Average weekly living bill?

Jon_J

Could anybody give me an indication of the average household spend on the weekly basics - food/drink/petrol?

How should you budget for clothes, CD's etc which are often needed and purchased on an adhoc basis.

I seem to loose control very easily! All suggestions are welcomed!

divadee

Thought this might be better placed here.

divadee

Have you seen the online budget calculator on here?

If not ClickHere and that will give you a start.

Anyone else got any suuggestions?

rach

i budget £60 per month for petrol (though i don't usually use all that - small car!!), £100 for food & wine from supermarket etc (live alone), and then i have £30 a week which i get out in cash for things like cds, clothes, etc...not a lot perhaps but it works ok (this week i somehow have £18 left!!!)

i put money aside in to diff ING acounts each month for car, home insurance, holiday, Gym, treats, presents for Christmas etc so that my weekly money is literally just spends!

pm me if you want more info and i'll email you my full budget if it helps.

think it all depends on your lifestyle really, but i have learned to live within my means and still save a fair bit into my ISA.

hope that helps - Rach.

Spendless

How big is your household JonJ?
Just you or partner and/or kids?

homealone_2

this looks great, am terrified of results. i know we spend a fortune on credit cards. we married a year ago and husband was in major debt before we met, so the two together is not good. live with 2 teenagers as well. am hoping someone can give me some advice when i have the final figures, dont even know myself how much is spent monthly on credit card repayments, am scared to look......

rach

like divadee said have a look at the budget thingy... you will just have to be really strict with yourselves til its all sorted!! i used to be scared to open my cc bills and bank statements - now i spend less, but i don't think my quality of life is less - partly i just don;t buy so much crap i don't need, - and i always know i'll have enough to get by, and save some. just looking into it is the first step!

Spendless

1st look at any debts transfer onto 0% cc or lower rate loan if can.
Next go thru bank statement can you get rid of anything eg gym membership you never use.
Make sure you are getting best deal from supplier of things like gas electric phones (tho current advice from Martin dont change energy supplier yet due to price rises - wait)
Look at things where you could deff cut back like shopping,there is a Food Shopping For a Family-ish thread on here which is full of great ideas.
Clothes I tend to buy when sales are on. Easy for me as my kids are too little to be bothered about fashions.
Keep coming on here. We all try to help.

Yoga_Girl

When I first worked out my monthly budget I started off by keeping every receipt for a month and writing down exactly how much I spent in different catagories - food, clothes, household stuff, nappies etc. It also gave me a good idea of where I was wasting money and which areas I could cut back on.

Like Spendless I only buy children's clothes in the sales - mine are too young as well to be bothered by the latest trends!