A Little Advice Please

brednall

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Sit down before you go shopping. Evaluate what you already have in, and what meals you can make using those things as a basis. Establish what is good value in Aldi's Super 6 or Lidl's Pick of the Week - other supermarkets also have "loss leader" schemes on fruit and veg. Then write your meal plan. Then work through the meal plan and add to the shopping list all the stuff you don't currently have. Include for any meals that you're preparing at home - so packed lunches etc. Make use of your freezer assuming you have one for some milk & bread - this reduces the need to "just pop in" to the shop to top up. Go shopping, by only the items on your list. The aim is to have to spend as little time as possible in shops, as if you're not in the shop you can't spend money there. if you DO have to top up then treat it the same way - establish what you actually need, write a list, and buy accordingly. If you find taking others with you when you shop drives up costs, then shop alone. (Or be prepared to be really tough!)

Saves you time, saves you money.

I find it tricky to meal plan as hubby likes things fresh for his healthy eating plan but some of the items he prefers are from Lidl so cheaper anyway. I always keep stocks in for packed lunches especially of staple items like drinks and spreads and always check what's on offer. My top ups are always done to a list too.

EssexHebridean

Hubby might have to start putting a bit more towards the groceries then, mightn't he...

Try frozen veg, in particular. Every bit as healthy as fresh - sometimes more so - and lasts a heck of a lot longer.

brednall

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Hubby might have to start putting a bit more towards the groceries then, mightn't he...

Try frozen veg, in particular. Every bit as healthy as fresh - sometimes more so - and lasts a heck of a lot longer.

He often picks up the specific items he wants anyway so not much of an additional strain on the budget.

getmore4less

brednall wrote: »

I currently log all my spends on a spreadsheet, usually every other day and every month I say to myself 'look how much extras you've wasted cash on'.

For next month, I am wondering if it's better to keep only DD monies in my account and withdraw most of the rest then separate it into shopping, etc at home.

Does anyone else do that and do you find it works for you?

Thanks

Emma

The trick is to ask the question as you are spending not after.
Only spend money on stuff you have in the budget.

brednall

getmore4less wrote: »

The trick is to ask the question as you are spending not after.
Only spend money on stuff you have in the budget.

The other thing I do is create an online basket and add things to it so I can check the special offers and I tend to stick to the list better this way too.

MovingForwards

I have a spreadsheet showing income and bills/outgoings.

What I used to do was take the bills/outgoings away from the income and divide that figure by 4 or 5, depending on how many weeks were in the month.

The divided leftover figure for each week was then taken out and used for shopping and other bits.

I would then do the same the next week only reducing the amount if I had leftovers from the previous week.

When the money was gone for the week that was it til my next week.

For ease of an example £1000 wages - £600 bills / outgoings = £400 for a four week month. Each week I would take £100 out.*

In reality mine was £60pw and a few times I still had the £60 next time I was due to take money out.

Money becomes real when you see it rather than pay by debit card and it makes you question yourself whether you really do need what you are about to buy!

brednall

MovingForwards wrote: »

I have a spreadsheet showing income and bills/outgoings.

What I used to do was take the bills/outgoings away from the income and divide that figure by 4 or 5, depending on how many weeks were in the month.

The divided leftover figure for each week was then taken out and used for shopping and other bits.

I would then do the same the next week only reducing the amount if I had leftovers from the previous week.

When the money was gone for the week that was it til my next week.

For ease of an example £1000 wages - £600 bills / outgoings = £400 for a four week month. Each week I would take £100 out.*

In reality mine was £60pw and a few times I still had the £60 next time I was due to take money out.

Money becomes real when you see it rather than pay by debit card and it makes you question yourself whether you really do need what you are about to buy!

Sounds like a good plan. Payday next week so I will give it a try for the month. I know what my DD's are so should all be OK.

clairebeth

We do exactly what a previous poster does and use Monzo accounts to separate money into categories. The income comes into our RBS account, we leave enough in there to cover bills etc. The rest is transferred to joint Monzo a and divided up into separate 'pots'. We then each gave a personal Monzo account for our personal spending money also. It's really helped hubby, who was the main culprit of random spends from the main account and didn't even look at the app or statement, I was tearing my hair out!

brednall

A little update on this. I have withdrawn a set amount of cash for the last 2 weeks and tried to stick to it. An odd little extra expense here and there but nothing like normal. The first week I carried the small remainder over but wondering if it's better to pop the overage towards Christmas gifts or towards CC debt.

EssexHebridean

Have you got Christmas budgeted for? If so then don't increase that now else that defeats the object! I'd suggest to transfer any surplus to either debt-busting or Emergency Fund - or even a split between the two?

Take a good look at the extra expenses that have come up aside from your budgeted amount too - were these things that were missing from the budget and that should be factored in for the future? or a situation where temptation struck and dragged you off the straight and narrow? If the latter then make sure you always practise the "stop and think" method - step away from the temptation and ask yourself whether you actually need the item in question, whether you have anything else that does the same job, or whether in fact you can manage perfectly well without it...