To think that two adults....

[Imissmyboy]

Could live off £800 per month after the mortgage has been paid off?

Should be able to save from it too. That's loads of money.

We're a family of 4 and we live off less than that after the mortgage has been paid!!!

That's a heck of a lot

Some could, some couldn't. Depends what their other outgoings are. This is a bit how long is a piece of strong really.

Assuming no debts and a fairly energy efficient house I think so. Wouldn't be a life of luxury but I think do-able.

Definitely. Provided no expensive cars, hobbies etc. I live off under £1k a month as a single parent to 2 teens. I could cut that down to £700-800 if I had to.

We currently have an income of about £700 net. Soon to go up.

We have no mortgage, were a family of 3 plus DDog. We can do it but there's not a lot left over. My own loan is paid from my personal money, we couldn't pay that from our income.

Depends on your council tax and other bills surely?

Our council tax is £200 so that would leave us with £600 for electricity, gas, water, travelling to work,phones, internet, tv, insurances and food.

My monthly travel is £170, so £340 for two. Council tax £138 (running total £478). Utilities £140 (RT £638). Car tax and insurance approx. £70 (RT £708). So £50 each for food, hairdressing, clothes, birthdays, holidays ....

Is petrol included in monthly travel, AuntJane?

i think it really depends on what outgoings you have.

I just checked my spreadsheet:

We spend £300 a month on essential bills (council tax, utilities, insurances etc).
Food around £250.
Travel to work around £300.

Then on top of that we have a few nice things- money to eat out/takeaways, swimming membership, tv package...

Best thing is to go through bank statements/credit card bills etc, write down all your costs and decide which are essential and can't be cut back on, which are essential but you could reduce (e.g. shop around for utilities) and which things you can do without. Don't forget to leave some contingency money in case of unexpected bills or repairs!

Should have said- that's 2 adults and a child but DD is only 4 and pretty much negligible in terms of utilities and food used. I didn't allow for childcare in the 'essential bills' part!

Imperial No, monthly travel is my train ticket to work.

That's what we have for food, petrol and spends after all the bills and savings.

I find it quite restricting tbh. What would you have to pay out of that?

We have a little over that after the rent is paid and we struggle a bit. But we socialise constantly- dinners, nights out, holidays so I think we spend too much instead of earn too little

I couldn't run my house on £800. It wouldn't cover my bills but I have a large draughty house that costs a fortune to heat. It depends on your individual circumstances.

Depends. We spend about 700 on travel (local) and bills alone, before even buying food, so no it wouldn't work for us. It used to be more when commuting from outside London. Why don't you do your sums and see what expenses you've got?

Its not really as simply as checking my current bills, as this would be an entire new start. So moving to a new house in a new area.
I think from replies on here that it would possibly be do-able in the short term.
We do both have expensive hobbies, but the idea would be to find part-time jobs to fund these, so the £800 would just be to cover living expenses. The nearest town is a 15 minute drive away - there is a village closer but the town would obviously be a better bet job wise.

Barring any really expensive outgoings I don't see why not (I'm thinking season ticket into London for both adults, my train ticket was always my biggest bill each month)