Am I being ridiculous?

[darkvelvet]

Hi,

We have recently moved house - we have moved back to our home town - It's me, DH and our two DC's - both teens.

Prior to this we lived in a 'cheaper' part of the UK and we were lucky to have no mortgage. The move back here, whilst the right thing to do has meant that we now have a mortgage for the next 15 years.

I have been going through our finances and it looks like after we have paid the mortgage and all other non- negotiable bills, we will be left with about £2000 per month. From this we will need to buy food and any other luxuries/non-essentials.

I am worried that this will be tight and that we will end up burning through the savings that we have. DH thinks I am being ridiculous and that £2k is lots

Am I right to be worried?

Some of us work exceptionally hard and still can’t pay all the non negotiable bills, go without heating and go without any but essential groceries so the DC eat well. Enjoy your massive amount of money left, your luxuries and your rage bait, it worked.

Only if you\re buying fancy stuff. If OP is worried about £ then they shouldn't be spending that much on groceries.

Is this a piss take?! Count yourself lucky!

You are being ridiculous. Unless you’re eating caviar and champagne with every meal your grocery budget for a month will be a quarter of that or a little bit more depending on where you shop. Plenty left for saving and luxuries.

Potentially, yeah I do. Food can easily be £1000 a month for a family of four. If you own a house and car (or two cars), there's always something that needs fixing, usually for a minimum of £500 these days. And then there's everything else - uniforms, clothes, school outings, school lunches, phone costs, holidays, pets, meals out etc etc. I know families do it on less and it's actually more than I have as food/non essentials spending each month but I am also increasingly worried about it. I think with that amount of disposable income you shouldn't be worried, but here we are.

This isn't really true. Even if you shop at Aldi and Lidl, food prices have gone up by at least a third in the last year or so and are set to go up again.

You've moved from having no mortgage to a home with a 15 year one, It's difficut to mentally adjust to paying a mortgage again when you were free from loan repayments. Financially you don't feel as safe as before which is understandable.

You'd be ok. You have enough income to cover essentials and even save with a bit of extra budgeting. The housing market will also work in your favour,

Absolutely. People saying that the food bill won't even be 1/4 of that are just trolling (so just over £25 per person a week for food and drink for four adults? REALLY?).

Yes people on UC and pensioners will be spending this, but I'm guessing that OP has rather a higher standard of expectation.

Right, so how it is that i have considerably less than £1000 a month for food for my teenager and I and don't spend anywhere near that amount? And without scrimping at all? You are being absolutely ridiculous

I can guarantee that most families of 4 do not need to spend nearly 1K a month on feeding themselves. They might choose to. Of course I understand that prices have gone up, I can see it myself.

Probably because there are just two of you?

Other than that, if you're spending considerably less and not scrimping, you presumably live in the one place in the UK where stuff is still cheap. Or Narnia.

Well there's a difference between £25 a month/person and £250 a month/person isn't there.

£25 per week.
£250 per month for one person is hardly insane. It's less than £75 a week on food, or less than a tenner a day.

You think spending less than £1000 a month on food for 2 people is not possible?
I live in the south and it's just me and DS (17) at home. We spend WAY less than that a month and certainly don't do without.

It includes food.

I said £25 a week, which is what people are suggesting.

("1/4 of that" = £500 a month X 12 / 52 / 4 adults = £28 a week per person.)

Yes, thats why I halved it. I dont spend Anywhere near £1000 a month on food and extras! That would be insanity. I live in North Essex

People on mumsnet are just wild spenders who clutch their pearls at the idea of going to Tesco rather than getting an Ocado delivery

No, I was talking about a family of four, not two. And I didn't say it was impossible, I said that £1000 a month wasn't an extortionate amount to be spending on food for a family of four.

Oh I see, sorry.
No, £250 a month / person isn't insane - I've lost track of where that was suggested.

Nah. I shop at Lidl and Aldi, use discounts, and spend on average £600 a month on food for a family of three. We eat really well but I am still careful with how I spend. I can see how easy it would be to spend considerably more, just from spending at one of the major supermarkets.

Depends on your non-negotiables.

We have £800-ish surplus every month, but that's after what we consider non-negotiable - and food to me is definitely non-negotiable. I also consider savings to be non-negotiable. So the £800 is for non-basic food (takeaways, wine), fun and clothes - and it's plenty, I could save more.

Going against the grain

500 a week .... food 250 (allowing for occasional treat). Save 100 for Christmas. Only 150 left for things like petrol, car maintenance, birthdays, etc. Its enough but you will need to budget and plan.

It's 500 a week per person. No one is spending 250 a week on food for one person.

Hahahahaha fucking hell.

I guess about £600 will be food on average so you have £1,400 for clothes, presents, trips out and holidays. I’d say that’s pretty decent.