Reasonable Amount to Live on Per Week?

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

So £428 every 4 weeks. Then £94 a month on fuel. Left over for food, baby stuff etc £334.00 so £83.50 each week. Seems achievable. You mention general spending money...what does this cover?

I think £83.50 each week for 2 adults food, petrol and baby bits is fine....even with disposables and should have money to spare

We are a unit of 2 adults and a ten yr old with healthy appetite :eek: I have managed to cut from £80+ a week to around £30 on groceries. I cook everything from scratch but we eat very well. Good quality meat, veggies, fruit, cooked breakies, cooked lunches etc. I search through for vouchers and now do the food shopping every other week and do a bigger shop and make it last by freezing bits. Have just got a new bigger freezer and hopefully will be doing a monthly shop to cut down further :rolleyes: Menu planning is the key and have only been doing this the past few months. We rarely throw anything away now but before we were so wasteful :eek:

We recently have gone from a good income to receiving Income Support due to me being ill and OH becoming my FT carer, so I totally understand where your coming from. I actually enjoy living like this and aim to be completely debt free in April 2006. I know exactly how much money there is in the bank using Quicken and update my accounts daily....abit obsessive really but at least im in control of it all and dont spend money unless we have too.

Good Luck

PP
xx

Curry_Queen

Ticklemouse wrote:

No CQ - it's £107 PER WEEK with £94 per month spent on fuel.

Whoops! done it again

Seem to be having problems reading things properly lately


Congrats on the impending birth Jaelor :T I'm not sure what your thoughts or plans are for feeding the baby, and no one has yet mentioned it, but have you considered breast-feeding? You will save a lot of money doing this if you can, even if just for the first 2-3 months and of course it goes without saying it's better for you and baby too

It's 13 years since I had a little one to worry about so I'm well out of touch on how new mum's do things these days regarding nappies etc, although I believe towelling nappies (or similar) are back in fashion again and very cost effective!

You can get most baby stuff second-hand very cheaply and most of it is hardly used so is almost new quality which will also save a fortune, so uring the first few months the baby should add very little to your usual expenses. When it's time for weaning you can also blend your own HM food from whatever you're eating yourselves, so again, virtually no cost.

I'm sure the threads that people have given above have far more details on than I can think of right now, so plenty to ponder on over the next few weeks, and remember to make the most of this time to get your feet up and rest plenty

moggins

Don't forget all the freebies you can get when you have a baby too, Join the Pampers and Huggies clubs and everything else you can think about, you will get loads of vouchers which you can use for shopping with Asda. Aldi nappies and wipes are great and very cheap, and Asda George nappies outperform Pampers everytime in my opinion.

Breast is infinitely best and cheapest, if you have problems with this then contact your nearest BIBS group or you can PM me. Homemade pureed food is also better cheaper.

Lillibet_2

For 2 adults, one medium dog & a 3 week old we are currently spending £95 per week for groceries, petrol & general spending. This is £30 per week fuel and we are having to be VERY careful about un-necessary journies etc to make this work, £55 per fortnight for all groceries etc & baby stuff (I am breast feeding but having to supplement with formula & I am using the expensive ready made stuff!) but no nappies as I was able to stock pile almost 400 free ones before the birth & then I have washables ready to go into when the free disposables run out. I am also using free wipes at the mo, when they run out I will switch to cotton wool & water which is what you are supposed to use on a newborn anyway. I buy the dog food once every 2 months at the cash & carry but this still comes out of the grocery budget, we just have that much less to spend that month. We allow £60 per person per month free spending money, the good news about having a baby is that getting out to the shops is hard so you spend less:p

HTH;)

Spendless

Lillibet wrote:

For 2 adults, one medium dog & a 3 week old we are currently spending £95 per week for groceries, petrol & general spending. This is £30 per week fuel and we are having to be VERY careful about un-necessary journies etc to make this work, £55 per fortnight for all groceries etc & baby stuff (I am breast feeding but having to supplement with formula & I am using the expensive ready made stuff!) but no nappies as I was able to stock pile almost 400 free ones before the birth & then I have washables ready to go into when the free disposables run out. I am also using free wipes at the mo, when they run out I will switch to cotton wool & water which is what you are supposed to use on a newborn anyway. I buy the dog food once every 2 months at the cash & carry but this still comes out of the grocery budget, we just have that much less to spend that month. We allow £60 per person per month free spending money, the good news about having a baby is that getting out to the shops is hard so you spend less:p

HTH;)

Lillibet is there a reason why you're buying the ready made stuff instead of the cheaper powder formula you make up? I used to have a few small cartons in to pop in bag for trips out/being caught somewhere etc.

If time is a factor (as I suspect) I also used to also buy sachets that came in 4oz/6oz/8oz packs you ripped open and added to the cool boiled water, .Whilst still not as cheap as the tins it worked out cheaper than ready made. The formula I used was SMA don't know if they still do these sachets or if only certain formula brands do them.

Formula was £1 tin cheaper at the baby clinic compared to supermarket when I had eldest, by time I had youngest there were only pennies in it, but that depended on brand. Milimul was several £££s cheaper at clinic

skintchick

I'm single, and have £220 to live on a month after bills - that's for food, petrol (About £60 a month) and anything else like going out.
Any tips on how I can cut that down more? Currently not enough in budget to cover things like car tax/ins, household emergencies, Xmas, birthdays, holidays (!) or indeed anything that is not a monthly outgoing.
All hints gratefully received.

Curry_Queen

Lillibet wrote:

For 2 adults, one medium dog & a 3 week old ...

A huge congratulations Lillibet :T :A

I didn't realise you'd already had baby, but then it is September now isn't it :doh: Boy or Girl? I bet you're both chuffed to pieces and probably feeling a little worn out by now

Ohhh that's brought a lump to my throat hearing the good news

apprentice_tycoon

Here you are C_Q, all the details about Lillbets baby

Poppy9

Don't forget to look at your household bills to see where you can cut back.

For the last few years my mobile phone has cost £0 per year. I have to pay out £25 per month but then I apply for the cash back once or twice a year. As I get at least 100 free mins with my mobile household phone cost is just rental mainly.

Check out the utility boards to see if you can get a cheaper supplier.

Check out your life insurance policies if you have any. You may get better cover for lower monthly outlay if you switch companies.

Work hard on getting car & house insurance down but trawling the web.

As mentioned you will get CTC & Family Allowance (worth about £100 per month) plus a baby bond.

Make a list of everything you need to buy for a new baby then ask a friend or other MSE's who has had a baby what you really need. You will be surprised at how little will be left on the list.

I breastfed - saving £10 per week
I used cotton wool and water as opposed to wet wipes. Had no choice as baby was allergic to wet wipes so I wasted the packs I had been stockpiling throughout my pregnancy.

mum26

for those money savers thinking of washable nappies, tots bots have brought out some new designs, one is called the fluffle and it is fleece lined (so no liners needed and also more stain resistant), very very absorbant, but the best bit when you are on a budget - DRYS SOFT IN A COLD ROOM IN 3 HOURS! I haven't tried them jyet but they look worth the initial outlay if you save on liners and drying costs, and as they dry quicker you can probably get away with buying fewer too I reckon