I'm really bad with money... Like really bad!

skogar

How about explaining that you are trying to budget sensibly and that you will visit every other week or a couple of times a month instead. £10 expenditure down to £5 week. Could they ring you the other week instead?

Pixie5740

Why do you have to visit your family every week? Could you Skype them instead especially since your parents are trying to encourage you to be more financially responsible. Maybe only visit once a fortnight or month. Is there anyway to get there for less than £10?

rageagainstessays

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Why do you have to visit your family every week? Could you Skype them instead especially since your parents are trying to encourage you to be more financially responsible. Maybe only visit once a fortnight or month. Is there anyway to get there for less than £10?

skogar wrote: »

How about explaining that you are trying to budget sensibly and that you will visit every other week or a couple of times a month instead. £10 expenditure down to £5 week. Could they ring you the other week instead?

DCFC79 wrote: »

Can you not alternate who visits who ?

They visit you and shout you a lunch somewhere, this way you save the £10 on travel and get a free meal.

Have no idea the distance between the 2 parties mind, was an idea.

The people in question are my parents, they live in a different city and one of them is ill so I like to go and see them weekly.

karlie88

rageagainstessays wrote: »

The people in question are my parents, they live in a different city and one of them is ill so I like to go and see them weekly.

OK so were down to £40 per week.

Still easy to do.

£20 per week on food. For roughly £3/day you can quite easily have healthy breakfasts, lunch and tea. Go to Lidl or Aldi for fresh fruit, veg and meat. Aldi have their super 6 fruit and veg on offer all the time - prices start from 39p. Lidl have half price weekend offers; some great meat on offer during those times. e.g. 500g minced beef for £1, whole chickens for £2...

If there's no Aldi/Lidl near you then I suggest you go shopping in the evenings to buy 'reduced to clear' items. Most of the time you can get 75%+ off food. If meat is reduced, I usually buy lots at the time and freeze when I go home.

Bulk buy items where possible. Spices are quite pricey and cost £1-£2 per little bottle in most supermarkets. I go to a local Asian supermarket and buy 500g packs of spices for the same price and just fill the spice jars up. My housemates used to share mine.

The other £20 per week can be used for social events. I never bought books on my course. I always used the library. Stationery cost me about £40 for the year (less than £1/week). Which leaves you with £19 per week to do whatever the hell you want with.

mgdavid

rageagainstessays wrote: »

The people in question are my parents, they live in a different city and one of them is ill so I like to go and see them weekly.

you have to learn the difference between Like and Need.
You've made a sensible first step by coming onto MSE for advice; the tough bit is accepting it and acting on it.

101problems

50 a week is more than do-able and you can still be social!!
When I was a student I more or less lived on noodles and veg!
I used to buy the 5 pack of noodles for £1 and potatoes my weekly food spend was £4 and it was reasonably healthy, restrict yourself to spending no more than £5 a day it may sound hard but it's really not if you can do this you you still have £11 a week spare it may not sound much but it's a couple of pints with friends. Stick rigidly to your £5 a day habit and anything you have left goes in the pot for your social needs when you start earning good money you will have learned/earned a respect for budgeting.
I lived this way for 3 years now I have a great job but still work to a daily budget (albeit a much larger daily allowance)and save so much more than I ever would have

anotheruser

rageagainstessays wrote: »

I have to visit family weekly, its a £10 cost

You are going to have to compromise somewhere.
But it is your choice where.