Am I spending too much?

[WinstonChurchill]

Hi all, I just wanted an idea of what people spend on their monthly shopping bill (including lunches at work, take aways, etc). I budgeted for £350 for myself, husband and 2 boys (6&2) as well as three cats. This amount includes everything from food to household items. I'm now 6days away from the end of our month (we work from 26th) and I've got about £20 left to see us through!

I will say that I'm not without money, it's not like the we won't eat because I can't spend more, I'm just frustrated that unless I'm really clever with next weeks shopping that I won't meet my target!

Have you tried budgeting weekly rather than monthly? I think £350 a month is really low for that many people for 4.5 weeks. Especially if you're including takeaway, or bought lunches.

Do you mind me asking you what you normally spend per month?

My budget is £208 per month on food and household stuff for three of us... (Not that I always stick to that)

We allow 400 for two adults, 1 dc and no pets. I would say you were doing well @350 with all those people.

I think that's s bit low for food, everything household and cats. Maybe £350 for food and a separate amount for household/cats. Also, there was a thread the other day about how the cost of food was rising, and I think it's true - everything going up slightly could make quite a difference across a whole shop.

I'm the same, aim for 350 a month (2 adults, 2 children, 2 guinea pigs, cleaning supplies). I've been going over budget lately, prices seem to be creeping up. That figure used to include the cat but I get her tins from Zooplus now, but the supermarket spend doesn't seem to have dropped.

My budget is £100/week for food, cleaning product, bathroom stuff etc. We don't have bought lunches or take away except for a rare treat but we do eat well. 2 adults and 2 children.

We spend about £450 per month. 2 adults, 2 DC, 3 Dcats. The DC are teenagers though and eat like every meal is their last

Wow. I'm budgeting quite a low figure then. How did you get your figure, OP?

When I needed to budget I tended to buy cleaning stuff shampoo pet food and more expensive items at the beginning of the month and make sure there was enough of that to last the month . And then just the very basics the last week of the month. It did help a bit.

£100 p/w is more realistic I think. Your budget is £80 a week. How much of that is actually spent on food once you take out household items and pet food?

Obviously if you can't afford more then there's no point in talking about it but it seems like you can afford more but don't want to overspend. I'm the same, I love a budget.

I'd say £15 on household, £5 on toiletries, £10 on nappies every other week and the rest on food x

Family of 4 - we aim for £300-350. End of the month is tight but there's normally enough in the freezer to get us there.

Thanks everyone, seems like I'm doing ok! I reckon I'll probably go over a little this month and try to be a little more organised and disciplined next month xx

We're currently spending £140 per week for 2 adults, 2 teenagers and 2 toddlers. That includes toiletries and nappies and expensive free from foods as a couple of the family have allergies. I really wish we could spend just £100 each week.

I say you're doing ok, we are 2 adults and 2 dc and last I looked we spend £600pm not including takeaways (rare) and lunch out for dh. We drink a £15 or so bottle of wine weekly and have pets

I budget £300/month for me, three children and a cat.
Manage most months give or take £10.
I try and online shop fortnightly.

I spend anywhere from £60 to £130 a week. Family of 5 including an under one who still has formula, nappies etc.

We budget £450 a month on food and anything household related that we buy from a supermarket (cleaning supplies, toiletries etc). We are two adults and a 13 yr old boy. We do eat a lot of food though and could probably spend a bit less but I like to eat what we want to as much as possible. In addition we budget £100 a month for 1 or 2 takeways a month and the odd lunch out at the weekend and takeaway hot drinks etc.

So much more than the op if you include takeways food. We don't need to spend less than this so we don't. We did used to spend even more but have cut down a bit and are happy with this amount

We spend a good £400 a month at least for 2 adults, a toddler and a baby, and cats. Baby's only cost is nappies and wipes. We don't buy alcohol or meat (though we do buy fish which isn't cheap either). OH eats quite a lot as he has a physical job but it still feels an excessive amount of money to me. We shop at asda and rarely if ever buy branded products. Cook from scratch. But can't seem to get it down.

You see, I went through a period whilst I was on maternity leave when I cooked everything from scratch and then my monthly food bill went down to a little over £200 which was great. These days I work long hours, normally not home to at least 7pm and I just want something easy to chuck in the oven or better have delivered! The takeaways are our downfall

About £100 per week for 2 adults and a 9yr old. I make sandwiches for work. This amount includes toiletries and cleaning stuff. I don't drink much alcohol and I will do a top-up shop mid week for bread/rolls.
I shop at ALDI/Lidl but will go to Sainsbury's once a month and bulk buy stuff there I can't get at ALDI i.e. Walkers crisps, water biscuits etc. The Sainsbury's run cost about £40 so, averaging it all out, I spend £100 per week. We eat a balanced diet, hardly any takeaways (maybe 6-7 per year), but we do eat out at least 1-2 a month.

I was asking at work about this very issue as would love to get food bills down but never seem able to. Asked colleagues with 2 DC and pets what average weekly spend was and most said around £120, which similar to what we spend. Like pp we don't get home till late so isn't much time for cooking from scratch.

I just find it all fascinating how other people manage to budget so well lol