Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To cut back on food to afford to take dd swimming and to soft play?

266 replies

Shortofcash · 08/02/2015 08:30

All our money is allocated each month for bills, there is nothing spare. Dd is age 2 and we have always done free activities like go to the park or surestart activities. All her clothes are hand me downs from my older sisters daughters. I would live to be able to take her to swimming and soft play, I estimate it would cost me about £10 a week. We currently spend £80 a week in a mix of aldi and tesco (mostly aldi - just go to tesco for bits I can't get in aldi). If I shaved £10 a week off our food bill I could afford to take her swimming and soft play (although soon we will have a dd2 so will probably be only be able to afford swimming for both and no soft play :( ) would I be unreasonable to cut back on food so my dd can swim?

OP posts:
PotteringAlong · 08/02/2015 08:32

£80 a week on food is quite a lot - I think you'd be able to shave £10 off with careful meal planning.

Fairylea · 08/02/2015 08:33

Of course not unreasonable. I think most families make sacrifices at the moment to enable them to live rather than just survive. Go for it.

chocnomorechoc · 08/02/2015 08:33

If you have no other way of saving the £10 weekly, then I would not shave it off the food bill to go swimming with a 2 year old.

SweetSorrow · 08/02/2015 08:33

£80 a week seems quite a lot to me, £10 off should be easy.
You don't usually have to pay for under 1 year olds at soft play so you wouldn't have to stop straight away.

beginnerrunner · 08/02/2015 08:35

I don't mean this to be horrible but why choose to have a second child if you can't afford to do anything (or even clothe) the first?

TendonQueen · 08/02/2015 08:35

I think it's worth a try. The MoneySavingExpert site has good tips about this, so you could look on there. The hidden expense of soft play is food and drinks while you're there but you could sneak stuff in in your bag. Most soft play places let kids up to 1 yo in free so you'd still be able to go for a while after DD2 arrives.

AndHarry · 08/02/2015 08:35

I think it's do-able. Unfortunately many families are in the same position of the food budget being the only one with any wiggle room. I shop at Tesco online for the four of us and the weekly shop usually comes to around £60, with careful planning, batch cooking and a store-cupboard of basics like rice, pasta and spices.

Fairylea · 08/02/2015 08:36

Also (I'm on a very low income) have you gone through all your bills etc piece by piece to make sure you are paying the least you can on everything? It's amazing what the comparison sites can find you with regards to car and home insurance and energy supplier swaps etc. I'd look at all that first and see if any savings can be made (if you haven't already).

ThinkIveBeenHacked · 08/02/2015 08:36

I think £80pw is a lo too. Are you buying a lot if jars / pre prepared meats etc?

PuffinsAreFictitious · 08/02/2015 08:36

YANBU

Have you looked to see if you can get concessionary rates at the pool for people on low incomes?

I understand exactly where you're coming from. There were a couple of years where I only ate once a day, sometimes less so that DS1 could do things other children do.

glenthebattleostrich · 08/02/2015 08:37

Do you have a wacky warehouse type place near you? Ours do toddler mornings with juice and coffee for avoyut £1. Swimming, look for cheap sessions in a council pool, ours does discounts for quiet mornings.

TendonQueen · 08/02/2015 08:37

Beginnerrunner, why even bother asking that now other than to be unkind? It's a bit late, isn't it?

Sirzy · 08/02/2015 08:37

Meal plan, shop around if you can. Should be doable and even if you only save a bit it would allow for a monthly trip.

soverylucky · 08/02/2015 08:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Runningupthathill82 · 08/02/2015 08:37

I think that's very reasonable - £80 is a lot to spend on food each week. We spend £80 a fortnight on the "big" shop and top up maybe £15 in the middle, so averages out at less than £50 a week.

Lookingbeyondthestars · 08/02/2015 08:38

I think it's doable too but do you need to do it every week?
I would start thinking about putting some money aside for days out when the weather gets warmer.

ahbollocks · 08/02/2015 08:38

80 a week is alot! Do you spend quite a bit on wine or sweets etc? I spend about £60 a week (same family sitiation as you)and there's always plentt to eat

thanksamillion · 08/02/2015 08:40

You don't need to do those things weekly though do you. Shave off £5 which would be far easier and do them every other week instead.

Purplepoodle · 08/02/2015 08:41

Hi. No reason why you shouldn't. You could also try different toddler groups. Some are brilliant with slides, see saws, little tykes cars - just as good as soft play. Most are only a £1 round here plus u get a snack. We had to try lots before we found good ones.

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 08/02/2015 08:41

80 is a lot. We send 80 to 100 a week and mostly have M and S ready meals which are not the cheapest. .yes I am slattern. So scope for cutting that down IMO

Caronaim · 08/02/2015 08:42

I have one word to say to you, Bananas!!!!!

Cheap, filling nutritious!

Since i've started buying bananas as a snack for my children instead of biscuits/ yoghurt, I've easily saved £10 a week.

Luckily mine like them, I hope yours do to, but now a filling after school snack is 10p, not 80p, each day, each child.

HoppityVoosh · 08/02/2015 08:42

I also think you should be able to take at least £10 off your food bill.

Is there no way any of your other bills could be reduced too?

ahbollocks · 08/02/2015 08:42

Also check out church playgroups and leisure centre soft play. I got to these (not religious) and they cost 1.50 and 2.50 respectively and include juice, coffee and biscuits

Runningupthathill82 · 08/02/2015 08:44

Also, not sure if you could do something similar, but we saved by joining a gym with a soft play area in it, at £42 a month for me - so just over a tenner a week - which gives me unlimited swimming and soft play for DS.
There's also a little reading and computer area for children and a cheap-ish cafe.
Works out cheaper for us, as swimming at the council pool is around £5 (just pay for me, DS is free) and soft play is around £7 for DS.
As a result, we go swimming a LOT!

Original poster
Shortofcash · 08/02/2015 08:44

Beginner runner that's an awful thing to say! Just because we are not well off doesn't mean dd shouldn't have a sibling! I'm sure she would rather have a sister than go to soft play!! And my sister has 4 girls so has kindly gave us all there hand me downs for my girls do we have no need to buy new clothes.

OP posts: