Cheapest way to withdraw coins and tips to staying on the horse?

polkadot

I am an old poster who has let debt creep back in I've never really been very consistent at posting because I find myself whiling away too many hours and losing balance, but I hope I'll be welcomed back as I need to get a handle on it again.

We are moving house thanks to a section 21 and this has highlighted the extent to which our debt has climbed after a period of extended illness. I have updated our budget and found I have been underbudgeting for roughly the last 10 months, and am taking steps to remedy this:

The main two culprits I have identified are:

1) Groceries: We have a daily budget of £14, so Im trying to go shopping only every second day and then spending £30 and telling myself I'll make it up the next time I have to go in.

2) The little coins that need to be paid for kids clubs here and there. As an example, DS1's youth club is £4 a week and DD's ballet is £4 a week. So when I'm doing the shopping on Monday I ask for £10 cash back- but I spend the £2 on a coke from the vending machine at ballet.

It all adds up. So I've broken down my spending budget down to "I need 2x £2 coins for DS1 YC and 2x£2 coins for ballet and for 1 day groceries I need 1x£10 note and 2x£2 coins. The intention being to go back to my old trusty pocket purse system and doing a withdrawal once a week/fortnight.

I bank with Lloyds and they charge 53p per £100 (I need £111) for over the counter withdrawals. But I have heard that if you take notes in to the branch, they will exchange them for coins free of charge (I dont have this confirmed), so do I suck it up and and the 53p to my budget, or do I withdraw from a cash machine and take the notes in to the branch.

Also, Ill gladly take any tips you have to prevent impulse buying...I know it should be as easy as self discipline, but sometimes I just dont have any

patman99

First off, take a home-made juice with you to the ballet class. That's £2 a week you can put in a sealed pot.

I will assume that the youth club and the ballet class organisers have change available.
Pay for the youth club with a note, then the change gets used to pay for the ballet class.

If this doesn't appeal, then draw your money from a Post Office. There should be no charge and you can ask for the money any way you want.

polkadot

Thank you, I didn't realise I could draw money from the post office without buying stamps/posting something. I use coins for youth club because it is for tuck shop money and when I do give him a note he spends the extra pound or loses it.

He gets £4 as its split between him and a friend of his who I take, her mum and I alternate weeks, she pays when she takes them and I pay when I take them, otherwise it has to survive a day at school which doesnt always happen, for various reasons.

DawnW

£14 per day seems a lot for groceries. How many are you feeding? Do you have anything in that you could make meals with? Might it be an idea to meal plan and shop less frequently?

rising_from_the_ashes

I agree £14 / day for groceries is a big amount - how many in the family?

If the £4 is for tuck shop - can they not take stuff with them instead?

polkadot

DawnW wrote: »

£14 per day seems a lot for groceries. How many are you feeding? Do you have anything in that you could make meals with? Might it be an idea to meal plan and shop less frequently?

I should rephrase/find something else to call it. It's not just food. It's really "consumables" I guess. Washing detergent, dishwasher tablets, toiletries etc.

I dont necessarily shop every day. I try to bank a bit first and do a few days at a time. I used to shop a lot at Makro or Costco and then batch cook, but I had a setback last October when I ended up in physical rehab for a month trying to regain the use of my legs. since then I have very little physical strength so haven't been able to catch up.

During the time that I was "out of action", DH had to work from home and cover his 8 hours and he was looking after the kids and the housework. We have two boys full time and our daughter is at nursery so it means 3 school runs a day and we're just under 2 miles away from school. Once the stores were depleted he started shopping and doing take out. Shopping with the kids meant he was buying stuff the kids wanted and he was buying branded treats for them-where I usually do store value.

I've recently had Direct Payments approved for 3 hours a week and I've been using that time to declutter (and sell outgrown clothes and toys etc). Im trying to build up the cashflow so I can get back to buying bulk and batch cooking, something I will aim to do during my 3 hours with the personal assistant.

polkadot

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I agree £14 / day for groceries is a big amount - how many in the family?

If the £4 is for tuck shop - can they not take stuff with them instead?

Unfortunately not, they use the tuck shop as a way to raise funds. And the £4 is only every fortnight as his friends mum pays for both of them when she takes them.

rising_from_the_ashes

How many in the family?

£14 is still a lot / day even incl those items!

YORKSHIRELASS

I am quite shocked that your bank charges you for coin withdrawals. I always take out dinner money from my account at Barclays in £1 coins for no charge.

Personally I find that the more often I shop for groceries the more I spend. Have you tried shopping weekly? I spend £70 a week for everything for two adults and two teenagers but I could do it for less if I had to.

polkadot

There are 5 in the family. 2 Adults and three children (3,4 and 8) all the children are very fussy eaters and would frankly live on spaghetti, yoghurt and strawberries if we allowed them to.

