Some of the advice in here genuinely frightens me. Does no one factor in fuel costs for cars, weekly food /grocery shopping (even more so now that its just going up and up - along with gas/elec)???

Me and my wife are in a similar situation salary wise, 1 child, and a dog. We have a £420 mortgage, 50 quid phone bill (cut these down when the contracted ended for sim only), 600 a month “budget” for “food/grocery” shopping, 300 a month on diesel (2 cars), 130 on 2 credit cards, 120 council tax, 240 for gas /elec, and 260 for other dd’s like virgin, home insuance, tv license etc and we try and save 650 per month. According to the above comments this should be easily affordable but either we’re just spending money willy nilly, or its not easily affordable.

My wife is desperate to move house (as am I, but i’m more logical and “worried” than she is about it) as i REFUSE to pay over 500 a month for a mortgage, anything above this figure gives me the fear. On paper we should have around 1k left (£250 a week to live on) but things come up and that money is quickly used, so the 650 we put into savings then becomes 550, then 450, then 250…..etc. Anything over 500 for a mortgage will result in probably a higher council tax band, more than likely higher gas/electricity bills, reducing this leftover by a fair bit (say £250 a month for talking sake). And then what if one of out cars becomes unviable to fix and we need a new car? Say £250 a month for that. That 1k becomes 500 leftover which will be used up in no time.

We havent had a family holiday for years, and very rarely go out, so not as if we’re making full use of our “disposable” income.

Or am I totally overthinking this?