Does this sound reasonable for weekly budget?

williewonder

I get £140 a week which is paid every Thursday from my deputyship account. This is the new budget that I have set up for myself. It's easier if I set this up weekly. I would save £300 every 4 weeks if I stick to my budget. All my bills are paid direct from deputyship account so this £140 is just my food money and spending money. I want to be able to save £75 a week (£300) a month. 

Does this sound like a reasonable budget.

(weekly)

- Save - £75

- £5 lottery

- £6.25 eating out and drinks

- £35 food shopping 

- £3.75 per week- Odeon pass   

- phone bill £15 

madaboutspots

Is that phone bill genuine or an error?

I’m shocked if it’s accurate. Over 10% of your budget just on a phone bill? 

Seems like madness to me. I spend a fraction over 25% of your bill on 2 phones with unlimited texts & minutes with 6Gb data on each. 

Do you feel the need to always have the latest most expensive phone? You could shave comfortably over 75% off that bill by going SIM only. 

It’s up to you - it’s your budget but it seems to me you spend a high proportion of your budget on phone/lottery and very little on meals/drinks out. 

When you spend this £6.25/week is it going out with friends? Would you not get more satisfaction from life if you allowed more for socialising and less time worrying about your phone? 

After all if you spend so much on a phone you can’t afford to go out - the only person left to be impressed with your phone is you. 

As I say - it’s your budget but I personally would put a much higher value on spending time with friends doing things than a gadget that’s in my pocket almost the entire time I’m out with those friends.

Floss

^^ please remember to be polite & kind to all posters  especially those whose circumstances are different.

As the OP is in a deputyship their phone is likely an important thing to them. That amount could be phone / data contract entered into before the deputyship began.

OP, is £35 realistic for your food budget? It could be a little tight the way prices are going up.

Also, is your Odeon pass Unlimited? I take it that you are going at least 3 times a month to get the benefit of that?

Rob5342

I agree that £35 for food seems a little tight.

Why do you spend so much on the lottery? Maybe you play once a month instead and have more to spend on food..

enthusiasticsaver

williewonder said:

I get £140 a week which is paid every Thursday from my deputyship account. This is the new budget that I have set up for myself. It's easier if I set this up weekly. I would save £300 every 4 weeks if I stick to my budget. All my bills are paid direct from deputyship account so this £140 is just my food money and spending money. I want to be able to save £75 a week (£300) a month. 

Does this sound like a reasonable budget.

(weekly)

- Save - £75

- £5 lottery

- £6.25 eating out and drinks

- £35 food shopping 

- £3.75 per week- Odeon pass   

- phone bill £15 

I am not sure if the phone bill is correct and whether that £15 is per week or per month but maybe get that looked at as it is quite expensive.  

If the food is for just you that looks ok but the eating out and drinks looks a little low.  What about travel costs, clothes or other personal spends like clothes, haircuts, gifts etc. I am not a fan of the lottery so I would ditch that but your choice. 

RobM99

£35 a week food - that's about my spend.
Lottery - Thunderball is £1 a go!
Phone - seems a lot to me. 
£6.25 eating out - that's one cake and a coffee these days!

arnoldy

williewonder said:

- phone bill £15 

Go sim only at a supermarket and pay about £2 a week. Lottery is a waste. Other than that seems OK - good luck.

Robin9

£35 -  does that include  milk, bread, breakfast cereals and those things we raid from our freezer and larder but only buy occasionally -  butter, rice, pasta ..........    and what about household items like toothpaste, toilet rolls ?
 
Why are you trying to saving £75 a week -  have you holiday plans ?

williewonder

- Save - £75 - (I want to save this because I want to save in my personal account and have this money build up)

- £5 lottery - (I could cut this down to £3 a week. Monday and Thursday - Set for Life)

- £6.25 eating out and drinks - ( Thats 5 coffees during the week in weatherspoons with my staff, staff buy their own food/drinks)

- £35 food shopping - (I think this is doable, Im starting to make meals for two and saving one for the next day. So chicken pie and new potaotes and pees, or Tuna pasta bake and garlic bread. I tend to stick to the generic brands.

- £3.75 per week- Odeon pass    - This is important as I go to the cinema quite often and its limitless viewing, also I have a carers card so the person accompanying me gets in for free too. I often go with my staff or friends.

- phone bill £15 - this is £15 a week, (£60 a month) The contract runs out in September and not renewing I so will save £38 - I'm still going to stick with Virgin mobile as I seen a deal for £6 a month sim only. Plus there its £13 for the insurance. Do I really need this with a old phone. iPhone 11 Pro which is nearly 3 years old?

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Whats important for me is to stop drinking alcohol and stop buying takeaways and become more active. At the moment I'm spending over £170 a week on alcohol and takeaways/ pubs etc. I have to ask the deputy for extra money and he's getting fed up with me asking for money all the time. Also my house bills have gone up from £110 a month to £213 a month. I mainly want to quid the alcohol and lose weight.

GentleGiant01

williewonder said:

- Save - £75 - (I want to save this because I want to save in my personal account and have this money build up)

- £5 lottery - (I could cut this down to £3 a week. Monday and Thursday - Set for Life)

- £6.25 eating out and drinks - ( Thats 5 coffees during the week in weatherspoons with my staff, staff buy their own food/drinks)

- £35 food shopping - (I think this is doable, Im starting to make meals for two and saving one for the next day. So chicken pie and new potaotes and pees, or Tuna pasta bake and garlic bread. I tend to stick to the generic brands.

- £3.75 per week- Odeon pass    - This is important as I go to the cinema quite often and its limitless viewing, also I have a carers card so the person accompanying me gets in for free too. I often go with my staff or friends.

- phone bill £15 - this is £15 a week, (£60 a month) The contract runs out in September and not renewing I so will save £38 - I'm still going to stick with Virgin mobile as I seen a deal for £6 a month sim only. Plus there its £13 for the insurance. Do I really need this with a old phone. iPhone 11 Pro which is nearly 3 years old?

------

Whats important for me is to stop drinking alcohol and stop buying takeaways and become more active. At the moment I'm spending over £170 a week on alcohol and takeaways/ pubs etc. I have to ask the deputy for extra money and he's getting fed up with me asking for money all the time. Also my house bills have gone up from £110 a month to £213 a month. I mainly want to quid the alcohol and lose weight.

Sounds good to me. £35 is more than do-able for food shopping a week. My wife and I spend about that much between two of us including cleaning products. 

We batch cook everything. Often we find reduced mincemeat / chicken etc and from 1kg of mince and reduced veg from supermarket we can get 12 / 13 portions of either bolognaise or chilli from. Depending on your portion sizes! We then freeze the leftovers in plastic containers 1 container per portion and either defrost in the microwave or overnight in the fridge. We do the same for shepherds pies (although use disposable silver takeout tray things as these can go in the oven). 

Also we do curries, tray bakes, all sorts  

yksi

I don't have insurance on my phone. What I do is, there's a tough case on it, and I am really careful. But if I smashed my phone, I would use £150 from my savings to get a new one. iPhones are very expensive, Andoid are much cheaper, if you are ok to learn how they work. Even if you really want to stick to iPhones, you are right that your phone is three years old, that's as long as most phones last now! You can probably dump the insurance as soon as that contract runs out because you will have enough saved up to replace it if something happened.