Page 5 | Gaging opinion £400 pw

Toomuchtrouble4me · 2023-01-30T11:01:38+00:00

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.

Libre2 · 30/01/2023 12:59

Yes, absolutely doable. We spend about that to be fair, but I consider us relatively well off.

00100001 · 30/01/2023 13:00

TiddleyWink · 30/01/2023 12:30

We aim for £300/week but never stay within that. We live a nice but not that flash lifestyle. We shop in Waitrose and have a weekly cleaner which comes out of that but don’t drink and rarely go out for meals etc. A takeaway maybe once a year. Two growing kids needing clothes and shoes and that sort of money can easily disappear living a nice but quite average middle class lifestyle. Of course some people manage on a lot less but it’s not ridiculous to ask the question!

I wish MN would stop the nastiness to anyone who has the audacity not to be dirt poor. It’s getting quite dull now. Of course a lot of people are really struggling and that’s awful, but at the same time a lot of people aren’t. Are they supposed to hide away in shame?

WHo spends £300+ week on shoes and clothes??

worstusernameeverx2 · 30/01/2023 13:03

HisRoyalWhineness · 30/01/2023 13:03

Seriously?

Custord · 30/01/2023 13:03

YABU asking

moonbows · 30/01/2023 13:04

You’ve stopped me in my tracks w this. It’s clearly absolutely loads, but once I add up the weekly cost of cleaner (£90) after school care (90) clubs and music for 3 (60) and some private health/wellbeing costs we have to prioritise (150) - that’s £390 w no food, clothes, fun or transport. So I can completely see how you over run.
I would have said it’s a generous amount, but we spend more…

FancyFanny · 30/01/2023 13:07

Anyone who only spends £50 a week for a family of four's shopping is leading a very frugal life and that can't be much fun! Fine if you need to, but also totally fine and really easy to spend more than that. All the 'what on earth are you buying? gold plated chicken?" comments are just false incredulity.

Spring23 · 30/01/2023 13:11

Suspect goady, or the op has lots of 'not large bills' being counted like kids activities,
Dog food etc.

Wiluli · 30/01/2023 13:17

Yes it’s ok but not comfortably the way prices are now . As long as it doesn’t include fuel or big expenses

TiddleyWink · 30/01/2023 13:18

00100001 · 30/01/2023 13:00

WHo spends £300+ week on shoes and clothes??

Show quote history

I’m not sure if you read my post but I said we aim for £300 a week and that groceries and cleaner come out of that. I then mentioned clothes and shoes as an example of one of the things that easily eats up the remainder if you’re a busy family of four.

So probably someone, somewhere does, but not me. As I think is reasonably clear from my post?

mrs55 · 30/01/2023 13:18

It’s doable but you need to change your lifestyle I spend £100 per week on fuel and I work from home! We have a very big car (big engine) , a few trips into sainsburys and markseys there’s another £200 pop to the shops with my daughter after school there’s another £80 blown on random crap , breakfasts out during the week etc etc if you have the money there it’s easy to tot up plus a growing toddler who wrecks all his clothing at nursery and grows out of things quick it’s easily done , writing all this down I think I need to sort out my food budget I spend cash a lot and I would probably die if I actually totalled up the amount I waste on food shopping a week.

BellePeppa · 30/01/2023 13:20

FlamingoOfDoom · 30/01/2023 11:48

I, embarrassingly, easily spend more than that - family of 5.

250 food shopping
50 coffees and a lunch out on weekend
40 mid week takeaway

So then it would be easy to spend at least another 60 on various things like a kids' party gift, a trip to Boots for vitamins and skincare, petrol and parking, buying unnecessary treats for the pets, popping into the bookshop, stuff like that. It just seems to evaporate.

I don't budget and I often wonder where all my money goes and why other people can save for a holiday and I can't manage it. Having just read through the thread and compared what I do, my conclusion is that we are pretty much eating all our holiday money. I think it's time to try a food budget.

You spend £50 a week on coffees?

gwenneh · 30/01/2023 13:21

It should be; if it's not, you need to write down every expense, categorise them, and see what keeps knocking you off course.

TiddleyWink · 30/01/2023 13:21

moonbows · 30/01/2023 13:04

You’ve stopped me in my tracks w this. It’s clearly absolutely loads, but once I add up the weekly cost of cleaner (£90) after school care (90) clubs and music for 3 (60) and some private health/wellbeing costs we have to prioritise (150) - that’s £390 w no food, clothes, fun or transport. So I can completely see how you over run.
I would have said it’s a generous amount, but we spend more…

I bet a lot of people would realise similar if they stopped and added up what that actually spend and not what they think they spend. I have a slightly lower budget (well aimed budget!) than the OP but if that’s everything apart from bills, it’s really not a crazy amount. Food, cleaning products, fuel, car parking, car services and repairs, a couple of kids clubs and clothes and shoes now and then, contact lenses and phone bills….I really don’t think we live the life of Riley but according to MN I should be bathing in gold coins like Scrooge McDuck with a budget like that. I bloody wish!

Ginmonkeyagain · 30/01/2023 13:23

I can easily see how it can add up to £400 if you don't keep a tight reign on things.

There are just two of us and last week on top of bills we spent:

£90 on groceries and cleaning products

£15 on some DIY bits and bobs

£60 on eating out (lunch for me on Friday at work, pizza and beer for two of us on Friday night, lunch out for both of us on Saturday)

So £165 for two people.

If we average out clothes and weeks where we might socialise more or need to buy more cosmetics or things like haircut I reckon it is an average of £180 - £200 a weekm.

Rebel2023 · 30/01/2023 13:27

mrs55 · 30/01/2023 13:18

It’s doable but you need to change your lifestyle I spend £100 per week on fuel and I work from home! We have a very big car (big engine) , a few trips into sainsburys and markseys there’s another £200 pop to the shops with my daughter after school there’s another £80 blown on random crap , breakfasts out during the week etc etc if you have the money there it’s easy to tot up plus a growing toddler who wrecks all his clothing at nursery and grows out of things quick it’s easily done , writing all this down I think I need to sort out my food budget I spend cash a lot and I would probably die if I actually totalled up the amount I waste on food shopping a week.

Yeah not going to shops saved a lot!
I live off £1500pm and budget £70 per week for food/toiletries/cleaning stuff
I do one Aldi trip and that's it, no top ups etc

Beautiful3 · 30/01/2023 13:27

We spend £150 here per week on a family of 4. I can't understand why you're struggling on £400 per week?! Honestly, it's doable. Do you need to cut back on Starbucks coffees and take aways?

Tessabelle74 · 30/01/2023 13:29

Stealth boast alert! Of COURSE you can manage on £400 a week after all the big bills, what kind of planet are you living on that you can't? There's 6 of us here, my shopping is under £100 a week, kids grow every 5 minutes so at least one has something new most weeks, this month my daughter is away with school and even with new trainers, walking boots, socks and clothes etc I've only spent £300 one week and that's a rarity

ItWasTheBestOfTimes · 30/01/2023 13:31

What an odd post. Its more than a healthy budget, we spend a fair bit per week, I would say weekly shop is £120, we have a weekly takeaway £40, kids activities around £100, then add in shoes, clothes, party gifts, days out etc it can easily add to that and more. But I wouldn't post on mumsnet to say I'm struggling to keep it under this amount as I know I could cut back massively if needed.

Honper · 30/01/2023 13:31

If you're struggling have you thought about getting a second job? Eg uber or deliveroo driving, taking in ironing. Or sell your clothes on eBay.

lowclouds · 30/01/2023 13:32

It depends entirely on your lifestyle, but I think that would be comfortable for most people.

xogossipgirlxo · 30/01/2023 13:33

Honper · 30/01/2023 13:31

If you're struggling have you thought about getting a second job? Eg uber or deliveroo driving, taking in ironing. Or sell your clothes on eBay.

😂

overthinkersanonnymus · 30/01/2023 13:34

Get your head out of your arse.

smittenkittennn · 30/01/2023 13:35

£90 per week for a cleaner?

bitofablanklook · 30/01/2023 13:37

Of course it's more than enough. But then I suspect you already know this.