What are your expenses per month?

[Shitemum]

I'm trying to work out what our living expenses might be if we moved back to the UK. I haven't lived here for many years and haven't much of a clue what we would need to earn to cover basic expenses.
What are yours per month?
Please say if you run a car, what your rent or mortgage is and how many there are in the family and ages. (Feel free to namechange!)
Thanks!

Doesn't it depend on your lifestyle, where you live and in what type of building you live?

Why don't you tell us what sort of accommodation you would want and we can give you rough figures from that?

4bed house in northeast, 2 adults, 1.5 children

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

Add on top of that entertainment, clothes etc... HTH

it's going to vary SO much by region it's probably not going to be of much use to you if you'd be living in a completely different part of the country, particularly wages in relation to rent/council tax.

well what are your needs?

Do you need to buy a house? If so how large?
Do you have a deposit?
Where are you considering moving to?
How old are your kids?
Will you be working (I ask because childcare will be one of your major expenses if you are working, especially if your kids are young).

As an eg, a 2 bed flat in my area of London will be about £3-400K, which with a 10% deposit would cost about £2000 in mortgage payments.

To rent it would be about £1500 per month.

Full time childcare will probably cost you between £700-£1500 per month per child, depending on their ages (the younger the child, the more expensive of course).

Council tax will be about £150 per month

Running a car will be about £50 per month in tax and insurance, plus whatever you use in fuel (say £100 a month for low mileage?).

Public transport will be about £80 per month for a zone 1-2 travel card (x 2 of course if both partners commute)

Utilities will be about £60 per month depending on usage.

Food will be about £400 a month plus depending on how extravagent you are!

I think you'd get a better idea if you supply a bit more info tbh?

sorry! Started this thread as a follow-on from this one and forgot to give details.
To sum up:

• Central Edinburgh, but we would be living at my Mum's for first year or so and would contribute to household expenses and pay some rent to her... We own a house in Spain, (with a mahoosive mortgage) but it isn't a great time to sell. TBH I don't think we could afford to buy in central Edinburgh, much as I'd love to...
• We are 2 adults and 2 DDs, who will be 6 and 3 by the time we move so DD1 will be at school and DD2 will have some hours of nursery.
• We would be working (tho we don't have jobs set up so may take some time to find them {hopeful}) but hopefully eligible for working tax credits etc.

- Will probably share car with my Mum (once we've passed our tests!) - Used to frugal, simple life-style

Thanks to everyone who has already replied, can anyone else add anything?

Hi Shitemum - I'm in northern Scotland. No point commenting on housing costs etc. because it entirely depends where you end up.

IME food for you, DH and 2 children could be £300 a month max, if you're used to living simply.

Nursery - allow for at least £4 - £4.50 an hour. It won't be booked/charged by the hour but it's a useful rule of thumb.

If you move somewhere with no gas then allow AT LEAST £120 a month for your electricity/other heating costs.

We spend £140 a month on petrol - that's going to work and back maybe 3 times a week (bus the other two days) and other sundry journeys - around 200 miles a week. If you're wanting day trips out etc. then obviously allow a lot more.

Twinkle - thanks. Do we have to pay for her nursery if it's local council, I mean not private? I've heard you can pay for extra hours but assumed the 2.5 hours or so they get every day was free...

As for food. Don't fruit and vegs and things cost more than processed food? I thought a healthy diet in the UK was more expensive than the average diet?

We eat rice, pasta, couscous etc, not much meat but some fish, lots of pulses, cheese, yoghurt etc eggs...

nnursery - your 3yo will get a free place from teh term after his/her third birthday. its 2/12 hours per day for slightly fewer days than the school year

nurseries in edinburgh

edinburgh is a very VERY expensive place to live

KristinaM - thanks, but is it expensive becuase of house prices or is food etc more expensive too?

good site, thanks

I think it's a bit of a myth that eating fresh food in the UK is more expensive than processed - it's mainly that you can buy really cheap horrible processed sausages etc more cheaply than basic cuts of good meat. The cost of fruit and veg (while not as cheap as on the continent) will be a drop in the ocean compared to housing costs which are vastly more expensive than elsewhere.

I've never lived in Spain, but from living in France and holidaying in Spain I'd say that food is probably a bit more expensive (maybe 10% for basics like pasta, couscous etc).

Fruit and veg is more expensive - but as I say, will not make a big difference to your budgets - the main difference is that the supermarkets tend to charge a similar price year round for items that in France would be extremely cheap in season and unavailable out of season - you have to go to a market if you want the prices you pay to reflect availability.

If you're wondering what your basic food bill might be, why don't you have a look at a supermarket site (like www.sainsburys.co.uk or www.tesco.co.uk) and do a fake shop using your mum's postcode? They will let you see a total before you checkout so you won't have to pay for anything unless you put in credit card details.

Hi Shitemum. Sorry I completely missed your DCs' ages. My DS is only 2 so we're having to pay for him at the moment.

As for food, well there are 3 of us plus 2 cats and we spend around £250 a month on grocery shopping. That's for all groceries, toiletries, household stuff, nappies etc. We eat a very similar diet to you by the sounds of it. Our meat mostly comes from the local farm shop as do our veg (often organic). We don't waste anything and we don't eat what we don't need - that's the key.

We couldn't afford to live on ready-made processed food, not that we'd want to.

thanks all - some good info here!