making money last till 26th!!

[cushioned1]

Hi,

So I have stupidly messed up with my car insurance. It's renewed and has been taken out of my bank in one go - £518. I have called them but they are not helpful and have explained that even if I cancel and refund, it could take up to 10 days!

This leaves me with £218 until next Thursday. I receive PIP as I am disabled and get this on Thursday 17th ( next week). This is £549. I also get about £150 from a sideline that I do - this will come in next Monday 14th. This means that I have a total of £917 to see me through until the 26th. I have 2 teen dc's a no partner. I will need to do at least 2 full food shops and also pay for fuel (35 per week). I am worrying that it's going to be very tight this month.

I'm sorry to you won't get good replies here. Over £900 to last you barely 3 weeks. That's more than a lot of people have, if you've paid rent/mortgage.

Surely that’s plenty? 😮
It’s a lot more that what some people have.

If you do 2 frugal food shop at Aldi thats £200 and £35 per week for fuel is £105 so you have around £600 left. What else do you need to pay for? I don’t understand why you’re so worried?

Sounds ok to me if all you need to pay for is food and fuel.
What concerns do you have?

Write up meal plans for the coming weeks and only buy what's on there.
Buy snacks in bulk for teen DCs. Stop buying drinks out and make up some coffee in a flask.

If its been taken out by DD then you could request an indemnity, it will be back in your bank within a few hours, but you'll need to sort your insurance again.

That's a lot of money though, what does it need to pay for?

You've got plenty available money, OP.

Even if you spend £300 on two food shops, that leaves you with £617.

Three lots of fuel is £105.

That leaves you with £512 till 26th.

This is such a strange post, over £900 and you only need to do some food shopping and fill up the car? How much do you eat??

What do you have to pay with that?

The food shops are where you are going to be able to save money.

But before you shop, list everything in your store cupboard and freezer, and plan as many meals as you can from those items.

When shopping buy cheaper brands, plan economical meals like soup & egg and chips, baked potatoes, sausage & bean casserole etc, serve porridge for breakfast.
I would concentrate on filling meals for the teenagers rather than snacks. If they complain, tell them it's only for a few weeks. They aren't going to starve by the end of October!

Good luck, it shouldn't be difficult if you plan well.

I have £295 to last me until the 23rd and I’m not worried…
Thats fuel, 2 food shops for me and 3 kids, a couple of birthday presents and anything else that could come up! I never have £900 to last me a month after bills!

Have you got your numbers confused?

£900 for food and fuel for 2.5 weeks should be absolutely fine unless you shop in Harrods and commute 300 miles a day.

Op that's ridiculous.

There’ll be a drip feed

So you’ve got £218 until next Monday. Minus £35 fuel, that’s £183 for a food shop. How much do you usually spend on food?
Then you have £150 coming in on Monday when you can top up food and fuel, before £550 coming in 3 days later, which only has to last 9 days. Where do you think the struggle will be?

C'mon now, that's plenty for food and fuel.

You need to further explain why you're concerned please. Have you missed stuff out? Or counted wrong?

@cushioned1 unless you come back and provide more background as to why you will struggle on the amounts you've detailed, I'm afraid that this could be construed as a goad about benefits, IMHO.

Unless you mistyped or missed out a huge expense, that's a massive amount of money!

I hope not because pip is not an income based benefit, it's purely based on disability and is given to anyone who needs it, regardless of their income.
It's not means tested, it's not like uc.

You're hardly skint! I don't think you'll struggle, unless your food shopping includes fillet steak, champagne, caviar and truffles.

This is a joke right?

I know it's not but it is still a State benefit and there has been an inordinate amount of criticism of such lately, including level of the State Pension.

On the information given OP shouldn't have an issue, which is what gives me pause.

Diddums

I can't work out the issue? You've got £900+ for two food shops and some petrol. Have you missed out you also need to pay rent or something else in this time? Otherwise you have plenty of money.

What else does the 900 need to cover as you're not going to have a short month if it's only needed for a couple of food shops and a teensy amount of petrol?