We will get this debt down & the savings up

Makingabobor2

So, end of the week round up.  Sun is shining and I managed to get out and plant the raspberry bush that I bought in a local garden centre that is supposedly closing down soon, but seems to be starting their Christmas display, so not sure what's happening there. I do hate garden centres that sell Christmas stuff, why can't they just stick to selling garden things?  Anyway, that's a whole other debate. 

Budget wise, we are almost at the end of our 4 week period and it looks as though we have gone over on grocery shopping by about £34!!  This doesn't appear to be due to wasteful spending, although I will admit to adding a couple of bars of chocolate this month. But I think the real reason is that as prices have increased, my new budget that I have set, has not increased enough.   Although I am trying to cut down and do more batch cooking, shop around in cheaper places etc etc etc, I really think I need to up the budget a bit. Although maybe it will come in under budget this month, as I did got to !cel*nd this month and stock up on a couple of bits. 
So the question is, what do you think is a reasonable budget for 2 adults?
 We do buy lots of fruit & veg and I do like to get meat from the butcher as its better quality, but I do also buy it from supermarkets sometimes. But then I moan about the plastic, as the butcher will let me take my own containers. 
I do have to buy almond milk as DH has a condition that normal milk makes it worse. So that is dearer than normal milk. 
 We have no pets, any alcohol would come from personal spends, although that is very rare that we buy any, DH may have some beers every few months and I might buy 1 or 2 bottles of sherry a year and something sparkly if we are celebrating anything.  So it is all spent on food, cleaning & toiletries.  I think we eat quite frugally, so I think I really must increase the budget a bit and see how it goes. Should I have a separate budget for toiletries? 
Maybe I should nip over to the money saving boards and look for some tips. 

So I'll look at the numbers on Monday and decide how much to increase it by, based on all your recommendations. 

Next question is how many of you make your own bread? I know @Foxgloves does. And if you do, do you have a bread maker? Is it more economical?  DD has one and hardly uses it, so I did say I was going to borrow it and see what I think.   How easy is it to make sourdough?  We love it, but its so expensive I only buy it when its on a YS reduced offer. 

Not many money saving wins today. Studies on P/fc were good yesterday, but non existent today. Got 94p so far on Qm**. Still every little helps as Mr T says.  
I have listed a bag for sale on a FB group, but no takers so far. Keeping fingers crossed for that. 
Washing dried out in the sunshine, but TBH, I hardly ever use the tumble dryer anyway. Even in the winter I will only use it if absolutely essential, Would rather put up and airing rack and put it near the radiator with window open. 

This weekend is the date for the next energy reading, so based on that I will see if we can get the DD down a bit, as we are over £350 in credit at the moment. And now I'm officially old, I will get the winter fuel payment.....lol

DH's pay rise kicked in this week and looks like being about an extra £14 a week. So all good there. 

So, off to prepare dinner now. Have a good weekend everybody. 

2Scratters

@Makingabobor2 have a look on the thread September GC 2023 run by @elsiepac (GC is Grocery challenge) there should be plenty of pointers there for you. Good luck 

2 Scratters xx

Makingabobor2

2Scratters said:

@Makingabobor2 have a look on the thread September GC 2023 run by @elsiepac (GC is Grocery challenge) there should be plenty of pointers there for you. Good luck 

2 Scratters xx

Thanks, I'll take a look

joedenise

Might be worth joining the Grocery Challenge on the Old Style Board.

This chart gives the average household food costs:

NimbleFins Average UK Household Cost of Food - updated July 2022

• Per Person: The average weekly food shop is £28.7 per person in the UK—but clearly caloric needs vary by age and gender. When you add £14.9 spent on food prepared out (e.g., restaurants and takeaways), the average weekly food bill for 1 person is £43.6.
• Average Adult Man: The average adult male spends around £35 on groceries, £18 on food out and £53 altogether on food each week.
• Young, active adult man: A young, active adult man around 18 years of age whose caloric needs are 50% higher than the average person would theoretically spend around £65 a week on food (£43 οn groceries and £22 out).
• Average Adult Woman: The average adult female theoretically spends around £27 on groceries, £14 on food out and £40 altogether on food each week.
• Young, active adult woman: A young, active adult woman around 18 years of age whose caloric needs are 25% higher than the average woman would theoretically spend around £50 a week on food (£33 οn groceries and £17 out).
• 2 Adults: The average weekly food bill for 2 adults would be around £93 in total—£62 spent on the weekly food shop and £32 spent on food out.
• Family of 3: The average weekly food bill for a family of 3 (two adults and one younger child) is around £128—£85 spent on the weekly food shop and £44 spent on food out.
• Family of 4: The typical family of 4 (two adults and 2 younger children) would spend around £163 each week on food—£108 on the weekly shop and £56 on restaurant and takeaway meals.
• Family of 5: Larger families of 5 (two adults and 3 younger children) spend around £131 on the weekly shop and another £68 on food prepared out, bringing the total average food bill for a family of 5 to £198.
• Family of 3 adults: Three adults (or two adults and one older teenager) would spend around £93 on groceries, £48 on food prepared out and £140 altogether on food each week, clearly with budget varying by the age and gender of the family members.

Sun_Addict

I budget £75 a week for food for 2 adults, 2 cats and 1 dog also includes toiletries, cleaning products etc. Adult daughter still lives with us and buys her own food but sometimes uses our cheese/milk. I find most weeks that’s ample although we do get 15% discount at Mr M courtesy of daughter working for them so I expect that helps. We don’t have takeaways and rarely eat out unless we’re on holiday. I allow £40 a month for eating out but it doesn’t get spent most months. 

Makingabobor2

joedenise said:

Might be worth joining the Grocery Challenge on the Old Style Board.

This chart gives the average household food costs:

NimbleFins Average UK Household Cost of Food - updated July 2022

• Per Person: The average weekly food shop is £28.7 per person in the UK—but clearly caloric needs vary by age and gender. When you add £14.9 spent on food prepared out (e.g., restaurants and takeaways), the average weekly food bill for 1 person is £43.6.
• Average Adult Man: The average adult male spends around £35 on groceries, £18 on food out and £53 altogether on food each week.
• Young, active adult man: A young, active adult man around 18 years of age whose caloric needs are 50% higher than the average person would theoretically spend around £65 a week on food (£43 οn groceries and £22 out).
• Average Adult Woman: The average adult female theoretically spends around £27 on groceries, £14 on food out and £40 altogether on food each week.
• Young, active adult woman: A young, active adult woman around 18 years of age whose caloric needs are 25% higher than the average woman would theoretically spend around £50 a week on food (£33 οn groceries and £17 out).
• 2 Adults: The average weekly food bill for 2 adults would be around £93 in total—£62 spent on the weekly food shop and £32 spent on food out.
• Family of 3: The average weekly food bill for a family of 3 (two adults and one younger child) is around £128—£85 spent on the weekly food shop and £44 spent on food out.
• Family of 4: The typical family of 4 (two adults and 2 younger children) would spend around £163 each week on food—£108 on the weekly shop and £56 on restaurant and takeaway meals.
• Family of 5: Larger families of 5 (two adults and 3 younger children) spend around £131 on the weekly shop and another £68 on food prepared out, bringing the total average food bill for a family of 5 to £198.
• Family of 3 adults: Three adults (or two adults and one older teenager) would spend around £93 on groceries, £48 on food prepared out and £140 altogether on food each week, clearly with budget varying by the age and gender of the family members.

