Gaging opinion £400 pw

[Toomuchtrouble4me]

Simply that. Family of 4. Is £400 a week reasonable to live in? This is without any bills so includes:
food for 4
household shopping (detergent etc)
clothing
treats (coffees etc)
household essentials (lightbulbs, batteries etc)
medicines and beauty products
Basically mortgage, bills, large expenses are separate, but thus includes all bits and bobs that are bought weekly plus funds for kids outings and buying gifts if they are going to a party etc.
Is it enough?
we’re trialing how much we need to spend on these things in a week and I don’t seem to be able to manage in £400.

Posters often change details to be less identifiable. It doesn't mean they are trying to mislead or troll. They just want to be less visible. Read any "name change" thread on here and people change their location, number of kids, sex of kids, husbands job etc to avoid being identified in real life.

The fact that the OP has chosen to post and not respond says plenty to me. Bait and boast post.

It depends if it has to include:
Petrol
Childcare
Holiday club childcare
Kids activities e.g. swimming/piano lessons
Holidays
Annual insurances e.g. house/car

Bloody hell… that’s my whole months salary!

😂I've learnt a lot I have to say

And what a surprise, the OP hasn't been back 🙄

Probably still counting all her cash

It is a tad excessive. Maybe use some of your generous budget and get YNAB that will sort you out.

Two of my kids are over 18 and have their own budgets. I am a teacher when I work but I prefer not to work most of the time. At the moment I’m doing 1 day a week intervention. Now…back to the budget question.

Nonsense - genuine question, just busy.

That’s what DH says…
last week rounded up figures:
MON 2x school jumpers £72.00
coffee shop 3.60
supetmarket £26.00
TUES: curtain rings and hooks £14.00
Birthday cake £60
WEDS: Supermarket 44.00
Gym £12.00
book £15.00
eyeliner £22.00
other chemist stuff £20.00
coffee £7.00
THURS
lunch £12.00
tape measure £4.00
Petrol £80.00
FRI
skating trip 40.00
supper £18.00
drinks £12.00
supermarket £70.00
wine and nibbles £23.00
…Over budget by Friday on just ‘stuff’
ok there’s not always mums bd cake but there will be some other event or essential purchase - this week both boys need a haircut…
it must just be me but I can’t do it on £400.

Posted above

If I eat out with DH he pays snd that’s not from £400 I’m trying to live on, I do go for lunch a couple of times a week and have coffee shop coffee most days - I don’t think that’s excessive but maybe it is 🤷‍♀️

Detergent probably fortnightly but there’s always something extra - last week was curtain rings, new backpacks for school, but lotion (!) blow dry, nails, kids entertainment…always something.

School jumpers and birthday cake seem like the obvious places to save some money.

Why were you paying £36 for a kid's jumper?
£60 for a cake?

My local big Sainsbury's do very nice cakes from the in store bakery.

Can you honestly not look at that list and see where cutbacks can be made if you can't afford it all?

Are the school jumpers logo ones? If not why are they so expensive?
Cakes don't have to cost £60
Cut back on coffee/ lunches out.
There's lots of things I need/want for my house, but if there isn't room in the budget then I have to save up.
I don't pay for a blow dry/ nails because I can't afford to.

Sure they are 'nice to have' and I'm not saying no one should ever have them, but if you need to cut back isn't it obvious?

A lot of schools have compulsory items for uniform that can only be bought from one shop so it's not always a choice to buy expensive school uniform (huge bug bear of mine)

However having seen the list of expenditure, I think it may be easier to make savings by
shopping once or twice a week rather than multiple times, or cutting down on coffees or meals out especially if you feel you've made several "extra" purchases like a birthday cake or school jumpers.
Having said that even 2 boys hair cuts is likely to be £30 (ish) v £130 for the school jumpers and cake so that's £100 less . Having nails done could possibly be put back a week if you felt you'd overspent during the week?

It would be so easy to cut down on the list. Buy £5 eyeliner. Make a coffee at home. Don’t eat out. Get a supermarket delivery once a week and shop to a budget. Get supermarket cake. Get supermarket jumpers. Do your own nails. Go to the library instead of buying a book.

But you can probably see all that and don’t want to do it. Do you actually need to do it or is this an experiment?

I wouldn’t say I’m struggling as I’m not trying to cut down really - it’s just that normal every day activities are coming in to around £100 a day which seems a lot -!so I thought I’d see if I could manage on £400 PW and I can’t really.

Yes I think that’s the key, rather than doing it all when I want to, I need to plan better, cake this week so save for haircuts next week. Can’t stop the coffees but could have nails one week and new eyeliner the next and make it work. I’ve never added it up before.

How the hell have you managed far enough in life to become a teacher, and not realise that spending £20 5 times per day makes £100, and £100 x 7 does not equal £400? Nobody is that dense.

It is obvious yes, I just wondered if most people do actually think “eyeliner this week so nails next week” kind of thing.
I don’t usually add up what I spend so it was a surprise to realise it was £100 a day on just ‘stuff’ that we need as a family and luxuries/treats like coffee and nails. I do have frizzy hair do a weekly bd is essential but other things are just nice, not essential. I do find it hard to plan.

So many unnecessary extra's a week.

I’ve never bothered to think about what I spend before, I just get what I need, have never thought about it before.

An experiment. I hadn’t realised what I was spending and wondered how unusual it is as my DH thinks I spend too much.