Can we build a great family life for £2,500 a month?
September spending: £2,780
£280 over our £2,500 target
September came in at £2,780, putting us £280 over our £2,500 target. The biggest contributors were the £396 travel insurance payment for our Southeast Asia trip and a £354 car insurance bill – two sizeable costs that make this month’s headline figure look rather worse than our everyday spending.
It wasn’t a month dominated by lots of little extras. Transport came to £687 and fun & everything else reached £849, but both totals include significant individual expenses. Food was also a substantial £721, although the figures alone don’t tell us what drove that total.
The aim isn’t to pretend that every month can be squeezed into a perfect £2,500 budget. It’s to see what our life actually costs, understand where the money goes, and work out which spending genuinely makes our life better.
And this month, the distinction between the cost of everyday family life and the cost of planning a big family adventure is particularly clear.
September at a glance
| July 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Our target | £2,500 |
| Actual spending | £2,780 |
| Over/under target | £280 |
Where did the money go?
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Housing | £523 |
| Food | £721 |
| Transport | £687 |
| Fun & everything else | £849 |
| Total | £2,780 |
We’re slightly over the target, but still looking good, particularly in contrast to some recent months!
Let’s take a closer look.
Housing – £523
Housing came to £523 in September. That covered the usual household bills, alongside £95 for the climbing wall.
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gas & Electric | £121 |
| Water | £70 |
| Council Tax | £207 |
| Internet | £30 |
| Climbing Wall | £95 |
| Total | £523 |
There isn’t an obvious one-off spike in the household bills themselves. The climbing wall is a separate part of this category, so it’s worth remembering that not every pound here is a traditional housing cost.
Food – £721
Food spending was £721 in September, making it one of our biggest areas of spending.
This is an area where we want to be thoughtful, but we also don’t want to compromise on the quality of what we eat just to make the monthly total look better.
For the £2,500 challenge, the question is whether we can keep food spending sensible while still buying the food that matters to us.
Transport – £687
Transport was £687 in September. The total was heavily influenced by car insurance, which accounted for £354 of the category.
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Fuel | £95 |
| Train | £212 |
| Car Insurance | £354 |
| Tyre Repair | £20 |
| Bus | £6 |
| Total | £687 |
This isn’t simply a reflection of how much we’re driving day to day: the car insurance payment makes a substantial difference to the monthly total.
There may be opportunities to keep an eye on transport costs, but some expenses are difficult to avoid. It’s also important to distinguish the cost of running the car from the less regular bills that land in a particular month.
Fun & everything else – £849
At £849, this was our biggest category in September. It includes a mixture of family spending, personal costs and a sizeable payment connected to our next big trip.
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Phone Bills | £16 |
| Eating Out | £153 |
| Presents | £5 |
| Activities | £102 |
| Dental | £96 |
| Travel Insurance – Southeast Asia | £396 |
| Contact Lenses | £66 |
| Eye Test | £15 |
| Total | £849 |
The standout expense was £396 for Southeast Asia travel insurance. That’s a significant amount in one month, but it’s part of preparing for the family trip we’re planning.
These costs aren’t all the same sort of spending. Eating out and activities are part of enjoying family life; dental and eye-care costs are practical expenses; and the travel insurance relates to an experience we’re looking forward to. The important thing is understanding what the money is buying, rather than treating every pound outside the essentials as wasteful.
We’re not trying to spend as little as humanly possible. We’re trying to spend less while still having a life we enjoy.
So… how did we do?
£2,780 wasn’t a £2,500 month.
We finished £280 over target, so on the headline figure alone September was another month that missed the challenge.
The £280 over target is only part of the story.
The £396 Southeast Asia travel insurance payment is the biggest clue. If we take that one cost out, September’s spending would have been £2,384 – £116 under our target. That doesn’t mean the insurance shouldn’t count: it’s a real cost of a trip we have chosen to take. But it does show how much one-off and less frequent expenses can distort a single month’s total.
The good
- We have continued putting practical plans in place for our Southeast Asia family trip.
- We spent £102 on activities, keeping room in the budget for things to do together.
- Eating out came to £153, giving us some room for convenience and enjoyment without being the main driver of the month’s spending.
The not-so-good
- Food came to £721. We need to keep watching this category and understand what is driving it.
- Transport reached £687, with car insurance alone accounting for £354.
- The overall total was still £280 above the challenge, even after recognising that much of the difference came from identifiable larger costs.
The £2,500 Challenge
September is a good example of why we’re looking beyond whether we can hit £2,500 in every individual month.
On paper, we spent £2,780. But £396 of that was travel insurance for Southeast Asia. Without that payment, the rest of the month’s spending would have come in below target. It is a useful reminder that the timing of larger bills can make one month look expensive, even when everyday spending is more controlled.
The insurance is money we’re happy to spend because it supports a family trip we’re looking forward to. It would be misleading to pretend it doesn’t count, but equally misleading to treat it as evidence that our normal monthly lifestyle costs £2,780.
The figures don’t point to an obvious easy cut that would solve the whole difference. Food is worth keeping under review, and transport is a category where it makes sense to stay alert to costs, but the largest individual payments this month aren’t simply everyday treats we can stop buying.
We don’t want to cut the experiences and opportunities that make family life enjoyable just to achieve an arbitrary monthly number. The challenge is to spend deliberately, make room for the things we value and understand the less frequent costs as well as the regular ones.
The question we’re really trying to answer isn’t:
“Can we have a £2,500 month?”
It’s:
“Can we build a great family life for £2,500 a month?”
September suggests that the answer depends partly on what we include and when the bills fall. Our actual spending was above the target, but once the Southeast Asia insurance is separated out, the rest of the month was below £2,500. The insurance is still part of the real cost of the life we’re choosing – and of the travel we want to do as a family.
So September wasn’t a £2,500 month, but it doesn’t feel like a failure of the challenge. It shows why we need to look at spending over time, not judge our family life by one month’s total.
What we’ll be watching next month
We’ll keep an eye on food spending. We’ll also watch how transport and other larger bills affect the overall picture.
The aim is to separate regular living costs from the bigger expenses that arrive less frequently, without losing sight of the fact that both are part of our real spending.
Target for next month: Aim to keep everyday spending close to £2,500, while recording any larger one-off costs separately in our commentary.
We’ll see whether October gives us a clearer picture of our regular monthly baseline.