How much do you live on per month?

ejvc

We (2 adults, one toddler) spend between £400-£450 on food, and have each £25/week to spend on everything else.

We both have good incomes, however, we are clearing debt left from a period where I was unemployed. My husband does our food shopping and is kind of crazy about food. He will do without going to the pub, clothing, travel, anything, but suggest that this week it would be better not to have the smoked salmon and he feels POOR and angry and depressed and frankly, it's not worth fighting about. He's also absolutely sold on having quality food. I've managed to convert him to frozen veg in a few small instances. Also, we live in Central London and everything is really expensive here, and our main supermarket is a Waitrose, which has great quality but is relatively expensive. Having said that, we never eat out and never eat prepared foods - everything from scratch. We make a menu plan and shop once a week, except for milk and bread top-up mid-week. But I really cannot imagine spending £200 per month on food, that would be about £40/week -- one chicken and you're down to £30, add some fruit and you have only £20 for all your veg, cereals, groceries, washing up etc etc. Impossible, except that everyone here seems to do it.

To the person who asked about potatoes, store them in the fridge.

goodgirl80

I know where I am STILL going wrong!
I said that my budget for paying off debts, etc left me with 4% to 'live' on. But so far this month I have spent £82.46 on random stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How and why am I doing this?!?!?!

Lucy1010

My SOA has significantly changed since I posted this...

OK here is my SOA... what does it look like to you kind people?

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1809
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1809

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 439
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 86
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 18
Mobile phone............................ 35 iphone contract 24 mths
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 19
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 25
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 9.16
Car Insurance........................... 11.66
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 11
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 1025.94


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 140000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 142000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 100000...(439)......1.6
Total secured & HP debts...... 100000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax credit card............2799.88...140.......6.95
Barclaycard visa...............952.52....133.......11.4
Barclaycard mastercar..........2501......125.7.....6.9
Total unsecured debts..........6253.4....398.7.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,809
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,025.94
Available for debt repayments........... 783.06
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 398.7
Amount left after debt repayments....... 384.36

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 142,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -100,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,253.4
Net Assets.............................. 35,746.6

kerri_gt

Lucy1010 wrote: »

What about the unexpected though? Say your car breaks down and costs £100's to repair, do you guys save as well as pay debts? From the advice I have heard from Martin Lewis, you shouldn't save but put all your extra cash towards your debts.

This is one thing that I disagree with Martin about. Although some people don't have the income to clear debts and save at the same time, I deff think that you should try and put some money aside even while paying off debts. That way if something does crop up (car, need for an urgent flight - many of us don't have family local, etc etc) then there is money to cover them and you don't risk or end up having to go backwards in debt to pay for the item/event (which imo would be even more demoralising)

goodgirl80

I think the advice generally is to include 'emergency fund' in your outgoings, as well as setting enough aside to cover annual costs such as car tax/ mot, christmas, etc.
It's annual expenditure, not all of which is necessarily forseeable, rather than savings :-)

Nottoobadyet

ejvc wrote: »

But I really cannot imagine spending £200 per month on food, that would be about £40/week -- one chicken and you're down to £30, add some fruit and you have only £20 for all your veg, cereals, groceries, washing up etc etc. Impossible, except that everyone here seems to do it.

It can be intimidating, how little people here are able to live off of! I'm a bit of a foodie myself, so I hear where your hubby is coming from. I'm a veggie, so that cuts some costs. Some other suggestions:

• I also live in london, and find that buying veg from fruit and veg stands vendors is much, much cheaper that at the super market
• can you get just the stuff you are picky about at Waitrose and get your staples delivered by another, cheaper super market?
• What about getting a veg box delivered? They aren't overly expensive, get you loads of veg, challenge you as a cook and support local farmers. I would get these if I didnt travel so often, they are lush.

.

HappyMJ

Lucy1010 wrote: »

I am finding all responses SO HELPFUL, thanks, please keep them coming. I felt like a pauper compared to my friends but when I see just how many of you manage with families on less than I budget as a single person, it really inspires me.

What about the unexpected though? Say your car breaks down and costs £100's to repair, do you guys save as well as pay debts? From the advice I have heard from Martin Lewis, you shouldn't save but put all your extra cash towards your debts.

Pay off the debts if you know you can borrow it back in an emergency. I have savings and debts but all my debts have now been locked down and I can no longer borrow any more so if I paid £1,000 off the credit card it's gone for good. So I keep my savings. About 3 months worth of expenses worth...approx £3,000.

P.s your SOA looks good. I'd put a bit in for entertainment and holidays. There is no point to life working paying off debts and having no fun! I think your groceries figure of £25 is wrong.

Soph86_2

I live alone and allow myself £20 a week for food and £10 a week for entertainment nowadays - I generally save most of the entertainment money (it's amazing how many free things you can think of to do if you have to!) and try to save at least £5 from the grocery money, which all goes towards my debts. I spend £20 a month on dog food too but keep that completely seperate so I don't run out of money for him. I eat really healthily though and make sure I do a vat of soup every week for lunches to make sure I'm eating enough veg! I do a lot of batch cooking and packing out with vegetables and beans to make meat go further too!

HappyMJ

Soph86 wrote: »

I live alone and allow myself £20 a week for food and £10 a week for entertainment nowadays - I generally save most of the entertainment money (it's amazing how many free things you can think of to do if you have to!) and try to save at least £5 from the grocery money, which all goes towards my debts. I spend £20 a month on dog food too but keep that completely seperate so I don't run out of money for him. I eat really healthily though and make sure I do a vat of soup every week for lunches to make sure I'm eating enough veg! I do a lot of batch cooking and packing out with vegetables and beans to make meat go further too!

Exactly what I'm trying to say much better to overbudget and be really happy with yourself that you haven't spent all of it rather than trying to find another £10 if you had to spend a bit more that week and be really depressed about breaking the budget.

goodgirl80

HappyMJ wrote: »

Pay off the debts if you know you can borrow it back in an emergency. I have savings and debts but all my debts have now been locked down and I can no longer borrow any more so if I paid £1,000 off the credit card it's gone for good. So I keep my savings. About 3 months worth of expenses worth...approx £3,000.

P.s your SOA looks good. I'd put a bit in for entertainment and holidays. There is no point to life working paying off debts and having no fun! I think your groceries figure of £25 is wrong.

I agree with you, but I spend £25/week on ALL groceries for two humans, and one grown up cat. And we eat quite a bit