Budget for 1 and a teen??

sammey90

Hi all

Trying to sort my life out. I have recently started a job through an agency and get paid weekly, but in January I will be moving to a fixed term contract, paid monthly. So I will have around 3.5 - 4 weeks where I will not be paid. I will have some income - child tax credit, child benefit and dd's DLA, so just need to stretch things out and put some aside between now and then to make sure I have January's bills sorted.

I put all my 'potential' income in a spreadsheet, and (I was surprised!!) will GET nearly £2000 between now and January 1st, and £800 between then and my first 'salary'. Sounds huge (don't get me wrong, that IS a lot of money), but I need to cover two months bills and spending, whilst trying to pay some debts and have some semblance of a Christmas for DD.

Here's my question - how much weekly / monthly is a reasonable budget for 1 adult and a 14 yr old, for groceries and household, can manage without treats (It's Christmas so there'll be loads around, and she's diabetic, so I try to keep a lid on it anyway). I know it's a 'piece of string' question, but I do well on small amounts of money - if I leave all the money I've mentioned in my account, I'll fritter it away on treats and takeaways

Sorry, turned a bit rambly, and this may not be the best place, but hopefully someone is on my wavelength, and can point me in the right direction.

Thanks x

meritaten

I think it depends on whether your teen is an 'eating machine' tbh! when my teen grandkids visit they strip my cupboards bare as they are always 'starving'!
I think one adult can survive very nicely on around £20 - 25 per week, a 'starving' teen will easily eat one and half times an adult (mainly on 'snacks). if you are lucky and your teen just eats the average amount then about £30 - £35?
again this depends on your eating habits - lots of meat increases the costs. if you only eat breakfast and supper/tea/dinner then this decreases the cost - ive based it on 3/4 meals per day.

of course, people will post they spend much less - but it depends on the 'standard' of living you are used to and how much you are prepared to spend.

katylou6180

Hey Sammey


You're right, it is a bit "how long is a bit of string" and "reasonable" depends on your income and how much you have to spend!


I can only post what is "reasonable" in my house, we don't scrimp and eat well and I tend to work on a budget of approximately £20-£25 per person, per week, in our house that's me (35), o/h and 16yr old hollow legged son and I work full time so at times am quite time poor as well (or disorganised, whichever way you wanna put it lol).


I'll break it down as best I can:
Main Meals, my men are carnivores, all meals in here contain meat- I try not to buy too much processed but it has its place- and I try and work on an "average" of £5 per meal over the week= approx. £35 typical weeks menu below: as you can see some are way more expensive than others.
Sunday Roast, Chicken Fajitas & Salad, Chilli & Wedges, Toad in the Hole & Veg, Fish & Hm Chips & Peas, Beef Stew & Dumplings, Lasagne, Garlic Chicken, New Potatoes & Veg. Varies from week to week and shop from offers, and plan around these.


Then there comes the "pack up stuff" everyone here is at work or college and different shifts so weekly or bi weekly theres combinations of Fruit, Cereal, Tinned stuff for cupboard (soups beans etc), Crisps, Cereal Bars & Biscuits, Squash & drinks, Tea & Coffee etc I also allow a small amount for "bargains" ie stuff I use regularly that's on offer, this equates to roughly £20 per week approximately.


Then there's the "essential" bits picked up, bread, milk etc that has to be done every couple of days as milk seems to be consumed by the gallon and bread disappears with amazing frequency, I spend about a fiver a week on that.


Then there's "the rest" toiletries, washing stuff etc that you don't need every week but when you do it's expensive, and treats, as life wouldn't be life without a treat once in a while and if you don't you'll wonder what you're doing everything for!


My advice would be stock your non-perishables now while you have the money, make sure you've got enough smellies and laundry stuff to take you through that month.


Meal plan if you can, planning it beforehand you know how much you're spending.


And enjoy your job


I hope this helped, noted no one had been along- hopefully this will get a few more people along to advise, my way isn't necessarily correct but is just how we chug along here.


Good luck
xx

NewShadow

Really, it's probably best to think you have two adults, rather than 1 and .75.

There are a few factors:

Do you eat together?
Do you do breakfast?
Do you do snacks?
Do you like to/can you cook from base ingredients?
Do you need cold/transportable food at lunch, or can you heat/eat leftovers?
Does your DD need to manage her diabetes through food, and if so does that mean more snacks/protein, restricted fruit/cheap carbs?
How much meat/eggs/cheese/milk/fruit/etc do you want to be eating?
How often can you shop and what shops are near you?
Is this a long or short term plan, and do you have stock in already?
How much food storage space do you have to accommodate building stocks?
Do you want to be eating for as cheap as possible, or do you have a budget in mind and want to get as much as you can from it?

