Average monthly Income?

jimjames

familyms wrote: »

Credit Card/next 100

familyms wrote: »

Thank you for your reply - We don't have any debt, is Stoozing site just for information and advice/support?

Curious about this. Is it an oversight or you don't see it as debt? Anything paid for on credit card should be under another category unless it's clearing past debts.

No_6

Also as a drinker of a nice glass of wine or brandy or even larger,
not budgeted for ?
or is it included in the food bill ?

Like ours are

glider3560

familyms wrote: »

however what really is the average for a family of 3??, so we are in process of sorting that one out, as in past OH is always saying we'll go to shops

I live alone and spend £100 to £120 per month on food shopping. Simply mltiplying that by three, would give £300 to £360 per month. As a family of three, you could take advantage of more multipack purchases than I could, so I would go for the lower end of that (i.e. £300).

What I do is:

• Decide what I'll eat for lunch and dinner every day and write this down - meals can be moved to a different day or ingredients converted to something else if you fancy something different
• Then go through the cupboards and freezer, to see what I need to buy
• Write a list of everything I need to purchase and exactly how much
• Go to the shop and buy only what is on the list - nothing else - don't be fooled by special offers - only get what you need

I imagine you also buy a lot of brand names. Try the stores own brand, or even the value version. I buy many value products which are perfectly good and in many cases, comparable to brand names.


Also, do not go to small convenience stores like Co-op or Tesco Express. Everything is more expensive and the cheaper brands are often not available. Once you get good at meal planning, you won't ever need to visit these stores as you'll buy everything on your big weekly shop.


Take advantage of your freezer. I often plan to make more of a meal than I will need and freeze the rest in washed out plastic food containers (e.g. from takeaways).



Every few weeks, I visit a discounter like B&M, to stock up on things I need from there (e.g. jars of jalapenos, tinned goods, soft drinks, etc).