Monthly budget

[JDaSilva]

Hi there
Hubby, myself and 2 kids 4 & 6 (he is special needs) are moving over in the next few months. We will be living somewhere in Surrey. I will not be able to work initially so we are reliant on one salary. Is anyone able to give me an idea of what he needs to earn for us to be ok each month? We are trying to establish what costs we will have on food, travel, gas, etc etc... Can anyone give me some guidance? Thanks so much.

I assume you are coming from another country?

Obviously your costs will depend on where you live etc.
You can look for a house on Rightmove which will give you some idea of rental/purchase costs for the type of property you want. It also shows you the distance to the nearest railway station(and schools, I think).

All the train companies offer season tickets and you can check prices on line. If DH is commuting I recommend using public transport - it's pretty good provided you dont need a seat

You'll have to pay council tax, which varies according to location and size of property. Rightmove (or the estate agent) should be able to tell you the band, and the council website will tell you how much that costs. You pay this tax monthly.
You'll also have to pay for water, it's usually metered, so cost is dependent on usage(and water company).

Gas and electric - it's difficult to say. The average bill seems to be about £1k p/a for a medium sized house, according to price comparison sites.
Food - some people will say £600 per month, some £200, depending on what they buy. There are plenty of high-end and lower cost options for food shopping. Why not use one of the supermarket websites like Asda and have a look at a few items you usually buy?

Hope this has been helpful, but just shout if you need more.

budget for:

council tax; £150 a month or more
water - allow maybe £400 a year
electricity and gas (if you are an American, these will be much pricier than you expect). Average bill for both in the UK is about £1200 per year
vehicle fuel (£1.05 a litre at the moment)
contents insurance
rent
car running costs, if applicable
food; I'd say a family could eat like kings on £300 a month with good choices and no waste.
other travel; pricey
entertainment

We are a family of three living in a three bed house.

Council tax £143 a month (paid for 10 months so £1430 pa)
Water £44 a month (paid for 10 months as above)
Electricity and gas £47 a month (I think we are fairly low consumers though)
Car - £15-20 petrol a week for DH travel to work (7 miles away) and general use
Food - max £200 a month, again this our bills are low

You can live on less (and many do) but personally I think you'd need a minimum monthly income (after tax & NI) of £2000 pm for bills and essentials if you buy at the lower end of the scale and don't go out much. Our income is £2200 a month and three live happily on this, although, we're not extravagant, so for your size family £2500 would be great. We have friends with two DC, a smaller mortgage, one car and earnings of £4000 - they are always running out of money, so think it depends on your lifestyle as well.

Thanks for the input everyone - it helps a lot :)

In the South-East, council tax can be extortionate. We currently pay £2000 per year over 10 months! Expect to pay around £100 for gas and electricity, £40ish for water, £40ish for phone/Internet/TV, £20 for TV licence, £50 for home and contents insurance and around £300 on food. Rents could vary from £900-£1500 per months depending on the size of the house so I'd say you'd need to be clearing at least £2500 a month to be comfortable. School dinners and trips/clubs can also take a big chunk out of our monthly income: we have three DCs too and things like a weekly swimming lesson each is another £150 per term. School dinners will be around £2.10 each per day. God, that all sounds so depressing but Surrey is beautiful and I'm sure you will love living there! :-)

council tax is high everywhere, that is something that doesn't change as you move north. Everywhere needs roads, schools, fire engines, police etc etc.

unless you are in one of the favourited central London places, the tax will be high everywhere. Still not enough to keep services, of course.

oh yes - health care. It used to be that emergency treatment was free for all (on the NHS). So if you needed stitches or broke your arm (for example) and didn't need a hospital stay, then you wouldn't have to pay. I think this is no longer the case, so maybe price up some health insurance.

If you are coming from an EU country then you get the same deal here as you would get in your home country. It's worth looking at anyway.