How cheap can you live?

[Arimeh]

OK, so I've never been good at shopping on a budget, well except for when I was with my first husband, I was a student but he earnt $10 too much for me to get Austudy, so we lived on $27,000 pa for 2 years. I had $50 a week to do the shopping, and I managed it.

Now - I have no idea how the hell I managed it, but I did. I even had money left over from that $50 to get maccas after shopping night!!!

So - since I seem to have left that financial brain back with my ex - how do you manage to live cheaply? We spend at least $300 a week on food. We use cloth nappies, so we only have disposables of a night time, so thats one per child (although DS is basically night trained as well, so we reuse his about 3 nights in a row.. lol)

I can't really think of how you shop cheaply - I guess its not at the greengrocer cos I spend about $70 for the week on fruit and vegies when I go there!! And thats not cheap!!!

So how do you cut down on your grocery bill? How low could I reasonably get it?

[Pandora]

When I was on mat leave some Fortnights we only had 80-100 for grocery shopping, which would include nappies. Um home brand everything, basics. Most days I didn't eat lunch either and it helped that my parents fed us twice a week.

[deletedit]

We spend about $120 a week on groceries, excluding nappies - there are 5 of us. We tend to get meat when it hits 'two days before use by' at the supermarket and is marked down to half price. Our supermarket does the same thing with bread. You can spot the discount stands, they are the ones with pensioners hovering around them, picking through it

When we're on ultra-scrooge mode we either drop meat completely or not buy stuff that takes a single meal over $5.

[Babyluv]

We shop at a fresh food market, veg & fruit costs us less than $15 a week and that's eating veg 5 or 6 nights a week abundantly with meals & 1 night cheap takeaway like a pizza or fish n chips and 2 pieces of fruit each per day. Veg n fruit Is Aussie grown and usually bout 1/3 the price of coles and really fresh. I also buy meat from a butcher in a fortnightly lot, buying 2 kilo lots can mean saving a few dollars per kilo on most things, I then freeze in nightly portions. We buy our toiletries etc, mostly on discount, we used to buy items in pretty packaging because we thought it was better quality but not the case homebrands can be just as good, buying 2 for ones of things we use alot saves us too, but nearly everything that goes in the trolley is a discounted item, we look for the cheapest per kilo items which is listed on all the price points, I won't buy the super cheap dog food because it's poor quality.
We spend less than $100 a week on everything meals, sauces, pastas rice, household items etc and maybe $150 when we need the stock ups of bigger items like cleaning products etc.
We could cut it down further but this is eating really good meals and having enough food for lunches as well, we don't scrimp we just try to be careful.

[Arimeh]

Thanks guys. Can you tell me what kind of meals you eat for that kind of money?

[thepixie]

Melly baby google "$120 food challenge" (cue shameless plug for my friends blog)
She spends $120 a fortnight on meals to feed a family of four (her family is 3 but her son is a teenager so eats enough for 2) and she cooks delicious meals, recipes on the website. Every week she puts up a list of bargain buys to start you off for your fortnight.

[Babyluv]

I usually do a weekly planner and I always make extra so it doubles as hubby's lunch the next day.
This week: mon shepherds pie (mince is $2,$3 per kilo cheaper per 2 kilo lot than coles) with peas corn carrot, capsicum, tue beef casserole using blade ($3 cheaper per kilo than coles) with potato, carrot, beans, peas, corn on rice, wed tuna casserole with asparagus, corn, peas, pasta, thurs tandoori chicken on rice with tatziki and salad, fri takeaway, sat morn big breaky of eggs, spinach, tomatoes etc dinner tacos, Sunday southern crumb (from bread crumb isle) chicken ($3 cheaper per kilo than coles per 2 kilo lots) and veggies, beans, squash, pumpkin, corn cobs, carrot, peas.

[Babyluv]

If you can find a fresh food market that's where you'll save alot and still be able to eat really healthy yummy meals, we used to shop at coles and it was so expensive for fresh foods when you can save a cpl dollars on nearly every item it winds up being a big saving! Like I said most meals is enough left over for lunch next day so we could cut back more.

[Liviam]

I'm going to subscribe because I spend way way way too much money on groceries. DH and I got ourselves into a little financial bind (not serious but I don't like it) so I'm trying to do a budget. I need to cut our expenses but I don't want the meal quality to drop off too much - IYKWIM.