These lists always make me laugh when they include "food prepared out". I can't remember the last time we ate out, even on holiday we took a packed lunch most days.  ooh, we did have some chips when we went to visit my dad, now I come to think of it....lol.  But based on these figures, I should be spending a lot less as we just don't enjoy eating out and even if we had more spare money, we wouldn't be doing it. 
So I think I need to budget at least £50 a week (£200 over my 4 week budget period), and see if that works. I have only been budgeting £40 for the last several months, and then last time I did put it up to £45, but somehow I managed to go drastically over. So I am going to start at £200 for the next period, which starts on Monday, and see how we get on. We do have 5 days away in the middle of that period, but are cheapie self catering, so will be taking food with us, and a thermos for coffee,  and if we do decide on a cake etc, then it will come from personal spends. 
They were saying on the news that food is not going up quite so quickly now, but the point is, it is still going up. DH uses Almond milk and even in A!d* it has shot up from 89p to 99p over the last couple of months.  So onwards & upwards everybody and let's see how it all goes. Will head over to the Grocery thread and read some of those recipes that are on there as well. 

Makingabobor2

That's a good discount you get on Mr M shopping @Sun_Addict. I do like their products, but do find them expensive, apart from when they have YS bread etc. 

joedenise

Have to agree with you @Makingabobor2 about those charts.  We don't eat out either and I expect to spend around the £50 a week mark, sometimes a bit more sometimes a bit less but I also bulk buy some things but have a separate budget for that but don't always use it but it does help to cupboards full with things like baked beans and tomatoes plus dried foods.

foxgloves

Hello @Makingabobor2
Interesting topic about grocery budget amounts. We are a household of two adults & two cats & I budget £350 per month. I reckon that's quite generous. This does not include fresh fish as I budget separately for a fish box to be delivered 5 or 6 times a year. It doesn't include milk & juice either as we get those delivered in glass bottles from the milkman & I keep the bill separate.
The £350 does include all cat food, cleaning products, washing powder, loo rolls & shared toiletries such as bubble bath, bar soap & liquid hand soap refills.
Our own toiletries are bought from our monthly Personal Spends so there is no guilt about choosing the products that we want..
F 
Edited to add that we do sometimes come in under our monthly budget, in which case I usually send the money to a savings pot. Our grocery budget was £280 for ages, but when stock availability started going haywire around the pandemic, & we had thankfully recently paid off our mortgage, I increased it. Due to the following crazy food price inflation, I never reduced it back again. If for whatever reason we needed to manage on less, there would defo be room for some reduction x

Makingabobor2

I like the idea of a separate bulk buying budget @joedenise. I agree its good to have a supply of staples in the cupboard/freezer. I tend to go to !ce!*nd every so often on 10% discount day for over 60s & I do stock up there, so having a separate budget for that would be a good idea, and for every £20 you put on your savers card, they give you an extra £1, so I could just regularly put money on that. Also I often stock pile almond milk etc  in A!d* to save having to go there so often. 
Like idea of toiletries coming from personal spends @foxgloves, but DH says as I am the one telling him he should use moisteriser, he doesn't see why he should have to pay for it....lol.  He's right, I am the one telling him to use it, if it was up to him, his skin would look like leather and he wouldn't even shave more than once a week!..lol 

So this morning we decided to have a wander to the local car boot. First time we have been this year. Found an electric carving knife ( never used and still in original box) for £1!! Bargain!   We had one a few years ago that DH's parents had given us that they never used, but it decided to stop working and nothing DH did could get it going again. So this was a super find, as I missed that knife so much. 
Other great finds were a lovely 1000 piece jigsaw for £1 that DH liked the look of, and although it wouldn't have been my first choice, I thought if it gets him doing more puzzles and we get to do it together,  then that's fine.
Also I have to confess to spending £4 on a bag. I didn't "need" it as such, but it will come in extremely useful and get a lot of use. I have been looking for a larger sized back pack for a while and it is just what I was looking for....its the well known bag company that begins with a K and is associated with a monkey.  It is a lovely bright pinky/red colour and looks pretty much unused.  I quick G**gle  search tells me that they retail at around £100 brand new.  So although I didn't actually desperately need it, it was a good MSE bargain I think. 

So nothing much else going on today, been for a good walk after we got back from boot sale, DH has washed the car & fixed the back gate, I've got a line full of washing dry & sweet & sour chicken is cooking in the slow cooker. 

Enjoy the rest of your day.