To think that £200 a week for a family of 4 is doable?

[Bluebridge]

So I've become a sahm due to the cost of/ lack of flexible childcare. We are 2 adults and 2 young dc.

We obviously checked the figures before I became a sahm but some things have changed and now we are left with £200 a week after bills except food. I'm having a panic but this is fine isn't it!?

[HelloSquirrels]

Easily doable. We have a lot less than that a week and are absolutely fine.

[5rivers7hills]

Do you own your own home, rent privately or council?

If council on a secure tenancy you'll do a lot better than private e.g. If you need to fine £1,000 for deposit, reference checks and moving costs b cause your LL has decided to sell. Like wise if you own, how will you pay for any maintenance?

[BarbaraofSevillle]

I frittered a lot on maternity leave - lots of popping to cafe or shops

I think that's the crux of it. Are you going to use the time that you have to shop around, entertain the DCs at the park, batch cook cheap meals, or will you be doing lots of paid activities and cafe visits to get you/them out of the house?

Taking drinks/snacks with you most of the time when going out will save a fortune compared with regular cafe visits or even buying drinks and snacks at convenience store prices compared with supermarket/Home Bargains multipacks.

Have a look on your local council website for details of free/cheap activities and discount cards. Our city has several large parks with farms/butterfly houses. Parking and use of the park is free, but you have to pay to go into the animal attractions. It's between about £5 and £10 for an adult and 2 DCs, but you can buy annual passes that are worth it if you go more than a few times a year.

I'd also try and save a bit more than £30 for annual/unexpected expenses, at least until you get to the stage where you can pay all insurances/car tax etc in full without taking credit, which is more expensive, and have a bit put by so you can replace the washing machine if it breaks.

[PolarBearGoingSomewhere]

I think it also depends on whether you have savings to fall back on in an emergency or if you're trying to build up an emergency "pot" too.

£200 per week isn't very much if you're also trying to pay back a credit card bill from having the boiler fixed and save up for a new car as yours is going to fail it's MOT.

However most months, or in a rented house with no maintenence costs, yes, it's fine.

Is it £200 a week or £800 pcm? Those extra days make a difference!

[Bluebridge]

We have no savings, all white goods have been replaced within the last 18 months, we private rent from family so no maintenance costs.

We do lots of cheap days out, the little ones are as happy with a trip to the beach or park as anywhere expensive.

I am guilty of buying too many expensive coffees when I'm out, that'll have to stop .

[BarbaraofSevillle]

If you like a nice coffee, it can be worth buying a good insulated cup so you can make at home and take it with you. Contigo is a favourite on here for being leakproof. Might seem expensive to start with, but I'm sure you'll appreciate how quickly the savings will add up.

[Xmasbaby11]

I bought a very good travel coffee cup and It's perfect for the park. I have a camelpak and It's brilliant - you can chuck it in your handbag and it doesn't leak. I only bought it when i went back to work - should have got it earlier.

[Bluebridge]

Thanks will take a look, I did have a cheap travel cup before but it was pretty rubbish so I don't mind buying a decent one.

[wingsandstrings]

It's not really fair saying that 'you must be in an alternative universe to say that 200 a week isn't enough' . . .. . it's so dependent on where you are living. We live in West London, and the (state) school that DC goes to would have typically high earning parents. We don't have a huge income and it's a real struggle because feeling well off isn't that objective, it's comparable to those around you. If everyone else in DC's class goes on lovely holidays, has fancy sports kit for the school sports clubs, do wonderful karate, drama or swimming extra curricular activities, routinely invite DC to join them at the cinema or at a pizza restaurant but expect them to pay . . .. trust me, the DC notice. So yes, 200 is fine per week if you just look objectively at basic needs, but no it's not nearly enough if you don't want to live very differently and become socially detached from your community, if you live in an expensive part of the country. It's more nuanced than any commentators are making out.

[dontbesillyhenry]

So if that's the case you work and could afford to be a SAHM

[dontbesillyhenry]

My heart bleeds wings and strings. Poor little Peregrine missing his third trip to the Serengeti

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

I feed 2 adults and 2 kids on £50/£60 per week. You would have £150 a week leftover. More than enough as long as you cut your cloth accordingly.

