Do you earn enough for a minimum acceptable standard of living?

FTBFun

marklv wrote: »

All very well to prepare your own food etc but it takes time. I'm conscious of the fact that I spend far too much on lunchtime food but I do it for convenience. Nothing else. If I was unemployed then I would have plenty of time to seek out the best deals and spend all day cooking, but my job is brutally demanding of my time and energy.

:think:

Not really sure why its only the unemployed that have to spend all day cooking, seek out the best deals, and can't make their own sandwiches.

beecher2

I make my own sandwiches because of the cost, but also because of the fat and salt content of purchased sandwiches. If you're eating them every day then that's pretty unhealthy - have a look at the label next time you buy them.

As for time, it takes far longer to queue up for your sandwich than it'd take to make one.

chewmylegoff

probably spend more than £10/day on food as well. work canteen - about £2 for breakfast with a cup of tea, £2.90 for a salad, tuna and a bit of fruit. evening meal unlikely to get for less than £5.10 - normally eat steak or lamb chops or fish and three different veg. buying fresh veg from a supermarket really racks up the cost, add on a couple of bits of fruit during the day, on average probably well over £10.

yeah i could spend less, but i'm not going to stuff cheapo bangers and mash in my gob, prefer to eat nice things. i would rather spend my cash on nice food than eating whatever the supermarket is flogging on special. don't like eating to be a chore.

neverdespairgirl

marklv wrote: »

Certainly cheaper than Berkshire. My 3 bed terraced is worth c.£260k and semis are £300k+ where I live.

This is the nastiest, !!!!-end bit of London though (one of them, anyway)

carolt

Anyone notice they don't appear to include phone bills or TV licence. Are these non-essentials, whilst alcohol is an essential?

Plus, although I have 3 kids it allowed me nothing for childcare or children's fun or after-school/educational activities. So no music/swimming/holiday etc activities or kids parties at all.

Sounds a bit hard on the kids.

Or does this come out of the social/leisure budget? In which case, that sounds a lot less flash than it first appeared...

sjaypink

I need £37K apparently!

Must work harder

ETA: I'm £90 pr wk below min income- I feel so poor :-)

andrewmp

marklv wrote: »

Poncey but nice. My employer does not provide a staff canteen.

I sometimes get a pie and mash from 'EAT' and even that is over £6 with a bottle of water.

I think you're on the wrong site mate

http://forums.moneywastingexpert.com

PasturesNew

marklv wrote: »

All very well to prepare your own food etc but it takes time. I'm conscious of the fact that I spend far too much on lunchtime food but I do it for convenience. Nothing else. If I was unemployed then I would have plenty of time to seek out the best deals and spend all day cooking, but my job is brutally demanding of my time and energy.

Not necessarily as long as five separate visits, and queues, at a Pret.

No cooking involved in grabbing one loaf and two pots of sandwich filler and a pack of drinks and a hand of bananans in a supermarket. Say 20 minutes.

Or, if you're not into that, there are other options which I won't go into as I don't know your lifestyle so it's pointless.

PasturesNew

ILW wrote: »

I takes less than 10 minutes to make a decent sandwich.

I figure that a lazy person, armed with a loaf or rolls and two tubs of sandwich fillers and a big spoon could achieve 5 sets in about 3 minutes.

I don't put spread on bread if it's going to have sandwich filler, so for a sandwich it's: grab two bits of bread, shove spoon into the pot, shovel out about 1/4 of the pot, use spoon to spread it round the bread, pop the top bit of bread on, cut in half. Done.

It'd take longer if one were poncing about with spread and knives though... but I've worked out a spoon is a much better implement to use with wet fillings on bread.

andrewmp

Asda do packs of breadbuns, nice ones. £1.50 for three packs of four large buns.

Two of these per day x 5 days = 10 days, two left over for the weekend.

I usually go to B&M, they do very nice meat (tends to be offcuts though but good stuff and not full of water) - £1.00 per pack, 200 gramms per pack. These last for two days each.

B&M/Home Bargains always have offers on crisps too, never seem to pay more than 10p per bag.

I'm bad though, I get a chinese on a Friday at work, it costs about £3.00 though but usually fills me all day (maybe a sandwich later). :rotfl: