A grand a month- reasonable?

[NellieBee]

Hi MNers,

We've made a plan with our finances which, for the next 2 years, will leave us with exactly £1,000 a month leftover. (This is after following all advice on here to get utilities cheapest they can be, etc).

Can we cope on this? I know families manage on less but I am feeling quite anxious about it.

We are a family of 4.

It will need to cover:

-All food
-School lunches
-Petrol (this is about 2-300 a month)
-Clothes
-Birthdays
-Christmas
-Pets (guinea pigs and cats)
-After school clubs
-Any extras

All advice appreciated, thank you.

We've been meal planning and switched to Aldi a few weeks ago and it's making a big difference.

I went to Lidl for the first time the other day and was quite shocked at the difference in price for some of the things I bought.

Comparing to my usual Tesco shop, it was about £25 cheaper. Pretty big difference so I'll def be going back. I expect it'll be a bit hit and miss til I find things that I like/dislike but def worth a try I reckon.

I think you are overstretching. If emergencies are to be put on a credit card then you will not be debt free in two years.

If it were me, I'd put the debt free scenario a three to four year timeline.

That way you can live without the stress.

Good luck.

'give' not 'put'.

The OP and her DH use quite a lot of petrol, which translates into driving quite a lot of (necessary) miles for work, which translates into journeys that are likely to be time consuming on public transport. That is the information I use to believe the OP when she say that they need 2 cars.

Now, if they lived where I grew up, halfway between two cities 10 miles apart with an every 10 minutes bus service between those cities and the 'opposite' directions that they worked in were the centre of those citiies, then I would agree that they didn't need those 2 cars, but outside London and some other major cities, there are plenty of families where DH/DW work in opposite directions 20/30/40+ miles apart and they have chosen to live somewhere in the middle and compromise that way.

They both have a 'medium' commute instead of living near one of the workplaces and one having a short commute and one having a very long one.

@Clairetree, how does the OP saying that she's already explained and doesn't wish to repeat herself mean that the cars are a personal choice? I don't read it like that at all.

I support I could do without my car, if I walked the ten miles to and from work. Though it would be further than that as I would have to go cross country and not walk down the A1, so I would have to leave the house a hell of a lot earlier to do so. Not sure who would look after the DCs during that time if DH also had to ditch his car and walk the 30 miles to work, he'd have to set off before he went to bed ...

It’s tough, I’m doing it at the moment so I can work part time while the youngest is still a toddler, but it’s doable for us with 3DC. It’s not a barrel of laughs though and Christmas is going to have to go on the credit card or be very small indeed.

Sorry you’re having to deal with people insisting you could sell a car...yes you could but then you’d be unemployed I imagine. Some people can’t conprehend that other’s lives are organised differently to their own.

You said you used to have double this amount to live off, but want to reduce it to clear your debts in 26 months, so that's potentially 25k of debt plus interest?

TBH, if I could clear that amount of debt for a couple of years of making sacrifices I would make it work. As a couple of posters have said, very careful budgeting can make it happen.

Short term pain for long term gain.

NellieBee aim for 24 months not 36 months. Think once you’ve got this debt down then you will have far mot disposable income each month.

It might be a tough 2 years, but surely that’s better then a mediocre 3 years?

OP - give it a go.

Lot of meal planning, cooking and freezing, bulk buy and realise it will last over 2 months, so you get a saving.

Please come back in 3months time and let us know what went on

For example I may buy something like mice and it makes enough for 2 meals

You buy mice? The OP has cats, so if they're any good as hunters, chances are they'll bring the OP a good few mice a week so all she has to do is save them up and she can make a great batch cooked mice dish that'll feed the family for weeks on end.

Those chicken stretchers who think they're being frugal with their two meals and a soup from one chicken are being rather indulgent if the new norm for cheap cookery involves mice.

be practical and be mindfull of things when you can.we tend to think little things we save wont make a difference.but if your buying say food in bulk or saving on a meal a week because your having left overs this quickly tots up.if your going out plan it so you take someone else somewhere at the same time too.
make sure all light and electrical are off.
freeze food so you can buy in bulk of bogoffs.
is there anyone at school to do car share?
always be thinking could I walk here?
don't overthink and become miserable.if u cant manage this and are setting yourself up for misery then don't.(of course if this something you need to do then you will find a way but do it with a storng mind not dread)
make sure the kids know your saving or needing to cut back this month.it suprising how kind and minfull thye can be when thye understand mum and dad need there help and aren't just being cruel or stingy.

Wilbur, Yes 2 adults & 2 children (one is at Uni). I don't budget for meals at all but mainly cook from scratch, we rarely have takeaways/meals out, don't eat a lot of meat (and quite a lot of mice! & I am an expert in the Mumsnet techniques for making 3 meals from one organic chicken) and I grow my own vegetables so we don't need to buy them at all in the summer.

We eat well. It doesn't need to cost a lot.

