ChrisFilter said:
£6 for dinner for two cooked from scratch isn't out of this world. Both of us like cooking and like good food.. the meat alone often costs £3!
Then cut back on how much meat you eat!
I can make a huge pan of chunky vegetable soup, which is really filling, that would last two people a couple of days for about £1.50.
ChrisFilter said:
£4-£5 on lunch isn't all that much either.. your standard lunch thing, ie. salad, sandwich, jacket potato, is £3. Can of drink, 60p. You get bored mid-afternoon so have a fag whilst wondering down to newsagent to buy a kit-kat, 5p. That's £4.10.
Check the other thread about lunchbox alternatives to sandwiches. There were some good ideas there. Make your own lunch, it's a heck of a lot cheaper. Instead of a can of drink and buying coffee from coffee shops etc., drink water and make your own tea or coffee, don't spend money unnecessarily.
ChrisFilter said:
I agree, money can be saved by cutting out a lot of the extras, but the money I'm spending is hardly 'nuts'.
Then why don't you try an experiment? Next week is the start of July, so from next Monday, and for a whole month, why don't you see how frugally you can live?
Just for one month, make your own lunch. Do you have a microwave at work? A baked potato with some cheese, or beans, will cost around a quid, instead of three. And if you're not going out to the shop, you won't be tempted to pick up crisps, cans and chocolate.
Speaking of which, don't buy them. Every time you feel the urge, put the money you would have spent in a jar, it'll soon mount up. Or better still, try not to draw the money out in the first place.
Instead of nipping out to the shops, spend your spare time surfing or phoning up, checking out what's available in terms mortgage deals, start thinking about and working how much you need to save for legal fees, mortgage arrangement fees, furnishing and decorating your new home...
Cut back on the amount of meat you buy. It's summer, so you don't really need meat and two veg, try more salads, pasta with veggie sauce...
For the next month, cut back on drinking wine at home. Maybe have a bottle with your dinner at the weekend, but not during the week. You'll probably save £60 or more quid just through that alone.
When you go out, go out an hour later, and come home an hour earlier, so you don't spend so much money. Take a set amount with you, and leave your cards at home. Take the night bus/tube home and not a taxi.
Just try it for one month and see how much of a difference it makes to your finances. And then at the end of July re-evaluate it, and see whether you think it makes enough of a difference for you to want to continue, or whether you think it doesn't make that much of a difference and you don't want to live without your little luxuries.
). Budget spreadsheets never seem to allow for this scenario 
