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It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

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  • Albermarle
    Albermarle Posts: 27,909 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Name Dropper
    Sea_Shell said:
    CT over 10 months.    We don't have a monthly "budget" as such so makes no odds.  


    LOL at all the "battles" you guys have with "spendy" women in your lives.

    DH hit the jackpot with me 😎😎🏅

    Spending money on "stuff" really doesn't float my boat.

    You should see my shoe and handbag "collection".... It's positively minimalistic 😉
    For balance, you do see newbie posters sometimes, where the woman is the one looking at the figures, and the man has no interest/ spending too much. So not all one way traffic !

    Personally I am not really interested in buying stuff, home improvements etc. So probably good that the OH is a better at spending money, or I would still be sitting on a 25 year old settee on a 25 year old carpet, and would probably end up as one of those richest men in the graveyard !
  • Sea_Shell
    Sea_Shell Posts: 10,028 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I do have a dedicated "running gear" wardrobe mind!!!    Mostly stocked from Aldi or Decathlon, so nothing fancy.

    Most of it lasts years, so just needs a few items a year to maintain.   Some of it's over 15 years old!!  

    I try to run it on a "one in one out" basis.    
    How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.60% of current retirement "pot" (as at end May 2025)
  • We will likely want around £30,000 annual spend going forward. That includes provision for future one off capital costs such as home improvements (nothing too major as we are planning on new kitchen and other improvements this year) and new (ish) car, IT stuff, white goods etc. This is very comfortable for us. If we want an expensive holiday, say long haul, then that would be on top.
  • zagfles
    zagfles Posts: 21,456 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Chutzpah Haggler
    We live in a larger than average house with higher than average gas/electric usage, band E council tax, yet don't have bills of £10.7k, and won't even after the recent rises in energy costs.

    Energy - £3,300 ( based on current tariffs) 
    Council Tax - £2,500 ( Band E) 
    Water - £500
    Broadband, landline, 2x Mobile contract, one SIM only £1,300 ( will come down a bit at some point)
    Fuel for two cars ( approx 1000 miles a month between them ) £2,000
    Home and Contents insurance - £250
    Two X car insurance - £650
    2 X Car servicing/routine maintenance- £600

    Comes to over £11K. Appreciate that two cars is not normally 'essential' but we need an extra one with wheelchair access. In any case would still do a similar mileage with one car, and the purchase cost of either car/depreciation is not included.

    Not included are any routine house/garden maintenance costs, any food or drink, or any leisure or family activities.

    Probably these bills are above average, but even if they were 10 or 20% less, by the time you add on food and drink, leisure activities, holidays , Xmas , birthdays, clothes, house and garden maintenance etc etc. I still find it difficult to see how you can easily spend less than £20K pa or even £25K , and still have a reasonably normal middle of the road lifestyle. 
    Anyway as said by other posters, we all have a different view on this point.
    The point was you were trying to argue what is required by "most people" or for the "reasonably normal middle of the road lifestyle", based on your bills. Your bills are not average/typical, and not just 10/20% off.
    Looking at yours, what sticks out like a sore thumb is the broadband/mobile costs - £1300  :o Broadband shouldn't be more than around £25 a month, and mobile shouldn't cost more than £6 a month, you can get 4GB plus unlimited calls/texts for that, which should be easily enough for most people, or if not you can get 30GB plus unlimited calls/texts for £10. So that'd be £400-600 a year for broadband plus 2 mobiles (if the costs include a loan for an expensive phone you can't really include that in "bills").
    On the car required for wheelchair access, I think most people who need this would be able to get DLA/PIP/AA/CA and/or possibly a motobility car so I don't see that as bills most people would need to pay out of normal income. Plus car expenditure I don't see as household bills anyway, any more than eg train, taxi or plane transport, it's transport costs, possibly holiday costs (most of our mileage is on holidays).
    Anyway, enough about you, or me, let's look at actual average bills as a guide to "a reasonably normal middle of the road lifestyle", as these are easily found:
    Average council tax per dwelling is £1493
    Broadband/mobile: £500 as above (not sure this is actual average but easily achievable for average usage, not including cost of devices)
    So, excluding car costs, a total of £5041
    Even including £2k for car costs, still only about £7k.

  • Sea_Shell
    Sea_Shell Posts: 10,028 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    We've estimated £5k, for 2023, so we look pretty "average".

