# How much are the monthly outgoings for a family?



## Celvin (19 Sep 2022)

Hi. Im curious to understand what are other families' monthly range of expenditure, excluding the big ticket items like mortgage and childcare, as they will be very variable.

We are a family of 4. 2 Adults and 2 kids (a 4year old and a 2 year old). Outgoings excluding mortgage and Childcare is 4,000.

How do yours compare?


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## noproblem (19 Sep 2022)

4+ 2, or 2 adults and 2 children? What age are the children? Sorry to say this,  but for me the question you've posted is very hard to understand.


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## Celvin (19 Sep 2022)

noproblem said:


> 4+ 2, or 2 adults and 2 children? What age are the children? Sorry to say this,  but for me the question you've posted is very hard to understand.


Thanks. Should be clear now


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## goingforgold (19 Sep 2022)

Celvin said:


> Hi. Im curious to understand what are other families' monthly range of expenditure excluding the big ticket items like mortgage and childcare as they will be very viable.
> 
> We are a family of 4. 2 Adults and 2 kids (a 4year old and a 2 year old). Outgoings excluding mortgage and Childcare is 4,000.
> 
> How do yours compare?


We're about the same, ie 4k per month for a family of five...major costs are fuel for cars and food. It includes everything except mortgage/childcare so includes all household bills,  Christmas, family holidays, all kids related stuff (sports, school related costs, birthdays, communions, clothes, haircuts etc). It all adds up unfortunately! House maintenance also included which can vary obviously but we try to spread the costs out as evenly as possible each year. Car tax/insurance and maintenance also add up. It's an expensive country.


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## nest egg (19 Sep 2022)

Interesting, same situation, 2 adults, 2 young kids & drum roll... 4k a month before childcare & the mortgage.


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## nest egg (19 Sep 2022)

nest egg said:


> Interesting, same situation, 2 adults, 2 young kids & drum roll... 4k a month before childcare & the mortgage.


If anyone is interested, here's a little more detail on last year's expenses.


Food45%​Bills & Maintenance12%​Discretionary17%​Transport11%​Travel8%​Other7%​


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## Ndiddy (20 Sep 2022)

2 adults and 2 kids who eat like adults in South Dublin : 4k a month total outgoings

Approx. Split:
900 Mortgage and utilities
800 Food
800 Childcare
800 Travel
700 Annual Expenses and Discretionary (Health/motor/home insurance, transport, eating out, Xmas, kids activities, etc.)


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## NoRegretsCoyote (20 Sep 2022)

This is like asking how long is a piece of string.


I would work backwards from what you earn, what you feel is prudent to save (including pension and mortgage capital) and live within that envelope.

People have radically different ideas about what is normal to spend on clothing, eating, socialising, household appliances, etc.

The only universal piece of advice is to annually seek the best deal on utilities and insurance (health, car, and home), and switch mortgage provider if needed to get the best rate.


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## nest egg (20 Sep 2022)

nest egg said:


> Interesting, same situation, 2 adults, 2 young kids & drum roll... 4k a month before childcare & the mortgage.


Checked the exact figure for last year, €3750 /mth before childcare & mortgage. This year (to date) it's €3,985 /mth, so a 6.25% rise. Not too surprising given the combination of lockdowns in 2021, and inflation this year.


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## Jim Stafford (20 Sep 2022)

NoRegretsCoyote said:


> This is like asking how long is a piece of string.


There is now a measuring tape to measure that string!  Click on link below.






						Reasonable Living Expenses Calculator - Back on Track
					






					backontrack.ie


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## nest egg (21 Sep 2022)

Jim Stafford said:


> There is now a measuring tape to measure that string!  Click on link below.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Seems our string at least is much too long! Apparently we should only be spending 2k a month.


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## goingforgold (21 Sep 2022)

2k a month is not possible...I mean maybe you could feed a family, pay utilities and get them all from A to B but that's about it. Not being able to go on holidays, have a decent Christmas, decent birthdays/presents, sports associated costs, clothes etc etc...and all that's before you have a life yourself. We're twice that and we don't splurge in a silly way, at all. Cars and houses have to be maintained also. All these costs add up. If a family is doing everything on 24k a year (after mortgage/childcare) then I personally wouldn't wish to be a part of it I don't think.

I wouldn't take too much notice of some of these calculators...live according to your means and you're good to go


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## nest egg (21 Sep 2022)

goingforgold said:


> 2k a month is not possible...I mean maybe you could feed a family, pay utilities and get them all from A to B but that's about it. Not being able to go on holidays, have a decent Christmas, decent birthdays/presents, sports associated costs, clothes etc etc...and all that's before you have a life yourself. We're twice that and we don't splurge in a silly way, at all. Cars and houses have to be maintained also. All these costs add up. If a family is doing everything on 24k a year (after mortgage/childcare) then I personally wouldn't wish to be a part of it I don't think.
> 
> I wouldn't take too much notice of some of these calculators...live according to your means and you're good to go



More curiosity than anything else! I had no idea whether 4k a month was good, bad or indifferent before this thread. Now I know there are at least some people spending similar money in the same circumstance.


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## dub_nerd (21 Sep 2022)

Isn't that calculator for assessing living expenses for insolvency cases? So it's going to be absolutely bare minimum (unless you're a professional who deserves more, though I think that idea got short shrift too).


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## Peanuts20 (21 Sep 2022)

bear in mind that if you live in D4 or Leitrim, your figures may be different also

Personally speaking, as a proud culchie well outside the Pale and with 2 teenagers who would eat us out of house and home if they could, we probably average around €3k a month, excluding mortgage.


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## goingforgold (21 Sep 2022)

dub_nerd said:


> Isn't that calculator for assessing living expenses for insolvency cases? So it's going to be absolutely bare minimum (unless you're a professional who deserves more, though I think that idea got short shrift too).


That would make sense...and bare minimum is very true! I'd imagine a family of four solely reliant on social welfare would get around 500 euro per week (inc. increases for children). That's 26k per year. Assuming same family is on rent allowance or council housing etc that would mean they have say 24k per year or thereabouts to live on. So no matter what way you look at it 2k per month for a family is absolutely scraping the barrel.


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## goingforgold (21 Sep 2022)

Peanuts20 said:


> bear in mind that if you live in D4 or Leitrim, your figures may be different also
> 
> Personally speaking, as a proud culchie well outside the Pale and with 2 teenagers who would eat us out of house and home if they could, we probably average around €3k a month, excluding mortgage.


It's how long is a piece of string for sure though also as mentioned by previous poster. 
I mean it depends on quantity and quality of family holidays, quality of house and maintenance of same, same for cars, attitude towards Christmas spend, attitude towards eating out...if kids are heavily involved in extra curricular activities etc...so no two situations are the same either.


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## Gordon Gekko (22 Sep 2022)

It’s too broad a question. There are people on this site spending more on holidays than most people spend day to day.


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## goingforgold (22 Sep 2022)

Gordon Gekko said:


> It’s too broad a question. There are people on this site spending more on holidays than most people spend day to day.


Yes, it's all relative.

Main thing I think is to live comfortably and responsibly instead of striving to die rich! There's no hitch on a hearse...


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