I need a plan - short of money till 28th

[janeofyork]

Hi

So after a massive car repair bill and having to pay the balance for ds school trip ( which we had forgot about) we are left with £347 to last us until 28th November! Thankfully all of the bills are paid so we only need to worry about food and general spends!

I need a plan as I don't want to use the credit card!

Isn’t that £20 per day? How many adults/children etc

That seems manageable to be honest.

Any club card or nectar points?

2 adults and 2 kids ages 6 and 11

What expenses do you have in the next 17 days.

List them out and see how short you are and what you can cut back on

That sounds ok! What do you need to buy? Food? Fuel?

That sounds like plenty to last to be honest, it’s certainly more than I have to last until the 28th, which bit are you worried about?

Shouldn't be an issue. What are you worried about particularly? It is more than I would ordinarily expect to spend in that time period.

If that’s after bills it’s definitely manageable.
write a shopping list and then split the value of what’s left for general spending.
if it was £34.70 then that’s a whole other matter

Ridiculous

Presumably you have stuff in your cupboards, fridge and freezer?

You will be OK withe that amount for sure. Batch cook stuff and eat mainly veggie meals.

No entertainment outside of the home unless its free e.g. going to the park etc.

Does that have to cover petrol as well?

That's £20 a day, you should be fine.

Don't buy anything unnecessary
check your store cupboard for meals that you can make without shopping
don't get any take aways

That's more than we have to last the same amount of time. Our weekly budget for two adults and two children is £170 to cover all food and additional activities/coffees/food out that we haven't planned in advance. Just have a couple of cheaper meals each week - beans on toast/tuna jackets etc - and do cheaper activities this month.

Well that’s fine for food and the odd thing

Are you worried because you have to buy a lot of petrol??

That's only two and a bit weeks, so like £150/week the £50 for the last weekend, can't be that hard.

Do you need petrol/ travel expenses?
How many people?
Any other costs like nappies or pets?
Any unavoidable plans?

That sounds like plenty of money to me. But for general money saving tips - go yellow sticker shopping in the evening, spend your Nectar/Tesco/Boots/Superdrug etc loyalty card points, get free food from Olio, sign up to some survey sites, sell stuff on Facebook...

Blimey you should be able to manage on that!

It's all relative. There are a lot of people who have less.
Do you need to put fuel in cars to get to work? If so, set aside some for that then meal plan.

That's a lot of money to last 16/17 days.

I second the yellow sticker shop. If you go at the right time you'll be able to get milk, bread, and some veggies at yellow sticker prices.
Make a shopping list and stick to it but use up some of your store cupboard stuff first.
Be a little more creative with your meals in that use alternative cheaper ingredients that everyone will still eat.

Christ some of us have less than that for a whole month consider yourself lucky

Mostly food plus about £50 on fuel

Really? You only have nearly £400 and all your bills are paid except food and fuel. You don't know you've lived. I have less than that a month for those things with 3 adults and 2 teenagers.

I'd say you will probably survive, and won't even need to eat Tesco value food.

Dear Lord.

Apologies £350.i still have less to feed and fuel for a month