    We're over on some and under on others.
    How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.60% of current retirement "pot" (as at end May 2025)
  • Kim1965
    Kim1965 Posts: 550 Forumite
    500 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    C tax paid 10 x £187.
    Zagfles those average are close ish to mine except the mobiles.. Which is on the hit list.
    Southcoastboy, i feel your pain and sea shell i would say is a low cost lady kept happy by the odd pair of new sneekers. 
     On the subject of wives who are not on board. My wife, was for many years complete ly oblivious to any financial matters and still refuses to discuss any financial matters (shes very ill now so i no longer persue such conversation). However a few years ago she needed for some reason to access our on line banking. Up until then, not once in the last 38 yrs  by choice, had she viewd our joint account or read our bank Statement. For whatever reason since that point she has been so much better with money. But like SouthCoastBoy ive had all the responsibility, i wish i had been more switched on. On paper come may, i only need the odd few jobs... If that
  • Albermarle
    Albermarle Posts: 27,909 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 7 January 2023 at 12:42PM
    zagfles said:
    We live in a larger than average house with higher than average gas/electric usage, band E council tax, yet don't have bills of £10.7k, and won't even after the recent rises in energy costs.

    Energy - £3,300 ( based on current tariffs) 
    Council Tax - £2,500 ( Band E) 
    Water - £500
    Broadband, landline, 2x Mobile contract, one SIM only £1,300 ( will come down a bit at some point)
    Fuel for two cars ( approx 1000 miles a month between them ) £2,000
    Home and Contents insurance - £250
    Two X car insurance - £650
    2 X Car servicing/routine maintenance- £600

    Comes to over £11K. Appreciate that two cars is not normally 'essential' but we need an extra one with wheelchair access. In any case would still do a similar mileage with one car, and the purchase cost of either car/depreciation is not included.

    Not included are any routine house/garden maintenance costs, any food or drink, or any leisure or family activities.

    Probably these bills are above average, but even if they were 10 or 20% less, by the time you add on food and drink, leisure activities, holidays , Xmas , birthdays, clothes, house and garden maintenance etc etc. I still find it difficult to see how you can easily spend less than £20K pa or even £25K , and still have a reasonably normal middle of the road lifestyle. 
    Anyway as said by other posters, we all have a different view on this point.
    The point was you were trying to argue what is required by "most people" or for the "reasonably normal middle of the road lifestyle", based on your bills. Your bills are not average/typical, and not just 10/20% off.
    Looking at yours, what sticks out like a sore thumb is the broadband/mobile costs - £1300  :o Broadband shouldn't be more than around £25 a month, and mobile shouldn't cost more than £6 a month, you can get 4GB plus unlimited calls/texts for that, which should be easily enough for most people, or if not you can get 30GB plus unlimited calls/texts for £10. So that'd be £400-600 a year for broadband plus 2 mobiles (if the costs include a loan for an expensive phone you can't really include that in "bills").
    On the car required for wheelchair access, I think most people who need this would be able to get DLA/PIP/AA/CA and/or possibly a motobility car so I don't see that as bills most people would need to pay out of normal income. Plus car expenditure I don't see as household bills anyway, any more than eg train, taxi or plane transport, it's transport costs, possibly holiday costs (most of our mileage is on holidays).
    Anyway, enough about you, or me, let's look at actual average bills as a guide to "a reasonably normal middle of the road lifestyle", as these are easily found:
    Average council tax per dwelling is £1493
    Broadband/mobile: £500 as above (not sure this is actual average but easily achievable for average usage, not including cost of devices)
    So, excluding car costs, a total of £5041
    Even including £2k for car costs, still only about £7k.

    The broadband/landline costs are due to having to disentangle myself from a two line work connection, down to one personal one, without losing the number/having technical problems. So it was safer to stay with BT, but will change when the contract runs out. I have a SIM only mobile for £6 a month, but have been unable to persuade the ladies of the house to come off their contracts ( so far !)
    DLA/PIP, basically pays for wheelchair vehicle, but we pay insurance and fuel.

    Anyway as Sea Shell says, it depends on the definition of 'a reasonably normal middle of the road lifestyle'. I suppose what I mean is a bit better than just average, which means spending a bit more than average, without going mad.
  • As the talk is currently on monthly expenditure, I’d be interested to know how people spread (or not) their council tax?  Ours is £275 pm, and I’ve persisted with paying over 10 months, treating February’s and March’s ‘months off’ simply as a ‘bonus’.  I put last year’s bonus into our ‘energy cost reserve’ to help smooth out this winter’s fuel bills.

    How do others approach it?
    Always been on this 10 month method, never really looked into whether we could change it. We had times when money was quite tight, so in those times the 2 months when we didn't have to pay the highest DD, apart from the mortgage, was a nice break.

    Then in quite quick succession we paid the mortgage off, I went partially retired and my net income went up by about £100 per month, and the kids were going into employment and costing us less. So we began to experience this strange world where the balance on our current accounts was gradually increasing so didn't really get that nice warm feeling around Feb and March any more. Not complaining though.     
  • zagfles
    zagfles Posts: 21,456 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Chutzpah Haggler
    edited 7 January 2023 at 1:02PM
    Sea_Shell said:
    We've estimated £5k, for 2023, so we look pretty "average".

    We're over on some and under on others.
    Right - so you're more of a benchmark for a "normal middle of the road lifestyle" than some others here (inc me). 

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