Monthly Household Expenditure

[marz]

Just finished my mortgage application with Abbey and the guy said that the average monthly expenditure incl food and clothing and all basics is around 650-850 per month!!! (for a couple and two children) Well....I am pretty sure mine is nearer to a thousand...am I just really extravagant or are they wrong?
I really want to be able to cut down and have refused before to really sit and "budget" as I am sure I would hate it and get very depressed but I do not also want to be wasting money away....
Do you all spend about that amount?

NO

Much more

I spend way more and we have relatively low mortgage and outgoings

no, ours is way more and we've only got one child!

I pay that amount just on my childcare.

Sorry confused here. Does that include the mortgage or not?

Lots more. Wonder where he gets his stats?

Message withdrawn

Without the mortgage ours is about 700 with one child. Cant spend more cos we aint got more.

I try to spend 200 quid a week on food, petrol, bits and bobs, clothes for kids, coffees etc... and I fail every week to stick to it!! There are 4 of us and I think we need 250 quid a week for basics...

apparently the guy has worked there about 12 years and seems to know his stuff....I agreed with everything else he said! It does not include rent/mortgage payment, but does include food clothing going out magazines, I think petrol, not other car maintenance though,
I am not sure if it is Abbey's guide based in what people tell them (abbey) in the hope of convincing them that they can afford the monthly mortgage or whether it is set by some national guideline of what expenditure is, on average?

Am not sure what is included here - mortgage, other bills eg utilities, childcare, petrol?

one child. £600 on mortgage, £600 on everything else, including all bills, food clothes etc.

Right crossed posts. Am I right in assuming it doesn't cover utilities then or childcare?

Would say that most months we were in that bracket. Food £250 a month. Petrol £100 a month. Then the rest must get eaten up in clothes, cash, presents, cash for kids activities, vending machine at work etc. And we will end up somwhere near your low figure most months but nearer the top end on an extravagant month.

I was including all utilities etc in mine

but not childcare as dp does that so doesnt cost

Dh, ds (4) and I: around £200/month on groceries (have really got it down since starting to do weekly menus, shop at Lidl and only go to Sainsburys every 2-3 weeks for what Lidl doesn't stock/I don't like). About £50/month on alcohol. £90/month petrol. £100/month spending money/miscellaneous. £250/month council tax

Utilities etc on top of that - not sure how much(although I do know we have just got a very big gas/electricity bill). Plus the childminder (only £80/week, now that ds is at nursery in the morning).

By the way - we are foodies, and enjoy good food, so my food budget isn't just for baked bean on tast - although we do eat a lot of pasta/risotto/home made soup during the week (more for conveneience). Have goo meals atweekends - lamb from the local butcher (dh's favourite) or free range roast chicken (great for left overs duirng the week).

Don't know where the resto fothe money goes though . No, I tell I lie - nice holidays (South Africa in November, skiing in January), dh's golf club membership, decorating the house......

.... and very occasionally, LK Bennett shoes for me!

without utillities and it's way more than that. it doesn't strike me as a realistic average sum. and we only have 1 child

We have good meals at weekends, not goo meals!

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Well it seems quite realistic to me. Im on an average salary and after paying the mortgage we only have about 700 left so cant actually spend more than that. I think quite alot of people up and down the country are in the same if not worst position as me so it seems to me quite a realistic figure.

Hmmmmmm. £900 mortgage. £800 childcare. £100 utilities (inc phone bill). £600 for everything else (food, petrol, going out, coffees etc). Not sure how that compares really.

hatmum I include the council tax in utilities and that alone is £140.

Good old CT dont you jsut love it ..........not

Lidl's fuit and veg is much cheaper, but the range is limited and if you go in the evening, a lot of it might run out. Their tomatoes on the vine are a fraction of what Sainsbury's/Morrisson's charge. And it's not that limited - you can still get things like magoes, avocados, shallots....

Things I get in Lidl: canned tomotoes/chopped tomatoes, cheap coke for ds/dh, cheap crisps for ds/dh (£1.49 I think for a mulipack of 24 bags), multi vitmain fruit jucie for ds, apple juice, multi-packs of mini apple and multi-vitamin juices for ds, tomatoes on the vine, spinach leaves, grapes, bananas, oranges, apples, cucumber, avocadoes, dry cure bacon, milk, Gold (look-a-like), butter, cream, 75% plain chocolate bars, pasta, olive oil, basmati rice, frozen chips, frozen chicken nuggets (for our "slob in front of the TV Friday night suppers"), strawberry ice cream, muilti packs of wee fromage frais for ds, mozarella, parmesan, emmenthalle, Cava (a perfectly respectable bubbly for ony £3,49 - also for a our "slob in front of the TV Friday night suppers", cans of salted almonds., flour, sugar, rich tea biscuits, jaffa cakes (nicer than the "real" ones, crackers, rye bread, brown bread for toasting, fabric conditioner.

I'll occasionally get mince or other meat - but will ususally get that either at Sainsbury's or a local butcher

Mum and Dad say their muesli is also excellent (I don't like muesli)

Things I get in Sainsbury's - either because Lidl doesn't stock it or becaseu I prefer the quality:

fresh herbs (although I can get parsley/chives/basil plants at Lidl), more "esoteric" veg eg celeriac or red cabbage (althugh if it is not a "Sainbury's week" I will go to the local greengrocer), almonds, brazil nuts, cornflakes, shredded wheat, baking pwder, caster sugar, branded washing powder, dried herbs/spices (although Lidl does do some), loo roll, unsalted butter, free range eggs (only 'cos I like them large and Lidl only does them medium), free range chicken, ready cooked Indian or Chinese meal (our alternate ""slob in front of the TV Friday night suppers"), dite ginger beer, fruit shoots....

... but we don't get all of the above every week!