How much do you spend on groceries a week?

[lottymadbird]

and how many DCs do you have?

is your spend restricted due to finances or can you spend what you like?

ExP thinks that DS and I should be able to manage on £29 per week.

Thanks.

Depends on where he's living they can touch him. Read on another thread, that Australia seems to have agreement and if he's with any company that pays him through UK payroll the CSA will be able to get hold of him.

30 pounds per weeks is a crying shame in my eyes, esp. since he seems to have plenty of dosh.

Hi ya, £29 is NOT alot considering your child is in nappies and with the milk he needs. For me and dd age 3 my budget is £20-£25 which basically means not very many treats and all buy one get ones etc!! :D Im terrible with food shopping and usually end up buying some chocolate and sweets etc hehe

I find it very hard to cope with this budget and thats without special milk and nappies, so yeah id ask your ex for more!!! Maybe he could buy the milk and nappies????

Oh and yes we have goats milk too for dd and it's very expensive too, we are rationing her now and going without nappies at night time.

so we can spend more on wine

30 is very hard especially with a baby in nappies and needing milk. I imagine that's really tough, it's not just not having luxuries it's having to really cut back and buy lower quality, bargains. I once tried to keep to 30 for all of us (2.5) it was really hard. I was getting my veg from home growers by the side of the road and dp was bringing home game to eat. Maybe he can provide you with a gun so you can hunt your own food, perhaps you should suggest this...

Hi

I've tried to cut back on groceries etc as my alreaey tight budget has been reduced yet further as Ex cannot work at the moment therefore no maintenance (as opposed to having to prise it out of him all month)

I keep track of everything I spend and basically buy nothing for myself apart from the odd bottle of wine at the weekend sigh.

We eat mainly homecooked food - packed lunches to nursery and to work for me and if we are out and about at the weekend so I never waste money on overpriced lunch time foods.

We don;t eat much meat at all as expensive but every month or so I will get some nice mince on special offer (two packs for £5 or so) and make one big pot of mince stuff for DS and some chilli bulked out with tons of veg for me then DS can have meat a coupel of times a week and I can have it once a week to keep up those iron stores!

Do you just have one child in nappies? £8 a week seems like a lot if so, perhaps try to buy nappies in bulk ( I can see that may not be possible in such a tight budget to get the £16 to buy the two big packs at once though) and join all the pampers, boots tesco clubs as they give you good money off vouchers and every penny counts!

I look out for the two loaves for £1.20, discounts etc etc. I only buy nicer stuff if it is on special offer such as apple juice etc.

I woudl have though that if your child has an allergy you could get milk on prescritpion. I have friends who are doctors and their daughter got non cow's milk formula on prescription so it must be possible (they also get her calpol in prescriotion so maybe you just need to know about it!)

The bottom line is that it is a v tight budget you are on, so all you can do is try as hard as possible to feed your children well on it. So unfair!

nice thought rebelmum but to be honest if i had a gun i dont think it would be the local rabbits that would be in danger but rather someone more close to home !

it is hard, it'll be easier in the summer when i have things in the allotment and dont have to spend so much on fruit and veg.

i do get a bit bitter when it means i can't buy things like mangos and melons and things DS loves, but keep telling myself this is only a temporary situation until i can go back to work.

for you hun what with him being minted. I'm on IS etc....and also budget well and visit pound shops. I left dh but we get on ok thankfully plus share care. It's still hard for me so can't imagine how hard it is for you and others who manage alone.

exactly, it might encourage him to offer more

At least it wont be for long, great you have an allotment too. You'll feel really flush when you get back to work. I did a bit of dabbling on the side to make money, ebay and a spot of freelancing when I could fit it in.

In fact I now can't stop thinking about ways to make money. I have a list and add to it weekly

Also I save every single penny I have a jar, I wont let a single one of the blighters ever get away again.

I'm really really frugal now even though I don't need to be, I save money rather than spend it. I think being in a tight spot can change your outlook positively.

We grow our own veg and eat vegetarian a few days a week too.

LottyMB which country does your ex live in? You may be able to go the REMO route to get some money.
See here
www.csa.gov.uk/en/setup/remo-countries.asp

basically you phone your local magistrates court and they ask you to send in a letter with all the details and then they send you a form. I am considering doing this myself as my son's father is in the USA. He pays a small amoutn, but i reckon it's half of what he should be paying and he refuses to discuss figures with me. So i'm looking into this but haven't actually done it yet.

If you get nothing via this route it's still no worse than now, so really think it's worth a try for you if he's not giving you anything now.

Gilly

how could anyone pay so little for their own child and have 600,000 in the bank,he could buy your DS a goat FARM for that, nevermind a couple of bottles of milk a week can't believe someone could be so selfish. I hope his concience pricks at him and he starts paying you a decent ammout of maintenence.

I spend roughly £55 each week on a shop, for 1 adult, 3 kids and 1 cat.

The I probably spend about another £5 on stuff I have forgotten, during that week.

I spend about £100 a month on shopping, all toiletries and nappies (although 75% of time ds is in re-usables) any clothes shoes etc.

i have £10 a week contingency fund for fresh stuff.

so £140 a month for all that so about £30-£35 a week.

for me 2 dc's and a cat.

this month kids needed clothes, so i've managed to make last months shopping stretch and am still living on last months shop and the fresh bits. Shopping shall have to wait till next month.

Lotty if he did pay you, you would only be allowed to keep £10 of it anyway, although I know when you're broke £10 makes a big difference.

Everyone except my xp offered me money, charliecat - that just says it all doesn't it? I'm sorry but sometimes it makes me want to cry at what (swearwords) they are. We're just a bad smell that won't go away or something.

i usuall do 1 big shop a month for around 60 pound and then spend 20-30 a week on the other weeks food and cleaning products. thats for me and 2 dc. i have to use certain wash powders/shower gels etc due to dc excema, but i do buy these on offer where possible.the same as cleaning products because f my skin allergies to most of the cheaper ones, although if money is really tight e.g. when dc grow i suffer and buiy the cheaper brand products if its what only i come into contact with e.g. wash up liquids etc
my lo is in washable nappies to keep costs down and hoping to start potty training properly in coule of weeks- we've had a promising day so far