www.iva.co.uk

My current shopping bill (food,pet food,toileteries etc) comes to £350 a month. This is for myself my partner,5 yeard old daughter and 2 dogs and 2 cats!! We live in the north of england. Does this seem excessive or'average'.We buy no means live extravagently.

regards

I would be interested to know what other people spend on there monthly shop who are in an iva? am i spending too much?

Hi Anais743

My wife and I have a monthly allowance of food/toiletries - £260 and personal hygeine £50.

Due to my low salt diet ( I have to buy frsh meat,fish etc. nothing pre-packed or tinned our monthly shop is more than this.

To me, the above, makes a mockery of the CCCS guidelines.

Any of you got any comments on this.

that doesnt sound good. why is 'personal hygeine' not incuded in toileteries?

How do you manage on that? We live in Midlands and our bills are a lot higher (husband, daughter, 2 dogs, 3 cats). The animals are minimal as I feed the cats/dogs on Lidls food. Our problem is our fuel bill has just increased - double what we were paying monthly - and food/fuel has increased of course.

The CCCS allow a maximum of £360 for a couple with one child and an extra £20 per month for pets.

I have £130 for me and 2 cats! The cats cost 30 inc vets so I have 25 a week on a 4 week month! Being on a diet helps! I still live at home which also helps but as the only vegie in the house I buy my own food.
Prices have gone up a lot recently.

If we are only allowed that much I don't know how or even if it is worth living. My bills were £160 a week roughly and I have cut them down as much as I can but they are still over £100 and having to commit to this for 5 years. I am already having difficulty coping with my job because of the stress and I have only just started the process of DMP/IVA.

How many people are in your family?

i guess £350 is a bit high then melanie ( although the pet thing seems low as mine cost me about £45 month and they have economy food)

You can have higher allowances, so long as your IP properly explains why they are higher. I once had a client who had 15 dogs, and so her pet food bill was much higher than average - and was accepted by creditors!

ok,cheers melanie.

what about anyone else?

My shopping bill per wek for 2 adults and 3 children aged 12,10,8 is about £110 .We also have 1 cat and 1 quinea pig.

My shopping bill is approx £120/£130 a month. This is just for myself and does not include any meat as I find it too expensive. For me, toilitries are the big killer in the shopping bill - skincare products and razor blades are just so expensive it sickens me having to buy these necessaties.

On the bright side this means that I have been careful about what I buy and consequently what I put in my mouth [:D]

My shopping bill for 2 of us (including food, toiletries and cleaning stuff) is £350. It does seem very high, but I eat very little dairy and soya milk and 'Free From' food is much more expensive than cows milk and 'normal' food!

I had to buy washing powder this month and that was nearly £10 - I have sensitive skin and have to use Fairy. I'll be needing razor blades (for my legs, not my chin - they thought I was a bloke on another forum this week!) soon as well - they cost a fortune!

I expected to have to justify my shopping bill to the OR, but it wasn't even mentioned.