What's a reasonable amount to budget for eating out/take aways /coffees each month?

Cut out the coffees and get a travel cup. Take a packed lunch. Keep to one basic take-out a month (eg pizzas) and a meal out each half term. I think it is probably more helpful to look at things to cut out rather than restrict the budget.

£0

It’s all trash, overpriced, unnecessary and a waste of money.

I'd adopt one of 2 approaches.

1. Say that the "eating out budget" covers 1 meal out a month and 2 coffee/cake treats (or whatever)
2. Increase the food budget to cover any food and drink regardless of where it's bought. This is what we do and it's made use realise that we would rather use the money to buy better food at home then spending on takeaways, and go to "nicer" restaurants occasionally then coffee shops more frequently. So we budget/go out accordingly. Others will have different priorities.

Surely it depends on how seriously they want to get a grip on their finances.

A not too gradual shift to zero budget if they are very serious.

If it’s just their eating out/costa money then I’d suggest £150 per month. That would cover a meal out, a takeaway, a McDonald’s and a couple of costas. That’s perfectly fine for a month. Pack lunches/flask of coffee for the rest of the month.

I'd be curious to know the break down of part time wages vs benefits whilst this person is frittering money away on takeaways.

Anyway, to answer the OP I spend around £100 a month on takeaways for my family of four, we get one a fortnight and don't buy takeaway coffee.

Yep

Getting £3k a month with part time job is kicking ass though. Why did that never work out for us??

We ended up paying back child tax credit for one of the many different amounts that the government said we owed at the time. It was such a nightmare, that we never claimed any benefits after that.

@ChillBarrog correct , sorry my bad

Six? I count five

They could start by halving it. Mum can take lunch to work. I save a fortune doing that. Don’t buy takeaway coffee.

I think organisations like step change have sample budgets you could get them started on

I say this because how much money they have for spending money is going to depend entirely on their fixed costs and emergency fund. £400 clearly way too much for that income though.

Is £400 all they spend on extras each month, or do they spend £400 on eating out/costa etc. and then further money in days out, clothes, beauty, activities?

I would maybe go down the route of suggesting one takeaway a month and one coffee a week, unless travelling or in other circumstances where it's impractical to take or make your own food/coffee.

@fost £100 for 6 people?

I think it’s important to get them to see what their life would look like without this spending and see if they can get onboard.

• what is reasonable and could they replace it with something else? is once a month ok? Once a fortnight? Once a week? Are they willing to make similar food at home or use supermarket versions? What happens to the money they save? After a while, it becomes a habit.

It’s very hard to advise if you haven’t got that mindset. I find it horrifying how much people spend on Starbucks etc - I recently worked at a charity and the wages are not high yet people would rock in with their caramel frappucino with extra sprinkles and their Pret at lunchtime, easily costing £15 a day - and they thought I was the spendthrift because I spent that on holidays instead.

I would suggest one takeaway a week and two sets of takeout coffee. It will be hard to stop the pressure from the DCs if they are used to fancy drinks ( which are quite addictive due to the amount of sugar, caffeine and additives, not to mention unhealthy). Maybe some of the money saved could be used to financially incentivise the family. So if they spend £200 rather than £400 in a month everyone gets £10 each at the end of the month to do what they want with ?
I don’t know, it’s very much a mindset which they all need to buy into.

To help sticking to it, I have a Starling card I put money for lunch/coffee on every week and if it's gone, no more lunch I haven't brought with me from home and if I have spare I save it.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

I think you’re going around it the wrong way around. Use this budget planner to work out the cost of everything, bills, holidays etc. Work out how much they spend on school uniforms, car tax, mot, birthday presents etc over a year and set aside each money each month to cover these costs (direct debit in to separate bank account). Only then do you decide if you can go out regularly for meals etc. it’s a sobering exercise, but worth it in the long run.

(and be honest and realistic with how much they spend!)

Start with all their outgoings excluding discretionary spending, which includes eating out, coffees etc. When they know how much is left over put some aside for annual expenses and then ask how much they want to save each month. Start with a goal - an emergency fund of X. Any money left over is theirs to spend as they please. I wouldn’t start with a budget for eating out because that’s an optional spend, agree a savings amount with them.

One takeaway a week seems about right so you’re not wasting money but also enjoying a quality of life but it depends what you’re having, pizza is pretty cheap around here but an Indian or Chinese would set you back £79 for 5 people. If I were to budget myself I think £80 per week is enough to feel like I’m enjoying my life but there have been times when I’ve had next to nothing. I’m not sure you’ll get an answer on here that’s usable as some people never get takeaways or take out coffees and some have loads. I think they would be better off working out what they can afford and spending that.