Expenses

[LesleyA]

Hi we are moving to the UK and of course understand that there's a huge variation in what could be monthly expenses but I have NO idea how much living expenses will be to work out how much we will need to earn etc. I copied a breakdown from a previous post in 2008 and wondered if someone could give me an idea what these things would probably cost now. We have two children 9 and 10 and they'd be going to state schools. We'd like a modest but lovely home.
this is the list I copied
per month
Gym 75.00
Life Insurance 35.00
Vodafone x2 cellphone 40.00
Virgin Media Broadband 17.00
Council Tax 135.00
Utilities 65.00
Talktalk (free international) 25.00
Sky Digital 45.00
Pet Insurance 9.00
Mortgage 866.00
Car Insurace 35.00
House & Contents 50.00
Food 600.00
Fuel (Diesel) 200.00
Childcare -
TOTAL 2,197.00
Would be great to hear thank you!

It varies HUGELY depending on where in the country you are.

Can you narrow it down to country, or region at least?

You could easily double the utilities and council tax, depending on property and location. Water bill, funding a car, car tax, tv licence, rent would be more than mortgage quoted, travel to work. Do you have an idea of location?

Agree you need to provide more details - do you have children, what ages? (For nursery fees, food bills etc), what area of the country, what size house, will you be commuting by car to work?

For example I pay £30 a month for the gym but my sister in London pays around £75. Our council tax is around £180 in Band E so higher than your estimate but our buildings and content insurance is about £15. For a 2 year old we paid around £600 a month for 3 days in nursery but now he's 4 we barely pay anything as he gets the 30 free hours. So there are so many variables!

There's a lot of no frills gyms now, so you can do that for £10-20 pm if you want to and there's one nearby.

The amount you were paying for insurance looks very expensive, you can get it for around half that.

Food is quite a bit more expensive than it was 10 years ago, but now or then £600 is a lot to spend for a family of 4, so you must have been shopping in expensive supermarkets and buying expensive things. Aldi and Lidl are a lot more widespread than they used to be and their ranges have expanded too.

A lot of your amounts are a bit 'how long is a piece of string' because costs vary depending on where you live and whether you shop around for insurance etc, cook from scratch from Aldi will obviously be much much cheaper than Waitrose ready meals.

Apart from the NMW increasing quite a bit percentage wise, wages haven't gone up hugely and sometimes have fallen and a lot of jobs aren't as secure as they were (zero hours contracts etc), it's probably more that you have to see what is available and what you are qualified for.

When you lived here before, were you tied to a particular area? Unless you 'have' to live in London or SE England, I would really suggest thinking about elsewhere, such as in and around other UK cities, as housing is so much cheaper so you will have a better quality of life on lower incomes.

It all really depends on your personal circumstances.
Best thing is to check on moneysavingexpert before you sign up for anything as they have all the bargains.
'Gym 75.00 [is this for 2 people? That would be about what I pay but mine has a pool. Lots of local councils have gym membership that's worth checking out if you like to swim, or a local hotel might be cheap]
Life Insurance 35.00 [this is 7x more than I pay but mine is over the short term of my mortgage and I'm relatively young-check comparison site and aviva]
Vodafone x2 cellphone 40.00 [I'm with giff gaff pay as you go paying 12 quid a month]
Virgin Media Broadband 17.00 [this costs me more although I got a good deal on moneysavingexpert]
Council Tax 135.00 [depends on band of your house which you can check online]
Utilities 65.00 [I pay more than this but again you can keep bills down using a price comparison site like moneysavingexpert]
Talktalk (free international) 25.00 [for me this comes with broadband which maybe explains my higher broadband cost]
Sky Digital 45.00 [I only have amazon prime and Netflix. About £18 a month]
Pet Insurance 9.00
Mortgage 866.00 [about the same as mine but it depends on value of house and term you pay it over. Have you got UK bank accounts already? It''s likely you will need proof of income and some track record of using credit in UK to get a mortgage ]
Car Insurace 35.00 [this may have gone up. Use price comparison site and aviva and direct line]
House & Contents 50.00
Food 600.00 [I pay more like £350]
Fuel (Diesel) 200.00
Childcare -
TOTAL 2,197.00 '

Gas and electric is more expensive than it used to be, so expect that to cost more. Unless you end up living in a small or very well insulated property, or don't put the heating on much, I'd expect it to be more like £100 pm.

Diesel (and petrol) has been up and down in price over the past few years and at one point was nearly £1.50 per litre (now around £1.20) so you might actually spend less on this, although obviously depends on where you live in relation to work/schools/amenities.