you mean like you buy stuff you dont need or what?
I think you need to break up the $200 into weekly amounts if what you're talking about is spending it all at once. You're right, if you spend it all at one time, you're running the risk of running out of food at the end with no way to replenish...
If you're using a bank account/card, take out cash in the amount you've allotted (ie $50/week) and, well, you don't have a choice.
Otherwise, you'll have to just force yourself to stick to a budget.
I find what helps the most is making a list and sticking to it. It's the extra/unnecessary/impulse buys that add up.
When I take my daughter shopping, and she barely has enough to make ends meet, she thinks of more things we need, and she needs, and my bill ends up being bigger. She cannot seem to stay employed regularly, and it is frustrating .Now this fall, she is going to school 35 hrs a week, and I don't know what I am going to do because I do not think that she can handle much work on top of school. Her dad said he'd help her, but I don't trust him.