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Original poster

100 a month budget!

83 replies

swingsandroundabouts2 · 01/05/2015 14:38

Hello..im trying to save up for my kids future, so this is my budget monthly from now on. Il have all bills etc coming out of my bank, but on the 1st of each month il take 100 cash out and this will be for food, petrol, toddlet groups ect. I have 2 kids, i can do a full shop at aldi for 20..this woukd last us for almost 2 weeks. I rarely use the car so 20 should do me for the month maybe more in petrol. Any other tips or ideas or am i mad??!

OP posts:
Bearbehind · 01/05/2015 21:28

PMSL at 'snobsnet'

Rightly or wrongly it is just not possible to feed an adult and 2 children for £10 per week and the fact you won't post a meal plan/ shopping list just confirms that.

purplemurple1 · 01/05/2015 21:42

If thats to me im not being sarcastic we do hunt, grow some of our own veg have forest andlog burners and a log oven and our own water.

Im not in the uk.

ragged · 01/05/2015 21:43

My teenage self once ate 5 or 6 bananas in one sitting. What harm did I supposedly do other than piss off the people who actually bought the bananas ?

strawberry01 · 01/05/2015 21:43

I think people are being really rude and its uncalled for.

With 2 very small children it would be doable but I wouldn't plan to do it long term.

Fresh:
Lettuce 50p, cucumber 50p, salad tomato 80p, apples £1, bananas £1, tangerines £1, carrots 50p, onions 80p, peppers £1, bread 80p, 4L milk £2.50, bag of casserole veg £1, bag of soup mix veg 60p, cold meat/tuna for the children's sandwiches £2, baking potatoes £1

Also seen sweet potatoes for 99p, butternut squash for 50p on offer so cheap soup for the week instead of making a veg one.

Plus a good cupboard supply of herbs, spices, stock cubes, oats and freezer supply of frozen veggies you could do it. For closer to £20 per week I reckon if you add on your meat/ some small treats for the children.

Every now and then you would need to top this up plus butter, cheese etc

Topseyt · 01/05/2015 21:47

If you can't itemise it with a list and a meal plan then "snobsnet" (Grin)cannot possibly believe you.

Are you the poster who invented magic chickens which could feed a family of 5 for a week or more?

Methe · 01/05/2015 21:48

£20 possibly you could do it just about but there is no way you could feed 3 people properly on £10 a week.

If saying that ( for the third time) makes me a snob then so be it! The ops attitude to food sounds neurotic.

ragged · 01/05/2015 21:48

Ooh, I found the banana warnings here. Says that you'd have to eat a dozen/few hours to do yourself harm, and therefore should keep under 2/day. Confused

Topseyt · 01/05/2015 21:57

I have a family of 5 to feed. My three daughters are all teenagers now, though only two still live at home and the eldest is at uni, so home in the holidays.

For me it would not be doable at all to live on that. I can near enough spend £100 in a week if everything needs topped up.

Mine dive onto the bananas a fair bit. Not rationed in this house, except to say when its gone its gone and there will be no more for another week (when I shop again).

lordsandladies · 01/05/2015 21:58

Katie noone is being offensive mentioning Drs. There is a difference between tight budget and £10pw available on food and I don't believe any professional unless they are knee deep in debt needs to live on that, be fair.

strawberry you budget like my DH. £10 is doable totes, and if you want meat that's like 20 then a few top ups when necessary.

So, not £10 then...

Topseyt · 01/05/2015 22:03

You see, I don't really get all of this frantically saving for the kids future at the expense of quality of life with them in the here and now! I just don't.

Save and invest what you can realistically afford by all means, but remember that you actually need to live comfortably RIGHT NOW. What on earth is the point of saving to the extent that you are living in absolute penury? Surely when your kids are grown up and look back on their childhoods they will remember austere and skinflint parents who saved obsessively and had no fun.

ginslinger · 01/05/2015 22:07

I think people have a very skewed idea on the different levels of income for doctors - depending on seniority and where you live it can be very difficult

ClashCityRocker · 01/05/2015 22:10

£10 a week is doable. If you're an adult, for a short period of time.

I think I'd struggle to feed myself and be satisfied that I was eating well though, let alone two little ones.

Saving for the future shouldn't be at the cost of living today, though.

ClashCityRocker · 01/05/2015 22:10

At least to a certain extent, anyway.

ClashCityRocker · 01/05/2015 22:12

Tbf to OP, the doctor is a boyfriend who she sees at weekends - so maybe won't be contributing.

Somebodystolemyname · 01/05/2015 22:15

Ok so my husband is a doctor. Even when he was very junior we had more than £100 per month to spend on food. Something is not right here...

SoonToBeSix · 01/05/2015 23:47

I think you are being ridiculous , bordering on neglectful your dc life now is more important than their future.

SoonToBeSix · 01/05/2015 23:53

Katie clearly you are ignorant of how people on low incomes have to budget. If you have a tight budget it's because if choices you make in other areas, your mortgage etc

GiddyOnZackHunt · 02/05/2015 00:02

Context would be useful.
Saving money for a deposit on secure housing or your apprenticeship which will make a huge difference in 2 or 3 years time or nebulous saving for a holiday or 'stuff'?
If it's the former then fair enough but do up the milk quota - calcium and protein plus some fat are needed at that age.

Artandco · 02/05/2015 02:23

Butternut squash for 99p is good, but that's what one or two meals of soup max

Glastokitty · 02/05/2015 02:47

If this is even possible, which I doubt, what an utterly boring and grim way to choose to live your life. I've been skint (when I was a student) and it was miserable, I just don't understand why anyone would choose to live like this unless they absolutely had to.

Bearbehind · 02/05/2015 10:20

I think people are being really rude and its uncalled for.

Fresh: Lettuce 50p, cucumber 50p, salad tomato 80p, apples £1, bananas £1, tangerines £1, carrots 50p, onions 80p, peppers £1, bread 80p, 4L milk £2.50, bag of casserole veg £1, bag of soup mix veg 60p, cold meat/tuna for the children's sandwiches £2, baking potatoes £1

strawberry you've just countered your own argument Hmm

The OP is claiming to spend £10 a week on food and you agree it could be done and yet the list above comes to £15 and a) a lot wouldn't keep more than a week b) would not feed an adult and 2 children for a week and c) doesn't include toiletries/ cleaning stuff/ toilet roll etc.

katiegg · 02/05/2015 10:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Methe · 02/05/2015 10:56

There is a huge difference between having to budget and being unnecersarily frugal with tight with money to the detriment of your children's health.

Everyone has to budget, We earn decent money and I have to budget.. It is not an alien concept to me but nobody should need to have a £10 a week food budget, least of all a Doctor! I stand by what I said ( in the erroneous belief that the op lived with her Dr husband it's irrelevant anyway as she doesn't) .

titchy · 02/05/2015 10:58

Hardly and protein or carb in that list either, or breakfast cereal.

sooperdooper · 02/05/2015 11:06

What's the point of setting an unreasonable budget right now to save for the future when you could split the difference, not stress out now, and still save a little?

What about washing powder/washing up liquid/toiletries etc?

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