Is £87 realistic to live on!?

duchy

I think you are a real spending diary candidate - write down every penny you spend.....coffees, magazines , everything..... I think you are perhaps under-estimating where some of the money is going - you talk about liking nice things but mention a food budget of £200 a month -does that include ALL food-eg snacks, lunches, eating out or is that just your main shop and you have top ups to add for example (most people underestimate on top ups ) £50 or less a week on all food for two people whilst do-able usually takes at least some effort.

jayss

Do you take lunch to work or buy it?
What about your social life other than date night?
It's do-able, obviously. Just depends where the money is going now and how many sacrifices you will need to make, and how those will make you feel.

ruth2

i've never had more than £50pcm for almost 2yrs
(i'm talking about pure fun money; clothes, cinema, pub, etc)

Everyone has their limits though, tbh I don't know many people who are as disciplined about their spending habbits and it makes you look at price tags in a different way.

racing_blue

In global terms, the World Bank (2008) put the poverty line at at $1.25 per day.

David Gordon's paper, "Indicators of Poverty & Hunger", for the United Nations, defines poverty as the absence of any two of the following eight basic needs:
Food: Body Mass Index must be above 16.
Safe drinking water: Water must not come solely from rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby (less than 15 minutes' walk each way).
Sanitation facilities: Toilets or latrines must be accessible in or near the home.
Health: Treatment must be received for serious illnesses and pregnancy.
Shelter: Homes must have fewer than four people living in each room. Floors must not be made of dirt, mud, or clay.
Education: Everyone must attend school or otherwise learn to read.
Information: Everyone must have access to newspapers, radios, televisions, computers, or telephones at home.
Access to services: education, health, legal, social, and financial (credit) services.

Prothet_of_Doom

So basically you have blown your 87 quid this month ?

Why do you need 2 date nights? Why ?

Whilst the spending diary idea is great, I suggest the envelop method.

Take your 87 quid and put it in cash into 4 envelops. £20 in the first 3, and £27 in the last one.

Put the first £20 in your purse. Put CC's etc in a locked place.

When you run out after 5 days, you can't go to the next envelop for 2 days.

Do the same for food shopping. Take £50 cash. No more. Buy a weeks food. If you get to the til and it's over £50, put something back.

Use your spending diary to look at why the £20 did not last the week. etc.
It's amazing where stuff goes.

I've saved £500 this year by not buying coffee from the nice coffee shop which is actually a costa inside the office block I work in.
That's £750 before tax approx. How many hours do I work to get paid that? Since I became a contractor, and am paid by the hour, I've started putting all unnecessary costs into a number of minutes I need to earn, to pay for this. Would you prefer 3 extra days holiday, instead of drinking costa ? I bought a Caftiere and buy ground coffee, and £500 is the yearly saving. I could save £80 a year if I drank water from the tap, so I'm not taking it to the extreme.

Same thing with bought sandwiches....

TallulahTaboo_2

Hi,

Apologies for my late reply and thank you to you all for your comments.

The £15 groomers that we pay is a must. Our dog sleeps in the bed.. I know, a habit we tried to get out of but with my partner working away weeks on end, shes my little comfort. So in order to keep her clean amongst my sheets, I pay it. I could obviously look to do it myself but shampoo & conditioner can be expensive and would mean having to do it all myself which could be utter chaos.

I do take my own lunches to work. Whether I make sandwiches or soup. Same with my partner. When he is working away, we almost bulk buy some things to take away with him so he doesnt over spend whilst he is away. (He only gets £15 daily allowance for food when away).

I know my debt is massive but since we are planning to book our wedding in November, I really dont want to start adding more debt without clearing this first.
Again I know that putting £500 is pretty extreme the first few months but I think as soon as I see the debt decreasing, this may spur me on to save more.

I have already signed up to do some paid online surveys and put xbox and laptop etc. on eBay. No point in having things when we dont use them.

In terms of fuel, I need to pay for this and claim it back from my work at the end of the month. I always pay for my fuel on my 0% credit card as rake up points and is always cleared at the end once my expenses are through.

I thought two dates nights amounting to £60 total would be realistic since we are devoting alot of ouor cash to the debt. I think this will keep us sane. As much as I would love to save that extra £60, I want us to try and have a but luxury along the line. Plus, I want us to get into the habit of this luxury budget of £60 as when we book our Wedding, majority of the money will be getting saved.

I get paid on Tuesday next week and will be putting the £500 to the debt. I will live of £20 a week and will stick to this. No more over spending!

Having a look at things... I dont really need to buy anything. I mean I already have all the 10 childrens presents for Christmas bought already!? Insane much?

Although... I think I made a breakthrough today. I took a skirt back to H&M and instead of my usual 'lets browse and see what else I can buy', I walked straight in to the till and got a refund instead.

Its not much but its a start? :A

P.s I really do appreciate all your feedback!

ifstar

You could benefit by posting up a full SOA. It will help to see if there is anywhere to cut down on and might show things you haven't thought about

dumpy

Has shopping become a hobby for you? Do you find yourself at the weekend/ lunchtime going round the shops looking for something to buy?

I simply just avoid shops now. I run round a supermarket once a week but tother than that I just avoid them. Amazing how much you save when you don't put yourself in the position to buy 'a bargin'

laura_hoggle

Firstly, well done taking the skirt back and not buying anything else!

TallulahTaboo wrote: »

I think I need to occupy myself in the evenings, and hopefully this will reduce my need to browse the internet. And, most importantly, hid the credit card!!

Is it sad that I look forward to coming home each day to find out what has arrived from the post man!?

There are lots of things on this very website that can help with that!

Check out the freebies (no spend) board - I got a bit obsessed with registering for free samples of things, and loved getting things in the post, which also helped me save money (toothpaste, shampoo, moisturiser etc.!) This would help with browsing the internet, and looking forward to post, but safe in the knowledge that all it cost was the electricity to find it

I found surveys to be very rewarding, so that's a good start there. Last year I mostly paid for DHs Christmas present (Kindle Fire) from Amazon vouchers earned, and I was saving M&S and Capital Bonds vouchers towards spends for our wedding in July (M&S for the cake, and Capital bonds for suit hire). As it was, we won a cake so could use the vouchers on other things which was a bonus!

Have you been on the wedding forums here at all? There's lots of MSE brides (and grooms!) over there who are great at finding a good deal and offering advice on all things wedding related.

You say you spend £30 a month on dog food... Is this the best deal available to you? I have heard that some people are able to bulk buy pet food from Amazon, or buy it on a monthly subscription, for less than they normally pay. I'm not saying you should scrimp on her food, but see if there is a cheaper option of buying the same thing?

With the date nights - are you a Sky customer at all? They often do free screenings of new films, you just need to register on the website for free tickets. The locations aren't always great, but worth a look - then could put the money saved into making the next one more special, or into wedding savings?

his_missus

Hi Tallulah,

Is the £87 basically just spending money then? Have you already budgetted for clothes, toiletries, haircuts etc?

If £87 is just spending money for treats, I'm sure you can. You just have to ask yourself "Do I need it or do I just want it?" before you buy anything.

Once you get into a money saving frame of mind rather than a spendy one, it becomes second nature not to spend frivolously.

Good luck xxx