Emergency Savings

MatsyLR said:
quick and dirty one from an old spreadsheet. it's roughly the same
Screenshot-20240405-130527-Sheets.png

Mortgage has changed to £395 as I reagreed it over 7 years. Everything else is pretty much the same within a few quid.
I pay for car insurance/tax/b&c insurance annually also but factored into the overall monthly
Click to expand...

Do you eat and drink fresh air :D
 
200sols said:
Standing charges alone will be about £26 a month. You're basically using nothing there. And £15 a week for food, for a family or just yourself living on porridge>?
Click to expand...
14 Jan to 14 Feb. this includes heating on some days as it got cold (I'm on Octopus tracker so rates change every day)

Electric
14th Jan 2024 1054.6 Smart meter reading
14th Feb 2024 1159.3 Smart meter reading
Energy Used 104.7 kWh @ 14.73p/kWh £15.41
Standing Charge 31 days @ 45.99p/day £14.26
Subtotal of charges before VAT £29.67
VAT @ 5.00% £1.48
Total Electricity Charges £31.15

Gas
14th Jan. 2024 64.2 Smart meter reading
14th Feb. 2024 80.8 Smart meter reading
Consumption 16.6 Units (m3)
Energy Used* 189.9 kWh @ 3.69p/kWh† £7.01
Standing Charge 31 days @ 25.56p/day £7.92
Subtotal of charges before VAT £14.93
VAT @ 5.00% £0.75
Total Gas Charges £15.68
Total charges for bill £46.83

So yeah using hardly anything. Low rates help. Gas is usually like £2 a month usage.

Food wise it's not that difficult. No brands. Frozen veg etc. Take advantage of meal deals at Iceland (24 chicken burgers for £10 etc which last all month or longer) I do have small portions though.
 
Last edited:
MatsyLR said:
quick and dirty one from an old spreadsheet. it's roughly the same
Screenshot-20240405-130527-Sheets.png

Mortgage has changed to £395 as I reagreed it over 7 years. Everything else is pretty much the same within a few quid.
I pay for car insurance/tax/b&c insurance annually also but factored into the overall monthly
Click to expand...
What da ****
Mortage £689.92 + £250 over payments which will come off.
B&C insurance £8.37
Service charge £26.94
Lease hold charge £16.67
Council tax £112.99
Water £27.20 - based on last years
Pet - none
Car Tax £2.92 :P
Electric 127.64 - based on last year
boiler insurance - huh?!
Internet - 28.38 - based on last year
dieseal and public transport £47.99 -based on last year
mobile phone bills - 15.45

Food not including take aways and eating out... £313.78 -based on last year.

Then I have my gym fees, yoga classes.. etc etc... I just spent nearly 1k fixing my old banger as I didn't want the hassle of finding a different car.. lol
 
We could scrape out a few years, but would need to be tight with any extras. So it wouldn't be fun, but would have a roof over our head's.
I'm sure we'd find work in that time though.
 
My (averaged sometimes) monthly bills, just me, 3 bed detached, mortgage is a longer term low fix currently, so I expect that could go up a bit in 2-3 years.

Mortgage: £470
Council Tax: £130
Internet (900/120 FTTP) + Basic SIMO (4GB Data): £56
Gas+Electric(*): £50 [Octopus Tracker for gas with Intelligent for elec and solar]
Water: £10
Home Insurance(*): £10
Life Insurance + Critical Illness cover: £27
Car Insurance(*): £23
Car Tax(*): £2.50

Total: £778.5

Costs I usually pay yearly I've put a (*) next to them for a monthly cost on average.

I haven't included food here or things like petrol, because whilst they aren't free, these kinds of things can vary a lot more between people. I visit supermarket a couple of times a week and spend like £20-£40 a time, depending what I buy.

My gas and elec was £600 last year, but I have solar. I am a pretty heavy user of electric so this is a good cost considering how much raw power I've used.

The Life insurance stuff is probably a bit of a waste of time especially as it's just me, but oh well it's not too expensive yet, and provides some cover if I can't work.
 
Last edited:
We have around 3 months liquid, then some share schemes which can be cashed in if needed. We both have critical illness cover and luckily can survive on one salary for a while if needed.
 
MatsyLR said:
quick and dirty one from an old spreadsheet. it's roughly the same
Screenshot-20240405-130527-Sheets.png

Mortgage has changed to £395 as I reagreed it over 7 years. Everything else is pretty much the same within a few quid.
I pay for car insurance/tax/b&c insurance annually also but factored into the overall monthly
Click to expand...
I'm really curious, what are you eating for just £2 a day?
 
I'm essentially a part time worker with no scope of increasing my hours any time yet as my job works well around having a 2 year old and another baby on the way and we're sat on around 4 or 5 months worth of savings that would cover our bills. We did have more but were both made redundant during COVID and after a house move and setting the new place up, it ate away at a good chunk which were still recovering from but I'm positive we'll get there.
 
Wow. "Scrape by for a few years". Language that will never be compatible with my life. I'd struggle for a few months.

Since I started work 2 decades ago, I've pretty much never had the ability to ever stop work for any amount of time apart from one year where I got a redundancy pay out which would have seen me good for a few months if needed. Any savings which build up are almost always for something specific and therefore get spent on having a life. i.e. Holiday once every few years.
We spend easily over 3K a month just on living. This doesn't include buying Gucci belts either.
 
Alright I'll break it down

Mortgage 905
CT 200
FTTP 20
Gas/electric - 110 (on cheap rate.. RIP)
Car insurance - 25 (paid yearly)
B&C 20 (paid yearly)
Water 20-25
Pet insurance - 20
Mobile - 5
Tv licence - 0
Netflix - 11
Spotify - 14?
Petrol - variable 50-150 ppm

Food? No idea. 200-300?
That's 2 adults
Ft WFH both of us

No finance of any type
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom