Can we build a great family life for £2,500 a month?
June spending: £2,333
£167 under our £2,500 target
We did it!
For the first time in this ‘rebranded’ series, we’ve managed to get our monthly spending below £2,500.
We spent £2,333 in June, putting us £167 below our target. The biggest reason is a much quieter month for entertainment and miscellaneous spending, although food is still higher than we would like.
Obviously one month under £2,500 doesn’t prove that we’ve cracked it, but it’s encouraging to see that the target is at least achievable while we’re living our normal family life.
And we’ve even managed to start building a climbing wall in the living room…
June at a glance
| June 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Our target | £2,500 |
| Actual spending | £2,333 |
| Over/under target | -£167 |
Where did the money go?
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Housing | £636 |
| Food | £911 |
| Transport | £245 |
| Fun & everything else | £541 |
| Total | £2,333 |
The headline this month is the £541 spent on entertainment and everything else. That’s a big reduction from May, and it’s the main reason we’ve managed to get under £2,500.
Food, however, remains almost unchanged at more than £900.
Let’s take a closer look.
Housing – £636
Housing was a little higher than usual this month, mainly because we bought some new blinds and, more importantly, started spending money on our latest DIY project.
We’re building a climbing wall in our living room.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Everyone thinks we’re mad, but the boys absolutely love climbing and we think it will be a great project. It’s also something to keep Mr Way busy over the summer!
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gas & Electric | £121 |
| Water | £70 |
| Council Tax | £207 |
| Internet | £30 |
| Blinds | £60 |
| Climbing Wall | £148 |
| Total | £636 |
So while £636 is higher than our normal housing spending, some of that is a one-off cost – and the climbing wall is something we’re hoping will provide plenty of entertainment for the boys over the coming months.
That’s one of the interesting things about our £2,500 challenge.
Sometimes spending money can actually help us spend less elsewhere.
If a relatively low cost DIY project gives the boys something fun to do at home over the next few years, that might be money well spent.
We also continue to be very happy with Octopus Energy. Our energy comes from 100% renewable sources, which is a great bonus.
[Octopus referral link] — if you decide to switch, we both get £50.
Food – £911
Food remains our biggest challenge.
We spent £911 on supermarket shopping in June, which is almost identical to last month’s £926.
That’s not where we want it to be. There’s no major one-off expense to explain this either. This is simply what we’re currently spending to feed our family.
So while we’re pleased to have got below £2,500 overall, food is the obvious area where we need to keep working. Getting this figure down even slightly would make a significant difference to our overall monthly spending.
For now, though, £900+ on food remains firmly on our list of things to tackle.
Transport – £245
Transport was a relatively normal month for us, coming in at £245.
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Fuel | £96 |
| Train | £149 |
| Total | £245 |
After the new tyres in May, it’s nice to have a much more straightforward transport month.
There’s nothing particularly exciting to report here – which is always a good thing!
Fun & everything else – £541
This is where June looks very different from May.
We spent £541 on entertainment and miscellaneous items, compared with £1,310 last month.
That’s a reduction of £769.
A big part of that was simply eating out much less. We also didn’t make many large purchases this month.
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Phone Bills | £16 |
| Eating Out | £30 |
| Presents | £67 |
| Activities | £171 |
| Dental | £46 |
| Lego | £23 |
| Tarp & Camping Chair | £150 |
| Photos | £8 |
| Charity | £30 |
| Total | £541 |
The most obvious difference is eating out. £30 this month compared with £517 in May. That’s a huge change and shows just how much our spending can move around from month to month.
We still spent £171 on activities, plus £150 on a tarp and camping chair, so this certainly wasn’t a month where we stopped doing things.
We just didn’t have the combination of going away, eating out and buying lots of other things that pushed May’s spending so high.
We also recently switched our mobile network to Lebara. Our SIM-only deals are really cheap and the service has been great.
[Lebara referral link] if you’d like to give them a try.
So… how did we do?
£2,333 is our first successful £2,500 month.
And we’re pretty pleased with that.
The £167 buffer isn’t enormous, but getting below the target at all is an important milestone.
More importantly, we’ve shown that we don’t necessarily need to make huge changes to our lifestyle to get there.
The good
- We stayed below £2,500!
- Entertainment and miscellaneous spending fell dramatically from May.
- Eating out dropped from £517 to just £30.
- Transport was fairly normal.
- We still spent money on activities and family life.
- We’ve started our slightly ridiculous – but hopefully brilliant – living-room climbing wall.
The not-so-good
- Food remains very high at £911.
- Housing was higher than normal because of the climbing wall and blinds.
- There’s only a £167 buffer between our spending and the £2,500 target.
- One big expense could easily push us back over the line.
The £2,500 Challenge
So, what have we learned?
£2,500 might actually be possible.
May showed us how quickly spending can creep above £3,000 when we have a combination of eating out, going away and other larger purchases.
June shows the other side of the equation.
We spent less on the things that aren’t essential, but we didn’t completely stop having fun. We still paid for activities, bought some Lego, bought camping equipment and, most importantly, continued living our normal family life.
And that is exactly what we’re trying to find out.
Can we build a great family life for £2,500 a month?
June says maybe.
But we’d like to make this a little less dependent on having an unusually cheap month, and become more of a regular thing.
What we’ll be watching next month
The obvious target remains food.
At more than £900, it’s now consistently one of our biggest monthly expenses. If we can bring that down without making family mealtimes miserable, it could make getting below £2,500 much more sustainable. The other consideration is health – we prioritise healthy, organic, unprocessed food and aren’t willing to compromise on this.
We’ll also see whether June’s lower entertainment spending was a genuine change in our habits or simply a quieter month.
For now, though, we’re going to enjoy the fact that we’ve beaten the £2,500 challenge threshold.
Even if it was only by £167.