Expenses after housing costs?

[Noeuf]

If you don’t mind sharing, what do you spend on bills (water/fuel/food/clubs/broadband etc/) after rent/mortgage and council tax? I keep looking at hours and it’s about £2500 which I can’t cut much more. That’s clubs, all insurance, food, bills, and a debt (ends soon). Not including eg holidays which we don’t have spare for at the moment.
Sorry if it’s nosy, just trying to work out if I’m on the right tracks etc.

Ours not hours

I think ours is around £1500 for that, for a family of 5. IT is a ballpark guess, but definitely not anywhere near yours.

Thank you. I really can’t work out what’s causing the extra. I’ve included utilities water debt (345 , ends soon) activity, food, insurance. Maybe I need to try harder.

I think ours is around 2k. Family of 6

Meant to say that's all bills, clubs, food, fuel, entertainment etc. Than savings and holidays on top and of course mortgage and council tax

Ah jmaho we are six all teens. That’s really helpful. If we didn’t have the debt (345) and the attempt at saving for unexpected costs (200) that would be similar. Thank you. I’ll still keep trying to reduce it but stop going round in circles so much.

1600 ish. But we do have a car loan and a credit card we are chipping away at. They are included in that. Family of 3.

I’m really struggling to understand why ours is so high. Insurances (life house pet); utilities; phone; broadband plus Netflix; debt (345); activities 90; just seems really high. Includes food/cleaning stuff.

What's making up the rest of the £2500?

If you post a breakdown, people might be able to spot what looks too high. But your mortgage/rent and food is going to make up a big chunk of the money.

There might be scope to remortgage onto a cheaper rate, but otherwise it's going to be impossible or at least a drastic change in moving somewhere cheaper/smaller to cut that down significantly.

Food is an area where costs vary enormously and people prioritise differently, but there can be scope to cut down if you're spending more than average (cheaper supermarkets, cheaper meals or ingredients, packed lunches and picnics not bought lunches when out, fewer 'extras' like drinks, snacks etc) or if you're wasting a lot. Do you know how much you spend on food, because often that's a lot more than people realise when they add in all top ups, lunches, drinks, snacks out of the house, takeaways etc.

It will feel a lot more comfortable when the debt goes, as that will be like a £345 increase in your disposable income, but you do need to put money aside each month for 'unexpected' costs especially if this is to cover things like car repairs, new washing machine or pet insurance excess or vaccinations, because these things will happen sooner or later.

I think you’re right , the debt clears soon so that will make a huge difference. Food is budgeted 600 but I know we go over. Also includes 300 for unexpected bills/ trying to save for Christmas etc - maybe it’s they way ive listed it to include everything, rather than listing just basics and then anything left over is spare.

I live in Ireland but my fixed bills are €1064 a month for a couple including the mortgage. €513 excluding the mortgage.

We don't pay any council tax or water charges here but health insurance and medication costs account for €295 of this amount.

Dosen't include groceries either which is probably €300-450ish a month but we eat out an awful lot more than we should so I have no idea what we actually spend on food, probably a horrific figure.

We pay house insurance, car tax & insurance and campervan tax & insurance yearly so they aren't included but amount to roughly €2000 annualy.

Not including pensions here either because they're deducted at source.

About £1500. Family of 2 adults and 5 kids.

It depends what your food bill is and also you are including £300 savings for Christmas etc. I’m not including savings and our food is about £300 per month for the essentials.

shivawn gosh that’s really low! I’m trying to trim things. peanuts I’m trying to work out what the extra is and what we can drop. Loads of it is fixed - phone, insurances, etc. snoods the budget is £600 but we always go over by about £100. You’re right ive added £300 for surprise costs/Xmas - not long term savings at all. I’m just interested in what peoples costs are roughly to see if I just need to suck it up or if there’s mileage to cut back. It’s actually £2300 after housing and council tax.

£700 on food for 4, even two teenagers is quite a lot.

Heating oil - about 90
Electricity - about 40
Broadband - 25
Food and household stuff (two adults and very tiny people who don't eat much!) - 200
Alcohol - about 60
Water - 0 (included in council tax)
Two cars insurance and tax - roughly 80
Phones (two) - 45
Total - 540 per month

There is also petrol, incidentals such as car/house repairs, charitable donations and savings, but you didn't ask about that so haven't included.

It would definitely help people if you break things down a bit more?

I’ll try and do that. I put £300 aside for incidentals and allow myself £125 for fuel, toiletries, going out etc. That’s included. I wonder if it’s just me treating those as amounts rather than just left over income?

People can't really comment unless you post a breakdown of the amounts.

I’m just interested in what peoples costs are roughly to see if I just need to suck it up or if there’s mileage to cut back

What other people spend isn't helpful, everyone has different budgets and priorities. Typical spends will vary wildly even for the same household size.

Look at the money saving expert money makeover and do everything that's relevant. Small cost savings can really add up and it's likely that bills like phones aren't fixed at all if you're paying more than about a tenner a month, or about 15 to include a new phone every so often.

budget planner

Use this Budget planner to work out where your money is going (and be honest!)

People can't really comment unless you post a breakdown of the amounts.

Water and dual fuel 120 + 124
Insurances (life, house, pet) 120
Food 600
Kids club 90
Gym 10
Mobiles x 5 90
Licences, Tv and broadband 104

It seems like I’m pretty much spending similar on some things just also including stuff like short term savings (for emergencies) etc. It’s the fixed costs I’m interested in really - stuff we all have to pay.

Thank you for the planner I’ll try that. It’s not unaffordable just surprising how much everything adds up to and would be nice to reduce.

You can definitely get your broadband and tv down ours is sky phone and broadband £55 a month.

Check those insurances are best deals.
Wheres your council tax?

250 on council tax. Fab will have a look at alternatives for TV.
I’m just nosy/curious about whether we are somehow signed up to expensive versions of things. It seems a lot, but it’s all stiff that can’t really be opted out of.

One adult/one tween

Gas/Electric £100/month
Food/cleaning £220/month
Water/TV/BB/phone £ 65
car ins/tax/mot/fuel £ 90
Hobbies & haircuts £ 95
House insurance £ 20

So about £600 a month but that doesn't include school uniform, clothes, shoes or DS's Waterstone's habit. I don't drink, smoke or have any debt. Probably £900 all in.