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.

You don’t realise that this is massively privileged, do you?

like, there are people - teachers - who only go for a coffee once a month as a “treat” - who have £50/week to spend on food for their families?

And you are coming here to tell us that you can’t possibly get it under £100/day?

And you are saying you “need” a blow dry every week?

You don’t need any of this shit. And you know it.

You could and would easily cut down if you actually had to. You’d soon see that daily coffees and weekly blow dries aren’t actually essential or things you ‘can’t’ cut out. You’d also quickly realise you’d sounded a bit daft previously. But if your DH can afford for you to do this and you have a secure retirement plan that’s not dependent on him, then just do what you want. People can afford different stuff.

Your DH is right, have you shown him your list?

When you say £100 per day, are you trying to reduce your spending from £700 p/w to £400 p/w?

If so maybe try doing it in stages? £600 for a few weeks, then £500, then £400.

OK, I can't be bothered to go through the whole list, so here are the more obvious points:

coffee shop 3.60 - you don't need coffee. If you want it, you can make it at home.

Birthday cake £60 - I've never in my life spent that much on a single cake. I would consider a fiver to be adequate and a tenner to be a good budget.

book £15.00 - you don't need it and if you were really broke you wouldn't buy it. Pick something up in a charity shop for 50p.

eyeliner £22.00 - nope. You don't need it and if you really want it, there are cheaper ones.

coffee £7.00 - no.

lunch £12.00 - no.

skating trip 40.00 - nice, but unnecessary

supper £18.00 - no

drinks £12.00 - no

It's very, very easy to reduce your expenditure. Your personal expenditure. For those who are already cut to the bone, it's obviously difficult.

You’re a teacher ‘gaging’ opinion on a £400 a week spend… 🤔 I’ll just leave this here.

£22 on eyeliner? Jeez. And here's me feeling guilty spending anything above £4. For £22 I'd want them to come round every morning and apply it for me. I think anything above £7 is just unnecessary for eyeliner.

I prefer not to work most of the time
**
Oh just knob off. You're not even real with flaming posts like this. Just trip-trap back under your bridge and leave us normal everyday folk alone.

I did question whether she was gagging on £400 or gauging - though to be fair, I think gagging is maybe more accurate.

CLOTHING:
2x school jumpers £72.00

DIY: curtain rings and hooks £14.00
tape measure £4.00
=£18

PERSONAL
Gym £12.00
book £15.00
eyeliner £22.00
other chemist stuff £20.00
=£71

CAR
Petrol £80.00

GOING OUT
coffee shop 3.60
coffee £7.00
lunch £12.00
supper £18.00
drinks £12.00
skating trip 40.00
=£92.60

FOOD
Birthday cake £60
Supermarket 44.00
supetmarket £26.00
supermarket £70.00
wine and nibbles £23.00
= £223

Your biggest spend area, food for consumption at home, is exceeding £30 a day. I imagine you're popping out for bits without much of a meal plan. This is a mistake if you are trying to stick to any kind of budget.

Definitely look at the supermarket, you don't need to go that often

Write a list, with everything you need and stick to it. I do a shop that lasts 7-10 days, yes day 10 might be using up random stuff and freezer but it all helps. I keep the list on my phone and add to it as I see I need something, the freezer always has some kind of bread in and I keep UHT milk as a back up I need my cups of tea

Look at alternative beauty products, I often google "dupe for X" to see what people recommend, or watch "drugstore new makeup" on YouTube
If you can't cope without it then use Quidco for cash back, google for a discount code and always buy in the sales. I love tarte mascara so I get the Christmas set which is 3 mascaras for about the price of 1

Work out what's negotiable with hair/skin etc. example being I am perfectly happy with dove shower gel (on offer!) but caudalie hand cream I won't give up (again I get it in a cracker set they do for Christmas)

It's just being a bit more clever sometimes with money. Make sure to buy stuff at the lowest price too. So if you eat say Ben and jerrys ice cream. Don't buy it at full price, it always goes on offer. When it's half price, get 2 and stick it in the freezer and you've got 2 for the price of 1 Do that for anything - not perishable, beauty, hair, food. I have a full back up stash of stuff!

OP you know you're in a really privileged position to be spending like this and not need to cut down. Your idea of essential is quite different to mine and many peoples though. A weekly blow dry isn't essential. Nor is coffee shop coffee every day. My car needs to go in next week, costing around £360. That is essential. I'm going to struggle but will manage.

I cut out coffee shop coffee a few years ago now. It wasn't sustainable for me any more , it's nice to have though and if you can afford it and want it... maybe have it when you're out fir the day rather than as a matter of course?

There are so many ways you could cut down but if you don't need or want to, you won't. Maybe if you were working for the money it would have more value to you.

It’s important to budget even if you have expendable income. We have a bank account with spaces for certain things, and withdraw from the space when we spend. So for example we have spaces for groceries, petrol, kids (clothes, clubs etc), take out & treats, house improvements (we’re gradually redecorating), plus savings. Then we each have our own spends. Anything left over in each space at the end of the month goes in savings.

This means we’re being more mindful of our spending, by setting a target at the beginning of the month rather than blowing through money and then wondering where it all went.

If you want to cut down I'd start with weekly food shopping, plan your meals in advance and order what's needed. Then during the week only buy things that go off quickly like bread.
Then I'd limit some of your luxuries - maybe coffee every other day and have coffee at home rest of the time? Blow dry every other week instead of weekly? And so on...

The best motivation I find is to save in the beginning of the month and then the rest is your limit. Try to plan what you need to buy that month and leave some money for unexpected spending.

What? I'm quite spendy and even I think that's crazy.

Regular top up shopping is blowing a hole in your budget. Do a properly planned big shop.

You can also cut down on some things. I do my own nails and only go to a manicurist for special occasions (weddings, holidays etc..).

Unless it is a very special ocasion you don't need to spend £60 on a cake, Colin the Caterpillar or homemade cake will be just as appreciated.

Stop:
Eyeliner
Cake
Frequent shop bought Coffees
Book
Top up shopping
Wine and nibbles should be part of bigger shop and planned
Weekly Nails
Weekly blow drys.

Just saved you circa £150

A weekly blow dry isn't essential.

No, it isn't. I have very frizzy hair and somehow manage without it. In fact, I find blow drying damaging to frizzy hair, since the hair is frizzy because it is dry, the heat from blow drying just damages it. Better to leave it to dry naturally. Good products for dry hair don't have to be expensive either.

I mean, at this stage I'm not sure why I'm saying this stuff, although I suppose it might benefit someone other than the OP.

I think the problem OP has is mindless spending rather than particular items.

Take your £1600 "budget" and put it into separate categories.

Fir example subscriptions (classes, gym etc)... if those all come out at the beginning of the month, accept the first week will be more expensive.

Birthdays... put aside a bit each month into the birthday/Christmas "pot". So again it might seem more expensive that week but its actually shared over the year. Assess what you really need to spend on these... was the cake the only thing you bought?

Uniform... if its compulsory logo item its complicated. But (state) schools are supposed to be minimising cost to parents.

But most of all... you need to want to change your habits.

£100 per week saving is £5200 a year. Thats a holiday. Or over 10 years (52k) a house deposit for a child.

I'm sorry... I'm oscillating between my mouth hanging open aghast, and helplessly giggling.

Are you serious?

Are you for real?

I can go literally days not spending anything other than pure essentials (travel for work, contribution to petrol for family car). I'm not on the poverty line or anything, just aware that I don't need to spend money every day.

I cannot believe this is real.

You didn't know whether people think to themselves "got a cake to buy this week, so I'll leave my nails for next week"????

I'm sorry I'm really not deliberately trying to be rude but I'm flabbergasted.

Bloody hell how many batteries and lightbulbs are you getting through???

Too many by the sounds of it lol

If my diesel costs are on the budjet then just like you I will go above often . People here are being rude . You did not ask if you could survive with £400 you asked if you could do a normal week for £400 and I’m assuming you mean comfortably .

I like the cake from Paul’s bakery. I wasn’t really trying to budget, just live my normal life including normal nice things, DH thinks anything over £400 PW is excessive, it does include drum lessons at the weekend. No bills. I suppose what I mean is that it’s not as though I’m blowing money in designer handbags every week - it’s just day to day ‘stuff’ albeit some nice stuff like bd cake that’s from my preferred bakers and to do that I need more than £400 PW and I wondered if others found the same. I know I’m not living in a budget, I wasn’t attempting to.

Ffs - I didn’t say I needed it! I said I spend over £400 and DH thinks it’s excessive and wondered if anybody else spent around the same on just day to stuff, albeit nice (ish) stuff but hardly high end.