To cut costs by reducing my family's food quality rather than give up my expensive haircuts?

[Tortoiseonthehalfshell]

Ok, ok, deliberately provocative title for a basic WWYD. And I'm asking for financial advice in AIBU, so I am prepared for Opinions, capital letters.

We've happily lived within our income for years and years, but borrowed against the mortgage to reno our kitchen, so we have a debt to repay, albeit as slowly as we like.

There aren't a lot of areas we can cut back on. I could squeeze every area slightly but it would be a lot of effort for really not much money. I just deleted a long explanation of how cheaply we live because it was dull, but neither of us has expensive hobbies, buys CDs or computer games or expensive clothes, our social life is parks/picnics/free toddler activities/dinners with friends, and we're both DIYers. This is all just because we are boring sods naturally frugal; we lived like this even when we both worked fulltime.

There are two areas where there is some real fat to cut. One is food, and the other is my hair. If we cut one or the other, we'd add enough to what we currently save in order to pay down the debt fast enough.

Food: we cook from scratch so the budget isn't taken up with processed meals, but I spend around $200 (150quid) a week for two adults and a toddler. Our meals are meat or seafood heavy, which is made worse because I buy from a local butcher who sells free-range, ethical, great quality meat which is probably 150% of the price of other butchers. We tend to have good cheese, pate and posh crackers in the house, mineral water, wine, etc. My two year old is familiar with smoked salmon, olives and Brie, which is ridiculous because she'd be just as happy with cheddar and pickles but she eats what we do, and this is how we eat. We don't have junk food or snacks, but everything we do have is unncessarily good quality. I'm pretty sure I can cut this by a third without compromising on fresh ingredients and well cooked meals, it would just mean going to a cheaper butcher, making a couple of vegetarian meals a week, buying cheaper cuts.

Hair: I spend a fortune, frankly. It's long, and only gets cut every 3 months, but I go to an expensive hairdresser. The real expensive is the colour; it's coloured and streaked, and that happens every six weeks. I spend about 100 quid a month on it, all up. If I coloured it at home and found a cheaper cutter, it would go down to about 20 quid a month since it's only cut every three.

Here is the justification part: I couldn't do anything like the streaking at home. I'm mousy with a lot of premature grey, so the blonde streaks help cover the roots much better than any solid colour ever has. The cut is the first cut I have ever been really happy with, it's very low maintenance and looks classy but funky, and professional enough for my job. I've never found a cheaper hairdresser that can do as good a job, maybe I'm unlucky? I'm not particularly slim and not particularly pretty, but the one thing I do have, now, is great hair. It makes me feel good.

I prefer to cut down the food budget, but AIBU?

ffs
much better that the children eat reclaimed head meat and mashed testicle than you inflict yet more grim cheap highlights on the world

a generation grew up on crispy pancakes

no one died

I saw Quorn in coles the other day, was in the freezer.

You are right about the supermarket cheese tortoise. I havn't sorted out delis and stuff really yet. I do have a fab local butcher and like Martelli's for fruit and veg.

I will admit to laziness though, with the supermarket I am already there and the cheese is there. Which I guess is exactly what the supermarkets want to happen.

Am feeling quite pissed off with the price war going on at the moment. I need to find a good supplier of milk.

This thread has inspired me to sort out a weekly organic delivery, I used to do that before we went to the UK and did it in the UK so will get it sorted.

Which state are you in, Morloth?

NSW, Hills District in Sydney.

There are quite a few box schemes around. I really do like the A2 milk though and it would seem that there isn't any organic versions of that around. Given that a 2 litre will last us more than a week I guess it isn't that big of a deal.

Coles and Woolies are fucking the farmers over pretty thoroughly at the moment so I am trying to move away from them again. Though I do enjoy a mindless supermarket wander every now and again.

OMG I have never spent any money on my hair, it gets trimmed twice a year by my mum or my friend. I grow my own organic fruit and veg and I shop at Aldi which means I have just enough money to spend on dc's equestrian pursuits!

A2 milk is amazing! Costs me a fortune, though, because I drink gallons of it. I couldn't drink more than half a glass of normal milk. I'm sure I read that it is essentially organic but they dont have certification.

Only time to skim, so sorry if I'm repeating people, but I'd suggest cutting the quantity of meat you eat, not the quality. Meat SHOULD be expensive as it's expensive to produce. Can you do more than a couple of meat-free meals a week? My household eats mostly meat-free and has a really good piece of meat maybe once a week and a couple of dishes made with good seafood. That's made a huge difference to our food budget, and I'm sure a less meat-heavy diet is healthier too. Plus you'll really appreciate your good meat and seafood when you do have it!

