Working 20 hours minimum wage - need tips to save money

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  • cris182cris182 Posts: 9,595
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    Jay Bigz wrote: »
    Each to their own. £6 a day for food would depress me. That just about covers two of my chicken breast (£4.50 a pack) and salad/rice meals. That's just two out of my five meals per day on a 1,800 - 2000 calorie meal plan to accompany my gym sessions. My average food bill works at around £12 per day. I can easily smash another tenner in the local co-op on an evening of treats if I'm having a 'cheat day', along with another £20 on a dominoes order. So one of these types of days costs £40 which is the entire weekly budget for the OP :o

    But you can afford that, The OP is talking about IF he can live in that average per day
  • Tt88Tt88 Posts: 6,827
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    Im sure your aunt and uncle will understand that you have to prioritise your living costs so wont be able to treat your cousin as much. Im sure he would enjoy hanging out with you even if you arent spending money on him every week.

    The things like broadband and phone can be put on hold until you find your feet and work out whether you can afford it and if you can look around for the best packages. Only focus on essentials.

    Our food shop is about £60ish pound a week for two people including non essentials like alcohol, treats, and things for the dog. So one person should be able to live on £45 a week.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 10,561
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    Zenton wrote: »
    A laptop, broadband connection and Playstation 3 are luxuries you could leave without until you find a full time job. You can use your local libraries computers for free.
    .

    I already own the laptop and PS3. The broadband is just so I can get the full use out of them, and is the only real luxury I'm hoping to afford.
  • Jay BigzJay Bigz Posts: 5,338
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    LostFool wrote: »
    £12 a day for food sounds a lot for a single person. I probably spend half of that and I could probably do it cheaper as I do end up throwing a lot of waste out (something I'm trying to reduce)

    You can buy whole chickens for less than £4.50 (Waitrose do 3 for a tenner). Each comes with two breasts plus plenty of other meat you can use for other meals (curries are better with thigh/leg meat anyway). You can get 2 or 3 meals out of a small pack of mince if you make it into a pie or chilli.

    Haha, everyone says that. I'm only interested in the 'breasts' though, as I like to eat lean cuts of fresh chicken breast, with no skin or fat. Other parts of the chicken can be very fatty. I get 4 x chicken breasts for £4.50, which creates two meals that are carb/fat free and ridiculously high in protein :D

    Yep, I could slash my costs if I had to do. £40 a week would be an absolute nightmare for me though, and I'd probably go back to eating whatevers cheapest to make sure I've got enough. e.g big bags of frozen chips, a 100 tins of baked bins :cool:
  • TellystarTellystar Posts: 12,253
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    Pencil wrote: »
    Most minimum wage jobs come bundled with tons of overtime, so you should be fine.

    He's studying. Otherwise would be working full time
    Surely the TV licence would cost about £3 per week?
  • cris182cris182 Posts: 9,595
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    Tellystar wrote: »
    He's studying. Otherwise would be working full time
    Surely the TV licence would cost about £3 per week?

    4 hours a week according to the OP, Plenty time to study and work extra where and if available
  • LostFoolLostFool Posts: 90,624
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    cris182 wrote: »
    4 hours a week according to the OP, Plenty time to study and work extra where and if available

    4 hours a week? You could work full time, do lots of overtime and still find time to do that course. You just need a job where you can work around the course hours.
  • Galaxy266Galaxy266 Posts: 7,049
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    TV license £6 per week?

    Unless you've got Sky or another subscription service. If this is the case then I would seriously consider ending the contracts; you'll be too busy studying to watch TV, anyway!
  • MrsWatermelonMrsWatermelon Posts: 3,209
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    £43 is plenty for food for a single person. We're a household of three adults plus two cats, who are in no way careful about how much we spend on food, and our weekly bill is £60-80.
  • Keith_13Keith_13 Posts: 1,621
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    Don't forget Council Tax
  • Jay BigzJay Bigz Posts: 5,338
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    cris182 wrote: »
    But you can afford that, The OP is talking about IF he can live in that average per day

    I think the answers no - whilst everybody is busy focusing on the food budget (the OP's only spare £43 per week) nobody seems alarmed that there is no other money spare for the general costs of living, such as household necessitates, toiletries, clothes, travel....

