Monthly Budget

Pixie5740

The pair of you have never lived away from your parents before so I guarantee that you will find the cost of living higher than you think. You'll also be responsible for all the maintenance and repairs of your new home so you should have a fund set aside for that. I also like to have a £1,000 emergency fund too.

£500 for groceries and eating out for 2 people is high. £20 a month on the lottery is unnecessary.

If you spend £150 a month on fuel does this mean you own a car? If so, where are the costs of servicing, MOT, insurance, new tyres, etc in your budget?

You need to make a budget that shows your expenses across the year (christmas, birthdays, car expenses, dentist, clothes, etc) and not just your monthly bills.

mumbles87

Wow morning everyone, woken up to some good replies so will work through them,

*Birthdays are coming out the savings we might personally from whats left each month

*TV licence will also come out of this

*The £500 for food may seem high but if it isn't spent it will be available for other things come the end of the year so its a way of saving aswell, we are saving £350 a month on the side of this for the wedding also so should have more than enough.

*Pension both come out of our wages directly and both on final salary pensions and I also pay AVC's which is account for before my wages go into the monthly budget

*MOT service costs dont need accounting for 3 years, bought another service plan from toyota last month when the old one expired. Slight saving but also meant I dont have to worry about those costs. The £200 a month I save gets split in 2 £100 pm goes to insurance and tyre costs for the year oh and its a hybrid so no tax atm.

*Dentist I dont need to worry about, again another scheme I pay into before my wages are given to me covers my dentist and her dentist (and both our glasses) costs

*£20 for the lottery is a rough figure I think its normally £18 we have a direct debit for the wednesday and saturday draws at £2 per draw per week and just let that take care of itself

*I do have a budget that includes xmas etc I think we were saving £6005 per year and after xmas, birthdays, car insurance etc etc we had £4000 left. (it might look like it doesnt add up but im paid 4 weekly not monthly but live off a monthly budget using 2 bank accounts so end of each year I have a full months pay to just save entirely)

*I havent drunk since I was 14 and my fiance doesnt drink that much so we dont plan to spend that much on drink

*white goods we have a few already (plus the owner is leaving freezer, dishwasher and washing machine) but this is mainly the monthly cost, the start up cost is a separate budget using whats left from what we had from a deposit for the house and we should have £1000 left after filling the house. Have budgeted for an american fridge freezer, a tumble dryer and a new toaster. Microwave we have in the garage. over the past 2 years we have been buying things like plates, cutlery, kitchen utensils, toilet paper, bath stuff etc etc so when we move in we dont have to buy this

*Virgin have checked a few times its the top broadband which I use for gaming and the top TV which we both use, I enjoy my sports she enjoys her movies

*Inflation wise whilst my employer has just come to the end of a 4 year pay day we normally manage to negotiate an inflation (RPI) payrise each year so can use that to cover the increase in household bills

*With regards to whats left each month I have £350 after paying all my personal bills (phone , petrol and health), plus saving £200 and my fiance has £250 left which may sound unfair but im paying £1630 a month towards the bills where as she will pay £820 so we think its about fair (66% of our wages done via spread sheet). The extra £100 normally is just my golf anyways

anyways thanks again I think I replied to all the comments lol

Robin9

Holidays ?

mumbles87

Robin9 wrote: »

Holidays ?

she is on a holiday ban until the honeymoon lol we get married 2016 summer of and we are going away then to mexico which is coming out the wedding budget

after that our savings will cover the holidays

we went away in 2013 and havent been on holiday since , decided the house and wedding come first

merlin68

500 for food is way over top. I spend 320 on a family of 4 with a dog and 2 cats and doing weight watchers so all healthy. i also allow 40 a week for going out.

ViolaLass

I think the idea of "£500 a month for food and we'll save whatever is leftover" is asking for trouble. Decide on a smaller amount for food/eating out and save the rest up front, otherwise you'll just spend it.

SG27

merlin68 wrote: »

500 for food is way over top. I spend 320 on a family of 4 with a dog and 2 cats and doing weight watchers so all healthy. i also allow 40 a week for going out.

I agree. We spend about £200 per month on all groceries for two people.

On idea might be to use whatever is left in your food account at the end of each month to overpay the mortage? That's what we do with our gas/electric. We budget £100 per month and overpay the difference when it's less, which is always is.

PasturesNew

Never under-estimate how much she'll want to spend on tat like cushions, knick knacks, new kitchen dishes/plates, furniture etc. Set your budget NOW for all this clutter and get her to SWEAR to stick to it. No excuses.

mumbles87

I like the whatever's left overpay on mortgage ideA! Cheers for that I'll suggest to the boss lol

hazyjo

Also agree that Virgin bill can come down. I pay around £65 a month for broadband (yes, the best connection, 24/7 - I am constantly on it through wifi, and my OH watches football and sport on it), sky movies and sport, and phonecalls any time (even to mobiles). We even got another box free (but no 2nd telly at the mo), and it cost nothing for installation, box, etc.


We were previously with SKY who were insistent they couldn't do me another deal to stay with them for a year. Funny how once I actually quit and moved to Virgin, I had at least 3 people ring me up offering me a deal. Told them it was too late...


Jx