Any advice welcome - need to cut weekly shop costs

Nikkiclaire

I am sure many have posted similar to me in the past, but new to this site, so feel free to sign post me to someone else's post. I'm a single parent to a 6 year old and work 4 days a week as a teacher. Basically my outgoings are more than my in comings and struggle each month, but feel I always spend too much on food. I often feel so tired at the end of the day, I end up buying easy to cook ready meals and probably things to treat us. After reading a few posts think I will set my challenge of £20week for me and my son ( not including dinner money of £10) My son also has tea 4 days a week at After school club ( which costs £32) a week and eats breakfast at breakfast club 4 days a wee ( which costs £ 20 a week) With all the other costs etc as well as childcare I'm sure you can see how things just add up. Advice of sticking to budget / meal ideas very welcome. Does anyone think I can do it for less- if so happy to give it a go. Any advice/ comments/ideas very welcome. Thanks

cookie9

Hello and welcome.
You will get lots of good advice and there are lots of great threads about cooking on budget.
My advice is to meal plan and avoid the ready meals which tend to be expensive and not that healthy. If time is short then bulk cook at the weekends eg I split my mince into two batches and make one in to bolognese and the other into chili. I bulk them out with vegetables such as grated courgette. I can then freeze them and eat during the week when I have less time.
I find my slow cooker handy for soups and casseroles as it leaves me free to get on with other things.
For treats make your own eg chocolate rice krispie cakes or pancakes. Check out the hobnobs recipe which you should be able to search for on this forum.

janb5

Hi- if you son has his breakfast and supper at school four times a week, could you have something at school too those days and have a snack in the evening? Could you post your outgoings so we could make suggestions etc.

Soworried

My advice would be to write a list of everything you already have in the house. Then start to make a meal plan from there.
On the days you are working keep it simple, omelettes and jacket potatoes are great for quick dinners.
After a while you will build up a supply of home made ready meals.

mandco

check out the grocery challenge thread loads of great advice & recipes on there.
I would check all your latest receipts and see roughly how much you are currently spending & where/how much your biggest non essential spends are takeaways/ treats) if you try to cut back to much too quickly you'll find it hard to stick to better to cut back a bit at a time over a few wks

is there any way you can cut down on the breakfast/after school club? not sure if its needed due to your hrs/how long he goes for but its a huge chunk of money I know they give him a meal but you could feed you both for a lot less

Nikkiclaire

Hi outgoings are as follows
Income £ 1900 ( including everything )

Mortgage £500
Credit card £100
Car loan £ 100
Council tax £70
Breakfast club 84
After school club £ 184
School dinners £20
Trade union £15
Gas/elec £ 130
Car insurance £50
Pet insurance £ 18 ( 3 cats )
Phone and internet £ 25
Home insurance £20
Life insurance £20
Overdraft interest £20
rac £12
Car petrol £ 100
Sons swimming £18
Boiler cover £15
Sons ballet £18
Water 37
TV license £10

Total £1526

Leaves me 374 to deal with food, clothes, pet food and unexpected bills like car repairs etc. I have no savings : ( unfortunately can't reduce breakfast club and after school club due to hours I need to work. He is only at breakfast club 15 minutes, but we still need to pay. Only thing I can think of cutting down is food shop.

Nikkiclaire

Think I have been spending too much on food, and things for my son - like new clothes and books. Need to get my head round the fact that I need to live on a strict budget. I am sure it is very possible and sure people do well on much less, but it just seems to go : (

Ky-An

Similar situation. I sell my sons unwanted clothes on eBay. I also do mystery shopping. Got a pair of boots half price for visiting a shoe store. As for food shopping I plan my meals which helps me to budget. When I am going out we take a water bottle with us as Kids also want a drink when out and about.

mum2one

Nikkiclaire wrote: »

Hi outgoings are as follows
Income £ 1900 ( including everything )

Mortgage £500
Credit card £100 - could you try to do a balance transfer
Car loan £ 100
Council tax £70- [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]do you get single person discount[/COLOR]
Breakfast club 84
After school club £ 184
School dinners £20
Trade union £15
Gas/elec £ 130 - [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]that seems high, can you search to see if there is a better tarrif out.[/COLOR]
Car insurance £50 - [COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]at renewal shop around, try comparison sites 1st[/COLOR]
Pet insurance £ 18 ( 3 cats )
Phone and internet £ 25
Home insurance £20 -[COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]is that for buildings and contents? not a bad price, but try shopping around at renewal, I've just saved us £100 by shopping around and my current insurer matched it[/COLOR]
Life insurance £20
Overdraft interest £20
rac £12
Car petrol £ 100
Sons swimming £18
Boiler cover £15
Sons ballet £18
Water 37
TV license £10

Total £1526

Leaves me 374 to deal with food, clothes, pet food and unexpected bills like car repairs etc. I have no savings : ( unfortunately can't reduce breakfast club and after school club due to hours I need to work. He is only at breakfast club 15 minutes, but we still need to pay. Only thing I can think of cutting down is food shop.

Just a thought with the school holidays could you put the money spent on school dinners and maybe half that you pay out on breakfast / after schoolclubs, I know your need money for holiday activities etc - but if you can put this up may help to start a savings fund.

Food - have you got a slow cooker, there great for putting a meal in and be hot for when you get home.

Meal planning - look at batch cooking and freeze into portions, maybe once a month have a cooking day, and top up freezer. Whether its a cottage pie, lasgane, make 2 - one for now one for the freezer.

Mince - cook a batch off - can be used as a base for a variety of meals.

xx

Nikkiclaire

Thanks mum2one, unfortunately as I teach in further education, my holidays are not the same for all the schools so it goes on holiday club at £32 a day, but I like the idea about batch cooking - I like cooking, and I need to make time to do it. I am going to check out all the other posts regarding budgeting challenge/ meal planning and am determined to make it work- hopefully without my son even realising : )

Soworried

Have you tried the fuel diet? It saved me almost £30 a month.

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