Living for a month off £100

izools

huw01 wrote: »

some people turn their noses up at Lidl - I don't. You can really save some money by choosing where you shop without really comprimising on quality. Also try shops like B&M Bargains, Home Bargains etc - Excellent offers on food stuff

I personally find Sainsburys Basics even better value for lots of things. That and a combination of Tesco Value and it's amazing!

Especially toiletries - Tesco, 8p toothpaste, 10p Shower gel. Sainsbury's, 28p shampoo, etc etc

Basics food is great, too. Chilli pasta sauce, 9p. The prices go on in that trend and I can really "splash out" (i.e. stock up on 4~6 bags full) for £30.

Great

I haven't tried Sainsbury's Basics Larger yet, and never will, but their basics Rose wine isn't too shabby (well, as long as you gulp the first glass down quick it's passable )

danothy

ganonman wrote: »

That's a start in the right line of thinking. Put it like this, once you can live like this for one month, hopefully you can do it easier next month, and within a year or so you'll be out of your overdraft properly (snowballing). :j

(You include your student loan in your sig? I just chalk it down to graduate tax... Makes me feel better)

I'm not to worried about the overdraft to be honest, it's interest free so I'm happy paying it off slowly. I'm hoping (and looking forward to) some of this months imposed frugality will stick in the long term though.

As for the student loan, it's not something I can see myself paying off, but I like to know it's finite.

huw01 wrote: »

some people turn their noses up at Lidl - I don't. You can really save some money by choosing where you shop without really comprimising on quality. Also try shops like B&M Bargains, Home Bargains etc - Excellent offers on food stuff

There's a fairly big Lidl down the road from me, I've found it's good for plain chocolate digestive biscuits.

izools wrote: »

I personally find Sainsburys Basics even better value for lots of things. That and a combination of Tesco Value and it's amazing!

Especially toiletries - Tesco, 8p toothpaste, 10p Shower gel. Sainsbury's, 28p shampoo, etc etc

Basics food is great, too. Chilli pasta sauce, 9p. The prices go on in that trend and I can really "splash out" (i.e. stock up on 4~6 bags full) for £30.

Great

I haven't tried Sainsbury's Basics Larger yet, and never will, but their basics Rose wine isn't too shabby (well, as long as you gulp the first glass down quick it's passable )

I'll defo check out the chilli pasta sauce at that price.

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£100 a month is possible but easier if you split it into more manageable chunks like £20 a week with the extra £20 for the last few days and a treat.

flutterbyuk25

danothy wrote: »

Over the last two months I've spent approx £255 on groceries (food and cooking / cleaning products) that excludes all alcohol and eating out but includes bought lunches at work and takeaways. I suppose everything on top of that could be considered optional. I should be all right for bathroom toiletries though, as I got a load of shower gel and hand wash on two for one offer last month.

I'm just taking care of myself (a vegetarian), and I've got quite a lot of pasta in (although not enough to last if I was to eat it every day I don't think), some frozen veg, plenty of flour for the pizza idea (I was planning on using it up before I bought another loaf of bread) a bit of rice and couscous, a block of cheese and some fresh foods in the fridge that I'm using up first so they don't go to waste. I've also got litres and litres of squash stocked up.

I try to take lunch with me to work, but as I said above, I have bought lunches and things like that. This just won't be an option this month though.

It's good to hear that people think it can be done, and after adding up my last two months spends, on average I'm not far off the target ...

So you've spent say £125 on groceries per month for last 2 months? I live on my own and am a veggie too. I spend £60-80 per month on groceries which includes cleaning stuff/toiletries etc. I don't buy alcohol often so this isn't included. I almost always take lunch to work with me, I may buy it 2 days a month max.

So it is do-able. Have a look at the Old Style board, there are lots of meal inspirations and ways to bulk out food.

