Help me create a budget please

[OztoLdn]

Help me create a budget please.
Family of 4 with two primary aged kids (state school)

1. Rent 3 bedroom 2 bathrooms house with small garden or courtyard in London zone 3 (West, or South West)
2. council rates
3. electricity and gas
4. water bill
5. internet
6. groceries
7. phone provider for 2 phones
8. 3 days of afternoon school club for two kids
9. 2 days a week commute from zone 3 for 2 adults
10. swimming lessons for 2 kids once a week
11. gym membership no classes just gym access for 1 adult don’t need anything fancy

I’m excluding for now family outings, eating out, car payments, petrol, holidays, money for clothes/shoes/ beauty.

What else do I need to add/consider?
work will provide private health cover for all.

Thank you!

Car insurance & tax
Fund for car maintenance
Buildings and contents insurance
Annual boiler servicing
Fund for general household maintenance - eg needing to get a plumber in for something small.

I put away for birthdays and Christmas every month.

Sorry missed you rent so no buildings insurance but you need contents - cheaper to out away and then pay annually

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#spreadsheet

Use this budget planner. It considers everything. I remember when I first did it, I was surprised how much money we spent on haircuts.

Get bank statements for the last couple of months so you can see how much you spend. Work out how much was spent at Christmas (food and presents), then set up a direct debit into a second account each month to cover the cost. Have second payments going in for holidays.

Be honest! It’s a horrible exercise to do, but worth doing on a yearly basis.

Edited becsue I took this far too literally!

ignore me. It’s early

Toiletries
Cleaning products
Gifts for friends and family

You simply can't do a budget unless you include absolutely everything, you can conclude your budget is too tight to allow for new clothes or presents. but you can't budget when you have a car and exclude the payments for it and the fuel

We don’t live in London yet, we are in Australia. I’m trying to have an idea of how much we will spend. Also, a rough number would be great :)

I think you need to look at the budget planner above, and then Google everything in the area you want to live.

Haircuts - you could spend thirty pounds on a cut and blow dry, or a hundred pounds on cut, colour and blow dry. Do you go every six weeks, or ten weeks?

Swimming lessons - look at the leisure centres to see how much they charge.

Groceries - are you a Lidl (cheapest supermarket) or Waitrose (higher end)?

How much is your income? They will influence the above as well. That should probably be a starting point and work backwards. Ie. Deduct all the essential payments - rent, food, electricity, commute prices etc, and then see what you have left over for ‘luxuries’ such as kids clubs, gyms etc.

Mortgage payment
Secured/HP loans
Rent
Management Charge (e.g. on leasehold property)
Council Tax
Electricity
Gas
Oil
Water Rates
Telephone (land line)
Mobile Phone
TV Licence
Satellite/Cable TV
Internet Services
Groceries etc.
Clothing
Petrol/Diesel
Road Tax (car)
Car Insurance (including breakdown cover)
Car Maintenance (including MOT)
Car Parking
Other Travel
Childcare/Nursery
Other child related expenses
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.)
Pet Insurance/Vet bills
Building Insurance
Contents Insurance
Life Assurance
Other Insurance
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.)
Haircuts
Entertainment
Holiday
Household Emergency Fund (e.g. for repairs)

You mention car parking.
Most houses don’t seem to have parking and you need to park in the street, do we need to pay for a parking permit? Is that what you refer as car parking? If it is then how much will that cost approximately?

Thank you, so far from my research I have:

1. Rent 3 bedroom 2 bathrooms house with small garden or courtyard in London zone 3 (West, or South West)

3100 pm

1. council rates 160-200 pm
2. electricity and gas 250pm in winter
3. water bill not sure about this one
4. internet 50pm
5. groceries 400 pm (mix of cheap + mid range supermarket)
6. phone provider for 2 phones 50 pm
7. 3 days of afternoon school club for two kids 70pm
8. 2 days a week commute from zone 3 for 2 adults 120 pm
9. swimming lessons for 2 kids once a week 70pm
10. gym membership no classes just gym access for 1 adult don’t need anything fan 35pm

Does that sound right?
how much should I expect to pay for kid’s and adult hair cut in London?

@OztoLdn afterschool care seems a little on the low side. I paid about £15 a day for my dd - I know some schools are cheaper.

Gym membership / that would get you a council run gym but not a private one - sounds like you would be ok with that though.

If you go sim only you could get phones down to £10 each.

I spend more than £550 a month on food for me a teenager and a dog so you’d need to up that significantly I think. I don’t eat meat or drink alcohol. We never have takeaways.

You can halve internet though..

After school care will cost you more, gym will cost you less. Are you buying school lunches or packed lunches? If packed lunches your food shop is a bit low too.
school uniforms
kids clothes incl sports clubs
no other clubs apart from swimming? (No music, football etc?)

Council rates seem low too but I guess depends on the area.

