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

helsbell

Hi TOPM

I hope camping is going well. After Friday night's downpour the weather seems to have settled down here, so hopefully it's the same where you are.

I've been catching up with your diary, and I notice you're finding it hard to identify where you can make savings on your food shop. You've talked about examining your receipts but that hasn't revealed any accidental champagne and caviar purchases so maybe you could try looking at it from the other end? Have you thought about keeping a food diary?

The menu plan you posted doesn't appear to add up to the amount you're spending, but it also doesn't include breakfast, lunch or snacks. You also bake a lot, maybe that's costing more than you realise? Does baking for clients come out of your food budget, or do you charge it to the business?

If you did a food diary for all of you for a week, you might just unlock the mystery of where all that money is going. Then it's up to you and your family to decide whether to change your eating habits or increase your budget.

Just a thought to consider.

Savertobe

Dear TOPM

I fear that not spending as much will have to become a lifestyle choice - your generation has been badly hit by housing costs, the credit crunch and now BREXIT. I would say from experience that all unnecessary expenditure should go until the utility shortfalls are paid up and the nursery care kicks in. I am assuming none have happened yet. Otherwise your gift budget is high - I put away £70 per month which does not include myself and husband - we will buy if we can afford it at the time. Its for the children and grandchildren - 8 of them plus Mother and Father. I would not buy children's party presents or other special event presents out of this.

By skimming a bit off all necessities including activities for the children and phones you could trim the budget a bit - perhaps £20 saving on food possibly through moving to packed lunch. I don't think there is any saving on clothing as this is very reasonable. Food budget looks realistic to me but there might be some leeway - have a look at cleaning materials this can add up also foodbags etc.

Get a detailed quote for building work agree materials and costs and build in a contingency for replacing stuff not planned for. Use fairly standard basic fittings and flooring - you can always upgrade things like this concentrate on getting the building sound and well insulated.

quintwins

Hope your enjoying camping, good boots are a godsend, I own some very expensive wellies for dog walking, normally I hate wellies but these ones were worth every penny and I can justify it because I need them every day.

Treadingonplaymobil

Checking in to say I haven't spent anything since arriving, making it a successful holiday so far.

I do suspect that making our own is more expensive than buying readymade, but cheaper than buying the same quality ready made as we make - does that make sense? I am absolutely not prepared to compromise on feeding us all food that I don't consider healthy (in the the sense of processed/synthetic ingredients, rather than sugar/salt/fat free), which I suspect does limit cuts to a degree.

Although I did check out the relative prices of peaches (95p for a punnet of 8ish) vs apples (1.39 for 6) and was surprised in Aldi on Friday - I need to make more little discoveries like that!

Thanks for YNAB comments - will look at assigning the inflow to different months when I'm back in front of the computer.

And thanks for all the other little comments and tips - I am on my phone which makes individual replies harder, but I am reading and considering them all!

Treadingonplaymobil

Ps: the expensive boots are already proving worthwhile, thanks to incessant rain from arrival until the middle of last night!

Suffolk_lass

I am totally with you on the boots. My Brashers are well over ten years old, are goretex and worth every penny. I believe I can get them re-soled of the inners hold out too.

enthusiasticsaver

lovely and sunny down here in Cornwall so hopefully you get some of that in the next few days. Here's hoping for a lovely holiday for you.

PurpleFairy26

Just to add my two bob on food shopping. To be honest we've tried everything, cash only, menu planning, different shops for different products etc... and the thing that makes the biggest difference is just not going. I know that sounds odd, but if you can get over that hurdle and get comfortable with less than bursting cupboards and fridge and some store cupboard essentials it will help.

I'm like you, only by butter, even for baking and really think about what the smalls eat and what I make. we don't eat enough bread to bake it, so it's more economical getting a slice at a time out of the freezer.

We do menu plan and shop around as that helps, of course it does, but it's definitely a combination of all rather than 1 alone. Also, we have at least 1 meal a week that's unplanned, so we have to make do out of fridge/cupboards. Today it was poor mans carbonara - small pack of Cubed bacon, basics spaghetti, garlic, 2 eggs, basics natural yogurt and some Parmesan. Empty plates all round, less than £2 for all 4 of us.

The other thing is that it's hard to go from whatever your spend is to where you want to go in one go, or even a few months. I mean, obviously we'd all like to do that, but, it takes time, practise and skill. So perhaps set yourself an interim goal and then have your aspirational number for further down the line. We're spending £65/month less than we were 2 years ago (when I still had a small in nappies that were included) with food prices going up.

I feel like I should be able to do it for £200 a month, but in reality I know that's never going to happen. It may for some, just not me, so I just work to my budget and be happy that I've got it to there from where it was.

Sorry for the ramble, hope it helps (and it's not raining wherever you are pitched )

Treadingonplaymobil

Have spent a whopping £11 so far on this holiday, on ferry crossings in a nearby town. Had forgotten how cheap camping is once we're actually here. One more day to go, then home for epic quantities of laundry before heading off again on Friday for a long weekend camping again.

Will do July round up/August plans when I get home too. Last month wasn't amazing so I'm not expecting great things, but still good to look back at the successes and failures.

Cherryfudge

We found actually being on our holiday was cheaper too. The main reasons were finding a cheap supermarket, not going out for dinner as often and not paying much in the way of entry fees. Yet it was one of the most relaxing holidays ever! Things that made it work well were good weather and good company (as well as air con and Wi-Fi . We were in a hot country and I don't do heat very well).