Household Budget

[DrJohn]

As I posted in "Cost of Living in the UK", the Joseph Rowntree Foundation does some work on Household Expenses.  I'm posting this separately, as it might have broader interest to those outside the UK.  The Foundation have put together a spreadsheet of household goods they think a household needs and the longevity and price of things.  This could be easily adaptable to one's own situation.  Necessity and longevity of some items might be questionable (e.g. hands up who has a pair of socks more than 1 year old or jeans older than 2 years...)- but here is a link to the page:

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/crsp/mis/results/

Look under budget detail: items and prices heading for the sheet that best describes you...

It's also an interesting insight in to spending habits of typical Brits.  Not that any one Brit is typical, I might add.

[St4n]

I mean no disrespect in this post, however it may come across, but I have a real issue with the figures quoted.  There is no way that a couple with two children NEED over 40,000 pounds ($70,000) to live on AS A MINIMUM!!!

When I read a report about minimum income requirements that includes such essentials as "holidays", I know the concept of what is "needed" has gone strangely awry somewhere...

[DrJohn]

Totally agree- but I knew this would get the ball rolling as to what one REALLY needs.  Not so much as some imagine...  I look upon this like an overgrown tree.  A starting point for doing a bit of pruning...

Regards holidays, I guess it depends where you draw the line regards lifestyle...  All work and no play can make Jack a dull boy after all.

[Flying Penguin]

Nerd alert!

I don't live in the UK but I was curious to see their budget converted to dollars. The category I fall under (single working age female) was updated in 2008, so I decided to use the online calculator they link to. I converted the figures to monthly dollar amounts. For shits and giggles, I categorized the items into the budget groups that I use, and compared my numbers to theirs. (I used the average of my last 3 months' spending. Yay YNAB!) For reference, I'm a single female living in NYC. Attached a screenshot.

Observations:
-$330/month on "Social and cultural activities" seems awfully high to me to be considered a "minimum" amount...
-The food total of $362 is close to my monthly spending amount, but I've been pretty spendy on food lately and could definitely spend less.
-Also not sure if alcohol should be considered part of a "minimum" budget...

Notes:
-Used the GBP/USD rate Google told me: 1.714315
-Converted weeks to months using 52/12=4 1/3
-They seemed to put health insurance under "Personal goods and services", so I put my insurance amounts under "Household". My insurance is deducted from my paycheck pre-tax though... I haven't made an adjustment for that.
-I put my misc. expenses under "Fun" to keep it simple.

[DrJohn]

Glad you found the post worthwhile.  I think the social and cultural participation is interesting as it takes into account the "life worth living" piece...   Interesting that alcohol is included- also Narcotics and Tobacco, but no spend included on that category (i guess it is hard to generalize as it is without those factors included).

No health insurance needed in the UK.  State health care is available, though you do have to pay for prescriptions (now GBP 8.05) and self treatment meds (e.g. cold remedies).

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/about/Pages/overview.aspx.