...to ask how much you spend each month?

[scatteredbraincells]

haven't lived in the UK for years but we're moving back for 2 years in April. I have no idea about the cost of living in England after all these years, could someone please help me?

We can obviously estimate things like rent, childcare and commute, but I would appreciate help on house bills and supermarket mainly, and then things like clothes for the kids, school equipment (uniform and supplies) and anything else you can tell me.

We're a family of four

thank you very much ladies, you're all givign me such useful infomration, keep it coming

...thats fot 2 adults 2 kids.

Mortagage 700
Food 280ish
Sky 60
Gas/elec 140
Council tax 120
Childcare 100ish

We are family of four but DS doesn't eat yet!

no idea about housebills.

petrol about £100 for all cars.

food about £300 - i always look out for bargains, but also buy good (= healthy, organic, tasty) food, and... erm... about half of the 300 is probably on wine/lager..

we are a family of 4.

I always cook from scratch too, and often veggie stuff, no meat.

I think sometimes, maybe, people underestimate the "popping out" for milk and whatnot, because I can do a big shop at Tesco for £30,have everything including cleaning stuff, and then end up going down the local shop and spending another tenner on chocolate and newspapers extras.

I know exactly how much we spend because I take out my food money in cash every week and then hide my debit card somewhere in the house (sometimes forgetting where!

SE here

£2,250 on mortgage and direct debits for household bills
£600 on supermarket shop
£850 on childcare
£350 on petrol (two cars)
£138 on clubs/sports
£150 on other general stuff (bank charges, presents for kids parties/family, takeaways)

If there is anything left of the overdraft after that I might by the odd bit of clothing from somewhere cheap!

That's true, but we keep a portion of our food 'budget' in a pot for the nipping to shop for milk scenario, so it is accounted for. I do spend on chocolate, but cover that from misc!

Farm shop tends to be approx £30 - £35 p/w, one joint for roasting, 2 or 3 other bits of meat, Bacon, ham, sausages, maybe a little veg if they have what I'm after.

Use the meat to meal plan, rest of budget in supermarket bar nappies and wipes from Lidl.

Sometimes we spend a little more, sometimes less, sometimes we blow a lot on take swayed too.

Take aways, not swayed...

Some people have such cheap council tax! I'm in SW London / Surrey and pay £200 per month for a 3 bed terrace, that's band E I think.

1 adult, 2dc (both under 4)

mortgage 750
bills 400ish
food 200ish - plus always doing top ups!
breakfast club for ds 25
80 - petrol
220 - car loan
70 - car insurance
300 - savings
25 - dc swimming lessons
50 - hair (colour every 6 weeks, cut every 12)
80 - cleaner
200 - petty cash (coffees/tea out/treats)

oh, and am in the south east.

We tend to only drink a bottle of wine when it's someone's birthday/ anniversary but even that is only £6 bought from our local Scottish wine producers :)

It's quite a low amount, but I think that's down to planning and using local suppliers in the main. I just grabbed the bull by the horns as it were and got organising. We tend to eat parsnips yes but not beans ;) I can only give recent examples (memory awful). Erm beef pie & veg, salmon, veg and cous cous, chicken soup, smoked salmon pasta, ham hock and pea soup, carrot & coriander soup, smoked salmon quiche, roast chicken, beef sausage casserole, fruit from the garden and puff pastry pie with custard, cullen skink, cumin lamb tagine with cous cous, carbanara, porrage, chicken & mushroom pie, snacks are almonds fairy cakes, plums and that sort of thing.....basic home cooked stuff.

Really really hungry now!

Midlands here
Rent -£650 (3bed semi)
Gas/elec -£80.00
Water-£19.00
Fuel-£350.00 (both have commute)
Car finance £143.00
Tv licence-£12.00
Phone/broadband -£40.00
Insurances-£40.00 lives, £19.00 house,£80.00 x2 cars
Mobiles-£30.00
Food-£400.00 (includes cleaning, baby stuff and clothes as tend to pick bits up from supermarket)
Council tax £140.00
Childcare- 8x preschool sessions £120.00

I live in inner London (zone 2, SE London).

Monthly I pay:

Mortgage: £579
Service change (which includes heating): £100
Travel: £106 (zone 1 & 2 Travelcard, I don't have a car) + £20 top-up for out-of-zone travel
Food: about £200 on Asda groceries, but I eat lunch in my work canteen every day (£5-6 per day)
Council tax: £100
Gas: £10 (cooking only)
Elec: £20 (I have a pay-as-you-go meter)
TV licence: £12
Mobile phone: £35

I try not to think about it! Is living in denial so wrong?? :))

Up in Northern Ireland here.

Rent: £450 per month inc. rates (rates include water, bins, ground rent etc)
Food: £200 pm max (including decent butcher's meat)

Electric: £60 pm max
DC's clubs: £16 pm
Mobile top-up: £20 pm
Broadband and landline: £24 pm
Other outgoings: £20 pm

We're a family of 4 and we do pretty well on that. This time of year will see the electric go up by about another £5 a week, but that's about it really. We have enough oil in for this and next winter. We also do a lot of free stuff like walking, going to the park, let them play out on their scooters/bikes etc, all on a dry day.

For our family of five and a cat I try to keep to about £400 a month on food which includes packed lunches but it is getting to be increasingly difficult. I batch cook from scratch, meal plan and stick to own brands....

Don't know how some of you do it.

per month :
mortgage 1500
council tax 180
utilities 120
petrol 150
gym 70
holiday fund 150
mobile phone 30
haircut 26
pet insurance 15
child music lessons 40
child pocket money 15
going out/misc 150
house/buildings insurance 30
car insurance 25
clothes 50

weekly :
organic fruit and veg box 25
organic meat/poultry 20
other supermarket spend 30
cleaner 25

I think with food it has to be down to extreme planning! We have a breadmaker so make our own bread. We buy staples (cereals, pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, tinned tuna etc) from Asda or Lidl. Each week we get a large organic fruit and veg box and also whatever meat or poultry is on offer, plus eggs. So we have a roast every weekend and there's usually enough meat for a second roast dinner. We always have fish on Fridays. Other nights are risotto, pasta, sauce and salad, etc. We dont eat puddings but do have yoghurts and fruit etc. Plus we do order the occasional case of wine!

I'm finding this thread so interesting :)

I'm so sorry. I appear to have killed the thread :(

South West London, family of four

Per month

Rent 3200
Childcare 2200
Utilities/CT/Phone 500
Transport 200
Clothes 200
Food 800
Holidays/Entertainment 1000
Presents 300
Misc 600

Total 9000

terrifying really

Hi there,
I'm a radio producer working for BBC World service radio. We're doing a thing about coping with recession and squeezed family budgets. Anyone fancy talking to us about how they are dealing with family life on a reduced income?
Ideally we'd be talking to somebody within the Greater London area. It would need to be this week, but if you are around and willing please let me know!
Regards,
Beeb