Many single people would struggle to keep their weekly food shop below \u00a350. But Milly Rousseau has followed the strict budget for her family of four for more than five months. <\/p>\n
With a household income of more than \u00a3100,000, Milly and her husband Ed would not seem the most likely candidates for such a frugal lifestyle. But they are among those feeling the squeeze from a punitive tax system, inflated housing costs and rising prices \u2014 otherwise known as Henrys (high earners, not rich yet)<\/a>. <\/p>\n Milly, 36, is a stay-at-home mum and Ed works in tech. In November last year she committed to spending money on nothing other than essentials, paying the bills and a \u00a350 food shop for her and Ed plus their two children, aged four and two.<\/p>\n Money newsletter<\/p>\n The latest personal finance and investment news from our money team.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tSign up with one click<\/p>\n The idea was born after Ed\u2019s previous well-paid contract job came to an end and he was out of work for a couple of months.\u00a0\u201cWe had just moved home after living in Australia, bought a house in Twickenham, paying \u00a33,000 a month on the mortgage, and were quickly burning through our savings,\u201d Milly said.\u00a0<\/p>\n They pay \u00a3300 a month for council tax and another \u00a3300 for other bills including gas, electricity and internet. They also have a \u00a3100-a-month life insurance policy. <\/p>\n Milly said: \u201cBefore that we were not really thinking about money. It was a wake-up call. I know we are not in the most sympathetic situation income-wise, but it is difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n Because Ed\u2019s income is more than \u00a3100,000 a year, the family do not qualify for tax-free childcare or free nursery hours from the government. The couple spend \u00a3400 a month on nursery fees and have a nanny once a week for \u00a3110.\u00a0Ed also falls into the 60 per cent tax trap<\/a> where he starts to lose his \u00a312,570 tax-free personal income allowance\u00a0once his income passes \u00a3100,000. <\/p>\n For every \u00a32 earned over the threshold, \u00a31 of the personal allowance is lost until it is completely gone by the time earnings hit \u00a3125,140. Those earning between \u00a3100,000 and \u00a3125,140 therefore face a marginal income tax rate \u2014 the tax they will pay on the next \u00a31 they earn \u2014 of 60 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUntil I had my daughter I have always worked and I found it hard not contributing financially. I wanted to make a contribution to the mental load of our household, to help take the stress off Ed\u2019s shoulders,\u201d Milly said. <\/p>\n She found she was spending about \u00a31,500 a month on running the house and caring for the children and wanted to work out where this money was going. \u201cI knew groceries were a black hole for spending. When you are a mum, especially while on maternity leave, the supermarket is the place you go every day. And it\u2019s not just food any more; they have clothing and a home section.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI would feel guilty shopping or buying clothes for myself but if it was at the supermarket it felt like sanctioned spending and I would treat myself to things I didn\u2019t need,\u201d Milly said. <\/p>\n After deciding not to spend on anything other than the basics in November, she found she had almost \u00a31,000 left over, when she would usually be down to her last \u00a35.\u00a0She said: \u201cThat blew my mind. I had kept it down to one \u00a350 food shop a week with no top-up shops. It was quite difficult and I do want to caveat that being a stay-at-home mum makes it possible to cook more from scratch.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe other thing I found was the little things that you don\u2019t think matter, such as getting a takeaway coffee when out with the kids, buying snacks for the kids when out instead of bringing sandwiches. That really adds up.\u201d<\/p>\n Recent price rises have made the \u00a350 budget more challenging. \u201cIt is getting harder this year and sometimes it will go up to around \u00a360 or \u00a370. I think it will only get harder as the year goes on, too, with everything going up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The war in Iran has pushed up oil prices which has increased the cost of food production. The government is working on plans for food shortages<\/a> this summer in case the war continues. The Food & Drink Federation warned this month that grocery prices could rise as much as 10 per cent<\/a> by the end of the year. <\/p>\n A typical weekly menu in the Rousseau household includes toast, porridge with frozen berries and banana pancakes for breakfast and lunches of cheese quesadillas, cod fishcakes with pea puree, roast chicken wraps, cheese and Marmite pinwheels, cheese toasties and tomato soup. Dinners include spaghetti bolognaise, broccoli mac and cheese, vegetarian chilli with rice, Thai green curry, tuna pasta bake and butternut squash risotto.<\/p>\n Milly documents her weekly shops on social media, sharing tips on the cheapest supermarkets. Not all of the comments are positive.\u00a0\u201cBudgeting is such a hard topic to talk about online as people are so worried about it. People are so quick to scrutinise you when you are trying to stick to a budget, they\u2019re defensive about how much everything costs at the moment. It also takes me ages to do a \u00a350 shop, I scour the shelves looking for the cheapest possible options.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Some of the savings are going towards rebuilding the family\u2019s nest egg that was depleted while Ed was out of work.\u00a0Milly said: \u201cWe really want to build a safety net this year. For me it\u2019s not about not spending anything ever, it\u2019s about making sure what you\u2019re spending is worth it for you.\u00a0My husband said, your time is not worth nothing either. So we took the savings from the food shop and hired a cleaner.<\/p>\n \u201cSpending less on groceries but being able to afford a cleaner helps my mental load, it has done wonders for our relationship and halved the arguments in our household.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many single people would struggle to keep their weekly food shop below \u00a350. 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