I don’t have enough money for food for the rest of the month

[Tiredasamf]

I know there’s lots of threads about this at the moment. But what the hell is going on. What is the world coming to. I’m stressing out!

we’ve lived quite comfortably for the last few years - not wealthy at all, working class family (total income of around £2,700 a month after tax) but have always been able to afford all bills, food, clothes etc for the kids and always done 1-2 days out a month, and been able to save a little.

with the rising costs of everything we are now in a situation where we’re struggling.

as of today, I don’t have enough money for the food shops for the rest of the month. Bills are all paid and there shouldn’t be any extra expenses this month. It’s just food shops and petrol left

we’re literally going to have to eat beans on toast or other things equally as cheap.

if it’s going to be like this every month I don’t know what we’ll do. How are we going to afford Christmas? No more days out, no more fun things, no treats, no new clothes (kids are young and grow so fast so that’s a necessity that we can’t even afford now)

It’s set to get worse too isn’t it. what the hell? What are you doing to save money or cut costs? Please give me all your advice

@YaWeeFurryBastard 4 kids.. no judgment please last one wasn’t planned and we were in a much better situation when we had DC3

so we have 2 in school, 2 pre school age. Come Jan 2024 DS3 will go to nursery with 30 free hours so I’ll be able to afford to work during the day then fingers crossed!

If your DH has a trade can he be putting his prices up. We use a lot of self employed tradesman and only one or two have asked to put their prices up - might be worth a shot.

Also recommend the MSE boards - they're brilliant for ideas for extra money. What about a job in a nursery or preschool? Lots round us are desperate for staff and offer feee childcare as a perk. What did you do pre kids?

If you're a SAHP are you sure you qualify for the 30 hours free?

evening or weekend work if you can -cleaning, pot washing, takeaway etc -it won't be for too long, and if you can do it, say on a Saturday morning. you still have most of the weekend together

@SleepingStandingUp yes as I work 16 hours doing the admin job from home, my DD used the 30 hours last term so I know I qualify

Ah sorry had missed that. Just didn't want you relying on something then raising you needed more to qualify.

We've 3 kids on 30k with me as a SAHP and no extra money. Reasonable rent tho and bus passes not cars. We're OK ATM. I'd go through all your outgoings forensically and see if there's any inadvertent waste. Do you throw out much food at the end of the week? Are you using the car for journeys you could work? Are there any old standing orders or subscriptions you've not noticed? Is anyone buying coffee shop coffee every morning instead of taking a thermal cup?

I know you said you liked Vinted, I've had some good toys off there too and charity shops in posher areas. The little ones at least won't care it doesn't come in a box. Worth keeping an eye out.

OP do your family know you’re struggling?
Perhaps you could ask your family if they could give you money for Christmas so that you could spend it on food for the days over Christmas.

Instead of elaborate gifts do fun things, make paper chains, go collecting holly and fir cones, make paper hats, do hand prints for family gifts. Play silly games.
No need for turkey buy a large chicken and do lots of roast potatoes.
Your dc will be happy if they have fun.

Child minding, baby sitting?
I did ironing, but you'd need to carefully cost in the price of electricity now.
I used to get up early & iron before 6am to make the most of cheap rate elec

You dont need a popcorn maker:

www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_popcorn/

@SleepingStandingUp love the name btw, I relate to that!!
Yes I probably could and should walk to more places, and we do have more food waste than I’d like. Kids aren’t great at eating dinner but I like to offer them varieties and what DH and I eat. Maybe I should switch their evening meals to more of a supper so as to waste less. They do have a cooked meal at lunch so probably don’t need two!

@Idyllicidealist they vaguely know. They don’t know how badly we’re struggling.. I feel bad asking them for anything to be honest as they all have their own families to provide for. My dad does help us, it’s him who employs me and he only really did that so I could get the free hours for DD so that’s already very generous.

