How to limit the amount spent each month

[wholenutcadburys]

Hello,

I am trying to cut back on unnecessary spending each month, I am extremely lucky my DP pays for household bills etc and I take care of our month shopping, car insurance (only myself that drives) and just get bits and bobs for myself and our 1 DS if required. DP covers all bills, after school clubs, holidays etc.
I am trying to cut back on my own spending so the big one is fancy coffee (Starbucks) I easily spend £25 per week on this.. just hoping for any extra things I could do that I haven't thought of.. I am a nursing student so I only get student finance that covers my own spends & our food shopping (we already meal plan and we don't drink)

Thank you 🙂

Buy a chilly flask and make your own coffee to put in there.

As soon as you get paid put a chunk of it into a savings account.

Write down every time you spend something, this will make you think twice about what you spend.

Save all your till receipts for a couple of weeks. What are you buying you can cut out or pay less for?

Can you get food bills down by avoiding premium brands and/or shopping at a discounter like Aldi or Lidl? When we were being pushed up against the rocks 14/15 years ago, frozen salary and rising costs, breaking my DP's Waitrose delivery habit for Aldi was a godsend.

I have three bank accounts all money goes into bank account A, I leave in what I need to pay DD from this account (plus I've rounded it up so there's a little surplus which pays for my tv license and home insurance both annual).
The rest of the money is split between account B (every day spending) and account C (savings).
I have an entry on my notes app which I can update which states all DD etc, plus I have a set amount for food shop each month (that I never go over). I reevaluate every 3-6 months depending on what's happening.
So this next month I'm £20 better off as I no longer have a payment so I've diverted this money to overpay my mortgage as I'll not notice it missing.
I have limited money as Ive been ill health retired for 10 years (but still have dc at home) so this has been a necessity, but it's also helped me budget well so not a bad thing.

Thank you all for your responses! They've been great..

I'm definitely guilty of going to aldi and those middle aisles!
As I get student finance every three months or so, I usually work out what I'll need for each month and then take this out and the rest if end up buying lavish bits or wasting which I need to start saving instead.. I am terrible at spending the money put aside each month and then struggling for three months so this is again a habit I need to stop!

I record everything I spend on a spreadsheet that I can access on my phone.

I also transfer a sum of cash each month to an account for food/petrol/going out and stick to that budget 95% of the time.

We've started saving a lot of money by shopping at Lidls and carrying their 10% discount over from one month to the next. Basically you have to spend £250 per month in store to get 10% off a £200 shop. If you activate the voucher at the right time you can carry it over to the next month. Rather than spending £120 per week plus as we were with Tescos (where we found the value getting poorer and poorer), we do a "big shop" once a month for £200 (freezing meat etc), and take 10% off. Then top up with about £20-£40 shopping per week for veg, fruit, dairy, bakery etc. Rather than spending £480 on shopping monthly it's more like £320 and at the same time you get a lot more value for your money. I think a lot of things are actually better quality, particularly Parma ham, chorizo etc.

If you still want a Starbucks treat sign up for blue light card (or other similar ones) and buy vouchers that reduce by 10%.

Use the Emma app to track and identify

£25 a week in Starbuck is about 5/6 drinks

could you get a coffee machine and replicate the drinks at home?

but first get out of the habit of having a Starbucks, put the £25 in a pot each week and after 2 months you'll have enough for a decent coffee machine with frother https://www.amazon.co.uk/DeLonghi-Magnifica-ECAM222-20-B-Automatic-Soft-Touch/dp/B0BWSDQ9WT/ref=sr_1_3?crid=C8GYHWCJ43VX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mKzLGd2vFlssvIYkfyINULBrBFxN-c_ltZGbXJUfZODzURTeQoVDM7A1IYODmQYxcKMRjrsa5eatNZKVrGHWfJNWqoqqKPeUaGP6oHjj_fT_KVB0FoEYSHzqLafCZjgTjJTB-4I8x0fQFYat0lrTbdJWMiMj6uUNvPgMNUanbgs1CVuKdOG55jVY4LdwiodJw7pkZiWa9-bq42r3mKuv9v2GzQS6rexl4OAXu9RZ3k_iUffEWzLjRVD_sIKScXCax7i0R9drQ75GjV3YPR6vtmDr-UIrFaTnRtbPs-ORJFtztxpkjOoVfq36gL8hUbyN8MtQNOCxjYEpl7GNBUdXFact_tBYtK0hWWN20-odoAA.nDNrOoCOil_pKgFEubt3ZuH6AZ8fE5HeogBq6WOhG3Q&dib_tag=se&keywords=bean%2Bto%2Bcup&m=A2OAJ7377F756P&qid=1735409245&s=warehouse-deals&sprefix=bean%2Bto%2Bcup%2Cwarehouse-deals%2C101&sr=8-3&srs=3581866031&th=1

buy coffee machine on amazon warehouse for £202

then buy a bag of coffee beans each week for £3 from Starbucks and make 20 coffees

sign up to snoop, it's an app that links to all your accounts/cards and keeps track of what you spend compared to previous months/a budget you set and categorieses stuff so you can see where the overspend is.

Ladybyrd

I agree with you on quality of produce at lidl - I find it comparable with m&s and Sainsbury - in fact the smoked salmon this Christmas was better from lidl than Sainsbury.

I also like lidl over Aldi as I can do my entire shop in lidl and not have to go to another supermarket for a few odd items Aldi don't stock - id always end up spending more int he second supermarket than I intended.