Sounds as if you're pretty economical otherwise, with clothes, toys etc, so I'd say keep paying for your hair as it's obviously important to you. Perhaps though, as someone suggests above, stretch out the time between haircuts just a little?

Agree with most, cut the food spending, keep your hair!!

My DH likes to stuff himself at mealtimes too and would happily eat 2 portions (then complain I was making him fat). Got round this by only cooking EXACTLY the right quantities for the number of people eating. Which means no cooked leftovers to be nibbled on. If I bulk-cook, then I portion and chill the 'leftovers' straightaway before serving the meal. And I like to boast that every vegetable I buy "knows its fate", ie I meal-plan so only buy what I need for each dish.

We also try to have at least 2 alcohol-free nights a week, to cut down on wine expenditure (the bottles arent as big as they used to be!)

And then I went to the supermarket this evening and spent $140 without either veg or meat included. Everything on sale that I could, too, no snacks/junk at all except some frozen raspberries (my weakness). The meat will be cheaper than usual this week because it's all pizza/shepherd's pie/chicken soup but honestly I'm just realising my 'cut it by a third' was massively optimistic. I'll probably spend another $35 on veg and then $25 on meat and come in at OVER $200. Dammit.

I will repeat something someone said upthread; the 150 quid is only because the dollar is strong against the pound. Last year, the conversion would have meant I'd said 80 quid. And I'm including cleaning products and whatnot in that. I had to buy nappies this week, which is only occasional (we use cloth but disposables overnight), but there's always at least one expense like that.

So, I don't know, now! Of course I can bulk out with pulses and beans but I might have overstated how easy it was to cut down without the family losing out.

is your hair colour a semi or permenant? semis are cheaper and much better for your hair, making it shiney.

also there is no way you need to get it trimmed so frequently, why dont you trm it every 6 months instead

I always hated quorn or any meat substitute until I learned to marinated it to death and or only use it in spicy or highly flavoured dishes.

And have even got used to a turkey substitute for Bacon!!!

Slimmimg world has a lot to answer for

You would have to pay me to eat quorn. A lot.

There is no substitute for Bacon.

Well it sounds like there isn't actually a lot to shave off the food bill without compromising your ethical position or eating quorn apparently .

Hair - I agree with the others, see if you can stretch out your colour to last 8 weeks rather than 6 if you feel the need. I'd not recommend the home colouring option, after a few years of relatively low maintenance hair colour, I have gone for full on highlights as begged by my Dh and I have to say I feel a lot better for it.

But honestly I think you are naturally frugal so just pay the loan off in your own good time.

At the risk of repeating the points that other posters have made, your food budget could be reduced by having two or three veggie meals a week. Even if you buy organic, lentils or any type of bean are very cheap. And much healthier than meat or fish every night. As for hair, I can't imagine spending that much! I've dyed my hair since I was 18 (dark blonde/mousey to blonde) and have never gone to a hairdresser for this. Supermarket packets are fine for this, as long as you use loads of conditioner. Streaks are a different matter, though.

I am with the majority of the replies; slash the shopping bill and keep the haircuts

We used to eat a lot more meat than we do now but I've been making a conscious effort for the past few months to eat meat-free a few nights per week. I've bought a couple of vegetarian cookbooks and lots of the recipes are so nice we don't miss having meat at all. Not even my DH, who is a big meat-eater.

I make a lovely casserole with loads of potatoes and veg, dumplings and chickpeas for protein. The kids love it. I also make a lentil bake which literally costs me pennies (lentils stretch a looooooong way), and we have it in jacket potatoes. Very filling and healthy and again the kids love it. I'm finding it great fun experimenting with recipes and of course the cost of a tin of beans/pulses or pack of lentils is a lot less than the equivalent amount of meat would be to go with that meal.

It's hard to cut back and go without luxury food items if you're used to having gorgeous food all the time, but it is possible for sure.

unbelievable

I pay a lot for my hair to be cut-fed up of paying less and getting home to find the sides were cut enevenly, getting the nail scissors out - and making it worse! I get it done about every 3 months like you, I also get it coloured for the gray, but not streaked, and I get this done much cheaper at the old lady salon down the road. Would not let them cut it though. To save feelings, say that my Auntie cuts it when I go on a trip home. Don't know if this is as feasible with streaks, but a thought...

mm spend more on food, i'm just letting my hair do it's own thing - it's liberating