How much to live on

louby40

Also discovered JamDoughnut where you buy a gift card for top retailers and you get money back. So Tesco is 3% at the moment. It's only small amounts but if you're buying something from that retailer anyway it soon mounts up.

Costa are at 7.5%, JD sports 8.1% are a couple more examples. Once you reach £10 you can cash out.

Alnat1

louby40 said:

Im also a member of the Borrowbox scheme which are ebooks and audio books from our local library, but they aren't always great and you have to wait months and months for them to be free. I've got Bob Mortimers autobiography waiting - it says it will be available in April 2026. Happy to wait for that but it can be very frustrating if it it's a book you're eager to read. 

Have a look at the Libby app, it's also a library connected app but might offer some different books.

Organgrinder

louby40 said:

Also discovered JamDoughnut where you buy a gift card for top retailers and you get money back. So Tesco is 3% at the moment. It's only small amounts but if you're buying something from that retailer anyway it soon mounts up.

Costa are at 7.5%, JD sports 8.1% are a couple more examples. Once you reach £10 you can cash out.

Very true.  If you spend £100 a week at Tesco there's £156 to be had over the course of a year.

Once my stoozing stops (probably next year,) my next plan is discounting and cashback.

I reckon I can clear around £300-£400 a year doing this, equivalent to stoozing at £10k.

Plasticman

Organgrinder said:

louby40 said:

Also discovered JamDoughnut where you buy a gift card for top retailers and you get money back. So Tesco is 3% at the moment. It's only small amounts but if you're buying something from that retailer anyway it soon mounts up.

Costa are at 7.5%, JD sports 8.1% are a couple more examples. Once you reach £10 you can cash out.

Very true.  If you spend £100 a week at Tesco there's £156 to be had over the course of a year.

Once my stoozing stops (probably next year,) my next plan is discounting and cashback.

I reckon I can clear around £300-£400 a year doing this, equivalent to stoozing at £10k.

Will you stop stoozing due to reducing interest rates or for another reason?

Plasticman

HUSKYPAL said:

Hello all, came across this thread as interested in what people actually live on, and how they do it. I feel like we overspend, our costs don't compare to a lot of what I've seen on here, just looking for a reality check. Probably about 2 yrs from retirement, and trying to get a proper handle on our costs and how they compare.

Annual costs for couple:

Oil/electricity - £3360 (not gas connected)

C/Tax - £3530

Broadband/TV subscriptions: £1500

Water: £480

TV Licence: £170

Buildings/contents insurance: £400

Life insurance: £1800 (stops at about 67/68)

Dentist/opticians: £1000 (no NHS dentist available)

Car insurance/tax/MOT/maintenance: £1000

Groceries/toiletries etc: £7000 (genuinely no idea why it's so high, don't eat meat - shop in ALDI) also includes dog food.

Charity donatons: £400

Fuel: £700

Pet insurance/vet: £1000

Mobiles: £700

That's over £23K before we even factor in holidays/eating out (not much), just general spending on stuff like day trips/coffees etc

I reckon we will need £36k-£40k/annum net to have a comfortable retirement, sounds like a lot!

I saw a lot of earlier posts where people were spending a lot less, inflation hasn't helped i'm sure, but just looking to see what others are now spending as a comparison. 

Mortgage is paid off, but CT band F and quite a big house, so high cost, will consider downsizing, but can't for at least 4-5 years.

My numbers aren't that much different to yours. The retirement living standards for a couple wanting a moderate lifestyle is £43,900 (net). That pretty much matches what I think we need and is actually what we're living off now.

Albermarle

HUSKYPAL said:

Hello all, came across this thread as interested in what people actually live on, and how they do it. I feel like we overspend, our costs don't compare to a lot of what I've seen on here, just looking for a reality check. Probably about 2 yrs from retirement, and trying to get a proper handle on our costs and how they compare.

Annual costs for couple:

Oil/electricity - £3360 (not gas connected)

C/Tax - £3530

Broadband/TV subscriptions: £1500

Water: £480

TV Licence: £170

Buildings/contents insurance: £400

Life insurance: £1800 (stops at about 67/68)

Dentist/opticians: £1000 (no NHS dentist available)

Car insurance/tax/MOT/maintenance: £1000

Groceries/toiletries etc: £7000 (genuinely no idea why it's so high, don't eat meat - shop in ALDI) also includes dog food.

