Please tell me I can survive on £80

[catlady39]

I currently have £80 left in my purse, and to pay all my bills, I cannot take any money out until 5th July.

There's me, 2 teenagers, a toddler and 4 cats. I spend about £20 a week on petrol. I have two weeks cat food in the house. We have frozen fruit and veg in the freezer, some pasta and rice in the cupboard - then mostly just stock herbs/sauces etc. So the cupboards aren't empty, but nothing substantial.

I've had a clearout and been selling things to make some odds bits of cash but nothing major.

I recently lost my job, had court/divorce fees, and am just temping. I'm setting up a business, which is taking time but will be a good wage by October. Just need to get through these few months. Please help.

How much petrol is in your car now? If you need to spend £60 on petrol to take you through to July 5th that would leave only £20 for food for five people and four cats. That gives you around 20p per person per tea, not including cat food, breakfast stuff, snacks etc.

I think you are at a really precarious point if you cannot move any bills - petrol is variable, as you say, and teens eat a lot. You need to get them on board that there is NO spare cash this month...

I'd head to Asda amd buy;

Block of cheap cheddar.
Big bag of lentils. (world food aisle)
Big bag of rice. (world food aisle)
Sack of potatoes, (or 2 big bags of oven chips and small bag of spuds)
Several 33p cartons of passata.
Garlic.
Worcester sauce.
30 eggs
2-4 tins of coconut milk.
Onions.
Curry powder. (world food aisle)
Huge back of carrots.
Four cheap sliced loaves.
Cheap jam.
Big tub cheap margarine.
Cheap baked beans.
Vegetable stock cubes.

That - along with what you have in -should give you various permutations of curry, pasta sauce, jacket potatoes, egg and chips, sandwiches, toast.

Do your teens have accounts of their own with birthday/Christmas money. I know it's a terrible thing to suggest but could you borrow from them? You'd need to explain the whole situation though.

Oh and you can make soup with that little lot plus frozen veg.

You'll definitely need an adult sit down talk with the teens to get them on board, but the upside is they get to learn cooking on a pauper budget.

So you have rice.... Egg fried rice with whatever else you can put in it?

Omlettes.

Pasta and sauce. Any pesto in?

Do you have flour? Flatbreads can bulk out a meal and can be jazzed up with stuff from your store cupboard.

A big sack of potatoes.
Lots of tins of unbranded baked beans, tinned tomatos.
Eggs, chips and beans.

Ultimately, I think you will need a referral to the food bank, or a helping hand from a friend or relative.

Have you ANY friends or family? What about your kids? Can your ex help in anyway. Perhaps the kids could stay with him (I know that might not be possible)
Can the kids do some babysitting? Can you do some babysitting?

Not sure why people are pm'ing the OP?
Are they thinking of offering her money or an online shop

@RedPink

I PM'd her because I volunteer with a local food bank. We don't need referrals. If she's local enough to me, then I would drop off a food package.

Could you try a loan from a credit union as you know that you will be on a good salary in a few months? I assume you have no access to a credit card.

Are there any benefits you can claim?

Lots of pasta with homemade sauce, jacket potatoes with cheese, three bean chilli with rice, veg curry with rice, stir fry with noodles, hearty stews with pulses. Basically turn vegetarian.
As a weekend breakfast treat, make thick American pancakes - flour, sugar, eggs and milk, served with frozen fruit made into compote or aldi nutella.
Home Bargains is good for store cupboard food and toiletries or cleaning things too.
You can do it!

I would approach a food bank type place. I perhaps wouldn't mention a recent holiday but most will try and help you out, referral or not.

As for food, go buy whatever yellow label reduced stuff you can freeze (veg is brilliant for this) at the end of the day at your local stores.
Our McColls has a reduced stand and things like Cucumbers or potatoes are often down to 12p but there is absolutely nothing wrong with them.

