How much do you need to survive each year?

[Ormy1]

I think when you say essentials and not mortgage most peoples costs are going to be very very similar

Yeah I think one of the biggest variations is alcohol consumption, it's an expensive habit indeed. Myself and the wife get through 6-8 bottles of wine plus a 70cl bottle of spirit each week, which is nearly half our supermarket spend some weeks.

My core costs of 8k still include luxury food, Netflix, car insurance, petrol.

8K is just for you right? If that's for you and a partner, then that's quite frugal and you may need to share some advice haha.

Having to set up a tent in the rain is grim. Especially a family sized tent!

Get one of the ones with inflatable external supports. Anything with rigid poles is a hassle even in good weather IMHO. Mine is a Eurohike Genus 400, putting it up is easy in 30 mins solo, much less with a competent helper, regardless of weather conditions. I can't recommend them enough. They don't come in huge sizes like traditional tents though.

 

[413x]

Yeah I think one of the biggest variations is alcohol consumption, it's an expensive habit indeed. Myself and the wife get through 6-8 bottles of wine plus a 70cl bottle of spirit each week, which is nearly half our supermarket spend some weeks.




8K is just for you right? If that's for you and a partner, then that's quite frugal and you may need to share some advice haha.




Get one of the ones with inflatable external supports. Anything with rigid poles is a hassle even in good weather IMHO. Mine is a Eurohike Genus 400, putting it up is easy in 30 mins solo, much less with a competent helper, regardless of weather conditions. I can't recommend them enough. They don't come in huge sizes like traditional tents though.

Yeah I drink virtually no alcohol in winter. I mean I can go 2 months without a drink and not even realise. I don't like wine.
Basically my drinking consists of a beer when it's sunny.
It saves so so much money.

8k is for me.
Our joint account covers..

Mortgage
Fuel for car
Car insurance
Car maintenance
Supermarket Food
Gas
Electricity
Water
House insurance
Council tax
Broadband
Spotify
Netflix
Cleaner

My contribution in total is 1100ppm
Hers is 900ppm
For a total of 2k a month

Our mortgage is 900ppm
I pay 500 to mortgage and 600 to bills
She pays 400 to mortgage and 500 to bills

So our normal joint household base cost (no mortgage) is 1100*12 months
Or 12-13k

So I'd say 12k is a cost. For example if boiler broke that would be on top of 12k. But equally if I ditched the car,Netflix etc that 12k would probably drop to 10k


I'll add we very rarely eat out, and if you don't eat out or drink out the savings are huge!

As said. For our combined salaries..
Apparently we don't spend as much as others on most things.

 

[Haggisman]

Yeah I think one of the biggest variations is alcohol consumption, it's an expensive habit indeed. Myself and the wife get through 6-8 bottles of wine plus a 70cl bottle of spirit each week, which is nearly half our supermarket spend some weeks.

You realise that is a ridiculously unhealthy amount of alcohol to drink?!

However, have you considered making your own wine?

I started earlier in the year after harvesting a bunch of elderberries and it's surprisingly easy.

~£60 of equipment + £50 wine kit will get you 30 bottles worth, works to ~£3.50/bottle including the equipment, which is reusable, so subsequent kits work out much cheaper (under £2/bottle). All you need is a bit of space and some patience

 

[413x]

You realise that is a ridiculously unhealthy amount of alcohol to drink?!

However, have you considered making your own wine?

I started earlier in the year after harvesting a bunch of elderberries and it's surprisingly easy.

~£60 of equipment + £50 wine kit will get you 30 bottles worth, works to ~£3.50/bottle including the equipment, which is reusable, so subsequent kits work out much cheaper (under £2/bottle). All you need is a bit of space and some patience

I didn't quite clock that.
8 bottles of wine a week?
Like 4 bottles each? Gees

 

[Freefaller]

I didn't quite clock that.
8 bottles of wine a week?
Like 4 bottles each? Gees

We don't even get through 1 bottle a year! we don't really drink as a household and compared to many of our friends it does save us a shed load. Health freaks unfortunately!

If it wasn't for holidays we'd have more disposable income that's our "alcohol" holidays...

 

[413x]

We don't even get through 1 bottle a year! we don't really drink as a household and compared to many of our friends it does save us a shed load. Health freaks unfortunately!

If it wasn't for holidays we'd have more disposable income that's our "alcohol" holidays...

Same.

When I tap my deets into the "how much do you spend in comparison to others in your income bracket".. It's all really low. Especially on cars.