If you have pasta, rice and couscous then you have the base for lots of meals already. Make big pan of pasta/rice/couscous. Use it for meal in evenings and then cold with bit of veg/salad for lunches in day. If you have microwave at work then you can take last night's leftovers for lunch. Or make soup from the odds and ends of veg and take in flask.

Spend your remaining money wisely, try Lidl for their fruit/veg offers, I tend to only buy what is on offer each week, that way I can get my 5 a day for cheap. I beleive Tesco have 3kg bags of pasta on offer for £2 at moment so you could get one of those to last you ages. Cheese (cheddar) is always on offer in one of the major supermarkets - Cathedral City mature is £1.99 in Tesco for 400g at moment. Eggs, I buy free range so not sure how cheap caged ones are in shops, but Morrisons do 15 free range eggs for £2.50. Or if you have somewhere nearby that sells local eggs they may be cheaper, I can get dozen free range for £2 at local farm.

If you have a freezer then you can freeze almost anything, so if you have fresh stuff to use up in fridge then you could chop up the veg and freeze to use at later date.

For the future, try to build up a storecupboard of basics. If there are £10 off £50 spend vouchers in papers for supermarkets I tend to buy my monthly shop (around £35 -£40) and make up the rest of the amount to £50 with things like tinned toms, tins of beans, rice, pasta, couscous, uht milk etc. I could probably live for 2 months with all the food I have in cupboards!!

Also, batch cook, make big pans of meals, it only takes a few more minutes chopping, and freeze leftovers in individual portions so that you have a handy meal ready for when you can't be bothered to cook, saves spending on takeaways. Batch cook a big pan of chopped onions, garlic, tinned toms and red kidney (or other) beans. This can be used as sauce for pasta if you add herbs, chilli sauce if you add chilli, lasagne sauce, filling for tacos/tortillas, topping for jacket spud etc.

For eating out, I eat out once a week with friends, but we tend to go to places that have Earlybird offers or a voucher offer so never pay full price.

Hope that helps and good luck!

x

flutterbyuk25

Re the beer thing, do you have any alcohol knocking around that you could swap with a friend for beer? I always seem to have a bottle of red wine lurking, even though I never drink the stuff, so you could swap with a red wine drinker for some beer? just a suggestion

x

danothy

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

So you've spent say £125 on groceries per month for last 2 months?

More or less, that does include takeaways and lunches bought at work, but not alcohol or eating out (which I do very rarely anyway) and it's based on a spending diary I've been keeping.

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

If you have pasta, rice and couscous then you have the base for lots of meals already. Make big pan of pasta/rice/couscous. Use it for meal in evenings and then cold with bit of veg/salad for lunches in day. If you have microwave at work then you can take last night's leftovers for lunch. Or make soup from the odds and ends of veg and take in flask.

...

Also, batch cook, make big pans of meals, it only takes a few more minutes chopping, and freeze leftovers in individual portions so that you have a handy meal ready for when you can't be bothered to cook, saves spending on takeaways. Batch cook a big pan of chopped onions, garlic, tinned toms and red kidney (or other) beans. This can be used as sauce for pasta if you add herbs, chilli sauce if you add chilli, lasagne sauce, filling for tacos/tortillas, topping for jacket spud etc.

I think I know someone I can borrow a flask from, and I like the idea of batch cooking the sauces and staple carbs.

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

Re the beer thing, do you have any alcohol knocking around that you could swap with a friend for beer? I always seem to have a bottle of red wine lurking, even though I never drink the stuff, so you could swap with a red wine drinker for some beer? just a suggestion

x

I really like this idea, unfortunately all I have in the house is half a bottle of sambuca. A couple of my friends said they would chip in for a case of beer for next weekend though, so it's becoming more of an affordable option

Thanks for the suggestions, I think I'll try to build up the nuclear winter style supplies of cheap basics like you suggest after next pay day.

danothy

Two weeks in and I've spent £58.24 on groceries and I'm quite well positioned with what I've got to come in under budget.

Birthday was a success too, my gran sent me £20 so it went on beer and wine.