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

Don't people who live in 17k and similar get tax credits and housing benefit, which takes their income to a much higher level?

OP is going somewhere rural, I think it may be Scotland. Insurance in the middle of nowhere for cars is peanuts, even with zero no-claims.

As she will be renting there's no maintenance to budget for.

Sky is unnecessary - no-one is going to have time to watch football and if you must watch lengthy American shows, there are DVD rental services. But there is SO much available free there's no need.

UK is great - drinkable water in the taps, no need for aircon, no insect-borne diseases, etc etc.

2,400 a month is not plenty to take home. Rentals are around 1000 and likely higher and the nursery is a grand too. So not that plenty, right.

I live in the SW, and in this shithole area a small 2 bed rental house on an estate is 700+pcm.

We have a take home of approx 1600 and we manage with a little extra over each month, the DC get haircuts as and when needed-£15 every 2 months. I get my hair cut twice a year for about £60. Home colour each month and we have a take away monthly. We spend £70 on food per week for four of us, new clothes are few and far between, we are lucky that DH wears a uniform so we don't have to provide workwear too.

When I started to read the thread I thought that £40k is loads but when it gets broken down, it really isn't that much when you are in the south of the UK.

The cost of living vs wages is incredibly poor

If you haven't already bought cars I would suggest buying ones in lower tax bands. When I changed my car lady year I saved 8 per month. So would be over £100 for you so covers school uniform if you don't have to use an outfitters.

However, you will get reams and reams of pages from people telling you you should be cutting your own hair with the kitchen scissors, and that £120 a week on groceries for 3 is OUTRAGEOUS and you can easily cut that by sticking to value beans and not eating meat every day, but, do you really want to live like that? I don't. (even though I currently do!)
Christ. I remember the days when I would get a mani pedi every month, and as for colouring my own hair..! I simply can't DO highlights like a good hairdresser.
Austerity sucks.

"Don't people who live in 17k and similar get tax credits and housing benefit, which takes their income to a much higher level?"

Housing benefit-no
Childcare help-not really
Tax credits-only if single parent I think (CTC)

Surely people other than the filthy rich don't spend £60 per month for one person to get their haircut do they?

If the OP had said she is going to London or similar then I would have given a different answer. As it is she has stated she is going somewhere where rent per month for a 3 bed house is £650, it changes the equation a lot.

We live in a major city where it is more expensive. Dh used to bring home 3K a month... now he brings home £1600 a month before overtime. We've really had to cut back and change our lifestyle. It's been hard but managable!

Okay, I live in the South East, and outside of London it's about the most expensive area going. We do currently earn more, but we have lived on much, much less and so can tell you it's totally doable and with a good standard of living. It comes down to what your priorities are and what matters to you in terms of luxuries. Just looking at your list, these are the things I can see that stand out....

1. Rent - you say £650-750. In your initial OP you mention the lower figure being for a 3-bed place. If you are only renting for a year, is there any reason why you need a 3-bed as opposed to a 2-bed? I got the impression that you only have one DC so a third bedroom would be more of a luxury. That's certainly somewhere I'd be looking to make a cut. If you could tell us the area (roughly) then someone might be able to help with more exact costings on that point.

1. Sky - I agree with previous posters on this one. You either get a cheaper package or freeview. Obviously freeview would save the most!

1. Mobiles - can be done a lot cheaper than £20 each. Sub £10 with some contracts.

1. Food etc - £600 for what I am assuming is a family of three is insane when you think about it. We meal plan (less about saving money and more about not wasting stuff in our case, but the effect is the same) and although it's variable, we tend to spend something in the region of £100. We have two DCs and pets. You could quite easily spend £75 and eat well, and in our household the figure includes packed lunches, so that would shave another £84 off your budget. On food alone, you could easily take £300+ off your calculations.

1. Haircuts - you have £85 a month in your budget for haircuts. For example, there is a barber shop near me that does mens cuts for £8, boys for £6. You can colour your own hair and get the cut done cheaply, or do a model's night or college cut and colour for nominal prices.

1. Presents - an £800 budget for presents can easily be shaved down depending on what you buy and when. We tend to shop throughout the year and then only buy odds and ends near Christmas. Makes the hit easier to take financially.

Another thing that's stood out to me is that you haven't said whether or not the £40k is coming from one or two jobs. If it's just the one, is there any reason why the second adult can't work? That would obviously be the easiest way to boost income.