Bulk buy cheapo pasta (though everyone should do this anyway, it's crazy to wast money paying £1.50 or so every week or two for a small bag of overpriced stuff) and passata. Any cheap brand will do. Ask the local greengrocers if you have one for any old leftover veg (tell them it's for the guinea pigs/ponies/rabbits if you have to). Soft, ageing root veg like carrots and swedes make fantastic soups and you can make loads to freeze.

And make sure your teens are on board. Tell them that they need to help you out. Don't waste food, turn all the lights off when not using them, go easy on the toiletries and loo roll etc. Anything they can that will mean you don't have to buy more or pay big bills the second your money starts coming in again.

Sell what you can now on FB. Cash at the door no deliveries accepted. Your kids can donate stuff for this too.

Have you got friends and family around? Could they have you over for a meal and you will have them over at a later date?

Mosques and Gurdwaras usually have meals available, the Gurdwara (Sikh temple) has three rules, you are not drunk, you cover your head and you take off your shoes.

@ChesterDrawsDoesntExist exactly - I've just been on holiday, I own my home and I have a good car on the drive. It feels so wrong to rock up at a good bank.

Benefits etc are sorted and I get what I can based on my average salary. This was more of the sort term advice on how best to survive on my £80.

Yes to gurdwaras, mosques and churches for meals.
My local church does lunches and breakfast and dinner clubs on a variety of days all week. They're meant for socialising and welcome new people (especially toddlers that the ladies can fuss over). No one would assume you were there for a free meal so there wouldn't be any reason to feel embarrassed.

TheInvestigator
Fair enough.

I've replied to the pms. People aren't sending me money but checking out localities to try to help.

My hungry teens snack on egg noodles with a bit of soy sauce. You can buy a big pack of dry noodle portions very cheaply and that would keep mine fairly happy.

Really tough OP but if it’s just for a few weeks don’t worry about nutrition just buy basic things like pasta, rice and porridge oats that you can add flavours too.

Hi all,

We've had a number of reports from people concerned about this thread so, as we usually do in these circs, we're putting our heads round the door with some important reminders.

Right now we can't see any evidence to indicate that the OP isn't above board – if we did, we'd remove the thread straight away. But the truth is that, sadly, we at MNHQ can't know with 100% certainty that any poster is genuine, no matter who they are or how long they have been here. As frustrating as it is, we're not able to vouch for anyone here.

So we always ask users to remember that not everyone on the internet is who they say they are – and remind folk not to give more to another poster, either financially (in cash or gifts) or emotionally (in time or care and support) than they'd be prepared to lose if things went wrong. We strongly advise against parting with any cash or giving away your personal details, and if you receive a PM which makes you uneasy - report it to us and we’ll take a look.

Sorry to hijack your thread briefly there, OP – we really hope you get it all sorted soon. In the meantime, you might find some useful information on our guide for dealing with financial difficulty

If you live in Scotland then try calling the Scottish welfare fund to see if you're eligible for an emergency grant.

What's the cheapest way to feed the cats for 7-10 days after your current stocks run out?

Could you take a week off work to trim petrol costs?

OP, what about friends or family? A little extra cash would make a difference so it's not like you would be asking for much?

Oh yes any cat feeding tips will be lovely.

Any local markets for end of the day veg? Salvation army? Can you swap typing skills etc for food? Local to us we have a set up which gives you cash for old clothes. Think it is by weight.

I know my dogs love boiled rice and chicken, which was vets orders once for stomach complaint. Twice when i've been caught out, they've been more than happy with just rice cooked with a chicken stock cube. Cats are outside of my experience, though.

Cats need a predominately meat based diet compared to dogs that can survive on a vegetarian diet. By very cheap cat food and mix it in with the better stuff to eek it out over the 3 weeks?

Hunt around for free cat food trials/packs first though. Our vets have free sample packs. Quick google brought up petpoints where you can sign up for free sample sizes from lots of brands.