It's no coincidence that all but one of the families featured here are in the southeast of England (the most expensive region of the country). And it always shocks me to see how much people spend on their kids and their cars. My quick take below (warning: I like to swear):
The first family has
UTILITY BILLS (including gas, electric, home phone, mobile phones, broadband, insurance and council tax): £1,180.
HOLY SHIT.
Our total for everything in that category is £296 (we are a family of four, in a smaller house). Council tax £116, phones £21, broadband £18, gas & electric £92, water £42, no home phone, buildings insurance £7. No TV costs (don't know if TV is included in theirs).
As gooki says, their housing costs are reasonable (especially for fucking Surrey!). As s/he also says, their pay is low for the region. But even a modestly mustachian lifestyle could cut £1,000 off their monthly spend. Cut utilities by £600, gym £90, cars £300, hair £30, groceries £150. That's £1170 in savings right there. Throw the extra at the credit card until it's gone.
The second family is trickier. Their costs are already reasonably low (£900+ on a mortgage in Bromley is not absurd), and the combination of their low salaries and high childcare is hurting them. They may well be entitled to government help with childcare costs, which it looks like they are not currently getting. They could probably trim £200 from their budget, and once their credit card balance has gone in a few months that would give them £400 a month to play with. That's not bad considering where they live and how much they earn.
Family three could also trim their costs by £200–300 easily. Sky TV? Nope, sorry, you can't afford it. After-school club? I'd look very carefully at that. I raise my eyebrows at "surprise baby" – when you're done with kids then daddy has a quick trip to the hospital, snip, a couple of stitches, in and out in an afternoon.
Family four have no fucking excuse. They live in Glasgow, which has very reasonable housing costs, and a good income for the area.
CHILDREN’S CLUBS: £132.
CAR COSTS: £495 for a Ford Fiesta and a Nissan Micra.
GROCERIES: £664.
CLOTHES: £100.
CHRISTMAS AND BIRTHDAYS: £100.
FOOTBALL SEASON TICKET: £50.
GOING OUT (mainly weddings): £300.
Cars could be cut by £200, groceries by £250, clothes by £75, Christmas and birthdays by £75, and whatthefuckisthis THREE HUNDRED QUID A MONTH on weddings? Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This family could easily save £1,000 a month, and going properly mustachian would get them to £1,500. She could happily retire at 60, with him following a couple of years later.
People want lifestyles they can't afford. I do too. Yeah, it's not fair, yeah we got fucked by the baby boomers and privatisation of infrastructure and the dominance of the financial services industry and expensive university tuition and the hollowing out of our manufacturing and stagnating wages and rising costs. I have a lot of sympathy with a generation that will be less wealthy than the generation before. But you have to grow up enough to realise that if you can't afford something, you
can't afford it. Cut your cloth accordingly.