How much income do you need to support a family???

robindunne1

What do you think? I have a wife and 2 yr old girl to support. We have a mortgage of 87k and no other commitments. How much would I need to earn so my wife can stay at home and look after the young one and still have enough to have everything we need??

Any ideas??

hobo28

Hmmm, how long is a piece of string?

It all depends on the sort of lifestyle you both want. Would you need 2 cars? Is your wife a big spender?

I have a mortgage of 80k, A few years ago, I had two children and a partner. I reckon I remember working it out that I could support them by bringing home £1700 per month to be comfortable (ie. meals out, holidays etc) but if I lost my job, I could do it on about £1200-£1300 a month if I cut everything back to the bare essentials.

Plenty of people bring up their kids on a lot less.

It shouldn't be too hard to work out, use a spreadsheet to make a budget.

The hard thing is to decide what you are both willing to sacrifice. We live in a materialistic world and going without isn't fun.

Karnam

im doing the 'stay at home' mum thing for a year and we worked out for our newborn baby and me, my partner needs to bring home around 10-15k but thats really extravagent as that is also paying off our student debts/ccs/overdrafts as well! maybe its cause we're quite frugal having just graduated? it all depends on spending really...

leftieM

We're considering that option too. I work out that we can live on £900 a month after mortgage, insurances, NTL and mobile bills are paid. That allows £600 for food, buses/petrol, husband's football, electricity, mother and tods groups etc. We need at least £300 a month to put aside for short-term savings - to pay for rates, car tax and insurance, Christmas, presents, and contingency money.
It's a really good idea to do a detailed budget for at least a month and see where the money goes. You'll soon see where money is wasted.
My budget isn't totally finalised and I hope to cut down from £900 as we need save as well.

Savvy_Sue

If your wife WANTS to stay at home then she should be a willing accomplice in the 'how cheaply can we live?' challenge. The Old Style board is a very good place to look for ideas on reducing expenditure on just about everything, but especially food!

But it does depend on what your lifestyle is currently, and whether you're prepared to change it. If you want all 3 of you in new designer clothes, taking expensive holidays twice a year, running two gas-guzzlers, and riding / ballet / gymnastics / music for your daughter, you need a lot more than if you're prepared to shop at Primark and Asda, take budget holidays, run inexpensive cars, and choose ONE money-eating 'hobby' for your daughter!

Lillibet_2

We have an 82K mortgage and no other debts, run one (old) car, one mobile phone, pay £130 per month council tax, don't plan to go on holiday for several years so only put £50 per month into the holiday fund. All things included, we live on £1500 per month. Our main extragavance since Spud arrived is organic food.
Saying that, Surrey is quite an expensive area to live, local services etc are not cheap.

HTH

Tyler_Durden_UK

My wife doesn't work (we dont have kids yet), our mortgage is £260pm, I earn just over £30k and we have a good standard of living. Mind you we don't bother going out much

crispeater

i have a 2yr old and a 5 week old and bringing them both up on my own. i currently bring home just over a grand a month and pay 500 a month on rent. dont forget if you are on a low income you can get money from tax credits.

my kids want for nothing and neither do i we have holidays, days out etc actually we live better and have more money since i kicked their father out lol

Tom_Saunders

for £549 per month. we have two small children. my wife is a childminder, we need to bring in a minimum of £2,000 per month inclusive of all bills.

If we really cut back on everything including life assurance, sky, mobile, second car etc I reckon we could live on £1,500.

Here's my breakdown "personal" I know but what the heck.

Mortgage 549.91
Mobile 60.00
Telewest 50.00
Council Tax 91.00
Gas - Electric 59.50
Sky Digital 35.00
Home Insurance 27.80
Water 27.74
Life Insurance 23.05
TV Licence 10.99
Shopping - Average 550.00
Petrol 175.00
C Card 50.00

Total approx £1,650

then car insurance, tax etc.........life ain't cheap is it?

johannamse

What is Telewest for?

You could get rid of Sky - it really is rubbish, having got rid a year ago.

FOOD? What are you buying for 550 per month? caviar and champagne? Head over to Old Style board now!

Tom_Saunders

Telewest is Broadband and home Telephone......

If I was struggling I would get rid of all of these but I'm not so I won't.

A family of 4 £100 per week shopping plus a take way one a week..

We can all scrimp and save but life shouldn't be like that, thank christ for credit cards and overtime.