[LellyMcKelly]

As long as you have budgeted for the car or boiler breaking down, that's loads. I don't check my spending but shopping at Lidl was a revelation. I spend about £50-£60 a week and we eat well. Great olive oil and meat, never had a problem with fruit and veg, and things like shower gel and deodorant are as good as anything else on the high street.

[Bluebridge]

@henry I can't afford to work, if I could then I would

[80sMum]

£200 a week doesn't go very far when you start to think about all the extras. It's not just about food. What about clothes, shoes, school uniform, books, equipment, after school activities, birthdays, friends' parties etc?

You will also need an emergency fund of at least 3 months normal expenditure set aside for unexpected expenses (boiler breaks down, roof leaks, car packs up, redundancy of the earning partner etc).

[80sMum]

When my DCs were little, I managed to find evening work in a factory from 6 till 10pm, when DH was at home to look after them. It was a godsend. The pay wasn't great but the extra money coming in enabled us to afford to take the children out from time to time, travel to visit grandparents and generally feel more comfortable. If you get the chance, OP, it's worth doing, if only for a limited time.

[londonrach]

Very doable. £200 is loads. You could save £100-150 per week if just using for food etc so if boiler broke etc you have spare money.

[londonrach]

Oly...its a very decent budget. You could save on £200 per week for extras like broken boiler

[Afreshstartplease]

I think its plenty i spend less for family of 6

[Nuttynoo]

I'm a WP and don't spend anywhere close to 200/mth after bills/travel.

[Bluebridge]

I wouldn't necessarily spend £200 a week just as spends. Apart from food and fuel it needs to cover birthdays, Christmas, clothes etc.

@80s mum, 3 months worth of expenditure saved is not realistic for us and wasn't even when I was working. I agree that a few evening shifts would be a big help but because of the hours dh works I can't guarantee childcare in the evenings.

[QueenOfVipers]

Get unemployment insurance for DH - It can be quite reasonable. 40-70% of your salary paid to you for x amount of months if you lose your job.
I pay £18 a month for mine and have had it for years through varying jobs and I know you can claim non income based JSA in conjunction with it too providing you've paid tax etc long enough.
Worth it for peace of mind.
When you're on a budget insurance is your best friend. You can get insurance for many many things for a reasonably low cost and it's cheaper if you need to claim. The downside of course being the "wasted" money if you don't need to claim but it's a small price to pay for peace of mind.

For Christmas there are savings schemes where you pay in x amount per week and get it back out in November as cash or vouchers. Sometimes the deals top you up too. It's not much but my mum got an extra £50 on top of the £250 she'd saved as she got a good offer.
It's a bit late in the year now but for next year.

Cashback is awesome too. Top cashback and quidco are the best. Before you make ANY purchase particularly online purchases ensure that there's no way to get cashback. Remember ocado, Asda,
Tesco etc often offer these deals via quidco etc too. So check for everything. On my worst month I made £7 and on my best £200 (that included renewing my car and home insurance with their help though).
Not bad and builds up throughout the year.

Do a staples stock up every few months.
Value/own brand stuff is just as good particularly "ingredient" stuff. Eg, pasta, chopped tomatoes, kidney beans are cheap and really no different. I tend to use new customer vouchers (recent one being £20 off £80 shop on sainsburys) with a fake email address to do big stock ups to fill the cupboards.
Always useful

[InDubiousBattle]

I think very few families can afford to have 3 months expenditure put away for emergencies.

Op, I don't want to put words in your mouth but I understood your op to mean 'what can I expect from a £200 a week budget?', I don't think op ever implied that they would starve. Some people on here think it's a big budget, others think it's tight- it depends entirely on your expectations. I think it's tight, so a treat would be a take away rather than a big day out.

[QueenOfVipers]

80sMum funny definition of need
Especially when one in four uk families has less than £95 in savings.

[nonevernotever]

I've mentioned this a few times on Mumsnet before, but Thriftylesley's website has lots of meal pans and recipes for living on a pound a day per person, and the recipes I've tried have all been really nice. They are all nutritionally balanced, calorie counted and so on, and her couscous salad recipe has become my favourite go to for my packed lunches.