Just had to put a food shop on the credit card, fed up!

[whatsausername]

We don’t get paid until next Thursday. I’d ran out of essentials like coffee, hand wash, toothpaste, chips etc. Needed the usual packed lunch stuff too. £78 in Asda. I have £82 in the account until payday but need to keep it in as direct debits due day before payday.

I just feel bleugh. We both work full time and having to put a weekly food shop on a credit card is just soul destroying.

anyone else feel like this?

My essential would be tea. I buy an expensive brand. However, if short of cash I would buy an 'own brand' as a one off (and moan about it to myself).

Yes this. Hate being in the overdraft

No idea why that posted twice!

Yeah because people saying they need coffee is the problem here 🙄

Someone working full time should be allowed to buy coffee ffs. And it is an essential in our house, actually.

Exactly this. We all shop differently and again, i'm not going to say anything about it going on the credit card. I'm not going to be telling you what you should be buying for lunches. Cost of everyday items does seem rather high at the moment. To be honest, I shop between Waitrose and M&S and do find the prices there often better than some other supermarkets with M&S often having better quality than Waitrose. I also shop at the butchers. There is one about 20 miles from me that also do home delivery and do a 7 meats for 7 days box for about £42.00. It's a juggle and no a jar of coffee shouldn't be seen as a luxury.

I think the issue is the OP is not budgeting well enough because if she's £78 short in a month (and has to put food onto credit) she's sailing close to the wind.

Having only £82 left in her account is not great.

@whatsausername The bigger issue is why are your savings so low that you are stretched? Are you able to eat more cheaply or pay less for other non essentials (eg subs for entertainment, phones, clubs, hobbies, etc)
You shouldn't need to put food on credit.

Are people really telling someone where both adults in the house work that coffee is a luxury item now, reserved only for the wealthy? I'm so cross at how things are at the moment for working families, people who work should not be struggling like this. Op you are getting lots of silly suggestions on here, "buy a whole bird and cook it, it'll do lunches for 3 weeks, get some chickpeas and make hummous". People who work ft and juggle kids do not have the time or energy for this kind of shit, they want to be able to make lunches in the morning before everyone leaves the house and get to work on time, usually after a nice cup of coffee.

It's shocking how everything has gone up, well not everything, wages haven't.

Quite. These threads always make me want to spend more because why the hell in 2025 as one of the richest countries in the world are we having to choose what we can eat based on price ffs. It’s utterly utterly miserable I despair

I've had to do the same this month and I was hoping to have my cc paid off by next month and everything is just soaring in price . I now have the unexpected added expense of formula to buy as my baby has severe reflux which meds aren't helping ( he weighs 10lb at 4months) every month is just getting harder

It really hurts when a few non negotiables run out at the same time. I’ve found it suits me better to stock up on a category of items each month, because then I budget for that expense rather than having them creep up on me as an invisible cost. It took me a while to get a system going, but it’s been helpful.

Park the chips and handwash and buy potatoes and soap

Coffee and tea are quite clearly basics to the majority of households.

Of course they are basics, essentials in fact, otherwise I would never get my plumbing fixed, chimney swept, boiler serviced, grass cut etc etc, they are the lubricant of industry in any home! I once had no tea bags when a tree surgeon was working, a non-coffee drinker, no amount of Vimto would placate him.

🙄

Do you give your expensive brand to visitors too? Economise and keep a lower range of tea for them! My late OH used to buy an expensive ketchup for himself but a lesser brand for the grandchildren, though they preferred it to his brand!

Oh give over

I would try to do swaps. Buying drinks - swap for tap water in reusable bottles. Cold meats swap for home made roast use left overs and slice for sandwiches. Goes a long way doing these swaps.

That's a bit harsh and not really your decision for someone else If that works for you thats fine

I mean I'm sure the OP could slash her grocery bill down by not buying coffee or chips or whatever.
She could also wave a magic time wand and cook her own joints/chicken, bake her own bread and make her own chips.
I do all of the above (meat, bread, chips) by the way, but I WFH so have no commute and only one older teen at home.

She could switch brands. Own brand toothpaste is £1, branded £6
Handwash: own brand 59p, branded £2.
Coffee : own brand £2.50, branded £7.80

Hi,
That sounds tough.
I believe that 16/17 year old can be entitled to universal credit (in their own right) in certain circumstances and I think not living with their parents is one of the situations.

It could certainly be worth looking into.

I hope that is the case and helps your household.

There are really two issues at play here.

The first one (and the one which is within our individual / the OPs control and which is likely why lots of posters are focussing on it) is that it's stupid to get into debt for the sake of coffee and chips when much cheaper alternatives are available, even if going without coffee for a week is unpleasant.

The second is the much bigger, wider economic and social quagmire we're in, which none of us can really control and neither can any one individual government, to be honest. People should be able to buy as much coffee as they want but sadly we are living in a time where we have passed the achievable peak in terms of quality of life and (notwithstanding any major technological advances leading to sudden widespread economic improvements) we're going to have to get used to our lives being less fun than they were before. Our planets population is too large, we've used too much of the Earths resources, and the changing global climate isn't going to help. We quite literally can't live like we did in the 90's anymore.

It's going to be rubbish, but there isn't much we can do.

Double post again.

Magic time wand - that is so true
OP it is shit. I've done this for years and put parking on CC before work paid expenses back. Getting a teeny bit easier now kids have just left uni but when you're tired you defo feel miserable about it. I work blumin hard and nothing to show for it
I enjoy simple pleasures

Also soap often just dissolves to slime.

It doesn't.

Also, it is cheaper than handwash, and lasts longer.

I am just hearing excuses from posters who are moaning about their lack of money, but CBA to do anything to change their situation