Do You Think A Family of 4 Can Survive On £800-£1K Per Month?

[Limbodancer]

Dh and I have finally found our dream house, if we put in an offer for it and it was accepted after mortgage and all bills we would have approx £800/£1000 to spend on food and day to day living expenses including school trips/birthday presents etc. Is this doable?

I am a regular btw but have changed my name for this, nor do I want this thing to kick off!

We have just begun a massive savings plan (first saving to pay off 2K overdraft then for big holiday) and have been horrified to realise how much money we must usually fritter away. Usually our credit card bill is about 1.5K, (plus about £600 cash spent) this month it was less than £400. We did all our food shopping (apart from wafer thin ham - no-ones is as good as waitrose for that) in Asda, did menu plans, and just did not fritter a penny.

Our new planned 'budget' is the same as yours, an we were definately under that this month, with the cc bill, asda bill and cash spent it was still less than 1K.

I've lived on that - four of us. Easy way of budgeting is to make as many bills as possible monthly and if you can your mortgage weekly (saves you thousands of pounds over the duration of the mortgage). Set yourself a budget for everything - food, outings, petrol etc and after a few months you'll find it all goes smoothly. Fantastic news on the new house. Good luck.

Yep - It really is doable! Dh & I only have around £1,500 per month before mortgage, utility bills, food etc. And there are now 4 of us - me, dh, ds - 2 and dd - 13 weeks. I won't pretend that we are rich! Far from it but from what you say,, I would say no problem to living on that amount

Yes! After bills and mortgage,certainly.Do not think me and dp have ever had much more than this!!!

It is often cheaper if you pay bills monthly by direct debit.

We shop at cheapo supermarkets (Aldi and Lidl)They are cheap but I find Aldis' stuff to be good quality.

We only run one car.I generally use public transport during week with the kids.

I very rarely splash out on new clothes and any spare money tends to go on the kids.We very rarely go out.

I try to do lots of free stuff with the kids,or stuff that costs very little.Park,walks,swimming,softplay,toddler groups,museums,libraries.We have a yearly pass for a local attraction that is really worth the dosh and saves loads.

I still manage to bank the child benefit into an account for both children each month.

Am sincerely hoping that when they reach 5 I can increase my hours and earn a little more cash

Enoy your new house

God yes - can't see that would be a problem at all!

yes, and great idea re childminding.

£800/£1000 FGS its not exactly a tight budget, but then perhaps thats because we have about £50 a month left after paying all the bills .

Yes! Something seriously wrong if you can't live on this. But be honest with yourself about how much you'll cut back. if you're used to lunching out, popping into clothes shops, are you REALLY going to just put a cap on all spending? House sounds great, and WILL make a difference to your life, it's just that once you've moved in and you're used to it and the kids are used to it, will they/you be gagging for those lunches out/latest trainers etc etc ? trouble with mortgage payments is that you don't SEE something for your money IYSWIM. Just a thought....

I guess my only note of caution is to make sure that you have fully considered all of the additional costs that a larger house and garden entail - eg will you need a tree surgeon and if so how often (mine seems to cost around £500 per tree every 5-7 years). Are you doing all the garden maintenance yourself?

What assumptions are you making about interest rates?

What about maintenance on the house? One factor I hadn't previously realised is that various workmen up their daily rate when they see the size of the house!

In taking into account bills are you accurately assessing what the new bills would be like? Our current house has elec hot water whereas previously we had gas - huge difference per month.

The other change for me when I moved was in parking costs - previously I lived close enough to town centre to waqlk and not pay parking chagres. Once I moved I couldn't belive how much I spent on parking. I changed my habots to doing more on line and fewer visits to the town centre, but you need to think about whether you will have some sort of change in costs.

(whispers because do not want this thread to kick off either) our family of 4 finds it difficult to manage on this amount after all the standing orders each month, but if it is your dream house and you feel confident that your family income is very secure at its present level, then on balance I'd say you should probably go for it. What is the mortgage as a multiple of your income/s? If it is more than 3 x then I'd say consider it very carefully. Our mortage is 2 x. Still we have no money at the end of the month to show for it .

Do able without a doubt.

Don't want to cause any offence or make the thread kick off, but I think "maintain our current standard of living" might have been a better way of putting it rather than "survive".

how much do you live on now per month after bills?

Reading threads like this makes one realise how well off so many people in this country really are. The problem is they just don't know it.

In reply to OP, you should easily survive on that amount. Spend it on what you need rather than what you want and save the rest.

Only read the OP but in your position I'd check what you're spending now. Have you considered:

MOT/tax/car servicing
insurance, car and home/buildings
Hair cuts
memberships of prof bodies/union membership
holidays
savings
pension
BUPA/other health costs
opticians
dentist
magazines/newspapers
eating out
presents/birthdays
repairs of anything
wine

I think it sounds low tbh but only you can tell what your costs are now and what sacrifices if any would need to be made for this and whether it's worth it. We spend around £200 a week on food so I couldn't do it, no.

That's more than i have to live on a month before i've even paid bills. By gum yo have nothing to worry about lol

agree with twinklemegan

survive is hardly the right word

We have just found our dream house and would probably have less than that to live on a month - our mortgage going from 10 - 25 years but it is do-able as we have started doing it already.

Have 2 DCs too.

Just got to sell our house now or win £200k on the lottery so we wouldn't have to sell it!!

it is do able. dh and i have a little more than that left after bills. we just have dd, but our income will be no more in real terms when we have dc2. we did have to adjust to living on this amount as we had been used to both of us bringing in a full time salary, now mine is part time.

however things are ok, we run 2 cars, don't think much about what we spend on food etc, dds clothes and things like that. the only time things feel a bit tight is if we get an unexpected bill or expense, perhaps for one of the cars. but even then it's fine really. do you have savings to cover such things, or will you be living month to month? for holidays i rely on my annual bonus, otherwise we are fortunate enough to have family living in france, the lakes, and morocco, so cheap holidays are easy for us.

i do anticipate things will perhaps become more difficult as dd gets older and is maybe into more expense things, but then i suppose there won't be nappies to pay for, or nursery costs.