[sconeonamission]

oooh! I love $120 food challenge!

We live on anywhere between $120 and $170 a fortnight on food for the 3 of us... Meals have left overs, so thats what dh takes for lunch. And things for daycare and uni...

[Mummato2]

Well for my family we do the following:

1) Coles online shop for groceries. Yes it's $9 to deliver, but I don't impulse shop which usually costs a LOT more than $9.

2) Aldi for ALL washing products like shampoo/conditioner, dishwashing liquid, clothes powder and conditioner etc - the lot HAS to come from Aldi. Baby wipes, baby food (made by heinz and wipes by Curash) In fact when you research the Aldi brand you'll find the major labels provide to Aldi - so why pay for the name?

3) Meat in bulk and frozen fruit/vegies (we used to throw a lot) and if I need fresh I buy on the day I need it. You can freeze things like mango cheeks, fleshy fruit, chopped up vegies etc - this eliminates any of the waste we used to have.

4) I plan for my meals down to the ingredient on a monthly basis and buy ONLY for my menu. I am really tough with this, otherwise I can have pasta and other crap in my cupboards for months without using it

5) Take away for us is once per fortnight because we want to - but when I go out with the kids, I pack their lunches/snacks/drinks so that I'm not caught out if they get hungry

6) I give myself a strict shopping budget and if I have money left over I put it in the shopping sleeve (I'll explain in a minute LOL) and then if I want treats or want to bake etc I have money there already and don't have to "Find" it

We got into these habits when we were struggling with debt and money - now we only have the mortgage and a very decent earning - but I still follow these rules. I guess they've become so ingrained that it's become habit.

I have a clear sleeve folder and each sleeve has a bill allocated to it. So electricity, phone, shopping, petrol etc.....

Money goes into our account and then I withdraw the cash to add to my sleeves.

Once a month I go to the Post Office to pay the bills that come in and whatever money is left in the respective bill's sleeve I put extra on that bill. They are always in credit

With shopping, I leave the leftover in the sleeve in case I need it for another month or I want to spend it on something outside the shopping list.

I also think it's very important no matter how much you earn to have "spending on whatever the hell" money. Both my husband and I get a set amount monthly that we can spend guilt free without having to note it. This is what I use to spend on the kids toys, my coffees etc and knowing I have this I am happier being strict with the other spending....

[Mummato2]

Thanks guys. Can you tell me what kind of meals you eat for that kind of money?

Depends on the menu - but if it's steak as in steak, mash, vegies - the we buy t-bone or sirloin - but remember this comes from bulk at the butcher portioned and frozen.

If it's to go in casseroles, stews, stirfrys etc - I slow cook ALL of it - so the cheaper cuts are fine since they'll get really tender in the slow cooker

[deletedit]

Getting large bills is a good way to force you to go cheap. This fortnight we have a $2000 bill and a $750 bill and of course $400 mortgage too. So something is going to have to give ...

Would have been nice to get more warning on the $2000 one, they booked an appointment for us and THEN a week later told us we had to pay up FIRST.

[YoYo]

When I was home and living with Mum, I would shop for her and managed pretty well.

I bought bulk meat, which is expensive, but you can split them and put them in the freezer for multiple meals. I kept an eye on the junk mail to see what meat is on special, and sometimes going shopping late in the day loads of things are marked down too.

Also bought the cheaper fruit & veg from the greengrocer

I wrote a list and STUCK TO IT....the minute you start scowling the isles, you end up with so many other things you just don't really need....like grain waves...mmmmm grainwaves!

[Roryrory]

I love the $120 food challenge - I'm taking it up!

My problem is I am used to not having to budget on food, so I am used to using expensive ingredients. Time to go back to student mode!

[Liviam]

I love the $120 food challenge - I'm taking it up!

My problem is I am used to not having to budget on food, so I am used to using expensive ingredients. Time to go back to student mode!

:yeahthat: Off to do some research.

[Shanti]

Well for my family we do the following:

1) Coles online shop for groceries. Yes it's $9 to deliver, but I don't impulse shop which usually costs a LOT more than $9.

Yes!! This is what I'm looking at starting to do as of next week's shopping!! DD has never been very good in the trolley at the shops so it's easier for me to shop online I think from now on!!!! But also because I spend too much $$ on buying crap! ie chocolate and icecream that we don't need!