Barebones of my budget

amcc1

Well… looking on the bright side - at least you have savings! You can now appreciate how debt might easily spiral without such backup funds.

If (in the short term) you didn’t want to change your lifestyle, then by making sure your £165k savings are earning at least 4%, then even after 22% tax, you would make approximately £5000 annually or £400 per month which would keep you in the black. However, the current rates on savings won’t last forever and you would also be losing the power of compounding even while they do last.

Maybe you could get some inspiration from the various Regular Saver threads - even if you don’t carry it to the extremes of some enthusiasts!

Martico

And in the meantime, set aside an hour or two on the weekend to batch cook food to freeze in portions - look up recipe options for things like bean and pepper chilli or whatever floats your boat (that £15 will easily stretch to a week or more's worth of dinners). Make a sandwich or salad at home for your lunch if you work outside the house, etc and so on. You'll get that grocery spend right down

elsien

Looking at your other thread, it is not going to be possible to do the Paleo keto diet you have suggested while still cutting your food spend down to sensible level because it is ridiculously high for one person. You had a thread back in December about how to save money taking lunches to work - what happened with that?

I would suggest that living within your means takes priority here, given you don't want to do overtime. I eat well. I don't eat ready meals or much in they way of processed food. I do look out for bargains and replace some meat with lentils and pulses but my food spend is £120 a month at the most. Probably less most months.

MEM62

Do some overtime. Reduce your very ex[pensive food bill. (This could easily be halved) Consider a lodger if circumstances permit. If not think of moving to an HMO.

oldagetraveller1

"Water £54" I realise that's only a small part of the outgoings, but it does look a lot for water. Is it metered?

I live alone in a 3 bed semi and my metered water is paid for by a £19/month Direct Debit.

Food/groceries work out at about £200/month.

I wish my, after tax income (pensions) was as much as £1820/month!

QrizB

Reduce your very expensive food bill. (This could easily be halved)

Probably worth noting that the OP's food bill is so high because, per one of their other threads, they're living on takeaways at £15 a day.

Those same other threads express an interest in learning how to cook and improving their diet, both of which should let them make significant savings on food.

olb81

The £15 a day is roughly :

Coffee £3, Tea £1.50, (while at work outdoors)

lunch (2 items from greggs) £4

dinner £6.50 example a cottage pie £4 plus some veg £1.50 and a yoghurt £1

I'm not being totally frugal but not exactly splashing out?

My car is a 1.4 TDI which does 50mpg.

Yes I could buy an apartment with the £150,000 plus a mortgage.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82125597#Comment_82125597

That might not seem like extravagance but it's all about context, so if you're only earning close to minimum wage and using the bulk of that income on an expensive flat, plus running a car, then you don't have much left to play with so need to make compromises if you want to balance the books. As above, you could easily cut the food (and drink) bill down substantially if you genuinely want to live within your means…

elsien

How is one homemade cottage pie with veg costing you £4.50?
Take a flask to work with a hot drink in it. And you’ve already had a multitude of suggestions for packed lunches which you don’t seem to have taken on board.

QrizB

Coffee £3, Tea £1.50, (while at work outdoors)

I don't know exactly what you do at work but if you have somewhere to keep it, a flask or thermal mug would let you take your own coffee or tea out with you from home. Cut that £4.50 daily back to maybe 50p for hot water, instant coffee (or teabag) and milk (if you take milk).

lunch (2 items from greggs) £4

Similarly, taking a packed lunch with you should reduce that to £2 or thereabouts for a sandwich, bag of crisps, Rocky (other wrapped biscuit bars are available) and an apple / banana / orange.