    With a budget as tight as that, there's no room for any unexpected costs, or any real social life, as the resources won't be there. You wouldn't even be able to afford a coffee from starbucks, or to buy a pint in a pub, or even use the bus.

    Increasing work hours is the only way forward.
  • cris182cris182 Posts: 9,595
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    Jay Bigz wrote: »
    I think the answers no - whilst everybody is busy focusing on the food budget (the OP's only spare £43 per week) nobody seems alarmed that there is no other money spare for the general costs of living, such as household necessitates, toiletries, clothes, travel....

    With a budget as tight as that, there's no room for any unexpected costs, or any real social life, as the resources won't be there. You wouldn't even be able to afford a coffee from starbucks, or to buy a pint in a pub, or even use the bus.

    Increasing work hours is the only way forward.

    Those are luxuries that you have to give up on a budget though. As for the other stuff i do agree, There are no basics accounted for, And no back up fund as said
  • gillypandagillypanda Posts: 13,963
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    I shop in Aldi, and for two of us and 5 cats I still only spend about £30 per week on food, cleaning stuff and basic toiletries. I make almost all of our meals from scratch, make a big pan of soup or vegetable stew and eat it for a couple of days. With a little thought you can easily manage on your £43 per week imo :)
  • tiacattiacat Posts: 22,521
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    Can I ask what you buy that costs £30 for a week for 2 people?

    My shop today was £103 and thats about a week. We dont eat any bread, pots, pasta or rice, so the shop consisted of fruit and veg, mince, a chicken, liver (urgh), some cooked chicken, some smoked sausage, some nut cutlets, some frozen veg, toilet roll, cat food, dog food and cat litter, milk.

    So no treats, nothing branded, hardly anything processed and without our usual nuts as I forgot, that would have bumped up the price even more.
  • c4rvc4rv Posts: 29,540
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    tiacat wrote: »
    Can I ask what you buy that costs £30 for a week for 2 people?

    My shop today was £103 and thats about a week. We dont eat any bread, pots, pasta or rice, so the shop consisted of fruit and veg, mince, a chicken, liver (urgh), some cooked chicken, some smoked sausage, some nut cutlets, some frozen veg, toilet roll, cat food, dog food and cat litter, milk.

    So no treats, nothing branded, hardly anything processed and without our usual nuts as I forgot, that would have bumped up the price even more.

    I spend around £60 a week for a family of 4 at Aldi plus a monthly shop of around £100 at Tesco. Though that does not include one off expenses like household wares.
  • Rae_RooRae_Roo Posts: 1,185
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    I'd scrap the tv license, just watch the tv apps, like bbciplayer, 4oD etc through your play station on your tv via the broadband...

    That's what we do, we could afford the tv license no bother, but we never watch live tv and just the apps through our smart tv, plus netflix, amazon prime etc, you get all the programmes from normal tv anyway....
  • MissCharleyPMissCharleyP Posts: 1,168
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    I find food costs more if you live on your own. I throw so much stuff away as shops sell everything in huge quantities (12 bread rolls, stir fry pack for minimum 2 people, veg in huge packs) so it ends up going out of date, unless I eat the same thing day after day. I only have limited freezer space and keep stuff in there that has to be frozen (I get my meat from a local butcher and he chops it so i can freeze it) like my meat and oven chips, that kind of thing. There aren't any greengrocers where I live just supermarkets so it's hard not to over buy and thus waste money. £43 is very difficult to live on I'd say.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 10,561
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    Rae_Roo wrote: »
    I'd scrap the tv license, just watch the tv apps, like bbciplayer, 4oD etc through your play station on your tv via the broadband...

    That's what we do, we could afford the tv license no bother, but we never watch live tv and just the apps through our smart tv, plus netflix, amazon prime etc, you get all the programmes from normal tv anyway....

    Oh great idea! I never thought of that. :o Thank you!

    And about my college course, yes it's only 4 hours but it's two days (3 hours and 1 hour) which is £8.20 travel. My job is in walking distance (home support worker) so I don't need to worry about any other travel besides the college.

