Partner just lost his job, need help with single-income SoA

princess*daisy

Hi :wave:

Groceries sticks out like a sore thumb for me. My partner and I spend £120 per month on two of us. This is how we do it:
*Main shop in F@rmfoods for meat, eggs, veg, potatoes - I find it's better to buy mostly frozen when there's only two people to feed as less gets wasted
*Smaller shop at Morr1sons for any BOGOFs/special offers on anything we can't get in Farmfoods.
*£ Shops and discount stores (Savers, B&M, Home Bargains etc) for toiletries and those items that cost more in supermarkets, e.g. decent coffee
*Meal planning for the week
*Cooking mostly from scratch - no wasting money on expensive jars or processed foods - just stock up your herb and spice rack instead!
*If you don't want to cook fully from scratch, buy sachets of dry mix, e.g. spag bol, chilli, fajitas etc - we get these 3 for 90p in Morr1sons, much cheaper than jars.
*Don't buy expensive lunches for work - take yesterday's leftovers if you can.
*Have a look on the Old Style board for other ideas on frugal shopping/cooking

Hairdresser's bill is also too high - echo comments made by previous posters above.

Clothing - can you make do with what you have for now?

Good luck

sabrina_the_mid-20s_rich

Thanks again everyone.

I didn't realise JSA was so much, that should make a big difference.

I will give some thought to the interest only mortgage but I'd rather get the other outgoings down and keep this in the bag as a last resort.

I think our groceries are so high because up to now we have relied on convenience foods (and wine ). With OH having more time he'll hopefully be able to get that down a lot. P.S. what spices would be good to have in our store cupboard?

No chance of a lodger as we have a 1-bed but will see if I've got anything for eBay.

HappyMJ

sabrina_the_mid-20s_rich wrote: »

Thanks again everyone.

I didn't realise JSA was so much, that should make a big difference.

I will give a thought to the interest only mortgage but I'd rather get the other outgoings down and keep this in the bag as a last resort.

I think our groceries are so high because up to now we have relied on convenience foods (and wine ). With OH having more time he'll hopefully be able to get that down a lot. P.S. what spices would be good to have in our store cupboard?

No chance of a lodger as we have a 1-bed but will see if I've got anything for eBay.

Garam masala, curry powder, mustard powder, paprika, garlic powder, chilli powder, pepper, salt, mixed herbs. Anything really that you like.

They are the ones I have and they are quite useful. Get large quantities from the asian supermarket and share them with a few friends who have also bought a large bag each. Don't buy the tiny little jars of them from the supermarket.

Store them all in labelled airtight jars that you have hopefully been saving up instead of recycling.

princess*daisy

Re herbs/spices, I keep the following basics:

Garlic (for Italian foods, curries, garlic chicken etc.)
Mixed herbs/Italian seasoning (for Italian)
Coriander (for curries, soups etc)
Cumin (for curries, chilli con carne, soups etc)
Chilli (for chilli con carne, hot curries, fajitas etc)
Cayenne pepper (for anything you want to add that extra spicy "kick" to)
Black pepper (in a grinder)

I also buy packets of fajita spice, piri-piri spice for chicken etc. Plus anything else that's on offer or appeals to me (e.g. recently bought "spice shakers" for curries and Chinese - these were jars with five separate compartments containing a mix of spices for particular dishes, e.g. balti, jalfrezi etc. They were in B&M for 69p).

pmlindyloo

[QUOTE=pmlindyloo;52045597]Contribution based JSA is £50.95 per week for under 25s and £64.30 per week for over 25s.

Have a look here for ideas for reducing shopping bills:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

In fact if you can spend time looking at all the different forums you should be able to cut down considerably on your outgoings.

It can become quite addictive!

Hope your OH finds a job soon.[/QUOTE]


I am so sorry obviously got my figures from a website using old figures!

Sorry for the dud figures. At least it's good news for the OP.