How much to live on

QrizB

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.

This isn't the Debt-Free Wannabe board*, where people try to minimise costs when balancing budgets.

Having said that, I agree that your energy bills seem high. Your electricity bill alone is larger than the average dual-fuel household pays in total for leccy and gas. From that and your CT bill I'm going to assume you're not living in a typical suburban three-bed semi!

£1500 a year (£125 a month) for broadband and TV does seem steep for two of you.

Also, £700 a year for mobiles seems quite steep. I'm guessing that's two £30-a-month contracts for relatively fancy phones? You could probably save a bit by buying a handset outright then choosing a cheaper SIM-only deal.

On the other hand, there's nothing explicitly in your budget for car replacement.

* Over on DFW they often suggest this SOA calculator to help you work out where all the money goes:

https://lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

Baldeagle095

As stated all figures are up to the individual.
My figures are as follows:-

Travel (Cruises & Bus Trips)	5,825.00
Grocery	3,200.00
Council Tax	2,250.00
Tax	1,240.00	One off
Heat & Light	1,060.00
Water Charges	534.00
Internet	360.00
Alcohol	347.00
Travel Insurance	275.00
House Insurance	225.00
Clothing	210.00
Dining	208.00
Computer	194.00
TV Licence	175.00
Miscellaneous	130.00
Coffee	96.00
Health	50.00
	16,379.00

Recently retired, no longer driving due to health reasons. Free buses help! All expenditure has been recorded on a daily basis on MoneyPoint. Actively looking for ways to increase expenditure as income is more than double expenditure shown above. At same time I won't waste expenditure on things I don't want to do. Grocery could be a little higher as partner buys some. She also pays for my mobile phone on Lebara! Other than that, pretty accurate for me.
Always nice knowing where you stand. One less thing I have to worry about.

Organgrinder

Ordinary_Yet_Unique 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.

The downside being you have to shop at Tescos !!!! Lol.

More than happy to do so. Especially as the vouchers I've gained have almost paid for a trip to Krakow next year. 

What's not to like?

Plasticman

Organgrinder said:

Ordinary_Yet_Unique 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.

The downside being you have to shop at Tescos !!!! Lol.

More than happy to do so. Especially as the vouchers I've gained have almost paid for a trip to Krakow next year. 

What's not to like?

I loved Krakow. Jealous now!

Organgrinder

Plasticman said:

Organgrinder said:

Ordinary_Yet_Unique 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.

The downside being you have to shop at Tescos !!!! Lol.

More than happy to do so. Especially as the vouchers I've gained have almost paid for a trip to Krakow next year. 

What's not to like?

I loved Krakow. Jealous now!

Unfortunately it's not until next Easter but looking forward to it. The deposit was £96 card payment and £24 of clubcard rewards. Of the remaining balance, £280 was easyJet credit after a small problem with a holiday last year, £464 has been via clubcard rewards leaving £16 to pay.

So £488 of clubcard rewards in total converted from £244 of vouchers.

I don't spend anything like that amount by the way! (That's £24,400 of normal spend!).

£200 of rewards came from using some vouchers to book another holiday. And from memory the majority of the rest came from clubcard challenges, the latest of which I cashed in today.

I subscribe to clubcard plus too, so for me Tesco works out as a pretty good deal. They match Aldi on a lot of items. I find their fresh produce to be better quality and obviously branded products are the same wherever you shop.

Now obviously they are no Waitrose. But, I find the Finest range on things like bread, cheese, cold meats to be very good.

So more than happy to use as my main shop.

jaybee

For some reason known only to themselves Tesco don't accept JamDoughnut online - only for in-store shopping. I no longer drive so have to shop online since there is no Tesco store near enough or even on a reasonable bus route.

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

I am a Sainsburys man for most of the grocery shopping. I find the nectar prices and points very good value. I also use M&S for quite a lot of shopping as I really like the quality of their food. As a result I regularly get some very good offers from their Sparks scheme such as 15% or 20% off clothing. As someone who likes his clothes, this suits me very well indeed.
 
For Birthday and Christmas presents I usually ask for Boots or M&S vouchers which further helps with clothes and toiletries purchases.

I do like my fragrances too. They seem to be more expensive these days. Again the Boots Advantage points and those vouchers help with purchasing the Armani Code lol. Always put something on daily. Wouldn't dream of going out without smelling good lol!

helensbiggestfan

Just woken up, fell asleep in the sunshine.  Lol. Beautiful day here, have been gardening a bit each day. 

Lots of interesting ideas how to maximise income,  I need to go back and take notes and try some of them.  Especially if interest rates go down as predicted.  

Re food shopping.  I've been looking at online organic meat etc. I'm going to try out a company called Muscle Foods. They seem to have a good write up.  

  I am well served for shops. Aldi, Sainsburys, Tesco, a decent Co op, there's a local Lidl who sell grass fed beef and who have a fabulous in house bakery. They do a brilliant sour dough  loaf for £1.99. I do make a mean loaf of bread even if I do say so myself but at that price it's not really worth the effort, especially when you factor in heating an electric oven.   

There's also an Asda but I refuse to shop there.  I always feel overdressed because so many of their clientele shop in their dressing gowns and pjs.  😱😂🤣

My handyman has put his rates up.  How very dare he,  lol.  Only joking - everyone's entitled to.a fair wage for an honest days work.   And tbh he's worth his weight in gold, so I definitely need to make more money if I want to employ him on a regular basis, so I shall definitely be looking at cash back deals and the like.  

Yesterday he converted the bulkhead cupboard above the stairs into an overspill wardrobe for my winter coats.  Yes I have that many........too many really but I love them all.   

True story. When I was a child my family were quite poor and my mother, bless her heart, who wasn't the best housekeeper and didn't seem to feel the cold, never saw to it that I had a warm winter coat, (or gloves, scarves and hats despite having to walk 3 miles each way to school). All I had was a thin school gabardine Mac. I do feel the cold and I was always freezing and miserable.  As soon as I started work I started buying coats and I've never stopped since.  All colours, all weights, currently have about 20.  

Just can't seem to part with any.  You don't need to be a psychologist to work that one out..😁

Anyway, Severn Trent have just halved my water bill, and British Gas have reduced my gas and leccy by about 10%. 

Every little helps.  

louby40

We shop in Alidi and Tesco. My partners daughter works in Tesco so we have a colleague club card which gives us 20% off our shopping.

Im not a supermarket snob though, I'll shop anywhere that gives me the best value. We will often search for the cheapest leg of lamb or gin, Bacardi or vodka - I go where the deals are.

Organgrinder

louby40 said:

We shop in Alidi and Tesco. My partners daughter works in Tesco so we have a colleague club card which gives us 20% off our shopping.

Im not a supermarket snob though, I'll shop anywhere that gives me the best value. We will often search for the cheapest leg of lamb or gin, Bacardi or vodka - I go where the deals are.

Yes my other shop is Aldi too.

I just looked up cheapest supermarkets on Which. Interesting.

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/supermarkets/article/supermarket-price-comparison-aPpYp9j1MFin

helensbiggestfan said:

  I am well served for shops. Aldi, Sainsburys, Tesco, a decent Co op, there's a local Lidl who sell grass fed beef and who have a fabulous in house bakery. They do a brilliant sour dough  loaf for £1.99. I do make a mean loaf of bread even if I do say so myself but at that price it's not really worth the effort, especially when you factor in heating an electric oven.   

As for bread. Tesco do some great sourdough loaves too.