Charity donatons: £400

Fuel: £700

Pet insurance/vet: £1000

Mobiles: £700

That's over £23K before we even factor in holidays/eating out (not much), just general spending on stuff like day trips/coffees etc

I reckon we will need £36k-£40k/annum net to have a comfortable retirement, sounds like a lot!

I saw a lot of earlier posts where people were spending a lot less, inflation hasn't helped i'm sure, but just looking to see what others are now spending as a comparison. 

Mortgage is paid off, but CT band F and quite a big house, so high cost, will consider downsizing, but can't for at least 4-5 years.

I am not a particularly low spender, but a few of your items did stand out to be high.

Energy £3360. I think a typical bill is around half of that.
Broadband /TV £1500 
Life insurance £1800 !

With regard to the grocery bill, it is the one area where I am always amazed how little some people get by with, so personally I would not consider £7000 for two to be that high. We spend more than that, but our shopping bags normally include some wine and beer ( alcoholic and non alcoholic) and there are three of us.

HUSKYPAL

Albermarle said:

HUSKYPAL said:

Hello all, came across this thread as interested in what people actually live on, and how they do it. I feel like we overspend, our costs don't compare to a lot of what I've seen on here, just looking for a reality check. Probably about 2 yrs from retirement, and trying to get a proper handle on our costs and how they compare.

Annual costs for couple:

Oil/electricity - £3360 (not gas connected)

C/Tax - £3530

Broadband/TV subscriptions: £1500

Water: £480

TV Licence: £170

Buildings/contents insurance: £400

Life insurance: £1800 (stops at about 67/68)

Dentist/opticians: £1000 (no NHS dentist available)

Car insurance/tax/MOT/maintenance: £1000

Groceries/toiletries etc: £7000 (genuinely no idea why it's so high, don't eat meat - shop in ALDI) also includes dog food.

Charity donatons: £400

Fuel: £700

Pet insurance/vet: £1000

Mobiles: £700

That's over £23K before we even factor in holidays/eating out (not much), just general spending on stuff like day trips/coffees etc

I reckon we will need £36k-£40k/annum net to have a comfortable retirement, sounds like a lot!

I saw a lot of earlier posts where people were spending a lot less, inflation hasn't helped i'm sure, but just looking to see what others are now spending as a comparison. 

Mortgage is paid off, but CT band F and quite a big house, so high cost, will consider downsizing, but can't for at least 4-5 years.

I am not a particularly low spender, but a few of your items did stand out to be high.

Energy £3360. I think a typical bill is around half of that.
Broadband /TV £1500 
Life insurance £1800 !

With regard to the grocery bill, it is the one area where I am always amazed how little some people get by with, so personally I would not consider £7000 for two to be that high. We spend more than that, but our shopping bags normally include some wine and beer ( alcoholic and non alcoholic) and there are three of us.

I agree energy is high, it's about £160/mth electric and £120/mth oil - that's an average, can't seem to get it down, but work from home full time, so always stuff running and heating in winter. The life insurance was taken out years ago, quite high paying policies so will keep them till they expire, just in case. I agree on the broadband etc, will have another look at those, especially before retiring. 

hugheskevi

I keep a list of all my regular expenses, which are in the table below. This is based on 2 adults in a very large detached house with no mortgage, Council Band G.

I don't log food, travel, holidays, entertainment, one-off spend like car or house maintenance/upgrades/repairs, capital spend on things like white goods, electronics, new phones, computers, etc, or clothes, as all of those areas are quite volatile and have a large element of choice in how much is spent.

I think our total expenditure would probably be in the region of £35,000 most years, covering everything.

I think for the benefits I get out of most of things on the list, the costs are very reasonable, Council Tax excepted.

Organgrinder

Plasticman said:

Organgrinder said:

louby40 said:

Also discovered JamDoughnut where you buy a gift card for top retailers and you get money back. So Tesco is 3% at the moment. It's only small amounts but if you're buying something from that retailer anyway it soon mounts up.

Costa are at 7.5%, JD sports 8.1% are a couple more examples. Once you reach £10 you can cash out.

Very true.  If you spend £100 a week at Tesco there's £156 to be had over the course of a year.

Once my stoozing stops (probably next year,) my next plan is discounting and cashback.

I reckon I can clear around £300-£400 a year doing this, equivalent to stoozing at £10k.

