How much do you live on per month?

Lucy1010

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

Such a good question. The answer for me is yes to both of these in a way. I know I will always struggle to control my spending. I like buying stuff, I like having shiny new things, I like spending money on my kids. A couple of years ago I realised I had to stop or I was going to end up in serious trouble.

I have spent my whole adult life in debt and I am nearly 40. I have reached a point now where I really really want to get out of debt and be able to save for treats and nice things. The only way to do this is to live like a pauper for a couple of years to clear the debts.

But, its not easy, and yes there are times when I hate it.

Thank you, I am of similar age, your post gives me hope

123budget

Lucy1010 wrote: »

The trouble is I find places like Aldi and Lidil a bit depressing and I end up feeling sorry for myself shopping there.

Firstly hardly any loose veg... what does a single person need a huge bag of carrots and the like for? It just gets wasted.

Secondly, I hate to sound mean but in my experience, waiting in line behind smelly people makes me want to abandon the shopping trolley and run to Tesco.

Thirdly, I can't keep up with the cashier! It's all so stressful keeping people waiting whilst packing the bags and trying to pay at the same time.

yes the pre packed veg is prob a bit big for one person, but I always use left over veg to make a soup and then freeze in pouches - I can defrost and use at home or take to work for lunch. I don't know where you are but I've never met 'smelly' people at Aldi! More often it is prob what I would call middle class shoppers knowing they can get a good price on wines which they stock up on for the week! Yes it can get a bit samey but for the basics its fine and their cold meats are lovely. They do race through the tills - I just chuck it all back into the trolley and then pack it into bags when I get back to the car. I do like good food -used to use M&S and Waitrose but we haven't had a holiday for 3 years so I hope my budgeting will mean we can have a family holiday later this year or next year.

elsien

Just sniffed myself and am relatively inoffensive at the moment.:D
Plus my vet shops at Lidl so I now feel safely middle class in there.

Seriously though, it is all in the mind.
I don't like Aldi although it's my nearest one - not enough branded stuff, and I tend to find Lidl has better quality farm assured meat. And Lidl do free range chicken.
But the main reason is that I only ever buy a few things at a time and Aldi always has people doing massive weekly shops and huge queues whereas Lidl (in my area anyway) tend to have more people like me just getting bits and bobs.
I use Aldi/Lidl for offers (super six veg for example, which is where my stay fresh green bags come in handy), meat, milk and bread, and veg , depending on what's in and how big the bags are. Plus it's on my way home from work so quicker for me.
I also use Morrisons or Tesco if I'm after special offers, need stuff I know Lidl/Aldi are unlikely to have, or am having a "can't be arsed" day and want something quick and easy.

It's not either/or, it's whatever works for you. Just don't dismiss them out of hand because of preconceptions. My brother the wine snob has been pleasantly surprised by some of their wines.

Edit - you're not meant to be packing your bags at the till, just sling it all back in the trolley then take it over to the counter to pack. Much less stressfull.

[Deleted User]

adiwood wrote: »

I agree.

I am 27, I have a nice flat and a nice car and soon to have a brand new bicycle and have a decent DSLR (camera) all from a reasonably low wage while I see people on the same wage who rent a room and spend their money on drinking or stuff that is wasteful.

I understand that my mortgage could go up and want to be in a place where I am able to get a fixed rate if needed (current LTV is 93%) so it is important to live cheap this year to pay that.

My vegetables come from one of three places - reduced at Tesco, the local produce market (which is cheap!) and people at work who have grown to much.

If you shop carefully it is amazing how much food you can get cheaply.

I haven't been able (due to illness & disability) to buy a home or drive but I have as good a quality of life as I can manage - the savings I make on being thrifty & self-reliant in some areas pay for things like a yearly holiday abroad (booked online - best one was £212 HB, Spain inc flight etc!) or trips to London to visit friends.

I also manage to regularly entertain family & friends to home cooked teas, dinners and curry nights when it's festival time (my OH is Hindu from s. Asia - he had an incredibly tough upbringing compared to UK but strangely our attitudes are the same)

I have some friends who struggle on almost £2500 a month and I think 'blimey' I'd have saved in the bank off that!

EDIT - idea!

Would it help Lucy if we posted up our own, shortened, statement of affairs (SOAs)??

Lucy1010

joolzred wrote: »

Would it help Lucy if we posted up our own, shortened, statement of affairs (SOAs)??

Yes please!!! That would be very helpful indeed

[Deleted User]

My (short) SOA - here's how we spend it all lol!!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2


Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 164
Partners monthly income after tax....... 800
Benefits................................ 387 (my DLA & our joint working tax credit as he's on minimum wage 40hrs/wk)
Total monthly income.................... 1351

Monthly Expense Details

Rent.................................... 348
Council tax............................. 110
Electricity............................. 60
Coal, logs, kindling.................. 22
Water rates............................. 26 - water meter
Telephone (land line)................... 18
Mobile phone............................ 23 - 2 phones
TV Licence.............................. 12.1
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0 - free channels on sky
Internet Services....................... 11.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 170
Clothing................................ 15

Other travel............................ 70
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 28 - prescription prepayment cert (me) plus NHS dentists, eye tests, glasses etc, worked out at monthly cost
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 3
Contents insurance...................... 6.67
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 8
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 40
Savings.......................... 200
Total monthly expenses.................. 1220.76


Assets
Cash.................................... 4500
Shares and bonds........................ 100
Car(s).................................. 0
Total Assets............................ 4600

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,351
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,236.76
Available for debt repayments........... 114.24
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 114.24

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,600
Total debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 4,600

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

kerri_gt

Regarding the veg issue for single people - my OH is not a big veg fan and I constantly found myself throwing veg away. So now I just tend to buy fresh spuds and perhaps an onion (always useful to have on standby and lasts for ages) and some salad if I'm gonna use it in sarnies as fresh. I then keep some frozen petit pois (posh peas I know lol!) and either a bag of mixed veg, or broccoili etc in the freezer - that way it's always on hand, I can cook the amount I want and I don't end up throwing loads away. Plus (although people turn their noses up at frozen) it was prob in the deep freeze keeping it's goodness while the so called 'fresh' stuff was picked befoe ripe, flown half way across the world, transferred to a logistics hub, ferried around the county and then sat on a shelf for goodness knows how long.... doesn't seem quite so fresh now does it?

Of couse, another good option is a local market for cheap veg (although that is not always British) or a PYO when they are open in season, or local farm shop if you have one nearby.

Lucy1010

I can't wait for pay day... looking forward to putting into practice all the advice I have had here. Thank you so much to all of you x

determined_new_ms

Gandalfthegrey wrote: »

Whenever I buy spuds from supermarket, they dont even last a week without sprouting alien-type things from them. What am I doing wrong? What is the best way to store potatoes so they dont sprout or go green, or go sweaty?

ok was trying to reply to this last night but my connection was playing me a right song and dance! It was a typo as it should have said £8 for 25kgs (not sure where £3.50 came from???) and no the trick is you need to store them in the garage or the shed so they stay cool and in the paper sack they come in. The plastic bag is a recipe for rapid deterioration. Even if you get the 2.5kg bags from the supermarket transfer to a paper bag and store somewhere cool & dark and they will last ages. The one I get are from around here, have been picked recently(ish - more than the supermarkets as they haven't been transported across the globe) hth x

determined_new_ms

HappyMJ wrote: »

Looks like a well balanced diet. No thanks.

£6.42 per day for me includes absolutely everything. And not the cheapest of the cheapest specials at 7pm at night depending on if it's in stock or not. (I really do like shopping at that time though). It includes drinks as well and a takeaway every now and again.

this is really harsh what op is saying is they go when the products are reduced so I got that it wasn't the cheapest carp but reduced to clear - I do this all the time and purchased a chest freezer (via ebay of course ) to really make the most of reductions. In fact I have 2 extra special salmon fillets in there right now that cost £4.75 originally and cost me 30p :T

please don't judge others - we all have to cut our cloth accordingly and maybe this is all the op can afford right now. I actually applaud their resourcefulness :money: