What's a reasonable amount to budget for eating out/take aways /coffees each month?

[Slothisavirtue]

If you are trying to get control of your finances? This is for someone with around £3000/month income (a mix of benefits and part time work). Their rent is only £750/month though and other fixed outgoings are fairly low (they rent from another family member which helps).

They've got teenage twins and two primary age children.

It's a family member and I am trying to get them to take control of their finances as they spend all their money every month and have nothing left for unexpected expenses). Am struggling to figure out what to suggest for eating out because at the moment they are sending nearly £400/month on it , whereas I probably don't spend a tenth of that. I want to be fair though as I am probably the opposite extreme, and I don't really eat out because I have allergies and it just never feels like the hassle

Any good websites /guides we could use ?

@fost £100 for 6 people?

I would maybe go down the route of suggesting one takeaway a month and one coffee a week, unless travelling or in other circumstances where it's impractical to take or make your own food/coffee.

Is £400 all they spend on extras each month, or do they spend £400 on eating out/costa etc. and then further money in days out, clothes, beauty, activities?

I think organisations like step change have sample budgets you could get them started on

I say this because how much money they have for spending money is going to depend entirely on their fixed costs and emergency fund. £400 clearly way too much for that income though.

They could start by halving it. Mum can take lunch to work. I save a fortune doing that. Don’t buy takeaway coffee.

Six? I count five

The latter. There's a lot of other spending too but I think I need to chat all that through with her

Yes, 5

Ah that's interesting! Thank you. It's good to hear that story

Ah yes, that makes sense!

@ChillBarrog correct , sorry my bad

Yep

Getting £3k a month with part time job is kicking ass though. Why did that never work out for us??

We ended up paying back child tax credit for one of the many different amounts that the government said we owed at the time. It was such a nightmare, that we never claimed any benefits after that.

I'd be curious to know the break down of part time wages vs benefits whilst this person is frittering money away on takeaways.

Anyway, to answer the OP I spend around £100 a month on takeaways for my family of four, we get one a fortnight and don't buy takeaway coffee.

If it’s just their eating out/costa money then I’d suggest £150 per month. That would cover a meal out, a takeaway, a McDonald’s and a couple of costas. That’s perfectly fine for a month. Pack lunches/flask of coffee for the rest of the month.

Surely it depends on how seriously they want to get a grip on their finances.

A not too gradual shift to zero budget if they are very serious.

I'd adopt one of 2 approaches.

1. Say that the "eating out budget" covers 1 meal out a month and 2 coffee/cake treats (or whatever)
2. Increase the food budget to cover any food and drink regardless of where it's bought. This is what we do and it's made use realise that we would rather use the money to buy better food at home then spending on takeaways, and go to "nicer" restaurants occasionally then coffee shops more frequently. So we budget/go out accordingly. Others will have different priorities.

£0

It’s all trash, overpriced, unnecessary and a waste of money.

Same. I was briefly on benefits (they didn't even cover cost of childcare and I worked full time) and even though I provided all information and was claiming them less than a year I some how ended up owing lots and having to pay back HMRC. I could probably claim PIP now but I can't face it.
So I don't envy her being dependent on them tbh.

But I do want to try and help her get to a place where she has a savings safety net and a better sense of her budget

Cut out the coffees and get a travel cup. Take a packed lunch. Keep to one basic take-out a month (eg pizzas) and a meal out each half term. I think it is probably more helpful to look at things to cut out rather than restrict the budget.

They need to prioritise. Money needs to cover

Essentials like rent and bills
Food and travel
School clothes, shoes, other Essential clothing
Annual costs like insurance, car running costs
Pension
Emergency fund

Whatever’s left after the above is available for DC activities, holidays, Christmas, days out, non essential clothing, beauty treatments etc etc and coffees, lunches and takeaways. So a reasonable amount is making the best of their spare money according to preferences.

You can only spend each £1 once so if they blow most or all their money on takeaways then they can't afford the other things, their choice.

Or they can try cheaper alternatives, eg supermarket pizza is way cheaper than delivery, some is at least as nice if not nicer and its no effort to cook. So a good swap.

Just £0 on coffee £4-5 for a coffee is insane it is a scam
One take away a month - if we get a curry that is about £60 for 2

Let alone regular takeaway coffees.
When did such things come to be seen as some sort of ‘essentials’?

5 people including 2 teenagers would struggle to eat out for £100. Unless McDonalds or similar.

I agree.
Look at how many times it’s happening and as a first steps cut it down by half for a month.
Then maybe half again.

So rather than 1 takeaway a week it goes to 1 a month.
2 coffees a week goes to 1 on a Friday treat etc.

I suspect that will be much easier to keep track of.

Correct! We're comfortably off and have take-aways about once every six months maximum. We've started going out for coffee and eating out a bit more often recently (we're retired and don't want to get into the 'every day is the same until we die' rut), but not every week.