    But wow thanks for all the responses this has been very interesting and helpful for me.
  • Smokeychan1Smokeychan1 Posts: 12,048
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    For the person querying the £6 pw TV licence cost, the cost is spread over 26 weeks not the full year.

    OP, I did a check using with my local council using your figures and it says I would be entitled to HB of £20.81 per week. You will also have to factor in council tax, which is probably at least 50% of the saving (unless you live in one of the horribly high council areas). You really need to claim.

    http://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/
  • LakieLadyLakieLady Posts: 19,714
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    Shadow2009 wrote: »
    I don't think so. I guess I could apply for Housing Benefit but if I'm already working and can afford the rent regardless, they probably wouldn't give me any help.

    I calculate that you'd be entitled to £17-18 pw of housing benefit. You may also be entitled to some help with your council tax. On a low income, that could make quite a difference.

    Don't forget that you'll have to pay water bills too.

    Get a form to apply for free prescriptions, help with dental costs etc.
  • LakieLadyLakieLady Posts: 19,714
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    The OP won't be paying any tax or even N.I.

    But I agree with your point.

    Lower earnings limit for NI is £111 pw, so there'll be a bit of NI to pay.
  • RorschachRorschach Posts: 10,818
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    tiacat wrote: »
    Can I ask what you buy that costs £30 for a week for 2 people?

    My shop today was £103 and thats about a week. We dont eat any bread, pots, pasta or rice, so the shop consisted of fruit and veg, mince, a chicken, liver (urgh), some cooked chicken, some smoked sausage, some nut cutlets, some frozen veg, toilet roll, cat food, dog food and cat litter, milk.

    So no treats, nothing branded, hardly anything processed and without our usual nuts as I forgot, that would have bumped up the price even more.
    I think you need a closer look at what you buy rather than what others do. :D

    Our shop for a family of four plus one cat never comes to more than £80 a week and can be less, and ours includes a lot of the things yours doesn't. Yours averages about £7 per type of item from your list.
  • LakieLadyLakieLady Posts: 19,714
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    Every now and then we have a "cheap week", where we spend as little as possible.

    I buy a free range chicken from Aldi which is £5 (half the price of Tesco's and the Tesco ones are scrawny and flavourless). We get three meals out of that (roast one day, cold the next and "cheat's risotto" on the third day, using an Aldi 45p packet of chicken risotto mix, which is cheaper than Arborio rice). Then I make soup with the carcass. We spend around £5 on veg/salad. I also buy a big pack of mince for around £4, which makes enough chilli for 2 days (one lot goes in the freezer) and a shepherd's pie. And we have corned beef hash and baked beans one night, which is shockingly cheap. Our 7th meal is home-made soup, bread, and cheese.

    Add a fiver or so for bread, milk, butter and a packet of biscuits and we can eat for a week on about £25 for the 2 of us, which includes some cold meat and cheese for sandwiches for work.

    I wouldn't want to do it every week, but it's a useful exercise every now and then. When |I was doing support work, I used to help clients with budgeting and they were amazed by how much I used to be able to shave off their food bills.

    Some things are very expensive for what they are. Most breakfast cereals are an expensive food, they're not healthy and don't really fill you up. The amount people spend on branded soft drinks like coke is staggering when you work it out over a year. Prepared meals may seem cheap, but they're mostly a dear way of buying salt, starch and water!
  • LostFoolLostFool Posts: 90,624
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    LakieLady wrote: »
    Every now and then we have a "cheap week", where we spend as little as possible.

    I've been having a "cheap month" trying to spend as little money as possible. I had a very expensive December what with Christmas, a holiday, house and car insurance, and an unexpected car repair bill. I was last paid on 18 Dec and I'm not paid again until next Friday.

    I've been trying to run down the freezer and cupboards. It's amazing what you can find in there if you do some digging and there are plenty of "basics" meals you can make if you are creative. So far this month I've spent less than £30 on groceries.

    I've had a total ban on online shopping and I've only been to the pub twice this month.
  • c4rvc4rv Posts: 29,540
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    Shadow2009 wrote: »
    Oh great idea! I never thought of that. :o Thank you!

    be aware that you are only entitled to watch catchup TV without a license, not any sort of Live TV. However unless they physically watch you do it then its impossible to tell.

    Also you will need a broadband connection.
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