£45 per week housekeeping

daisy_1571

ceegee wrote: »

I budget for everything, always have done. I currently have £45 per week for food, toiletries, toilet rolls, detergent and other cleaning stuff. I would very much appreciate it to know if people think this should be:

a) plenty
b) enough/adequate
c) challenging

We are 2 adults with no pets.

Whilst I managed fine at first, I am now finding that, after 6 months of it, it is becoming increasingly difficult. Do I just need to re-double my efforts or am I on a hiding to nothing?

I am aware that I have not given my circumstances, but it was more a question of how do-able is £45 per week for all food, cleaning, washing etc. If anyone could spare a moment to post their thoughts, I really would be grateful.
Thank you!

How are you getting on with your challenge ceegee?

Hard_Up_Hester

My husband had a stroke late last year and so far he's been on full pay, but that will stop soon, he is convinced he's going back to work imminently but although I haven't said anything to him, I can't see it happening
I'm trying to cut back ready for this.

I don't use washing liquid in every wash, it depends on how dirty your clothes get but I usually do a cold water only wash three times and them a soap wash the next time.

We have porridge for breakfast, it is the cheapest, I make it wit half and half milk and water.

Horwich my beloved is currently coming shopping with me and the bills have soared, it's ok at the moment but in a few weeks when we will lose half his salary it will not be doable.

I don't spend money on hairdressers or clothes, I get amazon vouchers twice a year which pays for my book habit, I cannot join a library as I'm classed as having no fixed abode.

buildersdaughter

Hester - our local library allows the 'marina' address to be used, to enable folk to use the 'e-lending' library / borrow box. I'm sure that doesn't apply everywhere, but didn't know if you were aware of it.
So sorry to hear that your DH may not make it back to work - sometimes the most sensible option is to accept it, and channel energy into something more do-able and useful. Wonder if he'd learn to cook frugally?!
Happy New Year

Mistral001

calleyw wrote: »

If you have the time and can be bothered and don't mind being bored there are GPT sites to earn extra money.

This can mean running videos or answering surveys. Can be done while watching TV in the evenings.

That is quite a good idea and I do not want to minimise your suggestion in any way, but I used to do these surveys during the credit crunch. They brought in a little money, but one thing that used to annoy me was that most of the surveys were aimed at people who consumed quite a bit.

For instance at the start of the survey you would be asked a question such as when was the last time you bought a TV? If the answer was not say within the last two years you did not qualify for the survey. The same goes for groceries, if you did not answer say more than £30 per week, you would be told you did not qualify for the survey or more annoyingly a computer error message would come up.

I found that I would only qualify for entering about one out of every five or six surveys. When I did manage to qualify for a survey, sometimes I found it difficult to answer the survey questions as I had little or no knowledge of the product the survey was about. These surveys would be cut short when I nearly had it completed presumably because the survey algorithm could tell from my answers I had not a clue about the product. When that happened a few times, I did not get offered any more surveys from the survey site.

More annoying than anything was that some of the sites who stopped sending me surveys refused to pay me for the ones I had done as the amount of earnings I had accrued was less than the minimum £10 for payment. They still have that money.

laurenzo_2

Hard_Up_Hester wrote: »

My husband had a stroke late last year and so far he's been on full pay, but that will stop soon, he is convinced he's going back to work imminently but although I haven't said anything to him, I can't see it happening
I'm trying to cut back ready for this.

I don't use washing liquid in every wash, it depends on how dirty your clothes get but I usually do a cold water only wash three times and them a soap wash the next time.

We have porridge for breakfast, it is the cheapest, I make it wit half and half milk and water.

Horwich my beloved is currently coming shopping with me and the bills have soared, it's ok at the moment but in a few weeks when we will lose half his salary it will not be doable.

I don't spend money on hairdressers or clothes, I get amazon vouchers twice a year which pays for my book habit, I cannot join a library as I'm classed as having no fixed abode.

Ask a relative or friend if you can use their address to put on the form?

laurenzo_2

calleyw wrote: »

Berries,


Sorry for the delay. Have not be ignoring you but missed seeing this message.


I will PM you.


Yours


Calley x

Can you PM me too please? Thanks

tiredwithtwins

Mistral0001 I found this too wit the paid surveys ... got fed up of never qualifying for them so gave up, now my email inbox is crammed daily with the blinkin invites!!!

Cornflower1974

I would like to join this thread and I have never posted on MSE before. I hope my post isn't inappropriate. We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 kids aged 7 and 5. My 7 year old is autistic and constantly eats but it as thin as a rake.
I must admit I do this out of lifestyle choice as apposed to necessity, but by our frugal living we have already paid off our mortgage and manage a holiday (in England) every summer.
I shop mainly at Lidl. But do an online delivery from Tesco once a month when I stock up on tinned tomatoes, value pasta and rice. Etc
The toiletries come from Lidl. They do shower gel for under 50p and you can also wash your hair with it (I have very short hair and hubby is bald) so we are not fussy.
when I get a Tesco delivery I also add esccenials (or something like that) very cheap laundry liquid
We spend about 50 quid a week on food for 4 of us.

K9sandFelines

Totally depends on your lifestyle.

I roughly spend this each week. However, that doesn't include toiletries or cleaning products or any pet food or pet items, and we are vegan/vegetarian household of two. We don't eat take away (last one was over a year ago) and I rarely drink. We try and cook from scratch where possible. We do have the odd treat, but we try and make what we can, time allowing.

dollypeeps

I cash £60 to do our weekly food shop. That’s for 4 adults. I shop at Lidl’s and Aldi and pick up a few items at Tesco that are not available in the other shops ..... sometimes a top up shop is needed but usually only a fivers worth ... usually for bread rolls or milk.
I think it all depends on what you like to eat and what you’re prepared to plan and cook for.

Our meals are usually
2 days of roast (Sunday & Monday)
Pasta Bologna’s with chicken breast (Tuesday)
Salad with a boxed breadcrumb chicken and some sort of potato (wed)
Pizza wedges veg rice (thurs)
Fish chips peas (fri)
Curry (made from scratch not a packet or jar)
rice chips naan bread (sat)

4/5 lunches for 3 adults to take and all our breakfasts

Lunches usually rolls crisps, wraps, etc
Breakfast cereal, toast or eggs

Detergents for the most part are included too unless there’s a good offer somewhere like farm foods or home bargains and then I stock up