Could you survive on 1k?

[coffeeanteac]

If you had £1000 left after the main bills.

Could you survive on £1000 for food amd petrol and everything else takeaways, gifts, fun.

DH thinks most families couldn't. I think it should be ok. There are only 3 of us and we all live about three miles away from work and school.

You do realise most people cannot do it right ? Or can barely do it with that ? 1000 for a family to eat and transport is very little

Amen

Actually, most people do. Most have half that if they are lucky.

Depends on what you consider a comfortable life. We manage on less than that, also family of 3, close to school but hybrid working and 25+ mile journey 1 way for work for both of us. It would be tight and treats well planned and few but yes manageable.

Yes although i'd have to let the pastry chef go

Yes we could survive, could we sustain our current lifestyle and save, no. We don't live extravagantly but DS' swimming and gymnastics are £70 a month, petrol another £100. Food and household needs £700 (this could be trimmed if needed but covers cleaning, toiletries, food, and hoc items eg just needed a new mop and bucket and doormat), we've all had haircuts in the last week £100. Car needed repairs in January £400, even MOT and service is around £200 once a year. It would be ok to tick over but difficult to save much which creates difficulty when there are larger expenses.

I've got a bit less than £1K to live on. We're a family of 4 - me, DH, and two teens.
I work full-time as a domiciliary carer, so my fuel costs are astronomical, roughly £300 a month.
I work long shifts, but DH has a regular 9-5 job, so he goes to Aldi in the evenings to find their 30/75% off bargains. I'm lucky that I have a big chest freezer, so we can shop like this frequently. Also, I'm a good cook, so I can make meals from scratch, using reduced price ingredients. My food bill is around £400 for the four of us.

Neither DH nor I buy clothes, nor do we ever get takeaways or have meals out. The DCs have a couple of clubs/hobbies, but nothing too expensive.

We manage ok on a monthly basis, but there's not much wiggle room for stuff like car repairs, or anything else like that.
I try to put away a bit every month to cover a decent Christmas for the 3 DCs (one is 25). If we can't stretch to the end of the month for some unexpected reason, it gets put on the credit card - but we try to keep that to an absolute minimum.

We eat well/healthy, and have a decent quality of life I think. Our time off is spent going walking in the Dales with the dog. We have camping equipment, so get away at least once a year for a camping holiday - definitely NOT my idea of fun if I'm being honest, but nice to spend some time away with our teens without phones/WiFi.

Of course. We’ve managed on quite a bit less and still functioned well.
Is your DH aware of how your budget is spent?

We could easily survive on 1k after bills. Gosh it would be like living as millionaires for us. Lots of families have a lot less than this and manage perfectly well. I’m guessing that food, petrol , clothes, holidays and extras comes out of this 1k but all the same we’ve lived comfortably on less than that for years and still managed a couple of holidays abroad. Not every year but tbh my (now adult) kids would say because we didn’t go every year each time we did was epic. They call them our grand adventures. More special than numerous holidays that all fade into one.

You live within your means. If you want nice cars, the newest iPhones, gym membership and after school activities then 1k won’t touch the surface.

We'd struggle on £1000 after main bills if it included food and petrol.

I spend £150 on food and cleaning stuff/washing/loo roll/cat stuff etc easily every week. That's £600-£800
Then petrol - probably £200 a month between us.
Hair cuts/vet bills/ small treats/ clothes- we don't buy many/ coffees/lunches/odd meal out or cinema trip/ children's clubs. Can't see we'd manage that on £200 max a month. We could cut back but would still be tough I think. DH and I went out for brunch this week- MIL took DC out for the morning. Two cooked breakfasts- mine was vegan and two large coffees- £36.00. Nothing flash. Little local cafe.

We would struggle to survive on £1k after bills. We live in London so our cost of living is high. Between work and taking care of my 3 year old, I don't have time to do housework so we have a cleaner. My husband is fussy about the quality of our food so I buy most of our fresh groceries from Borough Market or M&S (if I'm too lazy to walk that far). I also like dressing my daughter up in cute clothes and taking her out. We go on one long haul holiday (to Japan or another bit Asia) and one short haul holiday (usually Lyon) each year. We also go to other bits of the UK to meet up with friends in between. We eat out at nice places fairly often. Last month it was my husband's birthday so I took him to the Fat Duck and Harwood Arms. I also like renovating different bits of our house throughout the year.

