£24240 a year inclusive of a mortgage, but no car payments, loans, car fuel, christmas/birthday presents, holidays, eating out, or any other luxuries; literally, just yearly bills and food costs. I've included the mortgage, because I need a roof over my head!
How much do you need to survive each year?
- Thread starter throwaway4372
- Start date
Man of Honour
I live on the Kent Sussex border.
However we do live a good life and don't sacrifice TOO much.
That said if as per my post we were very tight on our spending we could save a lot more but we wouldn't have an enjoyable life, we'd be existing rather than living.
If the **** were to hit the fan we'd be ok but it would be tough.
Just keep the lights on + mortgage and childcare I am into £4.6k. That's before a single food, car/travel or entertainment bill.
Man of Honour
I guess your mortgage is high? That sounds tough!
I guess we all have a slightly different view on what constitutes survival!
I've had a pretty close look at our finances recently as I'm not working and we are reliant on my wife's salary. I've also been planning an early retirement so projecting future expenses. I think to live a comfortable life as a couple in Bedfordshire we need c£35k a year. That's not survival of course, for that I reckon we are about £18k net and that's with no depreciation on the house, car or other appliances. I guess that's basically what the government would pay as a state pension.
I've had a pretty close look at our finances recently as I'm not working and we are reliant on my wife's salary. I've also been planning an early retirement so projecting future expenses. I think to live a comfortable life as a couple in Bedfordshire we need c£35k a year. That's not survival of course, for that I reckon we are about £18k net and that's with no depreciation on the house, car or other appliances. I guess that's basically what the government would pay as a state pension.
Soldato
Quite, obviously it depends on the pet (a hamster is cheaper than a cat, which is cheaper than a small dog, which is cheaper than a big dog), and the fact we have a big greyhound and 4 cats of course means we're paying significantly more than someone with e.g. just a single cat, but we buy our cat food in bulk, and make our own raw food for the dog - if we were buying food in the supermarket you could probably add another ~£50/month to that amount, unless we went for the cheapest rubbish possible.
For a single cat on the cheapest dry food, you're probably looking at £30-40/month
Food: ~£15
Insurance: ~£15
Flea/Worm treatment: ~£4
Not considering the increasing costs as they get older is a big one too, especially for insurance. Sure, your 6 month old kitten might only be £10 to insure, but wait till they get to 8+ and the price starts soaring (IIRC our oldest cat (15) is ~£30 of that £55 total, with the others being £7-8 each, plus we have to pay 20% of his costs along with the £200 excess...). I looked at what our greyhound would cost when she hits 10, and it's a frightening amount!
Not sure why that would make much of a difference? Other than car insurance, surely food* and utilities are within a few % regardless of where you are in the country? Council tax I guess is a chunk higher, but not more than £1-2k?
* unless you live in a village where the only "supermarket" is a Spar/Nisa/similar overpriced glorified corner shop!
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Yeah without mortgage/current refurbishment bills I can live pretty frugally. I luckily paid the car out right whilst rates were low. Annoying they went up I would have been far more comfortable.
I've been looking at this as my wife was made redundant recently and was wondering if she actually needs to go back to work or not
£1300 - bare minimum to exist for a family of four includes food, petrol, insurances, council tax, utilities, broadband, phones
£2900 - rent and childcare
£1000 - would cover clothes, cheap holiday, presents, etc
So just need £5200 a month to live a relatively modest life in the London commuter belt
£1300 - bare minimum to exist for a family of four includes food, petrol, insurances, council tax, utilities, broadband, phones
£2900 - rent and childcare
£1000 - would cover clothes, cheap holiday, presents, etc
So just need £5200 a month to live a relatively modest life in the London commuter belt
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Caporegime
Just £5200 a month huh? Lol
If your wife doesn’t go back to work then surely you don’t need childcare?
Associate
As others have said, what 'survival' means probably depends on what you're used to.
Maybe an alternative question would be to ask those who have retired whether they found themselves spending more (or wanting to) or less once retired? In my case (mostly retired) we're spending a bit more as we've more time to do things. If you've got expensive hobbies then suddenly having a lot more free time without the money to enjoy it might not be the best plan.
Maybe an alternative question would be to ask those who have retired whether they found themselves spending more (or wanting to) or less once retired? In my case (mostly retired) we're spending a bit more as we've more time to do things. If you've got expensive hobbies then suddenly having a lot more free time without the money to enjoy it might not be the best plan.
Thanks for the info, I suspected we didnt live too far from each other.
Depends when they bought, mortgage rates and overall cost could be significantly lower compared to those starting on the property ladder in the last 5 years. Not to mention, Rent and when I get a mortgage will be a large significant piece of the pie each month.
Understand about the food costs based on local food costs and then ability to travel for better prices/options.
I suspect I'd be the same if I had wife and kids about, London commuter belt here too.
Didn't want to disturb her routine and she starts school next year anyway so that expense drops off. Did drop it down from 5 days to 3 to save a little money
Caporegime
In keeping the spirit of the theme of the thread, you’ve got to drop that childcare in order to “survive”
especially if your wife now isn’t working.
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Soldato
The OP specified excluding mortgage/rent
Ah missed that, seems quite a few others did too.
The thread title is "How much do you need to survive each year?" Not sure how I'd survive without a roof over my head? and this is why I included my mortgage. If I take out my mortgage it would be £13296, without car payments, insurances, pensions, loans, car fuel, Christmas/birthday presents, holidays, eating out, or any other luxuries. In other words just the household bills and food. You can multiply that figure several times if I were to include everything else including the mortgage.
Soldato
Don't know why you're getting snarky at me? If you actually read the OP, you'd see it says "assume home is owned"...
The OP asked for data points with a specific criteria, if people are going to ignore those criteria and just provide whatever figures they feel like, then that's worse than useless.
Soldato
£240!!
Christ. For how many people?
I'm paying about £60-70 (over summer) for a 2 bed/2 person house.
Just me.
I live in a flat built in 1898, extremely high ceilings which take ages to heat up and lots of places for heat to escape as my landlord hasnt really invested into the property to increase its insulation and retain heat.
My rent is still about £500 cheaper than similar flats to the area.