Please check my budget (£2,823pm) or share yours so I can get some ideas where I'm going wrong.

Rich1976

Ok so here's my budget for July. 2 adults. Total income £2711.11
Mortgage                             406.75
Council Tax                          144.00
Gas and Elec                         51.00
Water                                      55.59
Phone and Broadband         24.98
Income protection                9.03
Household shopping            435.42
Mobiles                                   31.90
Petrol                                       142.38
Netflix                                      5.99
Spotify                                      9.99
Health Plan                              12.91
Savings and Investments      850.00
TV Licence                               157.50
Spending Money                     373.67    

coachman12

For the very first time, I tend to agree with eskbanker.  If you earn , say, £200,000 pa you are currently being frugal. It's only if your outgoings are causing you hardship ( or stopping you saving and building a pension) that you need to even bat an eye at your outgoings. 
Since the children left home, my wife and I have monthly outgoings of a great deal more than you.
If your income means that your present outgoings are "dangerous", you seem to have plenty of leeway to reduce your costs-----energy, lottery, subscriptions,groceries and quite a few of the other items on your lists. There seems to be discrepancies between such items as insurance premiums, which seem very low ; birthday/xmas presents no more than your annual subscriptions; misc seems small when in so many households it is the odds and ends that increase outgoings so much; clothes at £50-----struth, my wife can spend that before she's looked in the shop window
Of course only you know your own finances -----I'd just say: enjoy spending if everything is rosy in your financial garden ; and cut back if your petals are wilting. All the best and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

Retired_Minky

LittleVoice said:

Retired_Minky said:

. . .
I'm in a household with 4 adults and my current budget is as follows. I get my pay . . .
in allocate it as follows. I have two accounts. Regular monthly regular spend and irregular  expenditure. I move the proportional amount of irregular expenditure to a separate account monthly to help budget. I've rounded all figures up to the nearest pound. 
Regular Monthly Spend;

      Groceries - £800

Irregular Spend (proportional amount moved to separate account monthly):

       Birthday presents - £35
       Christmas presents - £34
       Holiday fund - £100
       Clothes - £50
       Medical, dental, optical - £15

You will see I've cut a number of items from your list as there is no point in commenting on them.
But if there are 4 adults and one is your partner, are the other two necessarily dependent on you fully or in part?  For example, in full-time education and/or with a disability or pensionless older people?  Or is the income you are working with partly contributions from the other three?
Spending £800 on groceries whilst not drinking alcohol is almost £7/day each for home cooked meals (and presumably things like laundry products). Any way it looks like that is for the entire household.
On the other hand the "irregular" items I have left listed look like they could be the amount just for yourself.  If it is the household spend, then certainly an annual figure of £1,200 for holidays for 4 adults is low (in my eyes).

Yes. Two dependants. Neither work at the moment. The grocery budget does need reducing. I'm going to re-do this as £400 and see how we go.
The other irregular items are for family believe it or not. We don't holiday abroad. £100 a month gets us £1,200 a year. We generally go to a caravan park in the UK once a year and also a weekend city trip once a year. The above also includes spending money and we're generally within this.
£35 per month on birthdays equates to £420 a year. I spend £20 per neice/nephew, £50 per dependant plus some others at £30 each).
Likewise £34 per month for Christmas works out to £408 a year. Similar spend to above.
I thought £50 per month on clothes was high but nobody has picked up on this. I was going to reduce it. I spend very little myself on cloths this is mainly my SO.

Retired_Minky

Rich1976 said:

Ok so here's my budget for July. 2 adults. Total income £2711.11
Mortgage                             406.75
Council Tax                          144.00
Gas and Elec                         51.00
Water                                      55.59
Phone and Broadband         24.98
Income protection                9.03
Household shopping            435.42
Mobiles                                   31.90
Petrol                                       142.38
Netflix                                      5.99
Spotify                                      9.99
Health Plan                              12.91
Savings and Investments      850.00
TV Licence                               157.50
Spending Money                     373.67    

Thanks for sharing. Really appreciated. I'm going to compare this to mine. I notice you include savings and investments in your budget. I like this approach. I don't do this at the emoment.