I will admit that this results in a fair amount of waste as I try to cook other things for them but end up feeding them a second cooking session of spaghetti and mixed veg. And it is easy enough to say "they just need to learn", but really it's not as easy to do. I am trying to broaden their range. We go through a lot of milk. After a week end of no shopping, I will have 4x6pint bottles in my trolley at a cost of £5.20. It goes into porridge, chocolate milk, teas and coffees and during the week DH takes to work.

But it's not just about food. DS1 and I can only use oilatum for showering so thats £10 between us for wash and cream. We also use hypo allergenic for washing detergent (we use vinegar for softener). There is also shampoo, shaving paraphernalia for DH, deodorants, surface cleaner (mostly multipurpose from £land) batteries, light bulbs (I realise not often-but they do happen), loo paper and anything in the way of craft supplies for school projects.

Also things like stamps if I need to post anything and passport photos were needed a few times over the last few months-they came from that £14 a day.

I have a budget of £20 a month that I put away for school stuff and often it banks up, but some months, more is needed.

So my £14 a day works out to £98 a week and my aim is to have as many NSD's as possible.
Yorkshirelass I agree that the less I go to the shops the less I spend, and I do try to do weekly shopping-but cash flow is a really big problem for me so some weeks its not possible and that confuses things for a little while because I don't have anything to fall back on right now.

What does your £70 a week include? Maybe seeing examples of other shopping lists might give me a better idea of what I could be doing instead?

I don't always spend the entire £14-it is what is available. But I lose track of it because I cant see it, which is why I want to try the old purse system again. It worked and I built up a bit of second purse too.

My family dynamics are very different than they were when I was posting here before and I had a lot more time and I was more healthy (another thing Im trying to sort out).

What do you think I *should* be budgeting here?

rising_from_the_ashes

polkadot wrote: »

I will admit that this results in a fair amount of waste as I try to cook other things for them but end up feeding them a second cooking session of spaghetti and mixed veg. And it is easy enough to say "they just need to learn", but really it's not as easy to do.

Sorry but that needs to stop - cooking more than 1 meal (whether it's different meals for different family members or producing more than 1 meal for a particular person) is quite frankly ridiculous and a total waste of money.

It will be hard for a couple of weeks but they will soon learn that if they don't eat it, there is nothing else - I'm afraid you are making a rod for your own back pandering to it.

I 'get' restrictive dietary needs totally - my milk costs £1.31 / litre - and it only comes in 1 litre cartons! I spend £8 / week on milk alone and my whole diet is basically like that (my budget incl toiletries / cleaning stuff etc too)

Have you looked at the grocery challenge - even if you don't fancy joining (they are a great bunch though!) there are some fantastic recipes available.

Also, there's the 'feed your family for about £20' crowd - they are on FB but have recently done a website so you can search the recipes easier - very yummy! http://fyf20quid.co.uk/

polkadot wrote: »

But it's not just about food. DS1 and I can only use oilatum for showering so thats £10 between us for wash and cream.

Have you asked the Dr if there are any products that you can get on prescription if it's for a medical condition?

Lightbulbs - how many do you use? I've replaced 2 (recently) and I've been here 8 years!

polkadot wrote: »

passport photos were needed a few times over the last few months

Sorry but they're really not essential ..... if you're struggling to feed everyone and meet everyday needs then I'm afraid it may be that you need to forego holidays for a few years!

polkadot wrote: »

I don't always spend the entire £14-it is what is available. But I lose track of it because I cant see it, which is why I want to try the old purse system again. It worked and I built up a bit of second purse too.

I never quite managed to get the hang of the 2nd purse but I know a lot of people that it's worked really well for so def give it a bash. The 1st few weeks are hard but if you can try go build a little buffer it certainly helps when things are on offer and you can take advantage of them or something 'big' is needed that week.

Do you use shopping lists?

These are absolutely essential to cut down on not getting any non-essentials.

I run 2 - my 'need now' list & an 'offer' list - the 2nd tends to be things that last a while (eg a bottle of olive oil) and when I open one, I put it on the offer list. Both lists go to the sm with me but stuff on the offer list is only bought - if it's on a good offer! If I get to the point I'm going to run out, it moves over to the 'need now' list and I get it the next time I go. Hope that makes some sort of sense!

polkadot wrote: »

My family dynamics are very different than they were when I was posting here before and I had a lot more time and I was more healthy (another thing Im trying to sort out).

What do you think I *should* be budgeting here?

I wish you the best in getting your health back - it's awful when everything's a struggle and you know you could be doing better with many things but just can't - you will get there