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.

@Hatty65 Why is your energy bill so high?

£1500 would cover all our bills. Aiming for 3-4K a month inn retirement so we can afford holidays, weekends away, meals out etc.

I'm broke for a week each month. Like bones of the arse broke. But that's partly my own fault. I don't pay rent so I'm really lucky in many ways and far from ungrateful for my benefits. But ideally I could do with an extra £500 a month.

£2k pm to generously run a big house.for 2 people.

Not including a mortgage or holidays.

@BigAnne Is it high? I've seen lots of threads on here where people seem to be paying roughly what we do a month. We're not particularly lavish with the gas central heating - tend to have it on Nov - Mar and from about 5pm - 9pm. It's a Victorian house and pretty cold and we don't have the heating on in the daytime, even though it's cold, purely because of the cost. This is for gas and electric.

All I'm, just the two of us (no mortgage or payments etc), 1000 comfortably.

about £450 to cover bills and food, basic basics

I pay less than half of what you do. However I live in a relatively modern house.

£1500

About £3k net here, 2 adults and 1 DD.

Yes because otherwise she would essentially just be a vegetable with no quality of life and what is the point of being alive if you can’t do or enjoy anything at all

@Hatty65 I grew up in a Victorian house so refused to buy one, they are beautiful but so much colder. I would advise you to have a look at money saving expert online.

Our gas and electric are just over 3k per annum but we have heating on for more hours than you. Yours does seem very high, if it’s estimated they may be holding on to some of your money. We got a refund of 1k a couple of years ago as they had over estimated our usage so much. I mean we could have left the money in the account for future bills but decided to take it.

Gosh this thread has been useful to me, I am completing a house purchase next week & due to this thread only just remembered to register for council tax at new location (wasn't paying it directly before). Also tv license. I wonder what else I'll forget, lol.

I will be living alone and... I came up with £450/month for "bare minimum need" and £1600-£2000 for "to live how I like need". "How I like" includes trips abroad to see close relative but I'm not really into meals out or a lot of other expensive things, otherwise.

Same amount for me.

Excluding rent, but including food, bills, bus, nappies etc I pay myself £550 a month from my savings to live off whilst on maternity leave. Its tight but doable. If budgeting for retirement, I would be more comfortable with £800-£1000 a month as you may have different needs. Eg. Now I do all my own cleaning but in retirement I may want/need a cleaner.Also, noone wants to be scrimping in retirement!!!

I did this recently as need to work out if I can retire.

You need to be clear about what’s included. The ‘how much do I need to retire’ articles online are good to remind you what to include. E.g A cheap holiday, petrol, 5 year old car renewed every 5 years, insurances, Christmas and birthdays, house maintenance.

I have done my calculations for just me in a 3 bedroom house and would need £1800 a month. About 23-24k pa. That aligns with most website’s ideas of a reasonable amount for retirement for a single person with no mortgage or rent to pay.

I also think I would need an extra pot for things like new roof/ weddings/occasional long haul trips. About 50k.

3k sounds like a huge amount to me. I'd manage OK and still have fun on £1,500.

I've been looking at this. Early 60s, carer for DH. No mortgage but no personal pension, though my state pension is topped up. If he dies I get part of his pension and will need to bridge the gap until I am 67. Working on the basis of an extra c£15k each year for the five years from savings. I am also planning on selling this house and downsizing to a cheaper area. I know several people in my age group that are doing similar things.

For me life is for living to its fullest, not how little money do I need to literally survive, to stay alive!
Sorry but some of these figures just look like an incredibly thin, meagre existence. No, that’s not for me thanks.

Does that include money for a change of car when yours breaks down irretrievably?

andis it £1000 per month or £1600?

Council tax 180
Electricity 100
Oil c. 100-150
House Insurance £25
Water £50
Car c. 250 -300 inc fuel, insurance, tax, service/ no finance
Pet: insurance £20, vet £15, food £50
Tv licence/ broadband and all that stuff £80
Mobile £10
Optician £45
Food c£400
Boiler service/ chimney sweeps etc £200 per year so £17/ month

So about £1400 bare bones with no extras, 2 people.

Add on holiday, Christmas, going out, etc £2500-£3000

@Hatty65 We changed to a water meter on retirement and our bill went from £49 per month to £22. You do pay the higher amount for a year while they meter your water - they then set a new amount depending on usage and refund any over payment. So it's not a quick fix but worth doing. If you found it more you can swap back - you have 2 years to do this

@Hatty65

Have a look at claiming from the Household support fund via your local Council.

https://www.gov.uk/cost-living-help-local-council

Also check with your water company about a lower rate as on UC, most offer a much better rate if on benefits.

Also check out whether you are entitled or will move onto the ESA support group and double check if you are entitled to anything extra - you used to get extra for being in the work capability group but I think that has now been phased out.

It’s a matter of checking and double checking if there is anything else you could claim. Your local Council and Citizens Advice bureau will be able to help with this.

Have you appealed against the decision not to award PIP? If not I would strongly advise doing this.
Your local Citizens Advise bureau should be able to help you do this. Unfortunately, it is sometimes necessary to go through this process.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/appeals/mandatory-reconsideration-pip/#:~:text=You'll%20need%20to%20fill,to%20have%20everything%20in%20writing.

I would also ring your gas and electric supplier and ask if they do lower rates.

I assume you have claimed Council Tax Support to cover your Council Tax?

Probably about £100k, fortunately we have a lot more than this

thats a year, not a month

This is a useful guide based on independent research. It excludes housing costs so assumes a mortgage paid off/ rent covered by benefits.

www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk

Clearly it will vary however, based on cost of living in the area given it's not just housing costs that are elevated in some areas (also food, leisure activities, parking, tradespeople, assistance managing the home/ garden as you grow older).