Minimal amount to live off each month

[littleblackcat27]

I know we all have different bills etc, but as a hypothetical question - if you had paid off your mortgage, and had no rent to pay - what would your bills/cost of living add up to each month?

I'm working out how cheaply we could live at the moment.

£850 for everything except rent & council tax. Live on my own. I smoke but don't have a car, holidays or much of a social life.

My income's significantly less than the minimum calculator suggested - and I spend a surprising amount on clothes (well, it surprises me because I always feel like I need something else!) I have to spend about £100 on health-related needs, too.

I must be better than I think I am at grocery shopping! I eat a proper diet plus lots of extras, though. I do choose low-end meat (thank you, unhappy chickens & bored pigs), and have a huge repertoire of mince recipes. I only shop once a fortnight, so my opportunities for impulse buys are limited.

My energy DD is £140 (1-bed flat). Currently in credit but I'll have to top it up in the winter.

After ds's school fees are finished, £1,600 at today's prices.

When I retire so no longer need the car for work/school run, about £1,300 a month including feeding & clothing two people.

I was just comparing our minimal spends to a state pension. When we both qualify - quite some way off we will be able to manage on just that if prices and pension remain at the same pace. A couple of full state pension receive £1600 a month. That would give us more wiggle room than we have now, but as I say that is some way off yet and who knows if the pension will keep up with price rises.

£3,300 😱 which includes £1,850 of nursery fees, council tax, broadband & Sky, food, water, petrol/commuting, phone bills and insurance. Council tax & utilities alone are just under £600 a month.

Bills and allowing £300 for food is just over £1200 a month. That's not allowing for any discretionary spends for days out, takeaways etc. Thats a bills paid, food allowance, strict budget. Also includes childcare at £360ish a month.

In reality, the amounts we spend are more than that due to discretionary spends (and mortgage, sad times) but we could live on that if needed.

Our mortgage alone is £1000 so our bills including kids hobbies, energy, council tax, house insurance, pet insurance, pet food, shopping, kids bus fares &'lunches etc everything is over £3k
If we were to cut down none essentials such as kids hobbies & insurances we could probably save £1k. I don't know how people have bills that are only £500 per month? I long for the day our mortgage is paid off. 13 years to go.....

£589 for all direct debit bills (Wi-Fi, council tax, car tax, life insurance, income protection, car insurance)
£80 per month for petrol
£200 for food (we don't do a weekly or monthly shop and eat very frugally)
£400 activities
£800 over paying credit cards
£300 mortgage
1 adult, 2 under tens

OP can you get your food shopping bill down? Aldi, Lidl and stop buying too much.

All bills are 1150 (we’ve got private healthcare in there) and food/petrol/the odd 300 repair or whatevs that seems to crop up every month is 1200

About £600 - 550 at a push. Without fun luxuries. That's bills, travel and food.

If we don't count the cost of house then probably about £800 a month and we just survive as a single parent 3 kids and a car. £400 of that is good and we don't pay council tax so would be more if I could work. I have a disabled child so get DLA for him and he can't actually access the community which massively saves me money even though it's isolating and depressing for us all. I don't have a tv licence buy all clothes and toys second hand dont have sky. If I we had a decent quality of life I could easily spend hundreds more!!

Around £500 including petrol but not food.

Our bills with food but without mortgage are about £2100 I think, but a lot of that is still discretionary (sky, cleaner, kids' clubs, iPhones, gym etc, food to a budget we can afford) the bare minimum mandatory bills would probably be about about £500 without food. Not sure that's very useful to you, we lived on much less years ago, but have naturally increased our outgoings as wages have increased. We could scale back if we needed to, but the items in that £2100 would be last to go.

Actually would be more like £800 with fuel and commute added.

I have a small mortgage (£271/month), but outside of that:
Monthly fixed Bills:
Utilities: £250
Insurance: £100
DD to charities: £30
Pet plan: £100 (4 pets)
Storage: £320
Mag subscription (4 mags): £12
Car insurance: £40
Son's allowance: £200
Council tax: £175
Service charges: £300
Sky: £120
Phones (3 people): £110
Boiler care: £30
TV licence: £13
Contact lens subscription: £20
PT: £200
So, approx: £2070
Then add food, petrol, clothes (not a monthly expense), travel (my daughter is a student who takes the tube daily, for example). it's my sons birthday this month, so a couple meals out and a present, Christmas of course, and any house maintenance or the car (service was £500 this past year). Plus of course my mortgage.
So I could cut the PT, mag subscriptions, charity donations, boiler care, contact lenses, pet plan, and a couple TV subscriptions, which would reduce it by about £440.
The storage kills me, but I used to pay more, having downsized from a house twice as big to a house with minimal storage (in London, so the house actually cost twice as much as my old house). I keep trying to reduce it but it is extremely useful, I suppose if I was really desperate I could go gif a smaller unit which would save another £100.
So bare minimum would be, if I really cut back, got a cheaper phone plan, would still be about £1200 without the mortgage, with food, any car or house maintenance and travel, personal (haircuts/clothing/presents/travel) on top.