That's just a few off the top of my head...

I spend around £150 a month on just me - I'll admit lately that's included a fair amount of convenience and stocking up.

For me and my ex: I spent around £80/100 a month when we were both unemployed and I had time to cook and go to the local markets. I spent around £180 a month after I found work again - he didn't cook or shop and I was too tired/irritated to cut further.

The above was lots of meat, seasonal veg, mostly frozen fruit.

suki1964

I feed 3 adults for an average of £120 a month, but then I do have the luxury of living near a poultry factory where I can buy poultry for pennies rather then pounds, and I also have the luxury of having the time to scratch cook every day

You of course will be working full time and perhaps don't have the time or inclination to cook from scratch daily

Firstly ring all the money you have to for the bills and debt payments - you can't touch that,then put aside an amount for emergencies/savings then what you have left over is your budget.

Then divide that between the amount of weeks till pay day and take out a weeks money at a time, and that's it, your spend money for that week and stick to it. Never take your cards out shopping with you, just cash. That way you know if come the end of the week you can afford a takeaway or not. Having the money in your purse and only spending cash will focus your mind on where money is going. JackieO is a great advocate of this way of spending and her personal challenge is never to spend the full amount so she has some left over to put to her holiday fund. I use the same method kind off , only my left overs go into money boxes which go towards the car insurances and Christmas

No one can really say that x amount is enough to feed/clothe/entertain you as we don't live your life, you have to work that out for yourself. For me using cash only really does work as seeing the amount dwindle in real life rather then just on a print out can't be ignored

Good luck and congratulations for your new job

tessie_bear

wow suki thats brilliant...£10 a person per week..amazing if you have a minute could you share a few meals or a days eating ta

i am spending way too much on food so wont write a figure...need to reduce it so will look for some tips on here

good luck op

Goldiegirl

katylou6180 wrote: »

I hope this helped, noted no one had been along- hopefully this will get a few more people along to advise, my way isn't necessarily correct but is just how we chug along here.


Good luck
xx

It sounds very realistic for a family who are all at work or college


Excellent post:)

pollypenny

If the teen is a boy, then you should think in terms of three adults.

We'd eat at about 6, earlier if he had rugby training. About 7 I'd hear the sliding doors in the kitchen go swoosh as he foraged for a snack. Then it would be another one, usually big bowl of cereal around 10.

There's times when you can see teenage boys grow, I'll swear!

DigForVictory

I share the suspicion that the deal hangs rather on the teen.
As yes, metabolic rates like a blast furnace, but that can be managed with loads of pasta and cheap veggies. Diabetic lass? Likely equally aware of the calorie side, just needs to be coached to add money into the maths. With the "here's the deal, all extras go towards" film nights, new clothes, whatever works.
I'm too short to watch my sons grow now, but the way the fridge door thumps? I can hear it whimpering...

mel48rose

pollypenny wrote: »

If the teen is a boy, then you should think in terms of three adults.

We'd eat at about 6, earlier if he had rugby training. About 7 I'd hear the sliding doors in the kitchen go swoosh as he foraged for a snack. Then it would be another one, usually big bowl of cereal around 10.

There's times when you can see teenage boys grow, I'll swear!

I've got 2 teenage boys and it's the same here :rotfl:

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi

Good advice already been given. I spend £70 a week for 2 adults and 2 teens. DH works outdoors and despite being skinny eats like a horse, he does like his meat too. My boys are 15 and 17 and seem to be always hungry. Like katielou we can go through bread and milk at an alarming rate.

I think there are different ways of doing this. I mealplan and only buy what I need, plus extras for breakfasts, lunches and snacks. I shop mostly at Li*dl and rarely buy brands.

In my head I grade meals according to how expensive they are and try to do a mixture. So a cheap meal might be homemade pizza, a medium priced meal might be stew and dumplings, an expensive meal might be fish.

Meat is always diced up small and padded out with lots of veg and potatoes. Leftovers are always frozen to have with a jacket potato or to go in DHs food flask. Nothing gets wasted here.

Cleaning products are limited to washing up liquid, a bit of furniture polish, bleach and stardrops. I do buy branded washing powder, but whatever is on offer.

Oh and I also believe that the less often you go to the supermarket the less you spend!