How much do you need to live on?

[Yourcatisnotsorry]

Ignoring housing costs (mortgage/rent) and childcare costs, can I ask how much you need to live on?

Thinking of being an SAHP/early retirement and how much savings I’d need before private pension kicks in.

Family of 4 in the north, I think with £3000 net a month we’d be comfortable.

Now after bills, mortgage,etc. We have £2000 spare in ome thats just for foods and going out. We are family of 4. And very comfortable with 2k just for food and have fun. £3k will be amazing

@notanothernamechange24 I don't have a mortgage and I don't drive. I don't drink or eat meat and yes, I can live on £600.

I actually don't know any more. When dh was alive and ds was younger we had a lot less money and I think we got by OK on 1200 a month, but that was tight (charity shop/library/counting pennies kind of vibe, though we did run a car and save for a holiday over 3 years). It was a few years ago too.

I think dp and I could live a pleasant but restricted life on £2k, we might be able to run one car with that. Our hobbies arent expensive so it would look recognisable. Bare bones maybe £1500? The trouble with that is the house would start deteriorating eventually. If we were on that kind of income I'd be looking at renting out a room or something.

About 3k but that would need to be with no cars on finance or anything.

I’m staggered at some of these answers, where do you all live! I’m in the south-east, live in an apartment and my council tax alone is £300.

Family of 4 in the North.
Bare bones budget excluding mortgage and childcare is £2K per month.
We both have company vehicles with fuel included though so there would be vehicle costs on top without these.

Have a look at the Which! How much do I need to retire on figures.

They show what you need for a frugal, comfortable and luxurious retirement. It assumes no rent or mortgage.

Also agree that you need to 'know your number' which is what you need for your essentials.

We need 2k a month, and are lucky enough to be heading for about 3k a month, at current prices. That will be our travel and holiday money

If I remove childcare and mortgage costs I would say £1500 for me and one DC

I live in the north. Live alone. Bills and council tax is 200. No car. No mortgage or rent. 100 on food. 100 on the dog. Another 100 for eating out/fun stuff.

So about £500. I am frugal though.

That’s definitely a need!

I have a chronic illness and all the meds/supplements/therapy I’m doing are a need too. Without them, I simply can’t function.

We did a complete look at finances last year. Had always been very on the ball but this was very specific to DH retiring early so was every single penny spent.

No mortgage or childcare or debts of any description, DH has retired this week and I was already retired.

Our complete expenses last year were 28k so that’s 2333 per month for two adults, adult DS though apart from food DS is self sufficient in everything and a cat. We had two week long holidays in the UK.

Our income in retirement will be a base level of 35k before state pension kicks in. We have investments so very variable and there’s always that to add on as well.

We plan on buying a campervan outright. DS and his GF will live in our house when away and pay the bills and look after the cat. So they live rent free with just bills to save up for a house deposit.

No mortgage. 3.5k to maintain the life we have.

Depressingly, I have just discovered that Universal Credit for me and DH - both having worked all our days until now (I'm almost 60 and he's 65) is £600 per month.

In total. For both of us. This is less than one person's state old age pension so I have absolutely no idea how we will cope. I can't find another job. I have lost my job through ill health, but am apparently not disabled enough for PiP and although we have paid off our mortgage our DDs for bills come to just over £1k a month.

Apparently two adults should be able to pay all their bills, and eat, for £300 a month each. That's £75 a week to feed and clothe yourself and pay the bills. I have been spending roughly £150 a week on food for two adults until now.

I'm told that when he turns 66 and can claim his state pension of £800 a month that will mean we lose the UC and he will have to keep me on that as well. He does not have a private pension - he was a manual, low paid worker.

This is what the government says you can live on, apparently. £300 a month.

Same! I'm also in the SE, car finance, council tax, gas/electric and water come to nearly £700 alone, that's for me and two adolescent boys (don't get me started on the food bill!)

@Hatty65 please have a look at ‘new style’ (contribution based) ESA
This would also give a boost to UC
its independent of PIP (and in my experience easier to get)

We are in the process of financial planning now for early retirement, also a family of 4 (teens), we have no mortgage or any form of debt, to maintain our current lifestyle, which isn’t extravagant but is very comfortable in that we don’t have to worry about money, we need £5.5k per month net. This is based on a few factors:

1 large family holiday per year plus a few weekends away for me and husband (around £10k) per year
Running costs for 2 cars (both bought outright)
childrens costs, we are allowing £1k per month for this £500 each to assist with living expenses at Uni etc, we have estimated that they will have some form of financial assistance from us until they are 21 - at which point we will release the funds to them that we have saved over the years.

I personally think 3k would be very tight. My husband is a meticulous planner, he came to this figure - he then got a financial planner in to double check everything and he came up with the same figures in terms of monthly costs but advised we wouldn’t be able to retire for another 4 years. I am 48, my husband 53 and we are planning retirement in 2 years, my husbands figures support that so we are going with his findings, first pension draw down will not be available until 5 years after retirement, however we do have substantial savings as well as plans to downsize once the children are away at Uni (which we will pot around £300k)

obviously everyone’s lives are different, my husband has maintained very good financial records for many years, so we know this is a realistic figure, he has forward planned until we are in our late 80’s and ensured that we will be leaving the girls with a nice inheritance.

I think ESA provides a better class of NI contribution, but it would be deducted pound for pound from the UC award.

@DreamHolidays and @Chonk Thank you both - yes, I've just been awarded ESA - and they have taken every penny off our joint UC claim, so we're back where we started.

The only benefit (I can see) in a few months time is that I might still be able to get ESA when DH gets his old age pension.

It's really terrifying how little a couple can be expected to live on, to be honest. I genuinely cannot see how we can eat and pay for the basics. Our elec/gas bill is currently £340 per month which is more than half our money - and the water is £82 (not metered) How on earth are people supposed to feed themselves?

@Hatty65 there are some social tariffs available for things like the internet. I do not know full details but it’s linked to means tested benefits. Apologies for huge link I can’t make it smaller! stuff like electricity also has social tarriffs. I was looking at it a little while ago for a friend who is on means tested benefits.

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/broadband/article/all-you-need-to-know-about-broadband-social-tariffs-awnIU5c9XS7G?source_code=911CQJ&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=generic&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADoAS43prmwsIcZJxxV9Uf-cipJzV&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrZqfws73iAMVpJRQBh1N6im6EAAYBCAAEgIVhfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

With housing I'm keeping us running on approx £2500. That's myself, two teens and a 24yr who mostly eats out. So I'd say around £2000 is minimum without losing the car or other minor luxuries such as Internet or TV subscriptions.

@Hatty65 our non metered water is £58 per month, I am assuming your in a different water authority to me Depending on how much you use you may be better off on a meter. But you would really need to estimate water use very carefully before requesting one. My MIL waters her garden, we rarely do as an example of very different habits. She does an extra rinse for every washing load, stuff like that.

5k/month

@ViciousCurrentBun Thank you very much for that - I'll check it out. All this is new to us.

3£k a month is about right got our bills, holidays etc.

@Hatty65 our water is on a meter. We are 2 adults and not frugal with water and we pay £12 a month. Definitely worth considering.