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Budget for 1 adult, 1 child

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kate1irwin1
kate1irwin1 Posts: 14 Forumite
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in Old style MoneySaving
Hello,
I have started budgeting from the beginning of this year, my groceries for myself and 5yr old has averaged £210/ month. This includes all supermarket shopping (Lidl/Aldi) cleaning products, washing powder, loo roll and a few very basic toiletries.
I’m good at cooking from scratch, we have no fizzy drinks, juice etc (squash occasionally) I don’t drink alcohol and eat barely any meat - although my son loves meat so I do buy it. This is something I spend money on as I’m very funny about animal welfare, but even including this it seems I spend a lot! Any ideas?!!
Thanks in advance:)

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  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 34,731 Forumite
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    Your spend sounds high to me for your family.
    Perhaps you could give an idea of what you actually buy food wise.
  • PipneyJane
    PipneyJane Posts: 4,099 Forumite
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    Your monthly budget isn!!!8217;t too bad. Do you have a shopping list or two that you could share with us? Alternatively, would you mind typing up your last few receipts? We may be able to save you some money.

    FWIW, our monthly budget for household items, for 2 adults, is as follows:-

    £120 general groceries, aka !!!8220;housekeeping money!!!8221; (this is what I track for the Grocery Challenge)
    £ 40 Meat Fund. (This accrues for months. We buy most of our meat from a specialist butcher, 2-3 times a year.)
    £ 40 Bulk Fund (spent on bulk items at Costco or Wing Yip or when we see a really good offer in the supermarket)
    £ 10 Christmas Fund (set aside for the Christmas turkey/goose, etc)
    £ 10 Garden Fund, for gardening supplies, seeds, etc

    The above totals £220 and covers the vast majority of our meals. We eat really well, cooking from scratch most of the time. My culinary style is a mixture of British, Indian, Italian and Southeast Asian food. As long as I have onions, a tin of tomatoes and access to my !!!8220;spices drawer!!!8221;, I can turn virtually anything into dinner. Also, I use/abuse my freezer quite heavily, freezing leftovers and cooking double quantities then freezing half for those evenings when we get in late.

    HTH

    - Pip
    "Be the type of woman that when you get out of bed in the morning, the devil says 'Oh crap. She's up.' "

    It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it - that’s what gets results!


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  • suki1964
    suki1964 Posts: 14,313 Forumite
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    kate1irwin1 wrote: »
    Hello,
    I have started budgeting from the beginning of this year, my groceries for myself and 5yr old has averaged £210/ month. This includes all supermarket shopping (Lidl/Aldi) cleaning products, washing powder, loo roll and a few very basic toiletries.
    I’m good at cooking from scratch, we have no fizzy drinks, juice etc (squash occasionally) I don’t drink alcohol and eat barely any meat - although my son loves meat so I do buy it. This is something I spend money on as I’m very funny about animal welfare, but even including this it seems I spend a lot! Any ideas?!!
    Thanks in advance:)


    All depends on what you cook for meals really

    Theres some here who could write you a meal plan for a week for about £10, others who struggle to drop to less then £60

    The thing is, if you can afford to spend that then why worry?

    One thing though, not aimed directly at you, but how much do people actually spend on cleaning stuff each week? always amazes me as I spend very little on cleaning products. Im not dirty, don't have a dirty house. I am allergic to most things which does help but even so I cant see how more then £10 a month can be spent on cleaning and toiletries
  • wort
    wort Posts: 1,676 Forumite
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    Does anything get wasted? If you aren't throwing anything away, and not buying ready prepared stuff veg ,fruit etc. Then maybe look at buying own brands instead of big names? Without knowing your normal buys it's hard to suggest things. Maybe look at some other threads showing how they manage on a budget, what would you like to get it down to?
    Also if you shop weekly try to stretch to 10 days or 2 weeks.
    I'm doing this at the moment it's hard, I can't see where else I can cut costs, since Christmas I've kept receipts , I'm averaging £100/120 a month, for me and a couple of days with my grandson staying per week.
    I waste nothing things get frozen if they look like I won't use before they go off. Most things can be frozen, I freeze onions mushrooms and peppers chopped and then used in cooking. ,cheese, extra portions of a meal .
    Good luck let us know how you're doing.
    Focus on contribution instead of the impressiveness of consumption to see the true beauty in people.
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