Saturday, 3rd. October 2026

Like most pensioners who are also private tenants I live on a low disposable income and must therefore budget. It is essential to have a budget for everything and to sacrifice those items that you cannot afford, and we all do this differently according to our personal preferences. I live reasonably well on a tight budget and I often feel quite pleased with myself for what I am able to achieve.

A unique event is coming up in just over a week – my mother’s 90th. birthday – and a member of the family has kindly organised a family gathering at a pub for Sunday lunch. At first I feel anxious as I have no budget for ‘eating out’ or ‘takeaways’ and consequently never engage in such activities, despite my love of good food. I am used to never eating out and never buying takeaways to the point where I never really think about it. So how do I pay for Sunday lunch in a pub?

After paying the rent and bills the biggest budget for me is ‘groceries’ – covering food, cleaning materials, toiletries, toilet roll – you get the idea, and I sometimes go over-budget. If that happens I simply drop a weekly shop altogether and eke out what I have in order to stay within my budget. The next biggest heading is ‘pub’ which, at £60 a month is considerably less than the grocery budget! It enables me to spend one afternoon a week in my local and to enjoy three pints as well as the conversation and friendship that goes with it. It is this budget – or at least half of it – that will pay for my Sunday lunch. 

I have found a solution! Two visits to the pub in October rather than four. Having lunch at a family gathering for such an auspicious occasion is important and worth the sacrifice. I am also aware that many people would consider a weekly visit to the pub a luxury and therefore strictly unnecessary, especially for someone with a low income. We are all different and have different priorities; my personal choice is to spend £60 a month on the pub rather than takeaways and eating out, and I’m sticking to it!