RobM99

TV licence £157.50 a month?   

Retired_Minky

coachman12 said:

For the very first time, I tend to agree with eskbanker.  If you earn , say, £200,000 pa you are currently being frugal. It's only if your outgoings are causing you hardship ( or stopping you saving and building a pension) that you need to even bat an eye at your outgoings. 
Since the children left home, my wife and I have monthly outgoings of a great deal more than you.
If your income means that your present outgoings are "dangerous", you seem to have plenty of leeway to reduce your costs-----energy, lottery, subscriptions,groceries and quite a few of the other items on your lists. There seems to be discrepancies between such items as insurance premiums, which seem very low ; birthday/xmas presents no more than your annual subscriptions; misc seems small when in so many households it is the odds and ends that increase outgoings so much; clothes at £50-----struth, my wife can spend that before she's looked in the shop window
Of course only you know your own finances -----I'd just say: enjoy spending if everything is rosy in your financial garden ; and cut back if your petals are wilting. All the best and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

Thanks. I should have been clear. I'm also looking to reduce my spend as my income may drop in the future due to the virus. I don't want to be chucked in the deep end. I'd rather a few months at a lower budget so I'm used it it and can finesse it as necessary.
The irregular costs are per month. If you multiply them by 12 you'll get the annual spend for these. Maybe I wasn't clear on that. e.g. holiday fund is £1,200 per annum. Likewise multiply the others by 12 for annual spend.

Rich1976

RobM99 said:

TV licence £157.50 a month?   

No, the annual renewal. We pay it in one go and this  month was the one.

coachman12

Thank you Minky. I understand. And I have a better idea of your thinking now that you have explained your experimenting need in case of salary reduction. All the very best.

jonnygee2

I don't necessarily think your spending is huge when you consider your mortgage and bills, and the fact you seem to be supporting three other adults, if I've understood that correctly. I don't suppose the others could contribute more somehow? 

Still, some suggestions below.

1. Energy - £150   Are you on an economy 7 plan to charge your car overnight? If not can you set one up? In a house of 3 adults our electricity bill is just £25. 

1. Misc £75  

1. Groceries - £800 Could be lower, maybe £150 each / month would be a better starting point. Get the dependants to work out how to reduce the budget if possible, don't put it on yourself, get them to find new things to cook and cheaper ways to eat. 

Irregular Spend (proportional amount moved to separate account monthly):

1. Annual subs - £31

1. Birthday presents - £35

1. Christmas presents - £34- In total you have over £900 in birthday/Christmas presents budgeted per year! That's huge. Maybe people would be happy with much smaller gifts? 

1. Home and garden - £80 Also a lot. Anything that can be replaced by DIY? Plants from seeds etc? Again, put the dependants on it if possible.

1. Home insurance £30

1. Holiday fund - £100

1. Car Insurance - £25

1. Car maintenance £30

1. New Car deposit saving - £28 

1. Window cleaner - £12 - get the 'adult dependants' to do it if they aren't working? They just need a ladder.

1. Clothes - £50 - £600 a year also seems high, even for four adults. Maybe downgrade to H&M? Even charity shops? Should really be able to cover most people with £70 - £100 a year. 

1. Medical, dental, optical - £15

   
   

Carrot007

jonnygee2 said:

Energy - £150   Are you on an economy 7 plan to charge your car overnight? If not can you set one up? In a house of 3 adults our electricity bill is just £25.

You must have some sort of generation then (which would be silly not to mention). £1 a day will but cover standing charges and background use. Either that or you have a faulty meter and are in for a shock when they change it.

I pay £132 a month, 2 person household, do not cosisder my useage high. But I do consider a lot of peoples ridiculously low unless as I say there is some generation involved. (as I you have generation or are having a bad life though under usage). In fact it is a lot less that the previous house as the shower is on the gas not elec.

I suspect at £25 you have solar panels and an old electric meter that is going backwards with them (which is stealing by the way).