How much income that you can live comfortably with?

littlewillow87

Goldiegirl wrote: »

It depends on how much you want to cut back on your discretionary spending, but, as the previous posters have said, there are lots of areas that could be trimmed, if you wanted to.


I'd also highlight the holiday.


I know family can be a cultural thing, but do you NEED to see your family every year? It'd be nice to see them every year, but it might not be classed as a necessity.


Perhaps you might consider visiting them every other year... or perhaps they could visit you some time?

Yes It's a big expense. Without visiting them, I could save at least £2000 every year.
I think when we have more children and if I have to be SAHM, we will have to do this differently. I want my parents to be able to see their grandchildren every year but it's getting too expensive.
They're living in a lower income country so it seems cheaper for us to visit than for them.

littlewillow87

Looking at it again, the following items could be considered as savings as they're accounted for future spending but not regular. So we're actually saving more than £200/month (make me feel a bit better)
Car running cost: £100
Medical and Dental : £44
Furniture and Home Improvements: £130
Holiday fund: £300
Visa: £65

What do people think about £70/week for groceries? is it average? (this is the thing that stress me out the most, I try to stick with the budget but sometimes spend more and that's why I need to keep comparing prices )

pjread

Seems a lot of childcare, but if it's really necessary can you do any more on vouchers etc? If not necessary, can you decrease it?

Factor - I have no idea what that is

TV license/entertainment package - drop it Not for everyone I guess, but I did 2+ years ago.

Car's costing you £380/month - is it worth that to you?

Entertainment is higher than mine for a bigger family, outside of school holidays.

Medical/Dental doesn't look cheap, depends if it/s worth it to you/how often you use.

furniture/home improvements - looks high unless you've just set up home in the last year?

If anything the groceries look low to me, and the mortgage/council tax no bad either!

littlewillow87

Childcare - yes it's expensive. £1000/month for nursery fees. I have looked at others but they're all about the same. Cheaper nurseries are in very rough areas. What bothers me the most is that when we're on big holiday abroad to see my family (3-4 weeks) we still have to pay the full nursery fees.

Running a Car is soooo expensive but it's my husband's biggest hobby (that's why we spend so much on fuels). No way i can sell his car, but i''m keen on cutting it down a little bit.

Medical: as i commented above, this should be saving too as we're putting aside for future use. In reality we hardly use anything outside free medical

Factor: it's the management & maintenance cost of the building (we're in a block of flats). it's so high but we have to pay as long as we stay here.

I'm trying to cut on other categories and put some more on groceries so that I don't feel so stress when running out of money mid week (£70 for groceries is not that much, that's why I can't afford Waitrose )

sidefx

You have no idea how well off you are.
It's all relative I know, but believe me you have a life full of luxury.

If only.

missbiggles1

littlewillow87 wrote: »

Yes It's a big expense. Without visiting them, I could save at least £2000 every year.
I think when we have more children and if I have to be SAHM, we will have to do this differently. I want my parents to be able to see their grandchildren every year but it's getting too expensive.
They're living in a lower income country so it seems cheaper for us to visit than for them.

If you feel that you're not managing financially at the moment, why are you planning on having more children?

littlewillow87

missbiggles1 wrote: »

If you feel that you're not managing financially at the moment, why are you planning on having more children?

I said "even though we earn more than average, we're just about doing ok", I didn't say that I'm not managing. We have savings so clearly we're not struggling, I just want to balance it better to prepare for uncertainties (lower salary, more children, stop working, etc.)
Of course between having more children and not to have a car or cinema we will choose to have children.

shegirl

littlewillow87 wrote: »

Childcare - yes it's expensive. £1000/month for nursery fees. I have looked at others but they're all about the same. Cheaper nurseries are in very rough areas. What bothers me the most is that when we're on big holiday abroad to see my family (3-4 weeks) we still have to pay the full nursery fees.

Running a Car is soooo expensive but it's my husband's biggest hobby (that's why we spend so much on fuels). No way i can sell his car, but i''m keen on cutting it down a little bit.

Medical: as i commented above, this should be saving too as we're putting aside for future use. In reality we hardly use anything outside free medical

Factor: it's the management & maintenance cost of the building (we're in a block of flats). it's so high but we have to pay as long as we stay here.

I'm trying to cut on other categories and put some more on groceries so that I don't feel so stress when running out of money mid week (£70 for groceries is not that much, that's why I can't afford Waitrose )

£70 a week on food isn't bad when you consider that on top of that you pay £20 per person per week on lunches!

I honestly don't understand your trying to scrimp on food with your budget or why you'd rather do that and waste £40 a week on lunches!!

That said,if you want to it's doable. I spend around £200 a month on food and have meat everyday,for me and teen ds,but I but meat in bulk from a butcher monthly,cook from scratch,meal plan and work from home

littlewillow87

sidefx wrote: »

You have no idea how well off you are.
It's all relative I know, but believe me you have a life full of luxury.

If only.

We're grateful for what we got, but who knows we may loose the jobs one day so need to be careful.
I read somewhere there's a research showing that everyone wish to have 20% of what they already got then they would be happy, same result from the poor & the rich. So even millionaires still feel like they need more

Paul_1977

I am comfortable with a roof over my head, running water, electricity and food. Maybe a TV.

Anything else is extra.