Any advice anyone please??

dawnylou

Really? I had no idea! I think maybe I should check that out then.

csarinaknight

I wish we had £250 a month to live on my monrthly budget is £100 for food, £20 for petrol and £32.50 for pocket money for OH,out of which he pays for treats.

We do manage a holiday in France each year thanks to Keycamp, our next years holiday to the south of France is already booked and 10 days will cost us approx £140, plus 4 nights in a village hotel on the journey down and back.We holiday out of season to take advantage of cheap rates, but also because OH plays bowls and we have an allotment.

I use Tesco clubcard points to pay for our channel crossing, we like the tunnel.......so approx £20 in club card points pays for our crossing.......we are also saving for a trip to Florida...we have friends there so a hotel is not necessary, hope to save enough to pay for our flights over the next 12 months............

We live in sheltered housing and our kitchen is miniscule, however, I do have a fridge freezer, I have my meat for Christmas in it, beef was on offer at Mr T's a few weeks ago and I bought a lovely piece of topside............;.have you tried keeping a spending diary, you might be suprised to see where you actually do spend money, I know when I did it, it was a revalation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you do a search on this site you will find lots of advice to help you cut yur budget and also meals and shopping tips, its a great site.......use it to your advantage......................

dawnylou

I wish we could have a holiday each year! lol
How can you possibly get your petrol so cheap though? We use our Asda card to get 2p off each litre and even just fiance going to work and back costs about £80 per month!
And I would be over the moon if we could get our shopping down to £100!!!
I have gone overdrawn 2 months in a row now and can't afford to gon like this

duchy

I reckon you spend like I used to.......don't menu plan and don't make a shopping list-and open to some some nice looking impulse buys in the supermarket. Try shopping online so you aren't physically there to get tempted away from your list. That running total at the side of your shopping list is quite an incentive to think...do we NEED this item ? Even paying for delivery (which I try to avoid as I can usually find money off vouchers on here for more than the delivery) I save money. We also designate takeaways as "treats" not essentials-we enjoy them more (once a month rather than once a week) and it's another big saving.

The other area that you don't mention is lunches. Do you take a packed lunch to work or do you buy lunch. I found bought lunches added up to an amazing amount over a month.

dawnylou

As I said before - I menu plan, make a list and order online.
I use extra points as opposed to money off if I can though as it is going towards our honeymoon.
We don't get takeaways - I make tarts or wedges as a treat.

We take packed lunches which are usually salads or leftovers.

duchy

Hrmmm I'm not sure where you can make cuts unless it's the type of food you're buying then-do you buy a lot of expensive cuts of meats...own brand or premium label, that kind of thing ? £250 sounds a lot me and that's feeding me and a teenager known as the bottomless pit. I never exceed £200 a month (usually it's even less) and that includes bulk buying when prices are low although I do stick to the rule-"If it's run out wait til shopping day" as if I pop in for one thing I usually end up buying several bits I don't really need. Even £50 a month would be nice "treat money" for nights out. Maybe a spending diary would help you identify if the "bits and pieces" through the month could be painlessly trimmed ?

dawnylou

I know I can't understand why it works out so expensive!
I thought going to fruit and veg shop might work out cheaper but the state of their stock was apalling! Some stuff was even beginning to go mouldy!
We get own label meat - sometimes we buy other meat if it is in the whoopsies and we freeze it for later.

We have been talkig today though and this seems to be the main area where we should be able to reduce so we are going to completely empty the freezer over the next week or so and use everything up and just buy the fruit and veg to go with it so weekly shop should be about £50 ish - inc dog food as we are almost out now.


Then we will try the grocery challenge again I guess.

soappie

Do you have a local market anywhere near you? I've started using the Saturday market near me for veg. OK, the quantities tend to be more than I need for the week, but I blanch and freeze the surplus. The quality is much better than the supermarket and the price much cheaper.

I've found since I've been doing this, I haven't had to throw away veg at the end of the week.

dawnylou

I don't know of any market around here, and the fruit and veg shops seem skanky lately so unfortunately supermarket seems to be the only way for me.
I don't really want to be cutting down on our fruit and veg as it is important to me that we are healthy
We are going to use up stuff we already have in house - maybe just buy some frozen veg as that is quite cheap - and live off that for as long as possible.

squeaky

dawnylou wrote: »

Thanks - I will look through all of these and see what I can pick up
With regards to where my post is situated - I'm not sure. If you think it will get better response elswhere feel free to move it, I didn't think it would class as DFW as I am not in debt - yet! :eek:

Hi dawnylou

You don't have to be in debt to get a great deal of benefit from the advice available from the regulars on DFW. In fact - they're always a good place to go before you get in debt.

These guys are past masters at helping people reduce their overall spend right across the board, and, as Pink said - a good look down the list of forums will help you pick off the best areas where you can make savings - and then DFW wll show you how to save even more. Honest

So since Pink isn't on line right now - I'll move you across.

Good luck