£200 a month...is it enough?

Plans_all_plans

Afte mortgage and all other bills/food/essentials are paid for, is £200 enough to cover treats/b'day presents etc for a family of 2 adults, 1 child (and eventually 1 more child)?

I think it is, but I worry it wont be!! We're about to buy our first house, so am just concerned about affordability!!

Obviously, each answer will depend on the family, but we do not plan to have (m)any holidays, never spend a lot on birthdays etc, so...bearing that in mind, do you think it is possible to manage on that?

Is anyone managing on less?

I'd really appreciate any input. Thanks.

Bufger

I will soon be managing on a similar amount once my OH is on maternity leave. Is this how much will be left with one of you working and one staying at home with child etc? what would happen if you went on maternity with your second, would it become a negative sum?

Its easily doable if you have already included things like petrol/food/mobile phones etc into your outgoings but you do need an emergency fund if a car breaks and you need a new one or if your boiler blew up etc.

Bubby

£200 after our outgoings would be a luxury for me:eek:

I think if you have included everything ie pet food etc then it is a sufficient amount:)

aliasojo

And me!

OP you cut your cloth according to what you have available. I'm sure you'll manage just fine on that amount.

JodyBPM

Yes it is, but you will have to be very careful to budget for those little expenses that come up, as that amount won't allow you much flex if you suddenly get hit by a bill that you'd forgotten about or hadn't budgetted for (eg a school trip, new school sweater, car repairs, etc). Although you will be able to manage on this assuming you have done all your sums right, I wouldn't live on that little by choice as a long term solution. But I'm sure it would be possible. Do you have any back up savings at all?

AnnaLicious_2

I have been for ages! I buy our holiday presents throughout the year and stash them away, most of our holidays are sun caravan trips but manage to get home to Florida once a year-ish. I sell the odd thing on ebay and car boot sales for holiday money. Just stick away what you can, just because you have £200 doesn't mean you have to spend it. It will help when you get that surprise car repair bill, or have a wedding to attend, and so on.

freda

Try and work it out based on your current expenditure.

Add up how much it costs you to 'do' xmas - so presents, going out, christmas food, drink adn wrapping paper etc. Divide by 12.

Add up how many people you buy birthday presents for, set a budget per person, add it all up. Add on extra for any postage, cards, wrapping paper etc. Divide by 12.

Are you going to throw a party for your children's brthdays?They can be awfully expensive if you go out and still a bit pricey if you stay at home! Work out how much this would cost per month.

Where would you like to go on hols? Look up average prices for the time of year to get a guesstimate. Add on petrol/travel costs, a meal out each day, presents/nic nacks, entrance fees for going places etc. Divide by 12.

Do you ahve any big events coming up that you need to attend - family/friends weddings, christenings, large parties etc? Work out the average cost, divide by 12.

What do you spend on the children each month? Toddler groups, after school activities, lessons, school trips, etc etc depending how old they are.

What do you spend going out for meals? Twice a month or twice a week?

All those annual costs divided by 12 to make amonthly cost, plus your actual montly costs, will give you an idea of affordability. It will also give you an idea as to what you could cut back on if necessary.


PS Have you included all the essentials in your budget to work out the £200? Remember things like saving up for a new car, even if it is 5 years or more away. Also, keeping aside money for topping up things like emergency fund, creating a pot to replace things you know are going to break soon etc. etc.

GEEGEE8

What if mortgage interest rates go up?

LilacPixie

it is certainly do-able.

I shop for Christmas pressies all year around now. last year the kids got an obscene amount of presents for a relatively small amount of money. The grab-bit boards are helpful.

No idea if you run a car or if you have already budgeted for an emergency/home improvement fund. I would persoanlly look at a minimum of £100 for such a fund based on my experience of heating breaking down, car needing new springs/exhaust/battery wanting to decorate 1-2 rooms a year until new house is what you want.

Plans_all_plans

Thank you for your thoughts.

To answer some points: currently the situation is that we live with in-laws. We are FTB, my fiance works, I stay at home full time. We have healthy savings currently, but most of the money will be used for a deposit/furnishings. We hope to keep some money aside for emergencies, but if we cannot afford this, we plan to save as much of the £200 each month as we can til we have a bit of a buffer.

I have absolutely no idea what it costs to "do" Christmas as we've never done it before. I spend about £150 on presents in total (for my mum, dad, sister, fiance, daughter, FIL, MIL, 2 aunts with no kids and my nan). No idea on food, we've always been at other people's houses!

We do not have a car as we can't afford one without me going back to work, but while we have little one(s) we do not want me to work if at all possible. We will do without one for the forseeable future (even though it makes my life a lot harder!)

We do not go out for meals unless we have a voucher!! Same for cinema etc!! Our daughter is cheap to keep as we have a large family and they buy all her clothes at birthday/Christmas time and get her a few toys throughout the year. Playgroups etc are very cheap: I spend less than a tenner a week on these. In September, she will be starting dancing lessons, so obv we have to factor in these, but by then she'll be at a school nursery, so won't have to pay for playgroups etc.

In terms of bills, we are using the figures our mortgage lender has given us, which may or may not be accurate! However, we have budgeted £400 a month for food, which is easily over what it will cost, so we can reduce this if we need more money each month.

If interest rates go up, we will be unaffected for 5 years as we have a 5 year fix. In 5 years time, I will be re-entering the workplace as any children will be school aged by then.

I am glad to hear the experiences of others on this, I thought that maybe it was too low an amount, but you have given me confidence that we'll manage.

Many thanks.

JodyBPM

Based on what you have said there, I think you will be fine!

£400 a month is a HUGE amount for food, I spend around half that, so you will have flex there. And more than anything, if things get really tight, there is always the possibility of you doing something (evening work, party plans etc) to bring in a little bit of extra, if necessary.

One thing I would say, though, is that if your income is based on just one of you working, that it would be essential to take out good income protection, life assurance, critical illness cover etc, as if for any reason your husband lost his job/became unable to work you would be in a very vulnerable situation.