Definitely need to find more veggie recipes, I got a pack of mince yesterday for a chilli and it cost £5.60 just for that!! For the 6 of us that would only last one meal.

@cooldarkroom I’ve looked into child minding but to be honest I’m at breaking point of needing a break from my own kids most of the time so don’t know how well I’d fare! Plus there’s an initial outlay to get qualified/relevant checks/more toys/an area in the house to do it

I think evening work would be better for me. I’ve actually applied for 2 jobs today - a cleaning role and a twilight role at tesco!

Do you have a community fridge near you? Ours is great, you take a bag and donate a £1, this entitles you to 5 store cupboard items like pasta or tinned foods. Then you can have as much fresh stuff as you like. Also don't be ashamed to ask for a food bank referral from your children's school or gp surgery.

Exactly this, all the suggestions about what to do long term are helpful, if a little overwhelming and some would involve an initial outlay that OP doesnt have right now

What she needs is to work out how to feed herself and the family for the next two weeks based on what she has in the house (or what she can get hold of)

I got a pack of mince yesterday for a chilli and it cost £5.60 just for that!!

Lean pork mince is really cheap. Mix it with beef mince.

It makes better spag bol, burgers and meat balls. No reason you can't use it for chilli.

Don’t know if anyone has said this, but have you got the Olio app op? There’s lots of free food on ours locally most days. Supermarkets give it to collectors to distribute rather than bin it.

Get a pt job during the hours your OH doesn’t work, cleaning? bar work? It really isn’t rocket science 🤷🏻‍♀️

I got a pack of mince yesterday for a chilli and it cost £5.60 just for that!! For the 6 of us that would only last one meal.

You might have to get creative stretching meals beyond the meat content. I made a "chilli" using the same mince, but put a bag of casserole veg (£1) and a tin of kidney beans and chicken peas as well as 3 tins of tomatoes and 120g red lentils. It made 20 portions to go over a big baked potato with some grated cheese or rice e and I wasn't scrimping on portion size.

Totally know how you feel, and there are many in the same boat at the moment. It’s starting to feel I might be better off not working at all as would at least save money on running car/petrol/work clothes etc Could your husband ask work for advance of some wages for Christmas and then pay back in instalments start of next year? It’s something some workplaces are offering to help with cost of living…..wouldn’t borrow a lot but maybe a couple of hundred to cover the extra and a few treats? Other than that we are stocking up on beans/pasta/bread/bagels/rice/porridge all cheap things that are filling for next few months.

There is a balance to be made with this sort of thing, you clearly had enough storage space in the freezer and fridge to store all the portions, plus you had enough containers to store them in. Not everyone has those things

Not to mention days on end of the same food because by the time you've put all that in the freezer you've got no room for anything else.

There's six of them though? Two days in a row won't kill anyone and one for the freezer?

FYI I only have an ice box so hardly any freezer space and when I'm really broke I just have to accept eating food I may not particularly fancy for a few days in a row to save money. That's the reality for some people now.

It doesn't sound like you can afford to be a sahm. We couldn't either. Can you apply for a job during the hours your dh is home, evening or weekend work? We got by for the first few years by working around each other as much as possible, it was a bit crap as we didn't see each other much, but needs must!

I'd google if there are any clothes swapping events in your area, they're free, brilliant and very environmentally friendly, some are also specifically for children's clothing

Really fair point.

The popcorn itself you can get for about a £1. But you get loads.

You could divide a bag up into smaller bag for kids stockings.

I think households with only 1 income are going to struggle badly, unless its a high income. 30k is around the level of a starting salary for a 22 year old graduate so unless you live in a fairly cheap bit of the country i wouldn't consider it a high enough salary to support a family on without a second income.

Realistically you aren't going to be able to cut costs much. I would focus more on how can you increase your income. Can your DH apply for anything better paid? Get planning now to start a full time job as soon as your 30 hours kick in. Can you look to pick up retail or pub shifts in evenings or weekends?