How much to live on?

iwanttosave_2

Graham_Devon wrote: »

What boiled cabbage every day!? That £15 I mentioned aint my costs. Spend around £110 a month on on groceries.

I easily managed £20 a week on a family of 4 and a dog. Now its around £30 a week because we get loads of junk :j

Morglin

Phil - if you're living with your parents, then it won't cost you that much.

If you get your own place, then you have to base what you do on what you are earning.

It also depends on what part of the country you live in. I live in the South and was truly amazed at how much cheaper food and clothes etc., were when we visited a friend in Lincolnshire.

Lin

Graham_Devon

I'm_With_Stupid wrote: »

Why would you be renting a 2 bedroom house to yourself? Share with just one other person, and that's already £300 saved on rent, £65 on council tax, and probably a little less than half on your bills too. But yeah, I'd say to have a half-decent existance, you probably need to be earning £1000 a month take-home pay (or live with parents). That way you can go out on a weekend, maybe run a car, put some in your savings, and buy a few things you might like, etc.

I don't rent, I bought.

Two bedroom houses are not exactly space city. My second room is my office, much needed for my line of work, wouldn't be able to cpe without it.

But it's a good point, why should you have to share?

Plus if you do share, costs go up, taxe's. For a start, you can only charge so much for a room until you have to pay some of that to the tax man and secondly, council tax goes up. I currently get 25% off for one occupancy.

Morglin....it's amazing the difference isn't it! Hence why I said if I moved north, i could asily cut my bills in half and have a bigger place.

astonsmummy

I have about £1k income a month,
rent £200
ctax £50
shopping £100
car expenses £100+
utilities £80
phone/tv £60
£90 nursery fees
Plus, anything else i have to pay out durig the month, such as days out, new clothes or shoes for me and the baby.

crazy_guy

If living at home phil you could survive on next to nothing - during the summer i was at home and i was mr moneybags on £5 a hour lol

But my day-day life i could live on £800 take home pay i would think with main expenditure being rent (£250 a month as live with gf) then food (£80-100 a month the max!! between 2) then council tax (£65) electric and water bills lets say at a guess (£35 each) so that means i'd have a minimum of £350 left over for the bits i havent really gone into, don't own a car so this isn't an issue.

If push came to shove i think i could reduce the food bill down even further if i looked into the OS board!

Its all about tailoring your life to match your wage - your hopeful thinking, thinking you can walk into a £15000 job once you leave uni, i've been looking for some jobs which would give me great experience at £12000!!

Why you enquire phillip?

lemontart

Given my dramatic change in circumstances I actually sat down and worked out what I need to cover outgoings each month and found it to be min £1200 and thats with out covering pet teens costs...............going anywhere etc and god forbid anything breaks or needs a service.

so allowing for tax and ni I really need to earn in region of £20k cannot see that happening any time soon in this area.

vik6525

This time last year, me and the little one lived on £100 a week... so thats £400 a month... we managed, it wasnt great, but we did it...

Saucepot

It is possible to live quite adequetly on around £120,000 pa

Miss_Money

graham i feed my family(of 3 plus 3 cats and a dog) on less than £10 a week... sometimes pennies coupon useage Its amazing what you can save when you put your mind to it!

Ted_Bloke

Saucepot wrote: »

It is possible to live quite adequetly on around £120,000 pa

Quite. A little scrimping never did anyone any harm, at least for a time. To those snobbish acquaintances who would pity or look down on one, one rispostes with a certain suffisance that a gentleman is indifferent to mere monetary values. That indeed one is a bit of a radical and looks forward to a time of equality when all may enjoy a relatively unworried existence. It may be several generations or centuries before the general cultural level rises to a point where that is possible or even advisable, but one has large reserves of patience. :cool: