How much is your monthly budget after rent/mortgage & expenses?

[SweetMummy911]

Hello ladies

A bit of background - DH and I have finally decided after many years of struggling with childcare, fighting with employers for time off and crazy commutes that we are going to be at a stage in the next 12 months for me to give up work.

The plan is for me to ride out my maternity leave and when it ends I will NOT go back. We are going to have 3 children and both of us in FT employment is becoming increasingly difficult.

After mortgages, utilities and council tax are paid we are going to be left with approximately £800 to live off (also planning on running my own freelance business but I'm not factoring in any income from this as I'm not sure how much I can realistically make.)

All my girlfriends and other mums keep telling me that £800 is enough to live off - we only spend about £40 per week on petrol and food comes to between £50 and £70 per week since switching to ALDI.

Anybody else in this position that could provide some advice?

How much will your children's activities cost..have you factored in a breakdown of cars white goods etc..an emergency fund.
How much Christmas birthdays or holidays will cost?
For me 800 for food fun money savings etc seems low. Children grow and become so expensive. But this is just my opinion ☺

You should be looking at what you have left after petrol, food, savings and all the household bills

Also, to me 800 seems manageable

We only have £200 a month after bills and that's for fun things, petrol and food so £800 would be insane - i don't even know if i could manage to spend it all.

I think it sounds plenty but like a pp said I'd factor in Bills plus food (round it up to 90) and we like a cushion in case of boiler breakdown etc too. Good luck!

Thanks everybody for your replies. After food and petrol I calculated (per month) I will be left with approximately £300 for days out, children's activities and a little bit to save (when we can)

We have an emergency fund - approximately £5k saved up

All bills including insurances and mortgages have been factored in these calculations.

Currently with both DH and I working full time we are living off £500 per month but we both commute for 2 hours a day and we go out to restaurants and have take out several times a week! The difference in weekly budget so these are things we can definitely save on .

Think yourself lucky I have £35 a week to live off of after bills no room for fun bill suprises birthday parties and with a 4 year old he has party invites most weeks.

Sounds very comfortable to me! Good luck!

kelpie10 I find lidl and also fantastic for decent but cheap gifts for parties- I stick one in the shop most weeks and have a 'birthday bag' my son then chooses the gift for his friend from.

mikado1 all my nieces and nephews christmas gifs were bought at Llidl great for bargain presents!

Will the £300 have to cover absolutely everything else? What about clothing, footwear, birthdays and Christmas, holidays, haircuts etc? I think it would be tight. The Money Saving Expert website is very good and has something called a SOA form (Statement of Affairs) that you can fill out this breaks your budget down and includes absolutely everything including stuff you might have forgotten to include. It might be worth filling one out and seeing what figures you are left with. Kids get much more expensive as they get older too.

Good ideas Cowardlycustard

Yes sweetmummy, they had great stuff before Christmas!