How do you manage it?

Psykicpup

How do I manage?.....I've edited your post lol

jojogirly wrote: »

I always wonder - How do other people manage. My hubby is on a relatively good wage for the area and yet we still struggle.

I must spend about £120-£140 feeding us all weekly and there is only 4 of us. Just taking the last two days as an example - I know its not all on food but money just seems to evaporate. I took £40 out the bank, spent £6 on a swimming costume for my daughter swimming lessons, £2 for her to go to Brownies, £15 getting my hair cut- rare treat, £4.80 at the butcher- bulk buy or special offers , £1.80 at the bakery-whats a bakery?, £5.80 (2 lottery tickets- never ever buy them & when I did it was a quid, pack of jelly beans for hubby, pasta, paper for the holiday voucher, an onion) at the Spar, Gave my daughter £1 for a drink, and locker money for swimming pool, and £1.90 on stamps. And its gone.

- to explain .. My local butcher does 3 for £7 & 3 for £10 deals so I stock up on those & freeze. I havent used a bakery for years I bake my own or buy from co-op if bread. I dont agree with the lottery - sometimes I will give a quid to a charity that I like

have to say tho that £'s do sometimes just disappear & that £40 went a long way when you look that all you did on it ! - dont beat yourself up - lets face it a hair cut isnt an every day thing is it lol
hang around here long & £140 a wk will soon be a month tho lol
Does everyone else watch every penny? Am I just not being careful enough? Your thoughts appreciated.

ravylesley

Being a relative newbie to this site it has certainly opened my eyes on changing my shopping habits so that I actually do save money.My worst habit was spending a small fortune in the supermarket and then having to do a top up shop midweek because I'd run out of something or other.Well now thats changed as I set up a proper pantry and I have a good store of all those things that I use regularly.I have purged my cupboards of all the impulse buys that we were never going to eat.I now do my shopping online as it means I can start an order on a Saturday and as the week goes on add to it or change it as many times as I want up to the day before delivery.I bake all our own bread and make any cakes and puddings that we desire.As a result I dont visit the shop/supermarket and end up being tempted by other goodies.As for your daughter you could plan ahead and add the juice/treats that she needs to your weekly shop and she could take it with her.It really does make a difference my shopping bill has come down from £100 per week to £60 per week for 6 of us which I dont think is bad and some weeks I dont even need to shop at all as I've built up the stocks sufficiently over previous weeks

Lesleyxx

jojogirly

Thank you so much for all your help and for the links. What most of it seems to come down to then is planning?? I am not very well organised and dont think I have ever shopped with a list. I am going to try meal planning.

I know one area where I go wrong - I cook a meal for the kids and then a meal for me and hubby later on. They refuse to eat what hubby and I eat (ie lasange, mild curry etc) I will try working on that.

Thanks again for all your help

cupid_s

Once you have made your meal plan I would also definately recommend food shopping online. If you look at the codes bit on this site they always have good online voucher codes which get you money off or free delivery. Then you're a lot less tempted by things that look nice or you don't really need.

JoeyEmma

Bulk buy on special offers is one that I always take with a pinch of salt. I would keep an eye on what things actually cost and then when they come on special offer, work out if things save you money. For example, I always buy own brand tinned tomatoes, however sometimes the Napolina ones go on special offer. I always used to buy them when they are on offer, until I realised that it was still cheaper to buy my own brand item.

I think there is a MSE article on cutting down the cost of your shopping. One of the things it recommends is if you always buy the branded item, try one of the own brand items. If you always buy own brand, try one of the value range. It doesn't hurt to try and if you don't like, go back to your original. There is a thread on this board about what value items have you tried and liked.

maypole

I shop fortnightly at a supermarket, put bread in the freezer etc, so that I only need to buy fresh milk and whatever fresh produce I might need in between times. I find that I don't spend so much doing it this way.
I try not to go to the shops so much in between times, unless I need something urgently because you might go in for one thing and you usually buy loads!

Someone suggested writing down all that you buy in a month, good idea and be honest, you will know then, where your money goes.

witchypoo

Thanks for starting this thread jojogirly, I've discovered www.spendingdiary.com as a result, thanks so much taplady

All these tips you have been given are tried and tested, and I can vouch for them! Hope you can use them or adapt them to your preferred way of doing things x

purpleivy

This is all such good advice. Mine would be to try and work in the one that will either make the biggest difference, or the one that would either be the easiest to achieve, or the hardest. It's like the Boots 'change one thing' campaign.... except that when you have changed one thing, carry on and change another and another. ... lose weight, exercise AND give up smoking! LOL. In the same way it would be tough to do all these at once and succeed at all of them straight away, it would be hard to meal-plan, spending diary, change all your accounts and insurances at once and ebay everything in sight all at once!

THey say it takes 3 weeks for something to be a habit, so don't beat yourself up about it, just start again when it goes wrong!

Now all I have to do is heed my own advice!

taplady

witchypoo wrote: »

Thanks for starting this thread jojogirly, I've discovered www.spendingdiary.com as a result, thanks so much taplady

you're welcome - I just love the diary it's brilliant!:T

Aril

You have to work out a way that works for you. For me it's a spending diary. Initially [OH was made redundant and we now live on my salary which is approx half] I just noted how much I spent and what on to see my patterns [I was known as the snackette queen in those days because I couldn't go round the town without buying a packet of crisps!!] After 3 months then we set up a spreadsheet with budgets for different areas of our lives eg cat, holiday. These are as a guide only...on some we go way over on some months [normally treats!!] and on others we're under budget so it's not set in stone. Both OH are on board with this and any big purchase is discussed before hand. I have found when food shopping personally it was very helpful to have my menu on my shopping list so that I can substitute items if they're out of stock or get other things if they've got a better offer. I also found it incredibly helpful to work out how items are priced per 100g and per kg and be able to switch between do [I learnt that from a free Maths course I did!!] It makes for some interesting discoveries- the supermarkets are banking on the fact that either people can't do the maths or can't be bothered. I'm forever tweaking the way I do things and I always up for new ideas...some I take on board others don't suit and I don't pursue.
Incidentally one of my discoveries is that I am a real cafe girl...can't bear to go out and not have a cuppa somewhere [used to latte but tea's much cheaper] I've just knocked the cake on the head that I have with it sometimes!
Hope this helps.
Aril