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

Spendless

Have you tried https://www.childcarelink.gov.uk

across

everybody is different depends on how much your outgoings are when i bought my house my mum said only take a mortgage out that you could afford with one wage coming in for if you want to stay at home with children in future and even though we could have had a lot more we only took on £31k and now im on a career break for 5 years from work and even though husbands wage isnt great we manage alright. i have been at home since sept 2001 as first baby was nov01 and my return date to work is probably about sept07 now because ive had another baby since and you get mat leave for that, i am thrifty these days but it is fun!! i do things like pay for everything on goldfish no matter how small and then turn points into asda or m&s vouchers at christmas and that buys most food and drink and some cards etc.. (but for this to work you must pay balance off every month no matter what or it doesnt work) toys i buy all year round special offers,clothes stick to sales or supermarket,holidays late deals.com or thompson direct,shopping online ive saved pounds,join social clubs at work to get cheap days out, hope some of my ideas help!! good luck!!!

hex2

You need to sit down together and agree what matters to you both. What things are you willing to lose? What contingency have you got if things go wrong financially? Are you happy for your children to live in Tesco value or do you want them to be in Debenhams Designer? Do you want to smoke/drink/have a social life? Do you/your wife feel the need to have the latest new gadget/fashion item? Be realistic about what you can manage on and without so that you dont end up resenting each other or your child.

We both gave up a lot for me to stay at home with our boys for two years - but the payback has been huge. We have the brightest happiest children I could wished for and neither of us regret it for a minute.

Murtle

Lillibet wrote:

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

Sorry for asking Lillibet, but how I'm sure it can be done - I just don't know how!!!

I spend £1500 a month. The other half spends his allowance!!

I think I'll be investigating this more!!!!

funky-footprints

across Im like you, I bought my kids christmas and birthday presents in the January sales. I had finished thier christmas shopping by mid August, well under budget, a lot of my friends thought I was a right nutter. we pay for everything during the month on a credit card and pay that off in full at the end of every month, so apart from our mortage we dont have any debts as if we cant afford it we dont get it. We have never spent over excess on socialising or cigarettes etc, as we have never had the babysitters available to us, and now we have a great teenager over the road, but to be honest If we had £20 quid spare to pay her for us to go out, I would rather spend it on all 4 of us having a trip to cinema.

This time last year we were saving £1,000 a month, the thought of saving money seems a mile of, its more of a case of breaking even at the minute. we have some money coming in in March next year and so our mortgage which is offset will go down by another (approx) £250, that is something to look forward to ,as along with my husbands pay increase in January I see light at the end of the tunnel !!!

still skint, but happy.
xxx

kiwichick

Hiya,

We are a family of 5, 2 adults and 3 kids (2 are still in nappies). We live in Essex in a 3 bed mid terrace and I am a stay at home mum. Our monthly expenses are as follows;

Groceries (incl all cleaning and nappies) £400
Mortgage on £100K £560
Council Tax £81
Electric £23
Gas £23
Phone and Broadband £25
Kids savings plans £40
TV Licence £11
Sky and Sky Insurance £47 :eek: hubby is a footie freak
Water & Mains Drainage £37
H&C Insurance £27
Hubbies Collecting hobby £13.50
Playgroup £10
Petrol £350 :eek: (OH commutes 150 miles a day)

Total £1647 (bound to have left something really obvious out of this!)

Obviously there is no figure for clothes etc but this is our basic budget. I would think that with 1 child you could get away with less for food, sky is an indulgence so not necessary. Also, look into cloth nappies, I am hoping to convert soon, better late than never. You can pick them up cheap 2nd hand and sell them on when you are done.

Dont know how this compares.

Savvy_Sue

kiwichick wrote:

Obviously there is no figure for clothes etc but this is our basic budget.

Also obviously there's nothing in there for you - if DH has his footie and his collecting, what's set aside for you? (Mind you if you looked at ours you'd see my DH's gym and nothing for me, but he'd say his gym was a necessity not a luxury which it is really as the sauna helps his eczema enormously and I don't see us intalling one at home!)

kiwichick

Savvy_Sue wrote:

Also obviously there's nothing in there for you - if DH has his footie and his collecting, what's set aside for you? (Mind you if you looked at ours you'd see my DH's gym and nothing for me, but he'd say his gym was a necessity not a luxury which it is really as the sauna helps his eczema enormously and I don't see us intalling one at home!)

Yep, its always Mum who misses out isnt it? I am taking driving lessonsat the mo which is expensive but they have been paid out for by OH's redundancy money.

I must admit, I dont get any time to myself, let alone money to do What I want with! Am looking forward to my birthday so I can get my hands on a breadmaker,now that WILL be an indulgence :T

funky-footprints

this time last year it my husband who was supposed to be down sizing his car, to leave me with the family car, he comes how with some tank of a thing that costs us £70.08 a month to insure, (oh and Ive been everywhere trying to get that cheaper) so guess whos car has to go !!!!MINE !!!! economising .......... yes ..... yet somebodys golf annual membership doesnt seem to come into the equation either !! he needs it for networking !

kiwichick all the best with your driving lessons. how on earth do you get car & house insurance (H&C) to £27 a month ? ?
our house insurance is £37.40 a month, (it was £57.60 per month)
my car insurance is £44.29 ( It was £49.43)
thats after visiting both of those recommended sites . Now you can see why my car is going. Im hoping to half my insurance and half my fuel, at least my husband is lpg converted, so what he saves on fuel goes towards his ridiculous insurance.
xx

kiwichick

I have my H&C with a company called RIAS, they specialise in the over 50 age group. I am only 25 and their info was in a bounty book that you get from the hospital when I had my first child.

They do a lump cover for both, £30K for contents and £400K for house, excess is £50 andmy policy includes lots of extras like accidental damage (necessary with 3 kids!) and legal expenses etc.

Let me know if you want their contact details.
Al.