single income sufficient?

I have a question that has been bugging me for a bit and I thought I would get some general info from others in the Auckland area...

What do you think is enough after tax income to live off comfortably per week in Auckland. I would say exclude rent/mortgage cost as that would vary a lot between areas etc. But for all other things what do you spend in a week/month/fortnight on all of the rest from food and petrol to insurance etc. And do you manage to save at all?

I am asking as I think we are spending too much and could save more but hubby says it is not possible on his income alone. So I thought I would get a poll on what people think..

jazzy wrote: Well I think it all depends on what your budget is & sorting out needs/wants vs necessities. Do you have 2 incomes now? How many kids do you have? Do you spend a lot now?

This. My Dh didn't think it was possible, then I showed him it was. You have to be willing to make sacrifices though.

Very important to define needs vs wants, especially if you'll be one income long term .


Eta spelling


Edited by pudgy

Instead of a poll do a proper budget on a spreadsheet. Don't worry about whats coming in. But write down whats going out. Have a list of absolute necessities like power, insurances.. have another list of things that you could do without ie sky. And then have a list of your consumables.. food, takeaways and petrol and then you can actually see what you have got to work with. What your minimum is to survive.

We budget:
$280 per week groceries/wine/beer
$20 per week house & contents insurance
$37 per week medical insurance
$25 per week life insurances
$12.50 per week deposit to DD's bank account
$11.50 per week sky tv
$76 per week DD's kindy
$9 per week pet insurance
$20 per week cat & dog food
$140 per week pocket money for DH and I
$20 per week haircuts

So that = $651 - our fuel, home phone, internet, mobile phones, car repairs, WOF and rego, car insurances, home electricity and half our sky bill is paid for by our company. If we personally had to allocate money for that it would be approximately another $450 per week at our current consumption, so we would need in excess of $1,100 per week to live and that is not including rent/mortgage! And no saving, holidays, hobbies, etc.

I was thinking the same thing. Not knocking you, because I could happily spend that much on food if I wanted to - I just can't right now. You must eat well (or drink well!)

buzylizy wrote: What do you think is enough after tax income to live off comfortably per week in Auckland.

This is the question I have trouble answering as it comes down to how much you want to have.

We have a set wage, it does go up when DH is on call etc & that money goes on things we need or is saved.

We don't have his/her money but if we want something & have the money then we can get it.

DH asks before he spends, he does not know all the ins & outs of our money/budget although I sit down & go through stuff with him.

I do find the more we have left over the more we spend if he knows about it, but if I put it away it stays away

Our fortnightly budget is $1300 that has to be paid or put away, that does not include extras or savings.

We do have things that we can cut down or out if we need to. I need to look at the food budget as we go well over it.

kebakat wrote: $280 a week for groceries

we spend $300-$350 a fortnight.

wow, our groceries is $100-120 a week, for 2 adults, 2 kids and a 3rd needing formula! Out of curiousity, whats $140 pocket money for? I'd love to have that much available to spend on anything outside of bills!

To answer orig question, our household income is approx $50k and we make it week to week but DP has a large debt that takes a fair chunk, and will do for the next 5 years, which means we really live on about $35k per year (plus WFF money) I layby xmas and birthday stuff, and clothes for kids to spread the cost, and we dont do takeaways, apart from driving out of town once a month for my son, and the occasional coffeegroup across Auck, I dont use vthe car much, so theres not a lot of expenses on my part. If you do what others have suggested and 'account' for every cent spent, then it will simply be a case of add up neccessities and decide how much of the 'extras' you are willing to let go

buzylizy

have you looked at working for families website http://www.workingforfamilies.govt.nz/

have you looked at paid parental leave if you are fulltime work now you should get quite a bit...approx $6423 before tax over 14wks
http://www.ird.govt.nz/yoursituation-ind/parents/parents-paid-parental-leave.html

http://www.ird.govt.nz/resources/2/1/2107dc804d2efdbf8994cf7193534e4a/ir200.pdf

these things all help during the 1st year

check that you are with the cheapest companies for insurance and power phone etc. look at where you can chop the cost down.

IE toothpaste, took DH to supermarket the otherday he was trying to buy $4.99 stuff for the kids....bottom shelf AIM $1.39 you can save lots if you look at the bottom shelf.....Home Brand Baked Beans 69c compared with watties at over $2 not on sale. things like this all help

Babykatnz wrote: wow, our groceries is $100-120 a week, for 2 adults, 2 kids and a 3rd needing formula!

how do you get away with this amount? what's your secret???