You need to specify what to have included, or leave out bills as it's all relative
Some people will pay for 5 subscriptions, others will only have Sky. Some people are including petrol, but my DP drives 800 miles 4x a month

I'm getting state pension and some small amounts from private pensions (not the full ones as I haven't opted to take them yet). I spend 1200-1300 - that allows for bills, food, hairdressing, days out and luxuries (books, in my case). Don't run a car and have a one bedroom flat, and I don't spend a huge amount on clothes or cosmetics.

@crocodileindenial yep - we shop at Aldi already, But there are 5 of us at the moment.

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain once we get our state pension, income will be fine. It's just I don't want to be working 30 hours a week in my present job until I'm 67. Finding it tough on my knees now!

I keep a monthly spreadsheet and know exactly what I spend and save, and my outgoings are around £500 per month. Mortgage paid off so this includes bills, council tax, food, entertainment, travel (I don't drive), gifts etc. it's an average figure over the year. This month I'm having all my sash windows mended so clearly not included; that's out of savings. Ditto holidays etc.

Leaving out all direct debits?
200pcm petrol
600pcm food (Inc's dinner money)
50pcm bus pass (to and from secondary school)
Every day Clothes 50pcm (not every month, for four people, so 600pa)
Uniforms 10pcm (obvs spent once a year)
Repairs to home fund 20pcm
Repairs/MOT to car fund 20pcm

Everything else is either a direct debit (of which some will be higher or lower than yours and some are entirely optional meaning I could cut them)

Oh and I'd like to say a minimum of 50pp pa for Xmas and same again for birthdays

£1000 a month on food for 5 adults sounds very reasonable - it's about £45-£50 per person per week.

My household is smaller than yours so this may not translate to your circs, but from experience, in planning to significantly reduce working hours, I have found the following most useful if it's at all feasible:

Build up a savings pot of 6 months to 1 year salary.

Keep a separate savings pot for food bulk buys - anything on offer that is part of your usual non-perishable shop, stock up on 3-6 months worth. Although this seems counter intuitive as it doesn't reduce your monthly outgoings initially, over the year it can develop into noticeable savings, and suppress the monthly food bill.

Stock up cupboards with long-life goods such as pasta, rice, tinned goods, and if you have a large freezer do the same with frozen foods - especially when on offer. Also if you're rural, collect and freeze free windfall cooking apples and blackberries if available for winter desserts.

For reducing the cost of meals - 2 or 3 times a week (perhaps at the weekend), serve a three course meal such as home made soup starter and hm soda bread, and home baked pudding that's filling. These elements are cheaper than the main part of the meal, so the main course can be smaller portions.

Ditch loyalty to just one supermarket if you have several available nearby, and scour 2 or 3 for offers online.

Most people are aware of yellow sticker reductions in large stores, but if you have a village or small town store, they will often have more basic items reduced such as eggs, meat, bacon, bread which can often be frozen. These frequently appear earlier in the day than the main supermarkets, so popping in to several, if they are within travelling distance on a morning can be a useful strategy.

Approach household finances with the mindset that it's a business which must make a profit, planning ahead for maximising income; and minimising costs and expenditure. Set aside a half day a week if possible, to do your accounts in a systematic way, balance the books, look for further savings and explore investment opportunities.

Good luck with your plans.

I need 2500 a month now, 1800 of that is my rent, so theoretically if I didn't have rent I'd need 700 a month.
But realistically if I owned outright and didn't rent I'd need more to cover insurance and maintenance.

A full new state pension for 2 people is £1750pm not £1600 (£203.85pw) so better than you hope! If the triple lock stays, it should absolutely keep up with price rises.

Our basic bills are about £2000pm (no mortgage/rent or childcare). Council tax and gas/electric are very high and that does, like some PPs, include a monthly ‘accrual’ towards ‘essential’ non monthly spends including basic gifts, haircuts, house maintenance but excluding non essential spends like holidays/home improvements/ car replacements / luxuries.

Bare minimum for household bills £721

200 ct
15 contents and buildings
57 life /critical illness
36 internet
275 gas and E
85 water
14 tv license
25 car insurance
14 road tax

Then

Food - 100 a week or so - so another 400 minimum

• but some weeks be less/ if had to cut down

Things could do without /be less for some of say didn't work /have kids

27 sky
8 prime
320 petrol - 80 a tank x 4 weeks
75 swimming lessons
32 gym lessons
50 birthday presents

No wonder I am so poor