Trying to put together a realistic family budget -- what am I leaving out?

Hi all,

So I am trying to work out how much I might end up spending per month, if I move over with my wife and our two kids (5yrs and 2yrs.) If you feel inclined to help, could you look this over and let me know if it is reasonable? Thanks for your help!

Rent -- 800/mo (I've looked online and found a good number of houses for this or less -- helps that I'm not looking in London)
Food/Groceries -- 400/mo (nothing too luxurious, but a step or two above nonstop fish fingers and grilled cheese)
Utilities (elec., phone., water., Internet) -- 250/mo
Petrol -- 200/mo (about 4 tank refills?)
Primary School for 5yr/o -- not quite free, but more or less
Childcare for 2 yr/o -- Free as long as one of us is not working, but otherwise...?
Healthcare -- 0 (I hope)
Miscellaneous expenses -- 400/mo (entertainment, repairs, transport, unexpected expenses...)

I'm racking my brains and trying to think of major things I've missed (taxes?) -- if anyone feels like helping me get this right, I would be very thankful. 

Council Tax

Childcare for 2 years olds is not free. 3 years + currently get 12.5 hours free per week, going up to 15 hours in September.  Depending on income, you may qualify for tax credits though which can be used to offset childcare costs. The amount you get totally depends on your income/circumstances. There is an online calculator on the inland revenue site if you want more detail. Other expenses I would factor in are dental and optical care.

Liz, I think he means that one of them will be home to do the childcare!

FYI, I have several budget templates available on my website, here.  I think the detailedbudgetB.xls file is the one with line items for childcare and other family-oriented expenses (as opposed to couples with no children).

Council Tax

<facepalm> I knew there was something. Grrr. How do the other numbers look? Anything stick out as wildly high or low?

(And on the childcare thing, balmerhon has it right -- sorry if that was unclear)

Liz, I think he means that one of them will be home to do the childcare!

oh, sorry, d'oh I should have realised!!  The under 2 thing put me off!

Council tax depends on where you're living and which band the specific property falls into. Right now where I'm at (in Derby) were in a 1 bed flat and it is classed as Band A at £884.40 a year, we pay 10 installments. Compare that to Band E for a 4 bed semi just across the road at £1621/yr. But the highest in our area is Band H at £2653.18...so it just depends on where and what the value of the home is.

For council tax you can use this site to check what the average council tax is in the area where you'll be living.  They've redesigned it recently so it's a bit annoying to navigate, but the info is there if you can get to it.  Also good for checking how other statistics in the area compare to the national average.

http://www.upmystreet.com/local/council-tax-in-uk.html

Then you can use this site to check the council tax of a property by entering the address.  It is incredibly useful... when we searched our apartment building when we lived in Newcastle we discovered that one side of the building was 3 bands higher than the other because it had a view of the river... And bottom line is confirm the council tax before you rent, since £500-£1000 a year could make a big difference to your budget.

http://www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/cti_home.htm

Then on the tax side of things... this will sound really silly, but when I first moved here I didn't realize that National Insurance is separate from income tax, so we ended up with a few hundred pounds per month less than we were expecting because we forgot to calculate it too.  Here's a link (which I found on this site somewhere...) that calculates about how much tax and NI you'll pay depending on your salary, and how much net pay you'll have left over.

http://www.worksmart.org.uk/tools/tax_calc.php

Petrol -- 200/mo (about 4 tank refills?)

For motoring, don't forget to add road tax (anything up to several hundred per year depending upon vehicle type & age), annual inspection (£54 maximum), insurance (how long is a piece of string?) and maintenance costs.    Or had you already included these in miscellaneous expenses?

TV license if you want to receive off-air/cable broadcasts and be legal (£142.50 per year at present).

Ah yes, the TV license. Worth every penny, of course...

Hiya

The first thing that strikes me from that is £400 per month on food. That does seem excessively high an estimate, that said, maybe you're including quite a substatntial proportion of that to be eating out? if not, then for 2 adults, and 2 small children, that's a lot of food you're going to be munching on !

Next - Insurance's. Unless you've included it in some of the figures? Content's insurance, car insurance, health insurance, travel insurance (for when you're out of the country on holidays etc) any life insurances, loan protection insurances, mobile phone insurance, laptop insurance etc. Added together they can be a significant amount.

Utilities - Main ones are of course Electricity and Water. Gas if the place you move to has it, I see you've included internet in there as well. Budget for a phone line rental, Sky/Virgin TV will you go SKy+ or Sky HD?, 2 mobile phones?

As already mentioned, council tax, any housing maintenance fees for upkeep of the property (could be a landlords responsibility) car MOT & road tax and running expenses. Petrol is hard to calculate becuase needs can vary, insurance depends on the car you get.

Great that you've included 'emergencies' - you need to set a solid figure for that though. Many people will set a percentage of their disposable income to go straight into a savings fund, as a direct debit  as soon as they get paid - so coul dbe worth looking into that.

For now I think that's mainly it, but of course it can still vary depending on other factors like how much entertainment or gym fees or sports recreation etc etc you do.

Hope the above helps a bit!
Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

I second what Dennis says about setting aside an amount every month for savings.

Also, consider the amount you have budgeted for miscellaneous expenses: £400 may seem sufficient but if you break it down that’s £46 pocket money each for you and your wife every week.

Whether or not that’s enough depends on how you spend your money. For me, with careful planning, £50 per week is enough to cover miscellaneous expenses, a meal out once a week, morning coffee, lunch at work if I don’t bring it from home, etc. but not something unexpected.