Combined income

[flyawaywithmelion]

What would you say is a comfortable combined income in the UK, for a family of 4? We live in Greater London

Oh, if you are in Greater London then the expected Mumsnet Lifestyle Salary is £2mill combined. You lose the child benefit and tax free child care but you should be able to still do the food shop (yellow label) at M&S once a month.

There’s a million and one factors. For a start:

• how much childcare do you need to pay for
• how old are your kids
• does anyone in the family have additional needs
• is the mortgage paid off

Impossible to say without more information.

This is our income and budget and we manage well on this.
Me 3100
DP 4100
CB 280
Total 7480
Housing
Mortgage: 1900.
Insurances(life, house): 150
Total Housing: 2050
Utilities
Electricity 150
Waste collection: 30
Broadband & TV: 70
Mobile phones x3: 60
Total Utilities: 310
Food & Groceries
Groceries & household food: 500
Dining out / takeaways: 200
Total Food: 700
Transportation
Fuel: 250
Car insurance & tax: 150
Maintenance & NCT: 100
Public transport / Parking: 20
Total Transport: 520
Education & Kids
School books, uniforms, fees: 50
Activities, sports, clubs: 50
Pocket money/treats: 60
Total Kids & Education: 160
Entertainment & Lifestyle
Family outings, hobbies, gifts: 200
Subscriptions, books, etc.: 60
Miscellaneous expenses (haircuts,nails): 60
Personal spends: 200 x 2 = 400
Total Entertainment: 730
Savings & Miscellaneous
Emergency fund / Savings: 2,000
Holidays (monthly allocation): 500
Clothing: 200
Miscellaneous buffer: 300
Total Savings & Misc.: 3,000
TOTAL MONTHLY SPENDING: 7,480

are those salaries gross or net? If after tax Your husbands seems high to still get child benefit? Sorry to derail it’s just that I’ve had a member of my team recently fall foul of it and they are having to pay it back. May be my bad maths.

We are based in Ireland, but much of our costs are the same to be honest. Budgeting is budgeting.

Also notice that budget includes 2k pm for savings, as well as covering other annual and irregular expenses such as cars, holidays etc.

But to answer the OPs question, I have a piece of string, how long is it?

Yeah it’s my full budget but I break it down so it’s easy to see each expense separately