need to live on £185 a week this month

[FloozeyLoozey]

Not including housing/utilities. There's me and eight year old ds. Need to stay within budget this month. Always skint at the end of month.

Thats shitloads

Sorry I should've been clearer, after childcare and travel costs it's more like £100. I also need to buy ds new uniform, school bag etc. I've been sloppy with money these past few months and got used to spending willy nilly. I wasn't out to offend anyone who has to survive on less.

What I'd do is pop to Tesco and get some cheap uniform, 2 shirts and one pair of trousers. Schools usually force you to buy a book bag for a few pounds, so don't worry about that. When you get a little more money, buy some more uniform.

Yes just buy a small amount of uniform now

Write out a meal plan for the week and a shopping list for the appropriate ingredients. Stick rigidly to your shopping list. Buy from the basic food ranges when it comes to fruit and veg. Cook from scratch it's healthier. Aldi are doing a very cheap range of school clothes but most big supermarkets are cheap. School bags from last year should be serviceable still. Allow yourself x pounds per day and don't exceed that budget and don't buy daft stuff like £2 lattes!

£100 a week for just food etc even with buying a new bag is still loads. Do you really think it isn't?

Assuming that the OP really does mean 185 pw, yes it is loads, but it is quite easy to spend more than that, without feeling like you have been especially extravagant. Also, when lifestyles and spending habits are discussed on here, it is clear that a large percentage of posters have a very extravagant free spending lifestyle even if they dont think they do.

Shes already said she needs to spend some of it on childcare and travel, that takes it down to 100 pw. Shes already said she needs to buy uniforms, which might not cost much if she can get it from a supermarket, but if she didnt need to budget, she might get a coffee on the way to work each day, she might buy her lunch at pret, costa or somewhere similar just that could easily cost 40 or 50 pw so thats half the money gone already.

So she needs to buy food yes she could buy lentils and pasta from Aldi, but Ive seen it argued on here that basic essential weekly food shopping includes 12 of organic blueberries from Ocado and that spending nearly 1k pm on food shopping is normal how often do people argue I couldnt do my shopping on 50 per week I spend more than that on fruit and veg because I want to show off about how good my DCs diet is and I feel that I must shop in waitrose.

Perhaps the OP wants a bottle of cheap wine at the weekend thats another 20 pm gone and probably a lot less than many people drink.

What if she wants to take her DD out for the day, or to the cinema, swimming or get a takeaway? What if there are presents that need buying? It goes on and on.

So yes, 185 pw for food and other bits for two people is a lot more than a lot of people have, but its also quite easy to blow throw it and more, without feeling that you have had a lot of luxuries.

To answer the OPs original question, my tip would be to really watch what food and drinks you buy out of the house, never eat at a chain restaurant without a voucher, meal plan so you dont waste food, try to use up any spare food you have in the freezer etc, look out for free or cheap activities, make sure all your basic bills are as cheap as can be (utilities, insurance etc) and check you dont have any subscriptions etc you dont really need any more. Moneysavingexpert is brilliant for helping starting off with budgeting and managing your money.