Challenge of a lifetime!

cotswoldaccountant

Thanks Tilly, will look into Gullivers land. I feel rather sleepy and full now after a nice lunch with friends and an afternoon relaxing. Still didn't get round to any menu planning - one day soon I will definitely do it though. I do need to cut my food costs - think this could make a big difference to my overpayments!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi CA, you will be staggered by how much money menu planning can save you - I promise :T

Tilly x x

cotswoldaccountant

I think the thing I will struggle with is the "interim" shops - I can be fairly frugal on a big shop (obviously not as frugal as I need to be, but not bad for a big family), but then midweek we run out of fresh fruit, bread, salad and milk two or three times. This really adds up when I have to stock up on fresh food during the week.

Lunch is my downfall too - I can easily think of nice cheap meals for the whole family dinner, but the cost of lunchtime food (bread, occasional ham, cheese, salad, quiche or ingredients to make it etc) seems to add up really quickly. Especially if we have friends round for lunch which, being a stay at home mum, I often do.

CA

firesidemaid

cheap and quick/easy lunches can include pitta pizzas - make up from frozen pitta, tom puree etc plus ANY toppings.

Likewise i make a quiche off-by-heart using the Be-Rol Quiche Lorraine recipe, making pastry from scratch - takes 2 mins.

I add whatever i have in the fridge. From the usual bacon and onion to courgette, onion and pesto. Whatever is in fridge-land;)

PrincessLou

cotswoldaccountant wrote: »

I do need to cut my food costs - think this could make a big difference to my overpayments!

I think Shala_moo already asked this, but what is your average weekly spend for a family of 6?

cotswoldaccountant

I had a look back at the spreadsheet where I last tracked my spending over 3 months, and the average weekly food cost was £142!:j This is all grocery shopping so would include household goods as well as food. I would prefer to spend half that, but am really not sure that it is do-able.

greent

Hi CA

Re Legoland, our DC are 14, 12, 6 and 3 - and all of them still love Legoland (DD is 15 in Dec) so you can probably get a few more visits from it yet!

We're a family of 6. Including nappies, cleaning stuff, toiletries (not my face creams/ cleanser, but shampoo/ shower gel type toiletries!) I spend £450 - £500/ mth. I can't get it lower now I only buy FR eggs and chicken, steak mince, British pork - generally 'happy' meats/ eggs. And I buy a LOT of steak! (although all from the reduced cabinet!) ALso lots & lots of f&v. (back on Slimming World wagon! )

cotswoldaccountant

Thanks Greent! I was a bit sad to think the Legoland days might be behind us, but maybe we can enjoy it for a bit longer!

Your food spend is pretty reasonable, especially given that you have older children who presumably eat more. Are yours boys or girls? I find that the boys have big appetites once they are past the picky toddler years - a "children's meal" is no longer really big enough for my 7 year old. My 5 year old son is skinny with a huge appetite! My daughter is 3 and eats very little, and my 2 year old isn't that interested in food yet. So we are only really feeding a family of 4 (plus a tiny bit extra) at the moment.

I am looking forward to DS3 being potty trained and DD being dry at night, as nappies are pricey even when I buy the supermarket own brand ones. We used reusables up to a few weeks ago, but they have been through 4 children and were completely worn out. It seemed pointless buying more now, so we will use disposables for the next couple of months - hoping to potty train DS3 over Christmas.

CA

Polly_Wolly_Doodle

HI CA, we eventually, child number 3, found Lidl's nappies to be good value. They fitted small skinny boy well and never leaked and he has sensitive skin and they never bothered him. xx

cotswoldaccountant

Had a nice phone call this afternoon from someone who had booked the holiday let - she'd forgotten to pay her balance, and I, being overloaded with work and children, had forgotten to chase her. So now I have an unexpected £160 in the bank account which I shall OP this evening!

Also have just managed to sign up a new accountancy client so that is good news - it will be a good ongoing piece of work.

And finally the end of term has arrived so it will be nice not to have to get up really early in the morning - I'm sure the children won't give me a lie in, but am looking forward to breakfast in my pyjamas at least rather than tearing around the house trying to get everyone ready for the school run!

CA