£200 a month...is it enough?

Plans_all_plans

Thank you Jody. We do intend to take out life insurance and critical illness cover. We were not planning on taking out income protection though, this is because my fiance's job is in the public sector and if for any reason he loses his current job, he will go on the redeployment register, earning the same amount as he does now and his job at such a time will be to find himself another job in the organisation. He is also a member of the union, so he would hear about any proposed changes re redeployment prior to them comin into force, at which time, we could take out the income protection insurance.

Given the above, would you say we are ok not to take out income protection?

freda

Playgroups etc are very cheap: I spend less than a tenner a week on these.

Bear in mind that that is 1/5 of your entire spare money, it all adds up to quite a lot!

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.

I don't have much trust in figures provided by mortgage lenders, they are unlikely to be particularly realistic...!!

Why not post those figures on here and we can advise as to their accuracy, plus give ideas as to what has been missed out?

Plans_all_plans

I totally appreciate what you're saying freda, re the playgroups cost. In the £10 figure, I am including the more expensive weeks, when I take the little one to swimming and an indoor soft play area, as well as the local 50p/£1 community centre groups. If things got tough, swimming and indoor play areas would stop.

In terms of figures the lender has given us PER MONTH for a 3 bed 1970s terraced house:

Council Tax - £90 (accurate for the band)
Life Insurance - £15
Home Insurance - £15
TV Licence - £13
Electric - £40
Gas - £50
Water - £25
Phone - £16
Broadband - £15

Are these accurate-ish?

JodyBPM

Plans_all_plans wrote: »

I totally appreciate what you're saying freda, re the playgroups cost. In the £10 figure, I am including the more expensive weeks, when I take the little one to swimming and an indoor soft play area, as well as the local 50p/£1 community centre groups. If things got tough, swimming and indoor play areas would stop.

In terms of figures the lender has given us PER MONTH for a 3 bed 1970s terraced house:

Council Tax - £90 (accurate for the band)
Life Insurance - £15
Home Insurance - £15
TV Licence - £13
Electric - £40
Gas - £50
Water - £25
Phone - £16
Broadband - £15

Are these accurate-ish?

I'd say these sound accurate, but its a very incomplete list. No mobile phones listed, no provision for maintenance and repairs, garden costs, new appliances, travel costs, entertainments, presents etc. There is a SOA floating around on this site somewhere, that is much more comprehensive, you might find that useful. I'm sure someone could point you in the right direction

Plans_all_plans

We have 2 PAYG phones, if we have no money, we have no credit. Travel costs have already been budgeted for. The things I've listed are just the things that I don't know the cost of.

In our complete budget (prior to working out that we have £200 treats/presents/holiday money) we have included a list of all our current direct debits to our daughter's savings, 10 yr savings plan, contact lenses etc, but I've only just put on here the things I don't know the cost of. Hope this clarifies things.

Curlywurli

Obviously I don't know where you are, but have you got any quotes for the insurance?- £15 for buildings and contents insurance seems rather cheap to me. If it is that cheap what is the excess- you don't want to have a low monthly direct debit but when it comes to claiming for any problem having to pay the first £400/500. My phone including broadband is £47 per month (I think it's expensive).

Personally I have mortgage repayment protection. My husband is a civil servant and they have a redeployment pool but he has told me that this is no guarantee to getting a job.

My gas is £43 and my electric is £34. It has gone up and down recently- obviously in colder weather you use more than in warm weather. We never keep electrics on unless we're in that room.

globalds

I think the Gas and Electricity bills could easily be more than the figures you have posted.

I think our DD's are about £70 a month for both gas and electricity

freda

Plans_all_plans wrote: »

Life Insurance - £15
Home Insurance - £15
TV Licence - £13
Electric - £40
Gas - £50
Water - £25
Phone - £16
Broadband - £15

Are these accurate-ish?

Life insurance would probably be more if you are including critical illness cover.

Gas / elec could be on the low side if you have naff glazing on the windows and draughty lofts, but fine if you are naturally frugal on using power and shop around for a cheap supplier.

Water - is it on a meter or going with the council water rates? If on a meter, it is probably ok as long as you are not the sort of family who has 3 baths per day, multiple washing loads per day and don't water your garden with tap water.

Phone - line rental alone is £12, so you'd really need to shop around for cheap calls (totally possible, look at the guides on here) and hardly call mobiles or abroad at all for this price.

Broadband you can probably get cheaper than £15.


What sort of figures are you using for clothes, food, nappies, medical costs etc?

Amara

£200 per month or £50 per week, souds allright for me.

Plans_all_plans

We are 24 and 26 and our mortgage will only be £56,000 as we have nearly 50 % deposit. This is why life insurance/critical illness is cheap. We have got an actual quote on that.

In terms of buildings/contents, we do not have a quote yet, but we are due to get one this Sat. Water is not on a meter.

I wonder what you mean by medical costs freda? Other than contact lenses, we get prescriptions free (on the VERY rare occasions we are ill) through working tax credits. For food (incl nappies, for any future baby) we have (over) budgeted at £400 per month. I have not budgeted at all for clothes, as I buy new stuff once in a blue moon for myself, relatives buy for our daughter and fiance buys all his cheaply on ebay. I was thinking that clothes will come from the £200 left over.

Curliwurli: indeed, redeployment is no guarantee to getting a job within the organisation itself, however it does ensure you get paid your current salary while searching for a job (elsewhere if necessary)