£450 a month for 2 adults and 1 child (0-3)

[Kelcat9494]

Hello,

I was wondering if people thought this was enough for 2 adults and a child to live off ( as in food shopping and treats like days out). All over bills and savings are covered, the £450 would be specifically for food and days out.

I'm new to the whole parent thing so was wondering what you guys thought?

Thank you

Yeah that's fine.

Yeah, it's not loads to spare but buy unbranded groceries and do inexpensive activities and it's perfectly doable.

Very close to what we spend for three adults and a toddler.

Literally food and days out? No haircuts, clothes etc? Sounds fine.

I think that is not very much at all. Do you have separate savings? What happens if the washing machine or cooker breaks down?

@GreekOddess

I think that is not very much at all. Do you have separate savings? What happens if the washing machine or cooker breaks down?

Sorry as I mentioned it's just for food shopping and days out - I have separate savings and bills are paid for separately :)

Just for food and fun money sounds so able to me.

We are two adults and two older dc so feeding four adults and ours is always higher than I budget for

It sounds a tight budget to me. Will it have to cover clothes and shoes or are they covered separately?
Haircuts, travel costs?
If it’s just food and days out then it’s doable but a day out with entrance fees and travel costs will be quite a bit of money depending on the age of the child.
So, yes it’s doable but not necessarily a fun budget if it’s long term and depending what needs to come out of it.

I think it's tight. It's doable but I'd rather not have to do it. You'd have to buy cheap groceries and cook from scratch all the time. I know everyone on MN does that anyway!

Doable but not much fun. Are you saving for something specific?

Food as in grocery? I spend that £450 on me,DD and the cat!

Definately.

We are two adults and two children under five and we spend £100 per week on groceries so I'd struggle with that. I could save a bit shopping in Aldi and not buying brands I guess but the days out would need to be cheap!

It's interesting to see what people spend, at the moment we spend about 30-60 weekly in shopping and days out are extremely limited (covid related anyway) I was just wondering, it's something to try out, we actually have £1700 disposable (well I guess more like £1300-£1500 less food shopping) but I'd like to budget and spend as little as possible really.

I would say yes.
How many haircuts does a family need??
And you’re not going to be going on expensive days out every week/month.

I mean, it's doable but long term not much fun.

There's three of us (me, DH, DS3) and I spend £100-£125 a week on food. Then always a bit more at weekends (an ice cream in the park etc...) I budget £1k a month for everything which feels comfortable but there are other things that come out of that, such as birthday presents, meals out with friends, a nice sandwich for lunch, stuff needed for the house .

I think it's doable and can be more than fun. Not sure how much others spend on days out but there are so many ways to do them on the cheap, just by checking the Internet and booking in advance with offers and coupons.

Your shopping bill already sounds low so yes I think that is fine for you.

Others just don't realise how much can be saved as 1) they don't feel a need to make cutbacks and savings and 2) they think doing so is hard, (not fun, tedious, insert suitable adjective).

It really is not hard.