To think a family can't live on this...

[verydoubtful]

40K? I've done the sums and it just doesn't work. I know it's relative and a lot of families make do with a lot less but I can't see how I can make it work. No car finance in sums and no debt. Just basic expenses.

PS have namechanged for this

You'd be fine on £40k with a rent of £650.

2400x12= 28800

650x12= 7800

28800-7800= 21000 for Bills and general living.

My point was you could live in that, and probably quite easily, but it would involve a.change.

You have just 1 DC and no chidcare costs?

£84 pn school lunches and the same on hairdressers pcm - how many dc's for lunches? And believe it ir not sky is not a necessity.
Do you actually WANT to move to the UK?

£600 is more than double our food bill for a family of 5.

What cars are you thinking of getting? Surely you get a low insurance group and tax one each?

Washable suits from M&S?

Are you in a country with a very cheap standard of living? The UK isn't cheap but 650 isn't much rent for some of the country

Freeview instead of sky. Diesel cars instead of petrol. Make packed lunches for kids and dont get your hair coloured quite so often. Also not sure how you can spend £600 a month on food. We spend between £400 - £500 and we are a family of 5.

Speak to your hair dresser. Find out what colour she uses and get her to recommend the shop brand. Colour your own hair. Get hair cut every 2 months. Not every month.

Cut down on food groceries. Meal plan. Only buy what you need.

Call sky. Tell them it's too expensive and you want to cancel. They'll more than likely give you x months for free or half price. Then negotiate your bill.

Can you get sky tv phone and bb in your area? If so try getting all three with same provider.

Switch energy providers.

Reduce spend on Christmas presents.

Find cheaper dry cleaners.

£600 on food for 3 people is a lot!

We live off 25 k a year as a couple. Baby is due in January and even after factoring in all the extra costs we still have enough disposable leftover. We run a car, eat out often and still have enough money for savings account. Would love to have 40 grand - I reckon we'd feel rich!

dp earns 40k. I'm about to become a sahp and we're going to manage just fine. our mortgage is £700, we have sky and broadband etc. our water bill and council tax is higher than yours.

the big difference is the shopping. we spend £200 pm approx in lidls and we have plenty of groceries. £600 is very high. i only have a trim every 2 months and my mum dyes my hair. dp haircuts are £6 .

look for best possible deals on gas and electric. wev also got car on finance, run 2 cars.

Bradband/Sky/Landline £65 - I would have thought you could get that cheaper....do you absolutely have to have Sky anyway?

£85 per month is a lot of haircuts

Aren't chool lunches included in the £600 per month grocery bill? This also seems quite high....

I used to wash my suits on the handwash cycle, they used to come out fine

It all depends whether you are prepared to compromise on certain things.

You'll need to learn to budget a lot better, as already said- quite a few things that could easily be taken off the list.

85 a month at the hairdressers? Lose the Sky also.

Our family income is roughly £40k and we manage really well, although of course living in a northern pit village really helps!:
Rough breakdown of your potential outgoings if you don't have any debt:
Rent: £650
Council tax: £150
Gas/electric £150
Phone/broadband: £30
Mobile contracts x 2: £40
Water: £30
Running 2 cars: £150
Petrol: £200
Food: £400
Roughly £1700, leaving £600ish for non-essentials. Or have I missed out some of your essential outgoings???

600 a month for food is loads! You can easily do it on the figures given.

We couldn't.
We live central London.

Rent 1 bed- £1400
X3 morning Childcare for 2- £950
Commuting for 2 adults- £250

=£2600 a month. That's without bills/ food/ etc. hence £40k wouldn't be enough

I was thinking the other day I don't know how families on less manage. We need 3100 each month, including 400 for food and 400 for dhs petrol. This includes a small mortgage and 800 in debt, but taking the debt away still means finding 2300 each month. Cost of living is huge (south east)

No Sky, cut and colour hair at home, try no vehicle or managing on just one at first. £400 a month for groceries. £50 each on immediate family on birthdays - no expensive Xmas presents. Saving £68 a month to buy presents means £816 for a year. Even at £2433 a month for the above listed your total still comes to almost a grand less than £30,000. It would not be easy though, that I will grant you.

You can half your grocery estimate, your mobile costs and your presents budget (cut your cloth etc). Much cheaper to provide DC with a packed lunch. Sky TV is an unnecessary luxury.

You won't be flush but we take home around 34k and have childcare bills from £300-400 each month. We only run one car but we pay £150 pcm finance for it and £300 a month fuel. Our housing costs are similar to yours. You won't be holidaying or saving much but you will be able to live.

If you're in a cheap country then standards are going to be different in the UK. That amount really is doable quite easily, with different standards of living, and not even breadline changes. But you need to decide whether a move to the UK has other benefits for your family over having (what sounds like you've had) a good disposable income

YABU of course you can live on 40k.

You need to go through that list of yours and cut back. Take sky & haircuts off straight away. Look at your grocery spend & cut that by half if not more.

Yes please, anyone willing to assist with my calculations please do.
They've been calculated by using google and trying to sift through lots of info on the net.

Not expecting a very high standard of living, I think you can see that from my budget? Just a reasonable one.

Even if I don't colour my hair every 6 weeks and we don't have sky tv that still doesn't leave much for anything else.

We're a family of 5 that get by on 23k. Two cars and a mortgage here.

I have no idea what it is you are whining about. I don't mean to be rude, but ffs wake up.
40k is ample.
Drop some of the luxuries and revise your food budget.