Horrendous supermarket overspend this month... Need HELP to change our habits!

echo_and_narcissus

I absolutely need help!!!

Quick situational info... Me SAHM, husband works full-time, four children, two at school, one at nursery and one toddler.

The short version of the story is... Having done some maths, from May 1st, we have spent... £817 at supermarkets this month :o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o

The even more shameful thing is that this ONLY includes two weekly big shops:eek:

I used to be good at this! I don't know what happened!

The spends are a mixture of the "big shops" plus a horrendous amount of top ups, stuff bought from browsing (a few items of clothing, cheap toys), kitchen things (kettle, toaster, various implements), hubby picking up snacks and bits and treats on his way home from work, plus the dreaded Saturday night we-don't-want-to-cook pop to the shops and spend £30:o And probably a bit of boredom spending on my part if I'm being honest!

I am absolutely horrified with ourselves. In my head I am a reasonably good money planner and good at budgeting but I am clearly having a lapse this month!

So here are my issues...

1. Curb the boredom spending. Does anyone do the keeping their purse/bank card at home thing when they go out and how does it work for you? I guess I worry in case something comes up.

2. Budget for the Saturday evening not wanting to cook. Either that or plan for a slow cooker meal evening? Does anyone else suffer from this?

3. How comprehensive can I realistically get with my menu planning to stop the majority of these top ups? Is there anyone who plans down to what day they need to pick up extra milk/bread/etc in the week?

4. We clearly need to structure our money differently. Does anyone do the thing where you allocate a certain amount of "pocket money" for each adult after all the bills etc are accounted for and how do you do this - is it transferred into a separate account? What do you do with the money left over after bills etc and pocket money - do you stash it into savings, or wait until the end of the month in case you need it? Or something else?

echo_and_narcissus

PS Sorry for the formatting, it looks normal in edit mode but can't get it to stay in a smaller size!

victory

Point one yes I do, if something came up it couldn't be anything you went into town for, absolute need, cannot live without so it was not a purchase you needed to make.

Point 2 often we will have half/ half so say its Chinese we get what we can't cook from the take away and the rest is from yellow stickers, my oven, home made.

Point 3 I don't plan when I'm going to pick up the milk no but I do have some NSD often to make the money go further.

Pocket money is allocated on the 1st of each month, that never gets put into savings etc if there is any left it can roll over to the next month, daily menu plans, weekly money for food, knowing each day what is for dinner, not being dragged into all the special offers, loads of yellow stickers..

echo_and_narcissus

Thanks victory, this is *exactly* the kind of thing I want to hear, what people do that works for them with details.

Cheers!

echo_and_narcissus

So I take it you recommend a supermarket visit for the weekly shop rather than an online, to pick up lots of reduced stuff?

paulineb_2

There are probably numerous threads on the old style money saving boards and the food and groceries boards that would help you.

I dont have kids and its only me I cook for but Im on a limited budget so what works for me is

1 Use sites such as approved foods who sell food that is close to or past its best before date (still safe to eat), you'll get big discounts on a lot of items
2 Dont buy microwave dinners. Expensive, full of salt. If you want to make something such as a curry, make it yourself.
3 Dont waste any food. Even the ends of veg that you use to make a stir fry can go in soup
4 Use money off vouchers. I shop in Aldi and every month they do £5 off a £40 spend, which might not seem like much but its £60 over a year
5 Use more than one supermarket. I shop in Aldi more than Tesco, its cheaper.
6 Find out the times where supermarkets reduce food, you'll get a lot of bargains
7 Meal plan, stops you buying unnecessary stuff you really dont need.

mumonashoestring

I often leave my purse at home if I'm going into town, or if I'm going to a big supermarket with clothes, appliances, cafe etc. then I make a list of what I need and take enough cash to cover it so I can't be tempted to overspend and just hand over the plastic

We have a separate account for 'household' spending so all of the money for bills, groceries and rent goes in there and we have our own accounts for spending money which includes snacks and treats if we want them, and the occasional takeaway. I do plan though for having the odd 'lazy' meal - either premade lasagna and garlic bread or a frozen pie or similar, or something that can be chucked in the slow cooker and ignored for 8 hours!

I don't plan down to the exact day when I'll need to do a top-up shop, but I know I'll need to buy more bread, milk and bananas during the week so I make sure the weekly shopping budget includes £5 or so for that top-up shop.

Hudson1984

I do the leave wallet at home trick (work in an office and the sandwhich man is always to large of a temptation if I have money) and it does work.

I'm not sure if this is one for you but i've though about getting a contactless payment card and not reading the pin number therefore i'm limited to what I can spend. At the moment I use the two bank account method one for normal bills and the other for spending money. I've set up a weekly direct debit to the second account for spending money, and when it's gone it's gone - the main account card is in a safe at home so I have to make an effort to get it.

this really was hard at the start as I always spent my weekly "pocket money" however now I find myself with money left over each week plus because i'm sticking to a budget my monthly account is always quite healthy meaning I can splurge AT THE END OF THE MONTH when i've nothing left to pay out - if I choose to but mainly I put it in savings as the weekly budget has changed my spending habits.

hope this helps

NoAngel

I never leave my card at home but I don't often go out just browsing.

We have done the exact same thing on a Saturday night- ended up in the supermarket buying a cooked chicken or something when really I could have cooked. Or we've got a takeaway. I've found that generally its best to cook something during the week whilst I'm making dinner and freeze it (often bolognaise use for us!) and then get this out Saturday morning.

I recently started meal planning everything as it really does make a difference to what I buy. So if I buy lots of fresh salad I need to make sure that gets eaten and doesn't end up going bad which is much easier to do if you meal plan. I also buy enough milk/bread at the beginning of the week and then top these up Thursday after work. So yes,I do plan this. Obviously doesnt always work out exactly right.

We are bad at allocating pocket money as such so can't advise about this.

WestonDave

Our solution is to use internet shopping - if you aren't in the shop you can't be tempted by misleading displays! If you time the deliveries right the charge can be as low as £3 which on the money you are spending is peanuts - you'd probably get a few money off codes if you start anyway.

We now sit down with the laptop on a Sunday night whilst watching TV or relaxing, plan the weeks meals and order accordingly for delivery on Monday. Having most of it under control means that if we do need a few top up items at the end of the week (as well as picking up bits that won't be in use by dates by then) it doesn't kill us financially. Obviously not everyone likes having someone else pick stuff for them, but having done it for months, we've had very few issues - the main one being to do with bread rolls for lunches not being available but a little polite email to head office seems to have put the relevant rocket up the supplying store! If you really can't handle that then using the home shopping site to create a list (or mysupermarket) which you take with you should have the same effect.

Personal experience is that if you go in with a blank mind hoping for inspiration as to what to eat as you go around, supermarkets are exceptionally good at persuading you that what they want you to buy is a good deal even when in cold analysis its expensive. For example steaks for 6 reduced from £20 per person to £10 per person might look like a 50% reduction so a bargain - but its still a massive amount per person for one meal. Trouble is when faced with the big display its the "Half Price" you see not the actual cost.

bargainbetty

Come over to the Old Style boards and join the Grocery Challenge for June. It will help you keep track of your spending, and there are tons of hints and tips on how to maximise what you get out of your shopping, while minimising your spending.

I've found that keeping a eye on what I have in the cupboards, batch cooking and some elements of meal planning allow me to spend a lot less than I used to. I also make sure I've got a HM takeaway-type meal in (HM pizza, chilli, curry etc) so I'm less likely to spend a fortune on takeaway.

I still like a takeaway, just less often