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.

How are people spending £200+ a week on food shop and then top up/takeaways/lunches. I spend £80 a week for a family of 5 and I don't feel like I'm scrimping/buying the cheapest. I don't think I could spend 200 if I tried. Especially if I wasn't buying lunches and 1 evening meal a week.

Just our food shop alone is pushing £200 a week but there is chuffing millions of us, four adults and 3 teens left in the house, rest have flown the nest. Not sure how many clothes etc you are buying but £400 a week is a lot

That's literally the PPs point - how the hell are they spending basically a whole £27k salary on food and random bits.

Yes it is doable. We have about that per week left after bills and when we try to keep spending down it is fine but when we don't keep track it can be touch and go. Usually all the useless little things like after school treats, magazines, last min takeaways, kids breaking their shoes mid week ... it's all the little things that add up.

How many batteries and lightbulbs are you buying in a week @Toomuchtrouble4me? 😅🤣
I know everyone has their own budgets and lifestyles etc to deal with and some people live in far more expensive places than others but tbh, I think it’s in pretty poor taste to post about how hard it is to budget with that money when there are people really struggling.

For transparency, we (2adults, 2 toddlers) leave ourselves with roughly the same amount as you as “free money” after bills etc are taken care of and some money is allocated to savings etc. Occasionally there is a week (like last week) where we spend more - we went away for a few days midweek last week as a family as DH and I had a rare few days off together so hotel, meals out, kids activities etc on top of our usual food shop and everyday expenses. Most weeks we spend far less and are able to add extra to saving etc at the end of the month. Personally, I think we live a very well, especially given the current state of the world!

Do you mean £400 a month?

We are a family of 4 and I get by fine on half that! In fact I rarely spend £200 a week on all that. What are you buying that this is a struggle?!

Definitely manageable. We pretty much buy all those things in our weekly shop (except clothing and treats, which are not strictly necessary/not a weekly expense) and our weekly shop is about £150-200 if you include top ups.

£500 a month on food for 4? Where do you live?!?

It's nearly double that for me plus 3 teens / pre-teens (Dublin). And no extravagances, other than good quality meat, but not loads.

Although my 'food' shop includes the things OP mentions like light bulbs, detergent etc

I’d say we only spend £500 a month on food for a family of 4. If that. I meal plan though and don’t get anything in we don’t need or won’t use!

I thought they were saying that the OP was on a salary of £27k which would be super comfortable for most people to live on.

Is this your house OP?

Can't remember the last time I bought a lightbulb.

Must be lol

Same 😂 we have insanely high ceilings in our Victorian era home so basically just use lamps now everywhere. Can’t even reach the bulbs with our ordinary ladder

Per week? Yes, I think that's entirely manageable.

We have a pony on full livery and still don’t get through £400 per week on simply living

How very odd. we are a family of 5 and manage to spend much less. If you struggle on 1600 approx a month for food etc then you need to look at what you are buying and the quantity. Also stop doing your food shop at Harvey Nichols.

If you are struggling to keep under £400 a week then you need to break your spending down further and look at exactly where the money is going.
A fancy coffee out every doy or now and again?
New clothes.........how often, wanted or needed?
How much are you spending on groceries?

I dont even think this is a real post. The OP hasn't been back at all.

Is there a typo somewhere OP - do you mean you have 4 kids, £40 a week to live on, or £400 a month, as £400 a week not including bills or mortgage is loads. I would actually struggle to spend that, unless we were having a lot of takeaways.

Depends on lifestyle. Yes of course it's enough but it may not be enough to do what you want to do.

We spend more than that a week but the kids activities are £100 / week, food £120ish, £40 a week school dinners if you would be including that, cafe lunch at the weekend and a take away circa £80, add in some coffees and incidentals it's easy to spend a lot more than £400

She's clearly had to run to the shops for more lightbulbs. 🤣

Good lord,I think you need to give us a basic list of what you buy weekly, batteries lightbulbs etc are an occasional purchase so what are your regular weekly buys?