Moneymakeover Household Budgeting Comparisons?

Not sure if the correct place...

Life has been in (financial) flux for the last 4 years (house purchased, wedding, new baby, mat leave) but 2025 has brought some stability so I have had a look at our income and expenses. I track both pretty well.

We both have decent incomes, don't live extravagant lives but things were closer than I thought between income and expenditure. I had felt we had more of a buffer. Our childcare isn't too bad, mortgage lower than many and no car or personal loans etc. We do put a good bit into pensions tbf but I would like to see how we compare to others in a similar situation, one kid, late 30s, relatively recent mortgage. Obviously I can adjust for two kids etc.

Is there any good public source of data or an old thread on here where people shared? To save asking everyone to post something again.

I have found budget samples online but they are more a collection average bills for essentials and not actual spending (I do realise for some that is the same). What I have seen seems to miss things like, holidays, doctor visits, Christmas presents / nights out, birthdays, a wedding perhaps. Basically a lot of non regular stuff that occurs during a year.

It's been a bit of a wake up, I suspect it's the result of inflation, new baby and lifestyle creep... be interested to see where I land.

I guess this the squeezed middle.

It would help if you completed the money make over template.
If you want to list typical household bills include the size of home.
Might be a good starting point

faketales said:

Is there any good public source of data or an old thread on here where people shared?

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In my opinion, the first thing to do is to find out what money is coming in and what's going out and where it's going.

Income is usually straightforward as it'll usually be salaries/other income and maybe some other payments such as child benefit, deposit interest, dividends etc.

In many cases these days most or all outgoings will be via debit/credit card payments so can be accessed by downloading (ideally a year's worth of) bank statements, maybe in CSV format to import into a spreadsheet (but you could do this manually on paper if your preferred), and then grouping/summing things under appropriate category headings to see what the expenditure is under each heading.

E.g. mortgage/rent, insurances (home/contents, health, car etc.), electricity/gas, groceries, motoring, health expenses, broadband/TV, phones etc... Once you do that you can get a better idea where the money is going and where you might be able to make savings, ideally starting with the bigger expenditure categories. This data and analysis still also form the basis for making better budgeting plans going forward.

If you do a lot of expenditure using cash then you'll need to collect receipts to complement the bank data mentioned above.

There's no real magic to this. It's a simple bookkeeping exercise that requires a bit of data collection and analysis. It's probably drudgery for most people but, sad geek that I am, I kind of enjoy doing it myself.

BTW this exercise should maybe go hand in hand with reviewing your tax and welfare situation to ensure that all credits/allowances are being claimed, all taxes are being met, and you are claiming any welfare payments (or educational grants etc.) to which you are entitled.

faketales said:

I would like to see how we compare to others in a similar situation,

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This is a pointless exercise in my opinion. Even given comparable situations, different people/families have different lifestyles, priorities, attitudes, values, income/expenditure etc. There's little point in comparing yourselves to the Joneses, never mind trying to keep up with or outdo them. Better to analyse/understand your own situation better and make tweaks and plans that suit your own particular needs and goals.

faketales said:

I would like to see how we compare to others in a similar situation

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I'm going to say that this is kind of a pointless exercise, yes you'll get to compare others expenditure to your own but it's only a basic comparison
What I mean is that there are so many variables in why or how much we spend that it's like comparing apples to oranges
Like my grocery shopping will be different to yours simply because of what we each put in our baskets,
The cost of running a car compared to yours will vary greatly for a whole host of reasons,
The utility bills for a house will vary as well depending on the house size and energy rating
And so the list goes on

I remember years ago while on holiday a tour guide gave us all a bit of sage advise when buying holiday souvenirs
Never ask anybody how much they paid for "an item" as they will almost always say they paid cheaper then what you paid

The best bit of advice I can give you is, the same as @ClubMan above suggests, track all of your own spending on a spreadsheet
And over time you will get to see the "who, what and why" of your spending habits and be able to make adjustments if and when needed
Just because for the last few years there is little or difference between income and expenditure doesn't always mean it's a bad thing
You had a lot going on, house, wedding, baby, it's an expensive time, it's not always going to be like that
Some years you'll over spend but hopefully by tracking you'll have more years ahead of you where you underspend

yes as the others have said, money makeover, dont worry about anyone else, its your expenditure thats important.

ClubMan said:

In my opinion, the first thing to do is to find out what money is coming in and what's going out and where it's going.