Groceries is way too low- even at aldi for our family of 4 we’re around £600 a month now once I add all the top ups- and we don’t buy alcohol!
rent seems a bit low too- south west London is expensive!

council rates 160-200 pm - varies depends on size of house

electricity and gas 250pm in winter - £250 per month all year round (v expensive now)

water bill not sure about this one - approx £50 per month

internet 50pm - depends on package

groceries 400 pm (mix of cheap + mid range supermarket) - I’d say slightly more

phone provider for 2 phones
3 days of afternoon school club for two kids 70pm - can be £10-25 per session. Taking a mid figure of £15, that’s £30 per session, so £90 per week

2 days a week commute from zone 3 for 2 adults 120 pm

swimming lessons for 2 kids once a week 70pm

gym membership no classes just gym access for 1 adult don’t need anything fan 35pm

We are used to make lunch for our kids from scratch, they might eat school lunch once or twice a month.
The 400£ is just for groceries shopping , I have set a 400£ for eating out including lunch x 2 per week for when we go to the office, and a family outing including lunch on the weekends.

The kids initially will only do swimming while we settle, my son might want to join a football team and my daughter might want to do either a dance or acrobatics class.
I also would like them to learn French, I have seen schools usually teach a second language as part of the curriculum?

thanks

You've massively underestimated this.

400 might cover food but won't cover toiletries, cleaning stuff, pet food etc on top.

Go to websites like Martin Lewis, step change etc. They have downloadable budget sheets that include things you'd not have thought about. Prescriptions, dentist, Christmas ,birthdays, school activities, home/contents insurance, boiler service, fund for emergency repairs or replacements (oven/fridge breaks)

I spent a good few months with a debt charity & it was an eye opener what people forget to factor in.

Your estimates seem on the low side.

£3100 is probably doable for renting. I stuck a few SW zone 3ish neighbourhoods in and you can find 3 beds for that.

£400 for a food shop for a family of 4 is very low. Groceries are expensive now. I'd estimate around £150-200 a week minimum even if you're careful.

Contents insurance.

Car insurance is v expensive these days. It's gone crazy. You definitely need to allow for that.

Swimming lessons seem on the low side, I'd budget about £10 for a 30 min lesson per child.

Your after-school estimates are way too low. I'd estimate about £15 per day per child, so for your two for 3 days a week that would be £90 a week, not £70 a month! Or getting on for £400 a month.

Yes schools will probably teach French.

Adult haircut - a cheap price is £60. You can pay as much as you want of course. Halve it for kids. If you want a cut and colour I'd say you're looking at at least £120 for anywhere decent and possibly £200-300 if you want something that isn't a simple all-over dye (highlights, balayage or whatever).

You'll probably want to allow transport costs other than your commute. Getting around to activities etc at weekends if you take the bus, train etc. Not sure why you're not including petrol in this overall.

I would budget at least £220 per month for energy on average over the year. Don't think you'll get away with low bills in summer as it's just so expensive now. I pay £85 every month in a one bed one bath!

I'd allow £100 per month for two adults to get lunch at the office twice a week. And £20 per person for lunch out on a family outing.

Others have provided good lists of things like clothing you'll need to budget for. That will probably include school uniform and some schools also require specific uniform gym kit too, so budget for that each year as the children grow.

I didn’t include everything as the list would be gigantic.
Based on all the comments, would £7,000 per month cover most of what has been mentioned above?
The only thing I’m leaving on the side is holidays.

Please note that we don’t have pets, kids will do a maximum of 2 extra curricular activities.
Car will be most likely used only on the weekends.
Work will pay for private health insurance for all, cover seems good includes dentist, gp, physio, optical, etc

i think there are to many variables. £7000 net pay is huge, and would easily cover this.

What’s your net income? Where do you plan to live?

1. Rent 3 bedroom 2 bathrooms house with small garden or courtyard in London zone 3 (West, or South West)
2. council rates. Unusually low compared to the rest of the Uk in many areas of London - someone on hear posted they lived in London and C/Tax was £150 for a d band property
3. electricity and gas - if well insulated could be £200 a month
4. water bill - around £40-50 a month
5. internet I pay £36 for internet and one SIM card for pre owned mobile phone
6. groceries shop Sainsbury for food and Aldi and Lidl for extras, M&S for fruit and you'll be looking at between £400-£500 per month
7. phone provider for 2 phones sim or phone?
8. 3 days of afternoon school club for two kids
9. 2 days a week commute from zone 3 for 2 adults
10. swimming lessons for 2 kids once a week £20 weekly
11. gym membership no classes just gym access for 1 adult don’t need anything fancy Pure gym do cheap memberships and they are scattered around the country £30 memberships

TV licence you only need if you watch live tv, with Netflix and the like you don't have to have a licence

Do you have to have a car? public transport is good and car ownership is becoming more problematic in London 46% of households don't have access to their own car or any car

go through all your statements from 2023, work out where your money goes and then work out the average per month for each area. cut it down as required, then thats your budget.