Insane outgoing

[electricfried]

Hi,
I have spent a bit of time today going through our finances. I haven't done it for a while but like to try and keep on top of things. I calculated our essential outgoings today and I am shocked.....
When I add up all of our essential outgoings/bills it comes to £3600 per month!!
This seems insane. Does anyone else have outgoings like this?

Ours is about the same, including 1k nursery fees.

I don't think that's too outrageous? My council tax alone is almost £300 a month (average size 4 bed in the south east).

I suppose it depends on a lot of factors - where you live, do you have children in nursery etc?

Mine are £1300 a month, I live 2 hours north of London and have no nursery fees.

I suspect if you listed it out there would be many items not truely essential

Mine is closer to £4100 but then my mortgage is £2k of that. Luckily we can afford it (just) but it hasn't been a fun few years. Recently I got a new job so we are better off

Just to add we have 2 cars that are fully paid for and old. We work from home and have 4 kids so need a big house with room to work. We do not have a luxury lifestyle and still our bills are huge

Ours are £3900, we’re SE, no kids. £2800 mortgage, the rest on bills and food. Car is paid off and personal spending is probably another £1000 a month.

Once we add up nursery fees, mortgage, after school clubs and the usual bills we are at around £3700. That’s before food shopping or any personal outgoings we have like gym etc. madness but it’s this stage of life

Seems pretty average to me but most people I know (well the younger ones) have 2-3k mortgages. Surely it depends on salary?

Guess it depends on salary and what the outgoings are

Yes ours is similar, which includes nursery fees and school wrap around as well as our mortgage and usual bills.

Yep, mines 4k for me and 3 kids.

it completely varies - depends on how much of this is mortgage / childcare etc

Hi OP, sounds a bit low to me! My share of bills-council tax, electricity, broadband, TV licence, garden waste collection charge, food - rolls in at £1,400. That's without mortgage or heating, or transport. We both get public transport , no car currently. That's two adults and two cats.

Hers aren't low, yours are just stupidly high.

The actual number matters less than the percentage of income. Our average
Monthly outgoings are 75% of our monthly income. Leaving us 25% to save (or at the moment plough back into renovations).

it’s only a lot of your income is just touching what your costs are.

Like posters keep saying I guess, essential is what you yourself have to spend on your actual lifestyle.
Our mortgage is also stupidly huge.

Sounds average to me. It depends on what portion of your income that is.

Ours is double that. 3 small kids but no cars on finance etc.

Scotland here and were approximately £1800 here

No childcare anymore, just clubs approx £50 for all 3
Work 5 minutes drive from house
Mortgage £350 per month, 2 years left on it - council tax £150
Energy £222 but have £600 credit
Virgin package including internet is £74 full package
Petrol we fill up in Costco £250 between 2 cars
1 car is paid, the other is brand new pcp costing £168 per month
Highest expense is weekly shop which I would love to reduce

What does ‘essential’ include? Do you have a big mortgage payment, childcare and high transport costs? Those are variables that can really hike up what one family pays vs another. I think £3600 ‘essential’ bills sounds very high but my essential probably is different to yours.

Mine is about £4k. £6k net income. 3 tween/teen kids.

it feels tight most months. I try and save £700pcm for the annual bills and repairs etc The rest doesn’t seem like it goes far!

I think ours are over 5k for mortgage, bills, various insurances, credit card repayments, after school clubs, payment for one car and commuting into London.

Surely it depends on your income?

If your household income is £3000 a month, yes it's insane spending.

If you household income is 30,000 a month, it looks like peanuts spending.

I'd guess it's way above average spending, but equally you will have a way above average household income. Horses for courses.

I think to the point people keep making about income - our nursery fees are still £1.1k a month even after 15 free hours and tax free childcare and with 30 hours they will still be £900. We have a modest mortgage on a terraced house in a relatively cheap part of the country. Our outgoings are £3.7-3.9k regardless of salary. If I stopped working then we wouldn’t have to pay for nursery but we would also loose 60% of our household income. We don’t even pay for a car out of that as we bought ours in cash three years ago. And we only run one between us.

I don’t expect anyone to get out the violins because we earn enough to be comfortable. I grew up experiencing financial insecurity and parents who had to chose between heating and food, let alone afford luxuries like holidays.

5 years ago when our first DC was starting nursery it was 30% cheaper at the same nursery. Our mortgage balance was higher but the payments were £400 lower. Council tax was £180 a month, it’s now £208! I am fortunate that my salary has kept pace with these increases to an extent but our outgoing are probably £1k a month more for the same stuff, plus we had another kid, which obviously upped our expenses and dented our earnings somewhat. Food bills are so much higher.

Depends on so many factors - size of mortgage or rent, do you have childcare costs. etc As well as what you class as essential - eg gas bill is essential, but will vary not just by house size and efficiency but also whether you set the thermostat to 18 degrees or 23 degrees in winter

I'd say it was average, not insanely high.

Is some of that debt payments?