Once upon a time I was really good at budgeting and putting aside some “what if” money, even if only $5. I sat down worked out what my expenses were and put money in several accounts to cover that. One account was for bills and debits – so I didn’t get caught up having funds come out of my regular account.

Cooking your own meals using basic ingredients is the best way to save money. Eating out is a treat for us and not something we do often.

I use any left over or nearly past it veg to make soup and then freeze for lunches.
Try to make things myself instead of buying, Pasta and bread are easy and cheaper after you have bought the ingredients which cost more to begin with, unfortunately you cant just but enough to make one batch but a bag of flour will last a few weeks/month if making regularly.
Also try to buy larger meat portions, chicken breast instead of strips, beef steak instead of cubes and cut it yourself, this is sometimes cheaper depending on the offers available at the time.
If there is something you use regularly that is on offer it is best to stock up.

Meal planning, bulk shopping and signing up for free deals / events locally is a good way of staying within budget and having a good time.

try to make more of your own stuff in regards to food. try to grow some vegies and herbs etc. maybe if you are willing and able, get some chickens for eggs

we eat pretty much just chicken or mince meat. Its amazing how many meals you can make from them. going to parks is always fun and free!

There is some fantastic advice:)

I totally understand, once a month I try and do games night at home and make the treats and things like that so everyone is getting something fun and yum. Good Luck

I water down, what ever I can to make it go further. Juice, pasta sauce, hand soap etc

I bought a slow cooker. In this you can really cook the cheapest toughest meat there is and it will just fall off the bone when cooked. My mother was given a pressure cooker for a wedding present (over 60 years ago) and she has always said it saved her money because she could cook any meat in it in fifteen minutes, thus saving by buying the cheaper meats and saving electrical costs by cooking for only 15 minutes. Stews are usually cooked for an hour in a pot on the stove but buying a pressure cooker she saved on meat as well as electricity.

excellent ideas here. will try them out. it’s always good to have a planned budget

It’s hard, and it’s painful and it’s gonna suck at the start, but you pay your bills, you put aside enough money for groceries and out the rest away, no personal spending, no fun money spending, but it works to start a little nest egg going

Ive been saving quite abit off my food shop by walking down and getting whats on special including the reduced stuff also works for us.

Have an amount (you choose) taken out of your pay automatically or you can manually put an amount in if you can afford more or less that pay into a savings account. Online shopping is great as you don’t have “impulse” purchases.

Meal planning is a great way to budget. And ordering online so that you’re not trapped into buying random items at the supermarket that you don’t really need.