Like I said, it's all about what you prioritise and what's important to you. If you're a family who likes to drink a lot of wine, or who will need to buy oil for fuel (for eg) then your bills might go up. Hope this helps.

I guess it depends what's important to you, doesn't it?

We manage on about half the income you have. We have two dc and only Dh works (this is our choice).

We don't have sky, we rarely buy clothes for ourselves unless they literally need replacing (I currently have two jumpers and two pairs of jeans I wear on rotation!) And I haven't had a hair cut since ds was born 18 months ago. (Dh needs his cut for work!)

We have one car which we only use if we absolutely have to. Otherwise I bung ds in the buggy to go anywhere, walking is good for all of us- if ds feels like it he will walk too.

We shop at aldi and spend about 60-70 a week on good. We don't drink or smoke through choice although this does help to keep bills down and we haven't had a night out in about a year!

However, we are mostly content living like this because we don't want to use childcare (I did with our first child but don't want to this time) so we just muddle through and will be doing so at least until ds starts school.

I think you cut your cloth accordingly.

We also live very rurally by the way. Nearest shop is 6 miles away - and that's a corner shop.

Sorry, should point out that £100 food budget for us is per week, not per month!

£650 for a 3 bed?!

Christ alive OP, you wouldn't even get a bedsit for that around where I am. I would kill for that rent!

op, its all about compromise and what you're prepared to give up or adjust

Would you both be working for a combined wage of £40,000? (this matters as the tax paid would differ). Would you also be entitled to some form of tax credits or child benefit?

If so much travel is involved anyway would somewhere less rural be an option thus cutting down on travel.

We are a family of five and manage happily on numbers similar to this. We afford day to day life, 1 car, housing, bills, Christmas (more than £100p/p) and holidays, haircuts (although my cut and colour is every 8 weeks) etc. I think you need to re-do your sums.

OP, Quin is right, realistically, you need £30k more for the same standard of living as most of continental Europe.

We are a family of 2 adults, one 4 year old and a baby (who is FF), we spend £120ish a week on food/cleaning products, we meal plan and probably could get it lower, but are by no means excessive in what we buy. I assume you've come to the figure of £600 by looking at somewhere like Sainsburys website and pricing up your current shop. Realistically, a UK move will require changing/downgrading the way you eat as well as live.

But, if you have a family draw to the UK (or just would like to be back here), then it's doable on £40k (plus CB, think that's all you'd be entitled to, but as I said earlier, that's an extra £150 a month if you have 2 DCs, so your sums would add up, and I think you could probably get car and home insurance cheaper).

I would look at you working to, apart from anything else, for the pension issue.

My relatives that visit from abroad just cannot get their heads round how much housing, petrol and eating out.

My relatives from abroad just cannot get their heads round how cheap food and eating out is. MIL gave me £30 to get 3 coffees and a coke from McDonalds!

Even London doesn't make the top 10 of most expensive cities anymore.

Are the people claiming that they live comfortably on a lot less forgetting about child benefit and tax credits?

Our mortgage is approx £800 pcm and we definitely could not live on £40,000. Our standing orders alone amount to £2000 pcm.

Otoh I spend about £120 per year on my hair (3 x £40 cuts).

Family with 4 boys, two old cars 3k each, mortgage of 850, income of 38k, home owner of property needing work, large circle of family and friends to buy gifts for

We spend 100 a week on food, buy uniform secondhand, holiday in a caravan, cut out own hair, don't have sky, have cheaper iphone 4, have a limit of 6 pounds for gifts on extended family/friends, spend 40 on each member of the family at Xmas/birthdays, entertainment and birthdays tend to be done on the cheap. Any money left goes towards the work that needs doing on the house.

Start by cooking economic meals - so anything with beans and pulses or things like cottage pie.

Our boys still attend clubs - football, athletics etc

Have people also noticed that op will be living in a very rural location and therefore spending an absolute fortune on petrol just to get to work?

"Don't people who live in 17k and similar get tax credits and housing benefit, which takes their income to a much higher level?"

Erm, stop reading the daily mail? You definitely don't get housing benefit for a mortgage. You get some help with childcare on that wage if both parents work or if you're a single parent. Other than that, you get only the same child tax credit that everyone who is not a higher rate taxpayer gets. It's certainly not a much higher level, and doesn't even approach 40k.

I'm always a bit shocked by how few people on here have any concept of life on a normal, median UK income. I suppose a lot are from the south east but really, you must have been outside Surrey at some time?