I know: how long is a piece of string?

Four people in the family; living outside the South East (probably Devon); one second-hand car; couple of bottles of wine a week; pub lunch once or twice a month; state school expenses (uniforms, etc.); modest travel twice a year within the UK; using the library for books; buying cheap clothes; not interested in gadgets.

I've only lived in the UK for three years in the last twenty-two, so I really don't know how much it costs. We are planning to move back either when our eldest goes to college, or three years in advance, to qualify for home fees.

Thanks

Laura in China

Depending on mortgage....maybe couple grand a month (after tax) would give you a reasonable standard of living.

100,000 repayment mortgage .......... approx £695 a month
petrol bills for 2 litre car (local driving) ................. approx £200 a month
Sky TV .......................................approx £45 a month
wine per week 3 bottles ................ approx £60 a month
pub lunch every week for 2 ............ approx £70 a month
car insurance on 2 litre car ............ approx £70 a month (no no-claims)


decent second hand family car - £5000
uniforms - dead cheap from Tesco, Asda places like that
Center Parc Longleat, week stay family of 4 in April - £1210.00

I would say you'd need a gross income of £50,000 to have a decent standard by what I would want - but many many people do it easily on far less. Depends on what you want, where you live, how you live.

Hi Laura,
It really depends on your mortgage or rent as this is most people's biggest outgoing.

Less than I was paying for a 3bed rental per month.

I pay about £90 a month, 2 litre diesel, local driving.

That's the full package, mind you - not everyone wants sports and movies plus they have deals on all the time.

Depends on what you buy and where from.

That's how much I pay for my import, at the moment, there are cheaper options than that, (fully comp).

As for the housing itself, (and Devon is well away from the south east) you might want to look at primelocation.com for some idea of housing prices whether you're buying or renting.

We are a family of 4, two young children aged 3 and 7, we have a joint income of £33,000 gross, last year net pay was £26,000. We have a £68,000 mortgage, monthly payments £500. Plus nursery fees, £320 month, we run 2 medium family cars both fully com, and have a holiday abroad for 2 weeks every year, we manage extremely well on this and have most things we need, drinks and takeaways every weekend, always have a pot for emergencies.
God Islandmum, if we had £50,000 per annum i would consider myself very well off.

Simon

same here, I wish we had £50K a year, we do well with £40K

all depends on where you live and where you have to go .... £50k in my neck of the woods wasnt that much as its an expensive place to live.

also about how you want to live, like i say, we needed 50k - many more do it for less.

and a £68k mortgage - I'd love that!

bloody hell, we survive on £18k a year
rent = £220/month (cos its council)
council tax = £100
gas/leccy/phone/internet = £100
insurance on 2 small cars = £50 (N reg fiesta and T reg Skoda)
petrol/diesel = £200
food = anything from £200-400 a month, depending how skint we are
dont go out ... dont want to and cant afford it anyway! - lots of family/freinds go abroad so get cheap booze
dont smoke
holiday - one week + several weekends camping in skeggy