£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

warby68

Good morning

With the grocery budget, perhaps you need to do some more detailed tracking of what you buy and what its costs and whether you can do some more trading down or not eg purely seasonal fruit. I'm sure you don't waste much but sadly and unfairly fresh food can be the most expensive.

I have a feeling that something like £400 is going to be more like your realistic minimum rather than £350. Say £80 per week. As this is such a core budget item and relentless it might be worth doing serious work on this for a month or two to get to that realistic number and build it in rather than beating yourself up on a fail every single month.

I'm gritting my teeth now for the summer hols - 2 older teenage boys at home for most of 8 weeks plays havoc with the supplies grrrr

armchairexpert

Food budget: where are you shopping? I switched from the Australian equivalent of Tesc0 to Ald! and I shaved off about $100/month. But I too have hit a wall with this one, and when I have interrogated friends who manage the budget I aspire to, I realise that it just wouldn't fly in my house. Like they either eat eggs on toast for dinner (I'd never get that one past Mr E), or they eat like I do but they count all treats from a separate budget. It sounds like you're already eating as frugally as you're comfortable with, so the only thing I can suggest is switching down brands if you haven't. And not keeping snacks in the house: we have jam on toast or pop some corn now, and nobody's wasted away yet.

reality_check

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Don't take this the wrong way but please PLEASE don't advise people to do this. The worst that can happen generally speaking with unsecured debt is that you trash your credit history and have trouble getting further borrowing until it's cleared up. The worst that can happen with secured debt is that you lose your family's home. We just don't advocate people going down that route other than in very specific circumstances! Borrowing against your home to "have some savings" is even worse - and frankly, if you need to do that, then your budget needs revision.

Well it worked ok for me in the past when I used the money to buy my parents ex council house, so it is an option! But anyway, you can have your opinion, just don't tell me not to have mine :money: xx

enthusiasticsaver

EssexHebridean wrote: »

South West is reknowned for high water bills which is why so many people in that area are on meters voluntarily as it's always going to work out cheaper than non-metered as I understand it!

Ways of saving water (generally not just aimed at TOPM):
Brick in the cistern - some water boards supply specific devices for this free of charge
Shower timers - or an agreement that for a "standard" shower a specific song is played and the shower has to be off by the time it ends.
If washing longer hair in the shower - wet it and yourself, turn off shower. Apply shampoo to hair and shower gel to body - turn shower back on and rinse.
If kids go swimming make sure they take shower gel and have a proper shower and definitely a hairwash at the pool.
In cooller weather a "stand up wash" is adequate every second day.
Small children can share a bath one at each end.
Taps are ALWAYS turned off while tooth-brushing happens, and a toothmug saves on water being run for rinsing.
For washing up - always run the hot in first and let down to temperature with the cold and always use...yes, you guessed it, A WASHING UP BOWL! :rotfl:
"If it's brown, flush it down, if it's yellow, let it mellow" is revoltingly American but can work - usually better in a smaller household though and can be tricky with kids as you don;t want them going to someone elses house and assuming it's OK to do the same thing...

Anyone got any more tips?

We are on a water meter and it is still £55 per month after the £50 government contribution just for 2 of us. We do have a garden, 2 cars and a pond though.

A water butt for the garden offers a bit of water saving. We have short showers and turn water off while shampooing hair. Our dishwasher and washing machine both use the eco programme which uses less water. No running of taps and I have stopped cleaning the bath beyond a wipeover every now and again and before the very occasional time we use it. I no longer wash the car at home unless it is very dirty and have forbidden OH to wash patio slabs with water pressure hose unless they are really really bad. Not sure what else we are able to do but I feel for families who live in the area.

cocalls

hello

hope you dont mind me popping in and giving my tuppence worth.
I love your diary and you write so eloquently.

id say no wonder you're struggling if your food budget is only £350/m, we're a family of 3 and we spend 60/wk (ok some of that is wine) and get a free organic veg box.

You sound so time poor that i wonder if you can buy some quick things so that you're not cooking all the time so it frees you to work more (or time for yourself)Like pasties-cheese and onion ones are 89p from aldis for 4-ok i know they may have some palm oil etc in them but they are ok or £1 pizzas, vegie burgers etc.

personally id cancel netflix & the audio thingy, try and get
the mobiles down even if you have to pay to cancel (i pay £7.50/m for my iphone with giffgaff and its more than enough for me)and put the money towards your food budget and a emergency fund.

oh and does the food you make for clients sometimes come out of your business budget?

KxMx

I know you use MySupermarket, and are time poor, but it might be worth looking at other options.

Local markets for fruit & veg, they usually have £1 bowls, and you could take a trip once a month to somewhere like B&M to stock up on things like loo roll, foil & cleaners.

mfmaybe

I think you do pretty blooming well on your budget with 3 kids. On the food front, we think £60/week is doing very well, and that's with only 1 small toddler. Pet food is excluded (as is Gin, ahem). I've never hit it off with the likes of Aldi. But the debt is real so steps must be taken. Sometimes it takes a bit of research to find the brands and products that fit with your tastes, budgets, ideals etc.

I notice that you have an entertainment budget, plus National Trust, plus audiobooks, plus netflix. Are you truly making the most of the latter 3? Personally I couldn't be without Netflix but it all adds up.

Suffolk_lass

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Ways of saving water (generally not just aimed at TOPM):
Brick in the cistern - some water boards supply specific devices for this free of charge
Shower timers - or an agreement that for a "standard" shower a specific song is played and the shower has to be off by the time it ends.
If washing longer hair in the shower - wet it and yourself, turn off shower. Apply shampoo to hair and shower gel to body - turn shower back on and rinse.
If kids go swimming make sure they take shower gel and have a proper shower and definitely a hairwash at the pool.
In cooller weather a "stand up wash" is adequate every second day.
Small children can share a bath one at each end.
Taps are ALWAYS turned off while tooth-brushing happens, and a toothmug saves on water being run for rinsing.
For washing up - always run the hot in first and let down to temperature with the cold and always use...yes, you guessed it, A WASHING UP BOWL! :rotfl:
"If it's brown, flush it down, if it's yellow, let it mellow" is revoltingly American but can work - usually better in a smaller household though and can be tricky with kids as you don;t want them going to someone elses house and assuming it's OK to do the same thing...

Anyone got any more tips?

We have a combination of water butts for the out-buildings that have gutters and a soak-away so that our rainwater is not counted by the meter as foul-water. We are also thatched so there is no gutter on the main house. This reduced our water bill by 40% because only water from taps is now paid for (including that which then enters the sewers via washing machine, dishwasher, toilets and bathrooms). We pay £29 a month

armchairexpert

cocalls wrote: »

hello
id say no wonder you're struggling if your food budget is only £350/m, we're a family of 3 and we spend 60/wk (ok some of that is wine) and get a free organic veg box.

So that's 240/month, including alcohol, and TOPM is spending an extra 50% on top of that with two extra young children and no alcohol. Two young children shouldn't cost an extra 110/m, should they? I think your budget is an indication that there is still room to move, not that there isn't.

(Please read in a supportive 'hurrah, there is somewhere to cut' voice not a 'tch what is wrong with you' voice)

cocalls

sorry should have said the £60 is without veg, the veg box would be £15 but i get it in exchange for some childcare so that's £75 with only 3 people.