To ask who else just isn't spending AT ALL!?

[junebug21]

Just that really... is anyone else noticing their bank account numbers rising!!? Due to being home on full pay and not spending on childcare, petrol, kids clubs, coffees etc etc all my pay is stacking up and I'm mind blown by how much I normally would be spending!! We are very lucky to not have many bills (no mortgage) we literally only pay insurances (life, house etc), electricity, Netflix and phones! I feel like I have been wasting A LOT of money beforehand! (I am aware that there are many not in this position etc and we are v lucky) but I also feel like I'm missing something and I owe someone/something a lot of money!!?? Anyone else??

Because of this thread I actually balanced my books since lockdown (something I never do usually.) I am £30 in profit! So I am spending almost as much as I'm earning. But I'm self employed and earnings have plummeted since lockdown, so I suppose at least I'm not spending more than is coming in.

me - saved £1000 last month - direct debits on phone (no extras bought) , utilities, tv licence, rent ,council tax - leave myself £50 for food a month! - no newspapers - I've really cut down spending

Okay I’ll bite. How on earth do you only spend £50 a month on food.

£50 a month on food? Even when I was a poor student 15 years ago I couldn’t manage that, it was more like £90 a month. And my lunches were often 8p packets of Tesco noodles!
I can’t see how you can spend £50 a month and have a balanced diet.

Even for one adult £50pcm on food is really pushing it. It's about £1.60 a day so it's doable but not much fun. Let's see:

40 TBags £1
Milk 5 litres £3.40
Porridge oats £2.00
Bread £4
Marge 80p
Jam 80p
Rice £1
Pasta £1
Cheese £3
Fruit £3
Spuds £2
Mixed cheap veg: onions, carrots, spring greens, leeks £6
Stock cubes £1.50
Sugar/flour/herbs/puree 1.50
Eggs 12 £1 50

Leaving £17 for a cheap chicken, mince, frozen fish, ham knuckle, etc.

So yes it can be done if the person s a good cook but would be a stretch and quite soul destroying.

Surely it must be £50 a week?

I'm usually over £40 a week before I've got out of the fruit and veg aisle for 4 - and we are not vegetarians.

I planned an emergency food budget in case the worst happened and I got it pretty low. It basically involved taking a Berocca each day for the nutrients then eating rice and frozen vegetables every meal. Doable.

Not spending less at all, mainly because WFH , I have had time to notice all the stuff that needs doing about the house..🤔. Plus food bill has increased.
I am now on first name terms with our local Amazon delivery person.

Saving lots here also, however with the money saved dh has fully landscaped the back garden plus new hot tub, new shed, bet bar, new garden furniture and decorations etc...

It’s lovely as it looks like we won’t be travelling we will get full of it in the summer.

I’m spending less but I’ve noticed I’ve spent more on food than usual.

My outgoings are definitely less but I am still buying things online as if we all shut up shop then the economy will be even more fucked than it is already.

OhTheRoses, I manage to get through 40 tea bags a week 😂

God no! I've never been more broke! The food bill has gone through the roof and we're still having to put money away for a holiday that may not happen!

We are putting it away for now, is it even safe in a savings account with this huge recession on the horizon...!

Why wouldn't it be safe in a savings account?

I wish ... Just the last two weeks ... £40 for a plumber call-out, £350 on a new fridge freezer as ours just stopped working (12 years old), and £75 on 3 new fence panels (have needed doing for a while and next door has sorted their garden and removed the bushes that were basically holding them upright).

We're saving some but not as much as you'd hope, with no nursery fees and no car costs (mine was written off just before lockdown and the new one was due to arrive mid-March) and a chunk of it will go straight back out again when we finally go back. Also spending way more on food. Although I've got sorted with a meat and veg delivery now so not running to Lidl every two days and buying junk along with dinner, but the teenager has a hollow leg or three.

And buying toys and books for the baby, you forget how much nursery do! Lot of wardrobe repairs coming up for me and him, too, since he will keep growing and I'm not wearing work clothes to crawl round the floor and be dribbled on, so need to get more t-shirts and jeans. Ugh.