Household expenses family of 6 - opinions

[Namechangefail123]

We're a family of six (+ dog and cat). That's the bare bones of how much we spend on a monthly basis, but beyond cheaper phone contracts and maybe DH finding a job with a shorter commute, I don't think it can be much lower? (We own two cars BTW).

£1150 - mortgage
£500 - groceries
£150 - energy
£400 - commuting / diesel
£270 - council tax + water
£50 - road tax
£100 - pet related
£130 - phones / internet / subscriptions
£100 - medical
£200 - DCs savings

I guess it depends on your incomes, kids age, location?

That all seems pretty low to me, and not sure everything is factored? Unless you don't have holidays, birthdays, Christmas, clothes, haircuts, vets bills.

I can't work out how you only spend £500 on food each month for six, unless your children are tiny - I suppose? What's the £100 medical, are you making use of pre-payment prescription options if that is a factor?

Whats medical?
If you are struggling,it would have to be the kids savings as least essential
What subscriptions do you have?

Also no mention of insurance in there (car/home)

Well you don't technically have to save £200 per month for your children.

We spend £150 a week on groceries for 4 and no pets. And we really aren't eating a lot of luxury food. Food shopping is our biggest expense by far.

£100 on the pets every month ?
£200 on the kids savings ? I’m assuming you’re not on the bare bones of your arse if you’re putting that much away for the kids every month.

No, we're not struggling. the £100 cover food / groomers / pet insurance. £200 is towards clothes/ Xmas/ birthdays.

Insurances vary YOY but this year we'll be paying £1000 total.

We only have Spotify + Netflix

Well, I think your overheads are remarkably low and I couldn't keep to a budget like that. Especially if the £200 "savings" or £50/ each kid is actually clothes, Christmas and birthdays and not superfluous at all.

Can you afford it?

If you're not struggling, what's the question?

The £200 pcm saving has actually worked really well. We've been doing it for a year now and the DC have responded really well to it.

Just because I'm not struggling doesn't mean I couldn't be more efficient. You never know what's going to happen in a day's/month's,/year's time.

How are you doing an average of 550 meals a month for under £500 including cleaning and household stuff?

Do you have any childcare costs?

How does that work, do they have access to that pot of money and are responsible for their own clothing budget? Does it include school uniforms? How old are your kids?

If I did this for my teen boys they'd live in rags and spend the rest on hobby stuff.

I suppose it depends on your earnings. Do you have any leftover for days out/activities/meals out etc?

Your mortgage payment and car cost is extremely high in comparison to ours for example but you could be earning triple what we are so it's hard to know. It doesn't look like there's much you can cut down on.

I didn't mean it to sound snide, I was just asking. I didn't understand what you wanted from the post.

I go to Aldi/Lidl/Home Bargains... If there's a yellow sticker I freeze it, etc... If we're running low on our budget we make do with whatever is in the freezer/cupboards. We do pay for childcare, but that hasn't been included here as that bill is what it is.

Don’t your children do any activities out of school? Days out? Without knowing the families income it’s impossible to say how the budget is. No pensions, home / life insurance?

Hang on.

No harm but I've just realised who you are.

You have 3 older kids half the time and only have a toddler between you.

So it's not really groceries for a family of 6.

It's more like a family of 4.5

@FourTeaFallOut no it doesn't include school uniforms. So normally we'll go shopping they find stuff and we keep the tally, or if they find something online we do the same. There's obviously some guidance around it as my DD would have spent it all on tat. Currently she's saving it for a TV instead.

Fair point @vicvictoriacrosshairs I could argue my DD eats for two! (Joking!) That only really affects the groceries pot, and the energy one to an extent.

Well no. It affects energy, water, groceries, car costs (because the other parent does half), mobile phone costs (because the other parent might pay for some), kids activity costs, kids essential clothing costs.

It affects the whole budget.

Yes, and no. Water is fixed, car wise they all live locally so they actually don't incur on any costs and everything they do they do by foot. Clothing is another fair point, but they didn't even have one before! (As in a budget). Phone costs are covered by us. My DD now takes the bus back (and it's part of said budget). The whole point is that I think we've managed ok, and don't think it can be any lower.

You pick them up. You've said before that you go and pick them up. There was a whole hoohah over it one time your dd wanted to go to a party but collecting her was a ballix.

I think there's stuff you're not counting.

But if you can afford it why does it matter?