Help me live within my means

[Sonnet]

Help me live on £200 per week please - because I can't .
I am embarrassed with this when others are on much less

It only needs to cover:
Food
Clothes for DH & I and 2 DC (and I have not had new clothes since I don't know when and neither has DH. I wear the same black trousers to work that I treated myself to with some Xmas money from my parents)
Necessary extras such as pressi's for birthday parties, haircuts, money needed for school, eg stuff needed to make a 3d model of a rain forest for DD2's school project
Xmas and Birthdays
Toiletries

Honestly I always run out. Even though I have enough food in I only now have £60 until 2 weeks today . If I go overdrawn I end up with less when I am paid and I just cannot cope.

I have no debt thank god

so - no housing cost, utilities, transport or petrol costs, insurances, etc. ?
Are things like cleaning products / toilet rolls / shampoo included with 'food' ?
Don't know how big your dc are - nappies? hollow legged teenagers ?

Have you tried writing down every penny that you spend? You need to know where its going before you can look to cut back/budget. We are same size family and my food/household budget is £100p/week. I can bring it in around £75-80 unless its nappy week! Anything left over on a Sun night goes into savings and I start fresh each Monday with my £100 budget again.

Ive switched to a lot of 'own brand' and buy in bulk if a non fresh item is a particularly good buy. I tend to buy fresh foods that I can do at least a couple if meals with-chicken does a roast, then I strip carcas (this is usually enough for a pie bulked with some chopped ham or veg) then boil carcas fir a soup base. Large mince pack I split and freeze.

Meal planning is a must too..make a list of everything in fridge, freezer and cupboards...sit with list and see what meals you can do with a) what you already have, and b) a limited purchase ie few vegetables/tins.

Even if you can save £10 a week from your budget put that away as savings towards birthdays etc. And keep those buys ti a budget too.

Hope this is of some help...good luck!

I'd suggest you open two savings accounts. One for Christmas & birthdays and one for clothes. Put £30 in each account each week (£120/month by Direct Debit) and budget around the remaining £140. Pretty quickly you'll build up a fund.

Food and toiletries... Budget £100/week as a starting point. Make a simple plan of meals for the next seven days. Look in all your cupboards, freezer and fridge first and include as much as possible from there. Get some tips from various threads on MN about ideas for budget meals. Make a list and then run it through the online shopping site of your usual supermarket (if possible) so that you can adjust your choices and bring it in under budget. Then go shopping with your list and be really strict with yourself about sticking to it.

The remaining £40 should be enough for incidentals. Take this amount out of the cashpoint, leave your credit card at home, and do everything you can not to top up your cash until a whole week has passed. If you have anything left at the end of the week, reduce the amount you take out the following week.

In general, avoid going into shops more than you absolutely have to. If you can, get milk delivered for example. If you don't have to go to the shop for a pint of milk, you won't spend another £20 while you're there.

Good luck

If you are disciplined, have you thought about a cash back credit card? If you pay it off every month it can provide a nice little windfall on the anniversary of taking it out

I find if I go to the shops and want to get something I have to ask myself 'Do I need it, or do I want it?' There is a definate difference. Don't do it every time, but 3 times out of four should help.

For example 'I want it': chocolate, bottled water, fizzy drinks, crisps, shoes, makeup etc as I'm sure you can get by with what you have.
For example 'I need it': milk, bread, loo rolls, cat or dog food if you have one, CHEAP fruit (those must-have strawberries can wait for a couple of weeks) veg etc.

It really does help if you can be strict about it for most of the time.

When we were preparing for retirement we started to jot down absolutely every penny which we spent - it made it so much easier to see where the money had gone. We also do meal planning; it makes life easier both from the point of view of budgeting, and also stops that "what shall we eat tonight" dilemma. Good luck!

I'm the polar opposite of the 'meal plan' and 'only take cash' approach that is often recommended.
So very often, you can get a much better deal if you take advantage of the 'BOGOF' or other buy in bulk offers when they are on offer - things you can stor only of course, no good if it will go off, but all your store cupboard products and cleaning products and toilet rolls, and things you can freeze (if room) fall into this. We'll often have a meal (or start a pack of toilet rolls or open a bottle of shampoo) that I think t mysel 'Well, this was free' or 'This onl cost me x pence'.
Equally, I start my meal planning once I'm in the supermarket and can actually see what deals they have on meat etc. that week.
BUT I do agree with writing down what you actually spend every £ on, over the course of a fortnight. Is time cosuming but very revealing.

@Backforgood.... on the BOGOF thing, I find that there is always some kind of toilet roll/washing liquid/shampoo/meat/cheese etc on offer in any given week. Have never gone into Tesco yet and they haven't had pork chops on special! I used to stock up thinking 'better take advantage' but I don't bother now. Everything is on offer pretty much all the time.

Have you tried doing your food shop online? No temptation to buy things you dont really need as you walk past them and you know what the cost of the shop will be before you get to paying so can make adjustments to cheaper brands etc as you go along. Just remember to add about £4 to the delivery cost depending on which supermarket you choose.

I don't know if this is of any help to you but not taking the car and travelling by bus to the occasional place can also really help.

Petrol is such a price now and here in the east midlands we can buy a pack of 20 bus tickets for £20 to take us right to the centre of Nottingham. Handy for when you need to get to the centre.

HTH.

Sorry ladies it looks like I got that wrong it is £3.50 return oh well I thought that was too good to be true my ex got it wrong!!

It is still a damn sight cheaper than £12 or so in petrol as I live on the outskirts.

Food for thought even though like me you may hate buses but needs must at times??