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I have done exactly this.

ClubMan said:

This is a pointless exercise in my opinion.

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Cervelo said:

I'm going to say that this is kind of a pointless exercise

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It seems strange to me that on a money forum people don't see some value in benchmarking their outgoings. It's not about setting others as a target but if I have a category that is outside the average range at least understanding why. Is it because of needs, that we value that expense or do we need to pay more attention on a category. If I am spending more than average on a category I would like to know that. What I do with that info is another step.

Hey,
I agree with other posters - every family is different but I think I know what you mean.

Basically you can decide at any stage what is important to you as a couple - 'more time off but then put up with the battered couch for another year' type decisions.

faketales said:

It's not about setting others as a target but if I have a category that is outside the average range at least understanding why.

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A lot of the time, it's link to the choice made. I know that I would struggle to get my outgoings lower than a certain point a month. My current expenses are about 1 k higher a month. The difference is mainly about choice, from the number of time I eat out, get take away, decide to travel (how and when), buy clothes... I could mostly avoid these of I wanted to or needed to. In the same way, the amount we spend does not represent our monthly income. It's where our finances land when we live our life the way we are happy to with perhaps some restraints. But our preferences are different from some people. We live the way we live and they do the way they do.
In terms of category of expenditures, you can probably look at them and get an idea of your situation. Are your spending in that area without counting, could you cut, at what level could you cut without impacting your enjoyment...

faketales said:

I have a category that is outside the average range at least understanding why.

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I honestly see little to no value in such an approach to analysing and managing one's household budget. At least some others here seem to have the same view.

Things that are useful to compare such as utilities and insurance have sites set up help you make choices. They are worth comparing, making sure you are getting good value for your preferences. Always worth shopping around for electricity, insurance, tv and internet packages… and non essentials like travel insurance and buying new major items like cars and appliances

Other stuff like groceries are very individual. Oystérs v fishfingers… tap water v vintage wines… I’m sure a lot of people would be shocked by our grocery bills… some would see them as cheap. Others would be shocked at how much we spend.

Annieindublin said:

Things that are useful to compare such as utilities and insurance have sites set up help you make choices. They are worth comparing

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I agree. Comparison based on your own specific usage (further optimised if you're already being wasteful) and needs. Not compared to the Joneses or an average of Joneses though.

Annieindublin said:

Always worth shopping around for electricity, insurance, tv and internet packages… and non essentials like travel insurance and buying new major items like cars and appliances

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DItto - I totally agree.

If you have a new baby, then talking to other parents in your area is important to get an idea of childcare options and costs. That might decide if you need to take more leave as there's lack of availability in places until baby is 1. Look into the NCS and see if it would work for you.

How many different bank accounts do the two of you have ? You could get the rough gist from the expenditure by catgorizing them. I'd start with the main account that looks after household bills and mortgage i.e living expenses. Then there's the credit card that probably does mostly holidays and online spending. Then you both probably have a revelut for social. I have 4 different bank accounts each concentrate on one whole area of my spending. Credit Card is mainly holidays, Debit card is largish spending online or ATM, a free PTSB current account for all DD and SO household, entertainment subs etc, Revelut for daily spending and I have a N26 account I use for UK stuff in sterling. Then start analysing them at your own pace for where all the big spending is going (I'd say Baby and Weddings )

elcato said:

How many different bank accounts do the two of you have ? You could get the rough gist from the expenditure by catgorizing them.

Then there's the credit card that probably does mostly holidays and online spending.

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ClubMan said:

In many cases these days most or all outgoings will be via debit/credit card payments so can be accessed by downloading (ideally a year's worth of) bank statements, maybe in CSV format to import into a spreadsheet (but you could do this manually on paper if your preferred), and then grouping/summing things under appropriate category headings to see what the expenditure is under each heading.

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You could look through other Money Makeovers on here and use them as a comparison.

Khublei said:

You could look through other Money Makeovers on here and use them as a comparison.

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Most MM seem to deal with the strategic medium to long term planning. Generally more important but if I don’t get the day to day stuff right long term planning isn’t worth much.

I’ll have to accept the view that most people don’t see any value in spending comparison.

Personally while not believing it will be super helpful think it would be a worthwhile exercise.

faketales said:

I’ll have to accept the view that most people don’t see any value in spending comparison

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Spending comparison with others, no.
Analysis of your own household income/expenditure to see where the money is going and if/where improvements can be made, yes - definitely!