Budgeting Help

joanne0620

Good afternoon everyone :hello:

I'm looking for some help with budgeting for food shopping (including nappies & toiletries) Our budget for 2 + 9 month old son is £300 but can go over or be under, it's never consistent. I try to meal plan after a fashion and do a biggish shop at Aldi on pay day and then fill my freezer in Iceland and then just get bits from Tesco as and when I need them. If I am honest I think it is "getting bits" that is the problem. I am thinking of doing the following to be better organised and hopefully save some cash :-

* Taking my shopping money out of the bank on pay day and having it in a seperate purse so that I don't use my card.
* Having a set day to go shopping ie Thursday night after work and doing shopping for a week rather than a month.

At the moment it's all a [STRIKE]bit [/STRIKE] very disorganised, so any help/advice would be very much appreciated

LOOYATES

hi jo, ive just started with this, i had a part time job cleaning at asda, but unfortunatly we didnt get the discount so i was spending major dosh, the easiest way for me was to meal plan first, there are plenty of ideas on old threads, for say 2 weeks at a time, then write lists for everything, then its easier to see where your going wrong, but i dont nip out for a few bits anymore, i just stock up on stuff i know im going to run out of, i then make stuff up in bulk and freeze you know lasagne and stuff, even puds, i bought a breadmaker too and its great. over 3 months ive saved over 300 quid, i hope this helps, let me know how you get on.

Angelraesunshine

Hi joanne,

The easiest way i found was to go back to monthly shopping the more i needed each week the more i spent as more aisles to go down.

I now plan a month of meals. I have an a4 pad in the kitchen and go through the kitchen to see what meals i can make 1st and fill it all in for different days. The i go online to Tesco and fill out all the rest all bogofs go towards the following months meals and i fill in as much as i can for bread and milk and perishables.

If during the month i need to change a days meals i just swap with an other day not used yet.

Then i shop in tesco for the milk and bread and fresh stuff only when i run out of a few things. For me i have brought down my shopping from nearly £500 to under £350 a month or thats was my budget is set for at present we are a family of 5. You will soon work out after a try what way of doing this will work for you but when you do stick to it, being on the grocery challenge here too has really helped me as i tell everyone else what i spend and see it better my self so when i do good you feel so much better about it and when you dont you know others might not of either.

overlykeensaver

Definitely meal planning is the way to go. If you know what you will be eating each week it will save on the (possibly random) top ups!