But then holdiays.. Yeah that's my crack.

 

[slinxy]

People constantly think of holidays as in going abroad and sitting by a pool for a weak.

For me holidays are all about experiences and you can get plenty of that in this country alone and very cheaply too. A tour of some old disused coal mine in the Midlands appeals far more to me then sitting on a sun bed drinking watered down beer in a country where no one speaks English yet we are all conditioned to want that.

Don't get me wrong it is nice to get away and do sod all and sloth it for a week but there is more than enough experiences to have in this country in a lifetime on a budget.

I do want and have the luxuries in life but if something were to happen and the majority of my income vanished I think I would easily be able to adapt and live on a budget without just existing.

I tend to find holidaying in the uk is just as expensive if not more than going aboard.

But then again I tend to go for the no fill, self-cantering when i go aboard, once you pay out for the flight and board, everything else is cheaper.

Just comparing my last two holidays; a week in Kos with two meals out each day... where I spent under £2000 in total and one night in blackpool where the room for the night alone cost £143.00, a fast food meal and a pub tea time meal with drinks £40. If I stayed for 7 nights it would be £1281 plus entertainment.

plus I hate packing for a holiday in the UK, you never know what the weather will be.

The pipe dream is to retire and move aboard...

 

[Ormy1]

However, have you considered making your own wine?

I am now, thanks very much for the idea and the advice.

And yes I know it's a fair amount of alcohol, we each grew up with at least one major alcoholic in our respective families, so comparatively speaking we're doing 'not bad', we both get plenty of exercise, avoid processed food (most meals are cooked from scratch) and generally live pretty healthily apart from the alcohol intake, we know the dangers and we're adults. We pay for it by rarely holidaying abroad, most of our holidays are camping trips within the UK. Watching some of our friends paying thousands every year for extravagant holidays that only last a week, each to their own but we'd rather enjoy ourselves at home year round.

 

[slinxy]

so far from this tax year, I've not spent over 2,500 per month.

This does include my mortage and keeping a car running which the op says that they don't need/want to budget for. and I don't really budget my food shopping which is roughly £250 per month.
When/If my mortgage wasn't included, I could get away with only spending £1500 per month but winter has now kicked in, so the heating bills will raise and I really want to do more in my retirement than just sit in front of a computer screen.

 

[M1k3H]

Our total normal expenses add up to about £2,800/month.

That includes:
-Vehicle costs (run 2 cars so this includes: insurance, fuel, breakdown cover, vehicle tax, MOTs, insurance warranty for the BMW, servicing and tyres)
-Pet costs (1 dog: pet food, vet bills, pet insurance)
-Savings (only £200/month between us)
-Living costs (2 adults: grocery shopping, eating out, work lunches, hairdressing/beauty treatments)
-Household bills (mortgage payments, estate charge, home insurance, council tax, gas + elec, water, mobile phone contracts, broadband, tv licence , streaming services, cleaner)

If I were to exclude non essentials (such as cleaner and eating out) our outgoings reduce to about £2,200.

 

[PlacidCasual]

I seem to be spending a phenomenal amount and not even on luxuries it is definitely something that needs a dose of looking at.

 

[moon man]

I was doing 3 bottle's a week when I was on 4 days a week but still use the not on a school night rule now I do 4.5 days it 2 bottles , tending to buy better wine though, not expensive but £7.50 a bottle., having said all that I bought a pack of desperados as well so hammering the daily limit ( in this country)

 

[bigmike20vt]

my wifes cousin started doing home brew as a hobby a few years back (wow time flies, actually a decade ago).

over the years he ramped it up, ended up selling to local pubs and now has retired and runs his own professional micro brewery.

sometimes hobbies can end up making you money instead of costing you money. i echo what others have said tho........ imo 4 bottles of wine and half a bottle of the hard stuff a week consumption is serious alarm bells ringing, and i say that as someone who likes a drink and generally is not as healthy as i should be.

that said....... adults can do what they want, and am not judging.

 

[EvilRob]

sometimes hobbies can end up making you money instead of costing you money. i echo what others have said tho........ imo 4 bottles of wine and half a bottle of the hard stuff a week consumption is serious alarm bells ringing, and i say that as someone who likes a drink and generally is not as healthy as i should be.

It's probably less than a bottle of wine a night on avg. For sure bad for you and he could do with easing up, but it's pretty tame compared to a full blown drinking issue.