Will you stop stoozing due to reducing interest rates or for another reason?

Reducing interest rates is one. Running out of card options is another. Plus, if rates fall to say 3% cashback and discounts may get me as much, more so if there's no fee free balance transfers.

However if it still makes a profit of even a few hundred pounds I'll still carry on if I can. I just doubt very much I'll be able to extend it much longer.

HUSKYPAL said:

Hello all, came across this thread as interested in what people actually live on, and how they do it. I feel like we overspend, our costs don't compare to a lot of what I've seen on here, just looking for a reality check. Probably about 2 yrs from retirement, and trying to get a proper handle on our costs and how they compare.

Annual costs for couple:

Oil/electricity - £3360 (not gas connected)

C/Tax - £3530

Broadband/TV subscriptions: £1500

Water: £480

TV Licence: £170

Buildings/contents insurance: £400

Life insurance: £1800 (stops at about 67/68)

Dentist/opticians: £1000 (no NHS dentist available)

Car insurance/tax/MOT/maintenance: £1000

Groceries/toiletries etc: £7000 (genuinely no idea why it's so high, don't eat meat - shop in ALDI) also includes dog food.

Charity donatons: £400

Fuel: £700

Pet insurance/vet: £1000

Mobiles: £700

That's over £23K before we even factor in holidays/eating out (not much), just general spending on stuff like day trips/coffees etc

I reckon we will need £36k-£40k/annum net to have a comfortable retirement, sounds like a lot!

I saw a lot of earlier posts where people were spending a lot less, inflation hasn't helped i'm sure, but just looking to see what others are now spending as a comparison. 

Mortgage is paid off, but CT band F and quite a big house, so high cost, will consider downsizing, but can't for at least 4-5 years.

Everyone's figures and needs are different. My advice would be to have an open mind, maximise what you have and enjoy life.

I hope you've found people's input useful.

Smudgeismydog

HUSKYPAL said:

Albermarle said:

HUSKYPAL said:

Hello all, came across this thread as interested in what people actually live on, and how they do it. I feel like we overspend, our costs don't compare to a lot of what I've seen on here, just looking for a reality check. Probably about 2 yrs from retirement, and trying to get a proper handle on our costs and how they compare.

Annual costs for couple:

Oil/electricity - £3360 (not gas connected)

C/Tax - £3530

Broadband/TV subscriptions: £1500

Water: £480

TV Licence: £170

Buildings/contents insurance: £400

Life insurance: £1800 (stops at about 67/68)

Dentist/opticians: £1000 (no NHS dentist available)

Car insurance/tax/MOT/maintenance: £1000

Groceries/toiletries etc: £7000 (genuinely no idea why it's so high, don't eat meat - shop in ALDI) also includes dog food.

Charity donatons: £400

Fuel: £700

Pet insurance/vet: £1000

Mobiles: £700

That's over £23K before we even factor in holidays/eating out (not much), just general spending on stuff like day trips/coffees etc

I reckon we will need £36k-£40k/annum net to have a comfortable retirement, sounds like a lot!

I saw a lot of earlier posts where people were spending a lot less, inflation hasn't helped i'm sure, but just looking to see what others are now spending as a comparison. 

Mortgage is paid off, but CT band F and quite a big house, so high cost, will consider downsizing, but can't for at least 4-5 years.

I am not a particularly low spender, but a few of your items did stand out to be high.

Energy £3360. I think a typical bill is around half of that.
Broadband /TV £1500 
Life insurance £1800 !

With regard to the grocery bill, it is the one area where I am always amazed how little some people get by with, so personally I would not consider £7000 for two to be that high. We spend more than that, but our shopping bags normally include some wine and beer ( alcoholic and non alcoholic) and there are three of us.

I agree energy is high, it's about £160/mth electric and £120/mth oil - that's an average, can't seem to get it down, but work from home full time, so always stuff running and heating in winter. The life insurance was taken out years ago, quite high paying policies so will keep them till they expire, just in case. I agree on the broadband etc, will have another look at those, especially before retiring. 

We are mains electric and oil, there are 3 of us in the house, and we also have a 1 bed cottage where my son lives. The total monthly electricity cost (over both properties) is £150. The oil tank is just for the main house, and is filled twice a year at around £660 each time, so that works out at a similar cost to you.

We pay our tv license fee, and have just stopped Netflix as we weren’t really using it. Our broadband is £25.99 per month.