Is £2250, month, enough to live in post all livings costs are paid for

[Isitenough2250]

I am very aware that I may get slammed, and I am
prepared. DP has had a terrible time at work the past few years, as we have both seen terrible side affects of what stress can do heart attack/ stroke/
severe mental health issues - we thought it best for him to leave the job. Having worked out our budget, post mortgage/ bills/ insurances etc being paid we have £2250 left a month. That is for two adults and a cat. Out of which is food and then life costs, as in choices - gym/ hair cut/ going to the cinema.

Having never had to budget ever, is this enough? Sufficent savings/ investments for emergencies…..it is 2250 that we have come up with for food and miscellaneous spending.

Am prepared to be roasted, also any budgeting tips appreciated.

We think it will be about a year.

@Isitenough2250- you know it’s enough but you are panicking because you have never had to do this before. You have had some good advice but the key will be to start becoming conscious in your spending. Making an active decision to buy something as opposed to just doing it on a whim. It doesn’t mean you can’t do the vast majority of the things you want to do, but maybe you can’t do them every week!

One piece of advice I would have - list out all of the recurring bills you have that are not included in your fixed costs already. For example, car tax and insurances. Add up the annual cost of this, divide by 12 and save that amount into a separate account each month. This will help you ensure those costs don’t upset your rhythm for the year. I would recommend doing similar, with separate pots, for holidays and house maintenance/repairs. So if you need a new washing machine it doesn’t cause a stress.

We have plenty of money but doing this means I don’t even have a moment of panic or concern if something breaks or I get the car insurance renewal through.

If I had that much left each month after bills, I would think all my christmases had come at once. 😳

Yes! I was aware that I might be roasted…..but it is a major life change for me, and I am the one now respn for everything……which feels scary….albeit I am not too sure why! As it’s what you do when you are in a relationship, right? I am happy to do it - I just do have the fear in the pit of my stomach!

It is plenty to survive but not much to thrive 🤔
We also did a major income change. I found it cathartic to understand where money was going and have an head wobble. Though it is bloodey wonderful to not have to worry about money. DH thought that having £800 a month to spend on himself wasn’t much. Well. If you go out 1x per week (meal and beer and taxi) that is close to £100 gone already. Sometimes he did this a couple of times a week. Money is piff-puff-poofed away. Abracadabra time, you absolutely can live off of this amount of money but, you will need to ration treats, be that high end beauty products, clothes, takeaways, coffee on the go or very regular (but not necessary ) hair cuts.

This is exactly where I am at. I am in a panic (which I understand may seem unreasonable) as it’s the unknown.

I am definitely going to keep a separate pot though for the one offs, that will reduce my anxiety!

There has been some wonderful advice on the thread; and I am going to put a lot of it into action.

Yes. You will be fine.

You will be fine but will have to watch it to begin with. Then you will get into a rhythm of what’s not ok or is.

Maybe aim for no / low spend the first week of every month rather than running our and it being the last.

It actually can become quite fun and addictive. I have been trying to get the food shop down since Christmas. End of last year we were spending near to a grand a month.

Just ordered 8 really nice meals for £54! My best week yet 🥳

And trying to be no spend on coffees & whim spends (on balance) by only spending what I have earnt on vinted. Just updated the sofa cushions. 8 brand new with tags for £15! Took me a week of stalking vinted to find them but it’s been fun.

Coffee is my vice….literally the only one’. And I have a lot of stuff for vinted…..coffee for vinted sales it is!

Yes the coffee is sneaky. It really adds up!

But vinted is super easy cash plus encourages you to declutter so guilt free win win! ☕️

i always save each month. Have done since I was 18 without fail. It has allowed me me to travel, study, take full mat leave x 2 and feel ok. Sometimes I have saved tiny amounts like 25£ a month amd other times several thousand. Always feels much better dipping into savings when I know I have been “good” with money whatever income I have had.
After a significant total household income drop (prioritised family and MH over work)I currently save £150 into an instant access ISA, £100 into instant account. I frequently use the instant account when I am low in funds (at least bimonthly) and I use the isa for bigger buys (may draw from it 1-2 times per year for unexpected car repairs , DC school residential trips etc ). I find putting the money aside on payday helps me to budget but when I do need extra, I feel ok because I have two pools to take from. Savings have grown even though I dip in. Savings are modest but enough to see us through 1 year of no work for both of us.

That sounds incredible’. And one year of no work for both of you is wonderful!

We have savings and will be supplementing the income, but don’t want to use all of it, and are going to be strict. Which is why I am hoping to also save a little as well!

You should be absolutely fine on 2250 per month for a couple and cat

In terms of disposable income that would put you in the top 10%.

However just add up what you spend on food, haircuts and so on and you will be sure. It really does not take that long. Understanding what you spend puts you in control. If you have online banking you can export the data in to Excel.

