100% mortgage?

ACG

I dont have a receipt but off memory 10 chicken breasts cost £10 and a bag or rice and pasta cost about 40p each and when pasta sauces and curry sauces are on offer at £1 i tend to stock up so with that alone i could have 5 dinners/teas for the 2 of us for about £15-16.

Cereal and milk would be around £3 for the week?

So thats £19 with just lunch and 2 evening meals to sort out with another £31 - obviously toiletries etc need paying for but hopefully that shows you it can be done.

£50 isnt unreasonable and that was shopping at sainsburys. I could have got the cost down had i gone to Aldi or somewhere.

Thankfully things arnt that tight anymore but i still do the shop (not my Mrs) and i still look for offers - offers on things that i was going to buy anyway as opposed to offers that tempt me into buying other things - it does no harm to try and keep the costs down where possible which does then mean you have more money for other things, which could be saving for a house, going on your jollies or whatever it may be.

wannahouse

lawless21 wrote: »

It would be very difficult for me (and my partner) to spend £87.50 a week at the supermarket, even when stocking up on discounted fabric conditioner/washing-up liquid/detergent etc. A regular shop for two for a week never tops £50, with one-off extras (medicine, bulbs, whatever), maybe up to £70. In fact the highest total in my recent memory was approx £68 (I think engine oil was on special that time).


LL

gee, we spend around £1000 a month just on food for 2 adults and 3 little kids, and we don't eat any meat or dairy products at all....just lots of fresh produce, so i don't know how people can live on only £200 a month!!!

wannahouse

ACG wrote: »

I dont have a receipt but off memory 10 chicken breasts cost £10 and a bag or rice and pasta cost about 40p each and when pasta sauces and curry sauces are on offer at £1 i tend to stock up so with that alone i could have 5 dinners/teas for the 2 of us for about £15-16.

Cereal and milk would be around £3 for the week?

So thats £19 with just lunch and 2 evening meals to sort out with another £31 - obviously toiletries etc need paying for but hopefully that shows you it can be done.

£50 isnt unreasonable and that was shopping at sainsburys. I could have got the cost down had i gone to Aldi or somewhere.

wheres the fruit and veg in that though???

our friends spend £50 a week on a family of four, but they eat meat and carbs and barely any fruit or veg to save money, and they're always sick!!!

to top it off, they come over to our house and their kids raid and consume up to £10 a time of fruits from our fruit bowl like crazed maniacs (soft fruits like nectarines, strawberries etc, that aren't cheap) as they are so deprived of it at home!

I think good food is worth the money if you can afford it!

BranstonPickle92

ACG wrote: »

when pasta sauces and curry sauces are on offer at £1 i tend to stock up so with that.

I dont use this type of thing - i cook everything from scratch so i know exactly what im putting into my body (not saying you shouldnt - its just my choice )

When i make curry from scratch - the ingredients can cost up to £20 - but then i can obviously make extra and freeze it for the following weeks or for work so its not that bad and i will also use some of the ingredients for other meals like cantonese style chicken and stir fry's -- but i can see - if i was to stop cooking from scratch i could probably spend less on food - but this is not something id want to do - and i dont think thats unacceptable as i feel very strongly about the food i eat

BranstonPickle92

wannahouse wrote: »

I think good food is worth the money if you can afford it!

Completely agree!!!!

opinions4u

You can discuss food budgets until the cows come home. Or the veggies if you're not a meat fan.

If you really want to own your own home you'd cut back across the household budget to do what it takes to raise a deposit.

CKhalvashi

opinions4u wrote: »

You can discuss food budgets until the cows come home. Or the veggies if you're not a meat fan.

If you really want to own your own home you'd cut back across the household budget to do what it takes to raise a deposit.

Once again, o4u has it spot on!

I've been down the 100% mortgage route, and whilst the mortgage is paid in full now, it's a risk that sooner or later will fail (there are several in negative equity on these forums)

Not worth the risk IMO, especially as buying a home means so much to so many people!

CK

ACG

Veg is about 1.50-2 for a bag of frozen whatever - i do buy a couple of bags of frozen veg but they tend to last a couple of weeks.

As for making sauces, i would never make a curry from scratch (i wouldnt know where to begin) but i have done pasta sauces - tin of tomatos, add some herbs/spices/veg and it costs about 50p (less than a jar of sauce).

The info i gave above was just an example, it wasnt my actual shopping bill. Im just showing it is possible to live on £50 a week - its not easy but it is easy to get an £80 a week shopping bill down especially if you go to the cheaper shops.

ViolaLass

OH and I spend £35 a week on food and cleaning products. We don't each much meat (I'm not excited by most of it) but loads of fruit and veg. We watch how much we've spent but don't find it difficult to stay within it. We shop mostly at Tesco because it's local (we've tried Asda but find its range limited).

We cook from scratch for 90% of our meals - I even make my own cereal because I didn't like the level of salt and sugar in the branded ones. Its perfectly possible to do this and spend less.

OP - a few thoughts.

1. Your earning power and that of your boyfriend is key here. You both need to work on increasing your salaries. You're young so there should be plenty of room there. Panicking because at current levels you'll take years to save a deposit is, IMO, missing the point.

2. If I couldn't trust a man with money, talk to him about money, agree targets for savings etc, I would not contemplate having a baby with him. The commitment required there is about more than the financial and communication is key.

goldmask

or better to save the money for you so you can not touch it.

BranstonPickle92 wrote: »

My exact outgoing are as follows;

rent 525
electric - 80
sky - 37 - my mother pays for this
120 - council tax
12 - TV licence
43 - sofa finance (interest free)
10 - home insurance
thats £827 - we share the cost of this at 413.50 (round it up to 415)

my personal outgoings are;
car finance - 78
mobile contract - 33 (i will not be renewing or taking out a new one once its over in Jan next year)
Union - 10 (i get travel ins, income insurance and support if there are any issues at work - so i believe its needed - correct me if im wrong???)
my mum - 30 - i pay her back for money she lent me last year to fix my old car
Loan - 46
save - 20 (this is to cover tax/mot/ins for my car as i dont like forking out alot in one go - i know i have this money ready when needed)
i also save an additional - 50 (this is usually taken back out just to feed us at the end of the month)
Fuel - 50
travel to work - 95
so in total this is - 407

my boyfs outgoings are;
Gym - 50 (i know - i have talked to him about cancelling or going elsewhere)
car ins - 35
spotify - 10 (again - i have told him to cancel and safe this per month - but he sees it as a small amount)
netflix - 6 (we do use this alot so we probably get waaaay more than our moneys worth - but again - i know he should cancel this - i have told him)
mobile contract - 30
petrol - 50
so in total this is - 181

NOT INCLUDING FOOD - MY BILLS/OUTGOINGS ARE - 822
HIS BILLS/OUTGOINGS ARE - 596

MY MONTHLY MONEY ON AVERAGE - 1170
SO 1170 - 822 = 348

MY BOYFS MONTHLY MONEY ON AVERAGE - 913
SO 913 - 596 = 317

NOW, this is where it gets strange - my boyfriends get paid weekly not monthly so his money tends to fizzle out - - i dont know how - i have just had a HUUUGE talk with him about this

So when i pay between - 300 and 350 for food per month - i am literally left with nothing at all.

I think what i have learnt from this is that HE is the issue with saving money not me.

I just wanted you all to have a clear understanding that im not being ridiculous by saying i cant afford to save much and you thinking im being reckless because im really not and i am serious about getting my finances in order and eventually owning my own home.

sorry for boring you all with such a long post hahah - thanks