I also have a personal trainer and my husband has two expensive gym memberships (one near home and one near work) and has private jiu jitsu lessons. Luckily we don't have a car as we both hate driving but that means that we take taxis fairly regularly.

That would be a big income increase for me. I barely have £400 to cover that for 2 adults and 3 cats.

It's not a fun life but we manage it. £1k would be an amazing amount to have and should be fine for living on once the bills are covered.

Yes!

That equates to approx £300pp, so for my family the equivalent would be £1500 a month... that wouldn't cover our current lifestyle no. I spend about £600 on food for the family, £200 per month on fuel, £250 on children's clubs, probably £200 on takeaway treat nights once a week (£50 per week), £40 on nails, £150 on other salon treatments. £100 on childcare, and we also go on holiday (which costs us extra for animal boarding while away too)

If we HAD to do it...we would make it work but it would mean a massive change in our current lifestyle

I know its nice for you to believe that numerous holidays would all blend into one so you missed nothing by only going once every few years.....but as someone who goes abroad 3 - 4 times a year I can promise you that they do not blend into one.
We visit different countries and experience the authentic side of those countries so every holiday is truly different . We have never been to the same place twice so have never had the same experience twice. As a result my children speak several languages and understand different cultures. They have no set agenda about what a holiday should look like because the only real common denominator so far has been that we get on a plane first.

There's also nothing wrong with NOT going on holiday regularly but please don't believe that those of us who do, don't appreciate every second of every trip and get something amazing from every one.

That's impressive. Would you still be a able to with the cost of living now?
Can you share a breakdown?

I'm with you. £1000 wouldn't come close to covering our lifestyle

I couldn't, honestly. Our house is 3 adults, two teens (adult appetites). I now spend £150 pw on food minimum.

We necessarily run 2 cars, and petrol is around another £300 pm.

With the last £100 covering haircuts, birthday and Christmas presents, holidays, days out, tutoring, activities, driving lessons, clothing, subscriptions, pets, gym, home and car maintenance there is no way I could live comfortably. With one small child and minimal commuting costs, maybe 🤷‍♀️

Is this a joke?

Yes that's probably about my budget and I manage to save up for holidays, home improvements, and spend quite a lot on gig and festival tickets. Also eat out/takeaway about once a week for two of us. Otherwise savings are made by buying almost no new clothes, cycling and walking everywhere including work and shopping (car only used for 'outings' camping trips and visiting my parents) and shopping carefully; a frugal lifestyle in general, with an eye on energy usage, food and waste etc.
With more money I would probably have more holidays, but still live the same sort of lifestyle day to day, as it's just how I am.

Family of 5 and we just about manage. It covers our diesel costs, food, school meals and any presents, or new clothes needed. However it's not enough for days out and going to restaurants. Dh sometimes works on his days off to save for some emergency like car repair or Chistmas and holidays.

We wouldn't be able to maintain our current lifestyle on that. OP has said including gifts, takeaways and fun. Obviously these are a luxury and can be cut back but that's not what's being asked.

Family 4 but the DC are late teens, 1 X Dog

Grocery Shop - £700 at Lidl; includes dog food, alcohol, toiletries and cleaning products

Fuel- £250; 2 X vehicles essential for work- one for a trade and mine as no sensible public transport.

Takeaways- £160- once a week

Fun- at least £250pm just towards a yearly holiday

And then gifts which I don't see as a monthly figure as they are only given for birthdays and Christmas and of course an Easter egg.

So way over £1000. I'm not saying it's impossible but you are going to have to adjust lifestyle and expectations massively.

£1000 is absolutely plenty

£1000 per each adult of £1000 for the family of 3?

If it’s the former then yes.
But actually if it’s £500 each adult for fuel and food and a child to pay for then I’d consider that a struggle.
mostly because of the cost of good food at the moment.