Giving up a high stress job is absolutely the best thing you can do.

Best of luck

£2000 a month after mortgage and bills
Did you misread that?
That's not even close to very little unless someone is spending a huge amount on random junk every week. Estimating food at about 200 a week it leaves around 12k a year for holidays, days out, extras etc. Unless someone is buying a brand new car every few years and constantly buying new items and clothes its plenty to live off and save as well.

Posts like this one feel like a humble brag tbh.

How much did you have when partner still working?

Budgeting is a skill. You may have never done it before but you can learn.

If you draw up a new budget every time circumstances change you can ensure you never overspend accidentally.

You can also do things like working out how much is for bills and other necessities, leaving that in the bank and drawing out the remainder discretionary spending money. Then you know whatever is in the bank is to be ignored because it's already 'spent' (allocated for somewhere down the line) and you can physically see the cash dwindling in your purse as the month goes on which can help with decision making.

If you're used to being a spendthrift frugality may come hard and feel frustrating, but it's how you maximize what you get for your available income.

If you're unhappy or clueless with what you're spending, keeping a spends diary for a year (where you log literally every penny you spend, what you spent it on and what category it falls into) can be enlightening. You use the figures to add up over the month and year for each category eg food, transport, clothing, entertainment etc and it can show you where you're inclined to splurge, help you work out what your triggers are for that so you can combat them, help you see where you're wasting money thoughtlessly and what things you consistently spend money on because you value them most of all. If all your money goes on drinks and snacks whilst out, while your home makes you miserable because the paint is patchy, the carpet threadbare and you're having to ration the heating, you can choose to make changes.

@Isitenough2250

Aldi is brilliant! Cook from scratch. A pepper or tomato is the same from anywhere.

FFS! The amount of quoting on this thread is as nuts as anyone who thinks having more than £500 a week to live on after mortgage and bills is going to be tight.

Why is everyone quoting great walls of text? It's completely unnecessary.

Yep and the op's wide eyed responses are cringe AF

This is not “survival”

I would definitely struggle

Clearly you’ve been living to your means over the past few years.

If you have £2.25k left at the end of the month on your salary alone then you and your DH must have been earning at least 6 figures between you every year. and even you must be on the verge of that, and you’re seriously asking on a forum where many users are struggling to pay the bills, let alone not having more than 200 quid at the end of the month whether you can survive?

This is a wake-up call. Clearly you are spectacularly shit with money if you have nothing left after clearly bringing in thousands every month. You yourself must bring home about 5 grand a month if you’ve got £2.25k left at the end of it after bills, so how much did you have left before that. And what the hell have you been spending it on.

Earning that much you should at the very least have significant savings, no debt, and still have money left at the end of the month.

And no, this isn’t a roasting, as you put it. But far too many people who are earning enough that they never have to think about what they’re paying out live like this, and actually it’s often the people with the most money that have the least clue about money, because they never have to worry about it.

Even with £2.25k at the end of the month you’re still not living in the real world.

I don’t even bring that home every month, and I still manage to pay my bills, and everything I have left goes into a savings account at the end of the month.

That's more than I have before living expenses, so yes, it's enough. Sit down and write out how much you need for each expense. Simples!

We sit down for 5 minutes together weekly, look at the bank balance and work out what’s left for the month. We have a separate bank account for money after bills and put money into savings on payday.

Gosh PP are so rude sometimes. I don’t see why OP should expect to be roasted because she has been in a privileged position. Jealousy doesn’t look good on anyone!

OP, I’m pleased for you that you have the income that you do! I can understand feeling daunted by this task. Money/budgeting feel like big, scary concepts, but there is a lot of help available. You’ve have some brilliant advice here already.

I know you’re not in debt (or you haven’t said you are) but I would recommend doing a course run by a charity such as CAP. It’s a brilliant resource to learn about budgeting in a friendly, non-judgmental environment, and we have found it very helpful in the past.

Excel is your friend! Definitely use this to list all your expenditure and projected budgeting.

It sounds like you need to allocate some money every month to savings so you leave your investments alone. As another PP said, go through your direct debits etc and list them, but budget 1.2x the amount. You are saving for the next annual fee, which is likely to cost more than this year’s. Also add in savings for a holiday, for house repairs, car repairs, etc. As you’re concerned about being the sole breadwinner, you could also allocate some savings to cover your mortgage/bills “just in case” something happens with your job or your DH’s job doesn’t happen in the next year.

We allocate ourselves a pot of personal spending money and personal saving money (for us it’s £50pcm each, which doesn't go far, so you have to be quite ‘on it’ with looking ahead, which you absolutely get used to) so that we can get ourselves coffees/etc guilt free, and save for presents or bigger purchases, but when it’s gone, it’s gone.

You’ve been living without a budget so far and you’ll probably find that, once you’re ripped off the proverbial budgeting plaster, you’ll feel much better about your finances overall! All the best.