Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Sufficient income for a couple

78 replies

Isaidwhatisaid1 · 19/04/2021 07:04

A couple in the North with no children, rent and bills is £800 altogether. How much combined income would you say is needed to live 'reasonably', not a champagne lifestyle but not the bare bones either.

OP posts:
SnarkyBag · 19/04/2021 07:07

40k combined

Memedru · 19/04/2021 07:09

We are 50k combined and just our rent alone is £975, so I imagine 40k combined would be fine

Capital76 · 19/04/2021 07:10

Food shop included in £800?

Of not od add on £160 a month for that so 960now
Does the 800 include commuting costs?

If you say 1k for bills when you take in any unexpected increases of extras i would say 1.5k income per month. Enough to have a few meals out or takeaways/day trips and put some aside for savings but ill be honest i would really struggle on that

Capital76 · 19/04/2021 07:11

So maybe 25k combined before tax

What is your current combined income

Original poster
Isaidwhatisaid1 · 19/04/2021 07:12

The 800 would just be food and bills but no transport or food.
What sort of net monthly income would 40k per month give? About 2k?

OP posts:
Original poster
Isaidwhatisaid1 · 19/04/2021 07:13

Current is about 20k ish combined

OP posts:
JensonsAcolyte · 19/04/2021 07:16

Full time minimum wage is £18.5k.

If you both earn that you’ll have plenty with such low rent and bills. But are you absolutely sure that’s all your bills? It’s incredibly low.

Original poster
Isaidwhatisaid1 · 19/04/2021 07:18

Yeah, the rent includes everything except electricity which is pay as you go. Just have to pay phone bills seperately.

OP posts:
MummyShah369 · 19/04/2021 07:18

Sorry do you mean will 40k capital give you 2k a month? If thats what you are asking absolutely not would be very high risk!
If your rent and bills are just 800 then you probably need some leisure money or breakfix money you should manage on 1000 to 1500 combined so 8 to 10k each annual

Howshouldibehave · 19/04/2021 07:19

@Isaidwhatisaid1

Current is about 20k ish combined
Will these replies be actually helpful, though?

If you currently earn £20k between you but everyone says you’ll be comfortable on double that-how will you double your earning capacity?

nancywhitehead · 19/04/2021 07:20

As PP said you'd be fine if you both work full time on minimum wage. You wouldn't have a huge amount leftover if you were having takeaways etc. as well but you'd have enough.

LakieLady · 19/04/2021 07:22

We used to pay £750 a month each into our jount account. No rent or mortgage, but that was ample to pay for all bills, house insurance, car expenses (car owned outright), food, wine, occasional going out, and replacing a household applicance once in a while.

It built up a small surplus each month, that was enough to pay for our holidays, although we had a motorhome so our holiday costs were low. If you want to have a package holiday abroad, it would have to be more, I'd say £1k each, plus whatever you need to cover rent.

To give yourselves a decent amount for personal spends, I reckon you'd need to bring in around £25k each, which gives a take-home pay of around £1,700.

That would leave both parties with a few hundred for personal spending.

jgw1 · 19/04/2021 07:22

You'll need at least £1000s for the holidays abroad that you will need and have a right to several times a year.

Howshouldibehave · 19/04/2021 07:28

@Isaidwhatisaid1

Current is about 20k ish combined
Is that with both of you working full time?!
RosesAndHellebores · 19/04/2021 07:28

You may be just below the tax and ni thresholds if you both earn less than £12750 each so that extrapolates to about £1666pcm - £800 rent and bills £866 to live on.

It depends whether you have included all the bills op: rent, gas, electricity, water rates, insurance, phone rental, TV licence, etc.

It depends how much the fares are?

I think more context is needed op.

JensonsAcolyte · 19/04/2021 07:32

Are you both very young and looking to move in together? Just wondering if that’s why the combined wage is low.

I would be concerned that you haven’t thought through all the costs of living. It’s not just rent.

Off the top of my head:

Rent
Council tax
Water
Gas/electric
Insurances:life,contents, car, phone,pet, etc
Prescriptions
Hair cuts
Dentist
Travel costs
Unexpected expenses
Holidays
Birthday and Christmas presents

It’s quite easy to say oh rent and bills is £x without realising all the other living costs can easily double that.

dontdisturbmenow · 19/04/2021 07:35

It's impossible to say as we don't know what total bills you have. £800 to include rent and utilities, food for two and council tax sounds incredibly low. Is this likely to be permanent?

It then depends on your lifestyle and what you enjoy doing. Going out, drinking, eating, hobbies, activities, travel.

Assume no children? Do you have car? Do you pay into a pension?

I would say anything from £25k to £50k depending in the above.

SleepingStandingUp · 19/04/2021 07:44

Bills 800
Food 250
Power 100 (PAYG)
Phones 50
Travel 200
Fun money 200
Clothes 100
Savings 200

So that's a post tax income of 2k so about 32k combined.

But if you're on lower, might you get help with HB and might be able to claim WTC? You could also cut the spends down to about 1.7k which would be about 23.5 without benefits

Ducksarenotmyfriends · 19/04/2021 07:52

We had the same rent and bills for a while (£800) and had a combined income of about 28-30k (varied due to self employment). Had a lovely lifestyle, ate great food etc. We didn't need a car though as lived in a city and cycled everywhere, and had some perks due to work such as free entry to various festivals, so that all helped.

dontdisturbmenow · 19/04/2021 07:55

Is one of you a student or both? Clearly one or both is working PT. Any reason?

£20k for two is very very low if you count everything you are liny to spend on in a year.

Howshouldibehave · 19/04/2021 07:57

@dontdisturbmenow

Is one of you a student or both? Clearly one or both is working PT. Any reason?

£20k for two is very very low if you count everything you are liny to spend on in a year.

Yes, exactly.

You sound like you are worrying that you can’t afford things on your low salary yet you have no kids and can’t both be working full time?

playeddepaler · 19/04/2021 07:58

Well if you bring in 20k and it's not enough then How much more would you like OP? Why are you asking us? Confused

Goatinthegarden · 19/04/2021 08:09

I’m assuming that you’re looking to move out for the first time?

Is £800 for rent, council tax and electricity?

The amount of money you ‘need’ is subjective based on what you want to have in your life.

You could manage a food shop for two on £30 if you wanted. It would mean you were eating very basic food - pasta, tinned tomatoes, cheaper vegetables, etc. Are you happy to eat simple food, or do you want to be able to buy a range of fresh fruit and veggies, snacks, treats, random spices no one has ever heard of Go to a supermarket online and try to budget a week of food to see what you would spend.

Do you want to be able to go out regularly - eating and/or drinking?
Do you want to be able to buy new clothes or other items when you fancy it?
What about mobiles, internet, tv or app subscriptions (eg Netflix)?
Do you need to pay for hobbies, gym or sports?
Do you have items you need for your new home? Towels, kitchen items, etc?
Will you need any insurances?
How much will transport cost you?
What about holidays or trips away?
Do you plan on saving or paying into a pension?

Make a list of everything you think you need in a month and then add it up.

Goatinthegarden · 19/04/2021 08:11

*£30 a week for the food shop

Dddccc · 19/04/2021 08:23

Ok I live ne and all hills not including food for us comes to 800 a month too, 20k is more then enough up here for 2 people you have around 10k for food and the rest of living