Sophie Mills is a single mum working in corporate sales and software in the Christchurch suburb of Sumner.
The 30-year-old supports her two sons aged eight and 11, the youngest of whom has egg and peanut anaphylactic and both boys have ADHD. Sophie shops monthly, this time at at PAK'nSAVE Wainoni.
This month I've spent $356.72. That will tend to get us through most of the month, but there'll be small things we may need to add in, like perishables as the month goes on, but probably only another $30 worth.
Monthly groceries is really hard, but [I do it that way because I'm] paid monthly and ensuring that all bills are paid first, and then what's left is used with the groceries.
It's easy to say you'll put money away, but then other things can come up, like school activities for kids, and so working out how you manage that money, it's taught me to budget a lot better.
The challenge then is if certain things come up that are unexpected and not having that sort of buffer. Yeah, I think monthly budgeting is certainly harder.
It means using a lot of frozen products or making meals and then freezing them so we can use them later, but also getting quite creative with the meals as well.
Because it's the three of us, we can manage things. The hardest piece is actually the kids' lunch boxes and trying to keep the children from eating [what goes in] them before the end of the month.
Non-negotiable items would be meats, obviously, for the kids, making sure they get a lot of protein that way. And their lunch box needs and breakfasts as well.
They have ADHD, so we need to make sure that they get a lot of good nutrients in the mornings and then in the evenings as well. So those are really the key pieces, and then obviously the toiletries.
Treats probably for us are ice cream. I didn't used to get it, but actually, in the evenings for the boys the calories in it are quite good for them. Whilst it's not the healthiest, it's quite good if I can get some some with fruit in them. We tend to go for the plain ones.
What I have started to do now is go to PAK'nSAVE. I used to always go to Countdown, and actually I'd click and collect, because working from home and being quite busy made it more effective time-wise.
But the cost of that, versus driving to PAK'nSAVE makes a big difference. And actually being able to use the PAK'nSAVE app, so I can check what the cost is as I go, makes a difference as well.
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