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

enthusiasticsaver

Everyone's spending habits are different and yes some people live on £600 to £800 but I don't know how either. They probably no longer have a mortgage.  Our income as  a retired (early) couple is £2950 a month.   Our usual budget is as follows:
Essential bills (no mortgage) so just council tax, utilities  £500
Average supermarket spends                                            £300
Entertainment (sky, annual subs for clubs, leisure club)    £100
Eating out, days out etc                                                      £200
Diesel for two cars (less during lockdown)                          £100
Personal spending money (£200 each) covers clothes       £400
hair, hobbies, etc etc 
Savings for gifts, car maintenance, insurances,                    £250
Savings for holidays, new cars, house projects                  £1100   

Considering you have a fairly high mortgage and four adults I don't think your budget is too over the top but probably if you needed to cut it I would look at all the odd bits and pieces like lottery, britbox, books, clothes etc etc and the groceries which could definitely come down from £800.    
We probably could live on £1000 a month but would sacrifice on the holidays, lose one of the cars and do without the leisure club sub and eat out less and cut our personal spends.  We have no need to do this though. 

Evan3020

Wow, my monthly outgoings are £578 in total all household bills, insurance, running a decent car, spending money, etc, and i live really comfortably.

Evan3020

Use Lidl, Use multiple current accounts to earn the interest that pays for the smaller bills, my solar panels pay me more each month than my dual fuel bills, etc, etc.

maxximus75

It sounds like you are the only one supporting four adults?

You mention that others on the forum spend less but maybe they have others in the household contributing towards things like groceries, utilities etc which skews the comparison?

You also mention your SO in several statements?  It doesn't seem that they are too flexible with change?  Maybe that's something to work on?

Looking at your v2 against v1 budget, chopping nearly £700 from your monthly is impressive.

Sometimes, outgoings are exactly what they are and there is just no more wiggle room to reduce them.  Don't try to shave everything away as you still need some enjoyment!

Good luck with everything.

enthusiasticsaver

You are comparing yourself to others though who may be in different circumstances. You have a mortgage of £800 which is high. You have 4 adults living in your house and the council tax is over £200 per month. £20 a month platform fee looks high too. We use an IFA now to manage our SIPPs and investments but when we were self managed the platform fee was £75 a year. £12.50 for each of our isas and £25 each per SIPP. 

Most people  live up to their income so if they are living off £600 - £800 per month it is usually because they have to or are saving for a particular reason. There are things you could cut out if you had to like the books, clothes on a temporary basis, lottery, entertainment subs. These are nice to have things but not essential. You are saving for annual expenses so it is not like you are spending every penny. Do you have emergency savings as I don't see a line for that? 

Sea_Shell

Are the lottery tickets the same numbers every week, that they've used for years?    As i can see how psychologically this would be hard to give up.   Just when you stop playing, you just KNOW that your old numbers are going to come up.    My Mums's the same, being playing for years with the same numbers...now CAN'T give it up, just in case.

If however, they just play "lucky dips", then there should be no reason not to stop.

RG2015

@Retired_Minky, Thanks for starting this thread. I have always felt that budgeting has been the poor relation on this board.

You say you have asked your energy provider to reduce your monthly charge. Why not also check other providers using the excellent MSE Cheap Energy Club comparison tool. See link below.

Do you have a smart meter with IHD to monitor and check where and when the high usage occurs. I find that the tumble drier is our energy guzzler. We now schedule the washing to dry it outside whenever possible.

https://clubs.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub?_ga=2.59130158.2064230468.1594017755-267181628.1587364516

schiff

Evan3020 said:

Wow, my monthly outgoings are £578 in total all household bills, insurance, running a decent car, spending money, etc, and i live really comfortably.

You are single, no dependents, you live on your own, no mortgage, you have a slow cooker and an allotment, you rely on no fee TV and the wireless for entertainment, you don't go to the pub, a handful of visits per annum to a restaurant. Yes, it's possible 

comeandgo

schiff said:

Evan3020 said:

Wow, my monthly outgoings are £578 in total all household bills, insurance, running a decent car, spending money, etc, and i live really comfortably.

You are single, no dependents, you live on your own, no mortgage, you have a slow cooker and an allotment, you rely on no fee TV and the wireless for entertainment, you don't go to the pub, a handful of visits per annum to a restaurant. Yes, it's possible 

Surely living on your own costs more than a couple both contributing?  

ZeroSum

comeandgo said:

schiff said:

Evan3020 said:

Wow, my monthly outgoings are £578 in total all household bills, insurance, running a decent car, spending money, etc, and i live really comfortably.

You are single, no dependents, you live on your own, no mortgage, you have a slow cooker and an allotment, you rely on no fee TV and the wireless for entertainment, you don't go to the pub, a handful of visits per annum to a restaurant. Yes, it's possible 

Surely living on your own costs more than a couple both contributing?  

I had more money when I was single