How much do you live on per year?

tru

EllieA wrote: »

or more to the point how on earth do you guys do it??

We are very mean :rotfl: :rotfl:

It depends on variables, as Ceridwen says

Our mortgage is £306.66 per month, we grow loads of veg and soft fruit, cook from scratch. If I went out to work, I'd have travel expenses (a weekly bus pass is about £11 here). Plus there's always something extra to pay for at work, eg. collection for someone's birthday. As I'm always cleaning out animals or getting myself covered in bits of paper and glue, my work uniform is leggings/jeans and t-shirt.

tru

ceridwen wrote: »

To get the nearest we can to comparing like with like on this thread - then I think we need to state the amount of money we spend EXCLUDING mortgage/rent or debts. Personally - I talk about "bills" on the one hand (meaning gas/electric/insurance/gas servicing/telephone & broadband/water) and Council Tax as something completely separate (because thats a tax I have been lumbered with - the level of which depends to some extent on my income coming in - ie if there was no income or only JSA coming in - then I wouldnt have to pay it).

Oh thanks for that - now I have to do TWO lots of maths today

Butterfly_Brain

DH on a very low wage £14,500 pa - that's all he could get after being made redundant.

Mortgage and bills = £ 8,640 pa.(Thankfully our mortgage is very low because we have had it for 16 years)
Food = £4,600 - 3 Adults and 1 child still at school) I am disabled , waiting for both knees to be replaced and DD can't find a job because there are no jobs around here you would have to bus to Luton or MK and the bus fares would be astronomical :eek: The council have killed the town (Cons don't you know :mad:)
We grow a lot of our own fruit and veg, forage and buy cheaper cuts of meat and offal and we have at least two veggie days a week and a soup day once a week with HM bread
I have found a friendly butcher who is very good and helps me out a lot bless him and also my local greengrocer is an angel.
I go to the market at closing time to see what has been reduced and pick up lots there. Last week I got 2 huge caulis for 80p and by the time I had cleaned them and got them frozen I had 4kgs worth I have never been lucky with caulis growing wise.

Savings when we can is about £500 - £1000 pa.

Annie56

Interesting point, Ive gone from £27.500 per annum before tax etc to single persons contribution based JSA allowance of £65 and summit pence. This will be for only 26 weeks then I go on to the normal kind of JSA and I wont get that as I have in theory over £6.000 in redundancey money left, and will need to live very carefully and I mean very very carefully from now on.

Like Ceridwen says its the investing in the tools to get to a stage that you can be frugal, Ive shocked myself at how I used to spend and am hanging my head in shame at the waste and the stupid spending me and the ex OH did, well no more the price I pay for my freedom (divorce) and peace of mind and mental health bieng complete is a lower standard of living but my god its worth it.

Eventually life will get better, I will have my share of the house and be able to buy something small with a bit of land ( oh how big are my dreams lol:rotfl:) but till that day I shall manage and it will give me the coping mechanism and skills with all the info gleaned from here to live a decent standard of living without worry, infact I feel everyone in this country needs to be doing what everyone on this forum is doing and cut back NOW as the new Con/Dem Alliance fully intend to push through all there money slashing hit the poor Joe Bloggs in the pocket ideas..are we ready ?? time will tell who listened to what was said on here re moneysaving Im starting as from now to look at every penny I spend with :money:`s info and all you lovley folks help.

Right am off to put up a shed...part of the Annie56 plan to some sort of self sufficiency...
Have a good day

Annie56:T

rachbc

our bills mortgage food and fuel for 2 plus pre teen and pre schooler are 1600 a month, until recently an additonal 500 p/m for childcare though that is now 'only' 200. After that we are paying 500 towards debt p/m...

broken down thats 600 mortgage, 350 food, 150 fuel, 500 bills - c'tax, gas, elec, water, ins, tv etc

alec_eiffel

I think this is kind of on topic.

Ceridwen makes some great points, it is interesting to see how far people stretch their cash but it can also be a bit of a red herring as lifestyles are so different and complex we could never really get to the bottom of it here. As I've said before, for me it's not just about living on very little but what you get for the amount you spend. We don't buy the cheapest of everything but we buy quality when we can and buy less, there have been so many times I've "bought cheap and bought twice" I know it's a mistake for me. We started along this road because we were deep in debt, stressed and unhappy. I thought frugality was a means to an end but discovered it's also an end in itself.

I suppose what I'm saying is that being frugal (or OS as you call it here) is not just for people with little money, it can be a way to build wealth and open up your life too. I hope that doesn't come across as snobbish because I don't intend it to be, just that frugality can be a starting point for fantastic change and riches you never knew you could have (financial and otherwise). And yes, I know my life could change tomorrow but the lessons still stand in good stead.

csarina

EllieA wrote: »

good lord, where is all my money going then??

We are living on about £1700 a month (just over £20,000 a year) before any sorts of treats/holidays or general "spendings" thats just for the bills.

We have no debts bar the morgage and the only "frivalty's" i'd concider we have that comes out of that money is the spends on the cat, and sky/internet which is about £80 a month.

I simply can't comprehend how someone can live on less than £1000... i really can't, we arn't living in an expensive area. so where is all my money going? or more to the point how on earth do you guys do it??

By taking frugailty to the extreeme......... we have a joint income of around £1,800 a month...... run a car, live in an expensive area, have just moved, our expenditure each month runs at around £1,700 the money left over goes towards our debts. If it were not for the council tax and housing benefit we get we would be in dire straights, no way would I have been able to move OH back to Scotland. We have a good credit rating and believe me I will do almost anything, except go on the streets:eek::eek: to protect that.:rotfl::rotfl:

Winged_one

I spend quite a bit more than a lot of you, but I have mortgage (well DH pays that), creche fees, running 2 cars (although we use them as little as possible, but usually have one or the other of us needing to drive to work most days), bus fares, growing kid etc....