You can't get two kids to different schools and you both to work on time on local buses, unless you live in London or have a very straightforward journey. Cars are essential in many areas. I once worked out that if I didn't drive my 35 min commute, dropping my dds off at school and hitting my desk by 9am, and walked and used public transport instead, then I'd arrive at work at 11.30am! That's how long it would take to walk 1 hour there and back to school (as school in opposite place to train station), wait for train, take a train for 45 min, walk to work another 30 min. And that's if it ran on time!

We also had £200-300 petrol costs, all you can do is fill up somewhere cheaply and look to cut costs elsewhere.

I do it on less, just me and two under 10 children. It isn't miserable. I have something I'm aiming towards and get great joy from putting money towards that. Much more joy than I used to get from "treating" myself/kids.

I've just done a very low cost summer of picnics and national trust visits.

I cook from scratch, always have. I'm astonished by what folk spend on food. I'm very economy gastronomy! Less than £50 per week on foods. As a bonus the kids are getting to be ace at baking and making fresh pasta.

Clothes, the kids do keep growing and growing. I buy a bulk for the year of nice in the John Lewis January sale (dresses for £4 etc) top up as needed from primark etc.

I work from home, which makes life easier.

I used to have a very high amount to spend when I was married. Much happier now. I have savings, keeping them for need rather than want.

Think of it as an adventure, a challenge.

"most schools are on public transport routes, as that is how children get there! "

Well, no. In rural areas children take dedicated school buses. Doesn't seem to be the case here though if the children are driven to school.

Big emergencies would have to go on a credit card.

That will completely mess up the debt free ambition won't it?

I don't think it is enough, sorry.

I think you will need to supplement your income. Can one of you work some extra hours or take on an additional job - weekends or evenings?

I am an expert in the Mumsnet techniques for making 3 meals from one organic chicken

Come on, spill! I can barely get more than 1 meal out of a chicken.

Well, no. In rural areas children take dedicated school buses

exactly

I think it's doable.

You mention it's to get out of debt, also that any emergencies would go on a credit card. If there was an emergency, could you pay less of the original debt off that month? Or an interest free credit card?

A few years ago I looked in how to drive to use less petrol, by keeping the revs low. Makes a big difference, 50 or 60 miles more to a tank, than driving like a boy racer.

Is there anyway of earning a bit more money each month?

Why the Mumsnet obsession with saying people don’t need cars!?

Yes I could give up my car.... but I would also have to give up work because of the time and expense of using public transport.

My 15 minute journey by car would take a couple of hours by public transport and cost a fortune (I would basically have to get a train INTO London and then another back out on a different line, plus a bus).

My DSs regular appointments which are a 10 minute drive away would involve two buses each way and take about half an hour.... not taking into account the need to practically tranquility him to get him onto a bus with more than two people on it in the first place..... (hence the regular appointments).

If the OP says she needs a car and she HAS explained several times why it is a necessity not just a desire, then she NEEDS a car.

Personally I think £1000 after bills is doable, it won’t be heaven but it won’t be hell either with careful planning of meals etc.

I'm sure if the OP could put her children on buses to take them to school she would be doing so already. But buses cost money per person.

If they all do all these car journeys by bus instead of by car, they'd probably have to pay for the DCs, which are currently taken to school for free, or minimal cost as they are dropped off by their parents during journeys that they are doing anyway. So wouldn't help with the OPs cost cutting ambitions.

Why the Mumsnet obsession with saying people don’t need cars!?

because most people don't, even if they think they do

because many people can't afford them, or can't drive, and manage fine, and people who THINK they needed them, then lose the right to drive for some reason or another, also manage.

because they are destroying the environment and causing thousands of pollution related deaths per year

because the culture of car entitlement is ingrained, and selfish, and privileged.

Because the era of private car ownership is ending, and everyone will be doing without them!

We have always lived rurally and only ever had one car. In the early days DH would take car to station and if I needed it I took the kids on the 1 bus per hour into town and collected it from where he parked it. I did not go out much! He later discovered cycling and cycled 7 miles to nearest station every day to leave me with a car. We then moved close to secondary school when oldest 2 were there and youngest moved to local primary for her last year and caught a bus there. We are 17 years in and still managing with one car. If I take it to work, no one can go out til I am home. If needed, DH runs me to work and has car. He mostly works from home and when he travels, will still cycle or get taxi to station. It can be a massive inconvenience but saves heaps of money if you can do it.

@Clairetree1

My car was written off and I am trying not to buy another one for environmental reasons.

However, I live in the south east and the bus service is constantly being reduced. It also costs 4.30 for a days travel in my town and that is the same as my car was costing me per day. If I want to go beyond my town it costs about double and the journey takes more than five times longer than it did in the car.

Maybe you are in a city with excellent buses but I'm not even rural and the buses are expensive and the service is very poor. After five the buses don't even run hourly. The last bus is at 10pm too!

@Clairetree you make it all sound very simple, but for those of us who live very rurally, it's really not. It's not just about getting to work. Sometimes we have to consider that other people's situations are not the same as our own.