Debt has reached £20,000!

tony1976

"post deleted, found what I needed"

tony1976

"post deleted, found what I needed"

tony1976

"post deleted, found what I needed"

HappyMJ

tony1976 wrote: »

My wife gets £375 tax credits and £188 child benefit. I was claiming housing benefit but thats stopped for a while due to over payments.

You do know that's household money paid to the both of you. It should be a part of your joint SOA. You could have a individual SOA from your own earning but you should include joint household income. I do believe you claimed the tax credit and the child benefit as part of a household so it's just as much yours as it is hers....well really it's for the children. It's not for your OH to repay her own personal debt with.

If there's a tax credit overpayment they'll come after you for the money.

tony1976

"post deleted, found what I needed"

HappyMJ

tony1976 wrote: »

To be honest I also thought £500 was a reasonable amount but a lot of people say it is too high. As you say £17 to feed 5 3 times a day doesn't seem that much. Sure I could feed my kids junk and cheep pizza but then the cost is paid with their health. I will look again at the groceries but it has been hard getting it down. There is £25 for entertainment. This is the Netflix and nowtv, I do not have cable or sky. I am not sure we could handle the 3 kids without it.

I've noticed everyone does say that about every SOA on here...but I live in the real world. Kids need fresh fruit available at all times. That might mean some of it gets binned but it must always be made available to them to eat.

Your entertainment budget is fine. Don't worry about it....unless you want screaming kids I'd keep it.

poppasmurf_bewdley

tony1976 wrote: »

Baby (Nappies etc)...................... 50 - What does this actually cover?

Isn't that obvious?

dylan2011

Hi, just wanted to say, pop over to the Old Stylers board for advice re. the grocery budget. I really find it quite derogative reading comments about spending less than £500 a month not being healthy etc. We are a family of 4, and spend £200-£250 a month. We cook from scatch, and eat a very balanced diet with lots of fruit and veg daily, fair size meat portions etc. I actually find it is the "packet" stuff that costs a lot more than eating fresh. My children have fresh fruit available to them at all time - currently, there are apples and satsumas. When they run low it will be topped up. It is quite disgusting reading that wasting food is advocated! There is no need to waste fruit, as has been suggested here, you just buy less.
A typical daily diet for us:
Breakfast - Weetabix or Porridge followed by a banana. Plus boiled eggs for partner.
Lunch - Omelette, Soup (home made), Sandwiches or left overs from dinner with yogurt, fruit & some times a home made flapjack or cake. Occassionly a bag of crisps.
Dinner - Home made spag bol - 5% fat mince, grated carrot, celery, mushrooms, peppers, onions, garlic, herbs and tinned toms or passata with spaghetti.
Snacks - Fruit, Veg sticks and dips, yogurt.
We do have treats as well, and the house always has plenty of food in. We shop mostly at Aldis. Decent meat is a must for us, as I believe you get more for your money. (eg. a cheap mince won't fill you up anywhere near as much as a lean mince, low meat content bready sausages won't fill you up as well as higher meat content ones).
I think you could get the grocery spends to £300 fairly easily, however, maybe try knocking it down to £400 to start with and see how you get on. You may be surprised.
Also, spending £50 a month on baby toiletries is quite high. Have you used own brand nappies? eg. Aldis are £4.50 a pack and a pack easily lasts a week for 1 child in nappies.

tony1976

"post deleted, found what I needed"

dylan2011

tony1976 wrote: »

Seriously £50 a week? That's just over £7 a day. Let's go with the bolgnase.
Low fat mince: £3,
2 tins of tomatoes: 75p,
mushrooms £1,
1 pepper: 35p,
onion: 20p
Now that's just over £5 for one meal not including herbs or an side salad.
Sausage and mash
Good sausages: £2.50
Veg (×3): £1
Potatoes: £1
That's £4.50.
If you really are feeding 4 for 7.15 a day please put an example with priced as I would like to see how you can do that.

Here you go, I actually said £50-£60 a week. But here are a few examples:
Breakfast: Porridge -
200g porridge oats - 15p (Aldi)
Milk - 1 pint - 25p (Aldi)
Basics Honey - 4 teaspoons - 5p? (Aldi)
Bananas x 4 - 35p (Aldi)
Boiled Egg for OH - 8p (Aldi)
Total: 78p


Lunch -
Ham & Cucumber Sandwiches -
10 slices wholemeal bread (2 each for me and kids, 4 for partner) - 30p - (Aldi)
5 slices ham - 50p (Aldi)
1/2 a cucumber - 25p (Aldi)
4 x Portions Yogurt 50p (We use the big pots split it out, or own brands, much cheaper this way) (Aldi)
4 x portions of fruit 60-80p (apple or satsumas or grapes) (Aldi)
£2.25


Dinner -
300g 5% fat mince £2 (Tesco - buy a big pack, split it out)
2 x grated carrot - 5p
1 x pepper - 30p (aldi)
2 x onions - 5-10p (buy cheap ones - aldi)
1/2 pack mushrooms - 35p (aldi)
1 x celery stick - 10p (aldi)
1 x Tinned Toms - 35p
1 x Passata - 35p
Spaguetti - 20p
Total: £3.80
Total for days meals: £6.83 - I'd also have 200g of spaguetti left to carry over later in the week.


Option 2:
Breakfast -
8 x Weetabix 60p (could do cheaper if used cheap versions)
1 x Pint Milk - 25p
4 x Bananas - 35p
2 x Egg - 16p
Total: £1.36


Lunch -
Soup - 1/2 bag carrots - 30p
pepper - 35p
onion - 5p
garlic - 5p
few herbs and spices - 5p
4 x bread rolls - 30p
4 x fruit portions - 60-80p
4 x yogurt portions - 50p
£2.30


Dinner -
Premium Sausages - £2 - (Aldi)
800g pots - 50p max (this is using Aldi 5kg bags, but you can get cheap sacks of spuds for less)
Brocolli - 50p
Total: £3


£6.66 for days meals.






My children are young, so eat smaller portions, and we shop around for good deals. I regularly buy Yellow Sticker bargains, but I don't base my budget around these as they are not always available, and I shop at Aldi mostly. I spend £50-£60 a week on groceries. The only expense on top of that is the little ones nappies & wipes. Some people do it for less, and I'm sure if you pop over to OS board they will tell you how they do it as well. It's very easy to spend a lot more, I know that, and I can see it is easily done. But it is also just as easy to spend this amount with a bit of planning, organisation, shopping around etc. I bulk buy where I can as well, and I have a good store cupboard of herbs and spices.
I do a roast dinner every week and then the next day we have a stir fry or curry with the meat that's left. (Usually pork shoulder or chicken as that is usually best price, but sometimes I get a cheap piece of beef or lamb reduced) If it's a chicken I also boil it up and make a soup with the stock and last bits of meat.
Al.most alll of our treats are home made. A big batch of home made flapjack costs hardly anything to make and stores well. Same with a basic cupcake or sponge pudding.
I buy a big pack of crisps a week for £2.80 from Aldi as well and basic cream crackers etc. also at about 40p a pack and a pack of biscuits (custard creams or bourbons, around 40p a pack).
Hope this helps.