And we also spend a lot less than we earn. Our income came down over the past 2 years, quite a bit (more than some seem to spend in the year), but because of our lifestyle, we didn't feel too many enforced hardships. Just the savings cushions didn't rise as fast as in the past.

We do use public transport, and OH cycles (when he hasn't been knocked off and having injuries heal) a lot. We don't spend a huge amount on clothes for fashion - I tend to buy for DD in the sales for a year ahead, and I buy some fashion items but mostly long term quality for myself and OH. (We are quite happy to use hand-me-downs for DD but she's the first of her generation and we rarely get things for her, but we do pass on most of her things within the family, or else to charity shops/shelters). We mend a lot ourselves, and we do bring clothes and shoes to the professional menders if we can't do it. We do a lot of DIY rather than "calling in a man". We keep utility charges (energy, bins etc) as low as possible (lots of recycling and composting on bins, turning off things once finished, not having heating on too much but trying an extra layer first, that sorta thing). We grow a fair amount of our own veg and soft fruit. We buy in bulk and use different shops for value (like the Asian supermarkets, or occasional forays up North for cheaper bulk shops). I am a member of a loyalty club for almost every shop and coffee shop I use. I cook from scratch as much as possible. I make a lot of crafts and cooking/baking/infusing for presents. We go foraging for a few different things at certain times of year. I do use charity shops. We use freesat on the tv (no cable packages). I shop around for the best deal on insurances etc every second year (I COULD do it every year, but it's often not worth the hassle). We move utility providers periodically to get better rates (I tend to review prices annually and move if it's worthwhile). I make sure I get good deals on banking, between no fees on everyday banking and getting the highest rate of interest on savings. I search out things on special ahead of needs rather than having to buy at full price later, when I can. I use coupons on things I buy anyway, and I do bulk buy when things I use anyway are on special offer.

On the flip side, we also like techie gadgets, and (2 of them were second hand) have 3 ipods between the 3 of us and a DS lite. (And I am getting a Wii for Xmas for the family). We LOVE books and the shelves are groaning with them (but we also use the library as well as buying). We all have good wardrobes. DD has tonnes of toys (she gets lots from others as well as us, and she is the only child in our house). We do like to eat well, so we'll do things cheaply but also have certain expensive ingredients. Because we both work fulltime, DD is in a creche for after school.

But we also have no credit card or other debt, apart from the mortgage (which we are overpaying). We both put money into savings of various sorts monthly. We don't have expensive hobbies really (I often spend more than I should on wool and fabric, but I use that and make nice things for us or as gifts, and am learning how to do things neater so that I can sell if I want to). I could get more out of the allotment if we needed to (but we do get a fair bit and I enjoy it too).

I've probably jsut kicked myself out of the OS club really, haven't I ??!!

ETA I agree with Ceridwen and Alec Eiffel too - I believe in buying quality that lasts for things we will use. So I have my Kenwood chef (I bought a floor model so knocked money off even that), but I use it a lot to save on baked goods and know what's in them. I spent a lot on my sewing machine, but I more than made that back in the first 6 months because I made the curtains for the sitting room (huge bay window, and interlined because of North facing old windows) and have made loads of things on and off in the 8 or so years since. But I try to avoid faddy gadgets (I avoided a full sized food processor for years, as I had a mini one, until faced with 6 kg of green tomatoes to grate for chutney one year - the mini one died recently and the full size is well used too - but I DID catch OH buying egg poaching things from Lakeland which he has yet to use 4 months later!). I do allow myself a treat of a coffee shop coffee most mornings, but I have a cafetiere at work to make my plunger coffee some mornings and for the rest of the day in the office (and I get a free coffee at least once every fortnight - or I often use the full loyalty cards to give some of the homeless guys around the office as I don't like to give them cash).

And I know that if we need to, there are lots of ways we can cut back, some easily, some less so, if we need to. And at the same time, we are able to enjoy the lifestyle that suits us, and know that if we want to do something together (like family meal out, or a night at the theatre), we can opt for that. Or enjoy what we have at home.

Sorry, I didn't mean to go on so long.

artichoke

We are 2 adults, 2 young children age 5 and 6, one dog and one cat.
OH is self employed but has not had any work for over 4 months so at the moment our only income is the child benefit and working tax credits.

After the mortgage is paid we live at the moment on £430 a month.

We grow our own veg, and have sheep so the freezer is full. I have a work share in our Community Supported Agriculture scheme so get a share of organic meat in exchange for labour.

Our outgoings are very low - we basically do not buy "stuff", apart from food basics and basic cleaning / toiletries. Our heating is wood burning stoves and we get wood from the farm.

The kids have been brought up like this so don't know any difference.
My kids do not realize that other kids go the cinema every week, have foreign holidays, have sky tv, and generally get loads more "stuff" than they do. We do not watch TV so the kids do not see adverts, they are so young i don't think they are being deprived of anything......

My sil thinks we are being cruel to them as they NEED ballet lessons, karate classes, to go on an airplane, new clothes etc.... maybe it will be harder to be so frugal once they become teenagers...

We are very cash poor, but i love our lifestyle - I used to work in London earning £38 K and spent most of it on "consumables", going out, cinema, eating out, travel, foreign holidays, etc i would NOT go back to that way of life for anything. I think my children's lives are richer even though we have no cash - but that as i say might be harder as they get older ..

art

art

tru

Not including mortgage, council tax or debts, we spend £684.40 per month, £8212.74 per year. That's food, bills and insurances (building, contents, life) for 4 adults, 10 chickens and 7 guinea pigs