Disposable income ...

[accidentlygothere]

Me and my boyfriend are looking at moving out my parents early next year.

Between us, our take home income is £2100. (I am only part time due to having a young child)

Rent £800
Bills £400
Food shop £200
Insurance / subscriptions / contracts £100

None of us drive also nor do we need to right now. That leaves us with £600 disposable income and to buy baby necessities, my boyfriend thinks this is enough to live on but I don't think so.

AIBU?

Agree food shopping seems low, I spend around £400 on food and cleaning supplies a month for me and 2 older children.

Also if you have 15k in savings would it be better to buy instead of rent. Don't know what part of the UK you are in but it would do for deposit where I am in Yorkshire or save a bit more for a lower mortgage.

£600 disposable income - omg that's loads if you have included all outgoings. Me and dh have £20 a week each

Have you thought what all bills may be? Food shop will be more than £200 a month for a family of 3. Have you factored in all the bills your would need? What about council tax?

www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/
Check you have included everything

Yup @Starcaller - eg I’ve just paid well over £160 for new glasses which is a decent chunk of £600 so something like that cropping up every month or so could knock OP off course!

The food bill seems really low too and will only increase in the long term!

I think try and break it down a bit further so what about travel costs, haircuts, prescriptions etc, id also factor in a bit extra for say fuel costs and think about how much you would want to put aside for birthday, Xmas, weddings, day trips each month.

What about things like life insurance, dental appointments, eye tests/glasses, hair cuts, birthdays, holidays/events, do you have any pets? What about travel to work? Where are the baby's expenses budgeted for? Even second hand/Primark, they grow quickly, do you want to do any baby groups/swimming lessons etc? I also agree that £200 for all groceries, nappies, cleaning/laundry stuff is tight

You might only have £12 contracts but surely the phones need replacing once in a while?

I agree with you - I think 40% take home on rent alone is a lot! Our mortgage is only about 15% of our monthly incomings excluding bonuses but we haemorrhage money on upkeep, oil/electricity, home improvements etc. How much is council tax?

Are you entitled to any additional financial help through UC?

I don’t think your numbers are right. I think I’m reality the £600 is an overestimation.

You've got loads of things missing from your budget so the £600 is unlikely to be actually spare.
Are you putting into your pensions?
If you're having a child you should have life insurance, have a look at moneysaving expert.
What about haircuts, new clothes, public transport, birthdays and Christmas, holidays...
There is an excellent budget planner on MSE and I'd recommend you and your partner set aside some time to go through it together with your bank statements so you know exactly what you need and spend.

I think you’ll manage although I would be prepared to tighten your belt as I do think you have underestimated some standard costs and then some expected but forgotten costs. Agree with pp use money saving expert budget tool and see where you stand after a couple of months. You have a buffer so you have time to put in place some good habits and try saving.

FWIW OP, I think it is manageable. It depends how "comfortable" you want to be, though. You haven't said if you're paying board to live with your parents, but if you're not and/or it is cheap, I'd probably stay there for another year (if everyone is happy with the arrangement) trying to live on your 'planned budget' if you move out, and save the rest for additional back up - or even to try and buy a house if it'd be feasible where you live?

Is child benefit included in your figures or on top of that? We put our CB into a separate account and try to only buy for our son what we can afford to with the CB money. Babies and toddlers aren't expensive - but they do get more expensive as they get older! E.g. we buy his clothes second hand or have hand me downs, and we pass or sell them on when we are done. Same with toys. We go to free play groups and if we want to go to a toddler class that costs money we stick to 1 a term.

Also, 40% of your income on rent is not abnormal. It is what we pay too (and DH is a high-ish earner for our area, so I imagine a lot of people are paying upwards of that percentage).

My partner works here, our family is here, and we are settled so would rather stay here than move somewhere cheaper but we are in the south where house prices are high. I'm not entitled to UC.

How do you know you’re not entitled have you checked?
There was a thread on here where a poster earned 40K and was still entitled to something

We cope on that figure fine. And our bills are about the same per month on a 2 bed house.
124 c tax
80 electricity no gas only heat pump
25 broadband
40 Water
2x 6.50 mobile bills

So I make that 282. No mortgage for me but your figures seem reasonable. Food shop is 120 every 2 weeks eating Aldi or Lidl premium food.

enough money to live comfortably

What does this mean to you?

You’ve got £15K in savings, no childcare bills - you’re not going to be on Skid Row.

You’re parents now yourselves - you do need a place of your own.

I actually think it sounds OK. Food shop seems a bit low though.
For me I find the biggest "unexpected costs" (although we can always cover) are linked to anything house related or car related. And in your case you rent and don't have cars so that isn't too much of an issue
I think if you stop the silly little everyday Spends on coffees and lunches out and put a little bit more into your food budget. You can live quite well and manage to save some each month too