco, ebay, etc). It's a learning process to change your mindset and there is always something more that can be done. Small steps and all that.

Good luck.

scottishspendaholic

earwig wrote:

i have never said what im diong is right iam looking at ways to sort this out what i need is for some to say you get x money you payout x money you have x money to pay of your debts

Hi,

I know you didn't - I'm honestly just trying to help and you still seem to be spending money on unnecessary things.

scottishspendaholic x