sick of having to cut back

[misstiredbuthappy]

So fed up of having watch what I spend. Dd finishes for easter holidays on friday. So this week im trying to save some money to keep for a few days out. For those days out I search the internet for cheap deals ect. There always seems to be something always feel like im scraping by. Plus the bus fare had gone up an extra pound a day ! Need to get bus to take dd to school. Also got to pay for a school trip for dd. Sorry for the moan but does anybody else ever feel like this ?

[ej3166]

Hi misstiredbuthappy,

I have no words of wisdom or advice to help only to say I know exactly how you feel.
Having separated from dh last year,each month I seem to have less and less money yet I earn a bloody good wage:-( my sons seem to need a new bit of school uniform each month/shoes/clothes as growing so quick and the school annoys me as seem to be collecting for this charity or dress up day/buy tickets for this and that.the school seem to get about £10 each month.
Petrol goes up and down,my shopping bill only ever goes up!
It's all so frustrating and am sure so many people are in the same boat especially single parents.

Without getting all political-this government (but any government) really need to do more to help working families,not upper class or non working families.

Rant over my love but I really do empathise.

[misstiredbuthappy]

I know as soon as I get paid im skint again ! My food shop is what gets me I meal plan thinking I will save money but still need fridge/snacks for dd especialy in the easter holidays as we will ge at home. Ive booked next week of work. When we are at school/work we dont eat at home during the day.

thank you for posting. Sorry for the moan. We have food clothes on our back should be greatful. Its just anoying that I never have money no matter how hard I budget.

[JonSnowKnowsNothing]

Sympathies, OP, I feel exactly the same and I'm on decent pay and have no DC. Sometimes I just want to wake up and think "fuck it - I'm driving to Scotland for the day, maybe even a stop over in a cheap pub type place." Then I realise that just the petrol would skint me for the rest of the month.
Sick of it really.

[rodgette]

here, here!
Work, eat, clean, sleep, repeat!
I am grateful we all have our health, I am grateful we both
have jobs, but being responsible and doing the right thing all the
time, paying the bills, paying our way, sure makes the rodgette
house dull!

:)
I'm hearing you, i feel your pain, but I am sure you are doing a great job x

[LornaGoon]

Totally agree. It's a grind forever counting pennies. I thought I was doing really well the other day when I got £40 cheque for a reimbursement. Then the fridge/freezer died a horrible death. That'll be £400 then for new appliance, ruined food etc. The lord giveth and the lord taketh away apparently

[LadyKooKoo]

Home insurance should cover the cost of ruined food.

[ej3166]

It truly is shite.
I had a back pay paid in January- 3 days later my car breaks costing £20 over what the generous back pay was.
I think that's the feeling I get being on own- is my responsilbilities are so huge- there's no moment I can go " blow it I'm gonna treat us all".
I've spent well over what I wanted to this half term already. And your def right- I meal plan too but my ds is a walking eating machine from dawn till dusk and has friends in occasionally on the trampoline so end up dishing out biscuits squash I can ill afford- but it's cheap and keeps him happy- then I feel such a grump for thinking like this:-(

[jojoh1979]

I feel for you here, know the feeling only too well.

ive started doing my food shop online as a trip to my local supermarket was costing 120 a week, I now average 80 online.

cut my tv package down too saved 50 a month and watch netflix instead.

School dinners went up so kids get sandwiches now.

The list is endless and to be honest im still skint.

[mizu]

Know how you feel. We are trying so hard to save a house deposit which leaves us with nothing left over. We have been saving for over 2 years and have £7000. We don't earn a huge amount so it is quite a challenge.

So bored of saving but know we must.

Have had no holiday since before kids were born.

Some months I have to take back a bit of the money we have saved, it is such slow going.

DDs need sandals but will have to wait til next month I think.

We have been out this holiday visiting friends and family so we have used more petrol than I had wanted.

But we have a roof over our head and food, I know we are lucky in comparison to many.

[Ellisisland]

Another one here. Again saving for house deposit so trying to save as much as we can. We both work and I know we are lucky in so many ways but it is the slog of it that gets to me. The fact that it doesn't really end and I have to always think of money. It's the guiding force behind most of our life and I find that a bit sad at times.

[atthestrokeoftwelve]

LornaGoon You can pick up a good fridge freezer for £170 from ARGOS or similar.
Or try freecycle. My dishwasher ( Bosch) cost me £40 second hand, and has been cleaning superbly for 5 years now.

As others have said insurance will pay for the ruined food.

[Fairylea]

Completely understand.

We have money to eat which I am grateful for but no money for anything else. If anything breaks we are absolutely buggered. We have the car mot due in July and I am dreading it :(

By the way you don't need to spend £400 on a fridge freezer... Lots of one's with warranty included new on ebay for at least half that.

[Supermum222]

Anyone with children in yr 2 or below, from September, will get free school meals this autumn.

[WheresRyder]

I know exactly how you feel. I am a single parent to 4 dc, they do have regular contact with heir father and he pays a healthy amount of maintenance, I also work full time in a well paid job (not entitled to tax credits etc) but by the time I pay my bills rent and food for each week, there is very little if anything left over.
This time last year on the same money I could still afford treats, the year before on same money we had holidays and lots of days out.

I have seriously downscaled my food shopping, very rarely do I go to waitrose or sainsburys (my 2 nearest) usually drive across town to get to the big aldi as its half the price. This then frees up money to pay for the endless school trips and uniforms and shoes etc.

[slartybartfast]

gets you down doesnt it.
skint city here.
luckily we seem to have got through easter holidays, almost, with no expensive treats. but it is sad

[slartybartfast]

dh doesn't appear to have got the job he went for recently, hwoever at least it means we continue to get a burser for dd at college, so swings and roundabouts . but oth a good pay from dh would have made a Whole lot of difference

[expatinscotland]

Story of my life

[theywillgrowup]

yep same here

but im getting hacked of with thinking we have a roof,food etc

why should we always be bloody grateful/thankful

[dotnet]

I don't know how old your dd is, but little ones can get a lot of fun out of dens (crawl under a couple of tables draped with sheets, or under a trampoline). Then she can have a party with her friends, using dolls' cups and saucers, but real food. That'll be something special; yet it'll cost nothing.

People are having a really hard time now because costs have gone up dramatically and many people's wages are lagging far far behind.

I can't think of any particularly good tips, only - buy food from the reduced (short date) section as much as possible, and extend ready meals by adding in a bit of additional cooked pasta for example, or vegetables. Pasta ready meals are often too sloppy in any case, as bought. You can spin out other things in a similar way. Keep your eyes open for charity shop bargains. My dd went through several pairs of charity shop shoes when she was young; they were all in as new condition when I bought them.

Have a jar 'Money for trips' and put what you can afford into it when you can. Maybe open an account specifically for repairs and do the same thing with that.

Buy bits and pieces for Christmas throughout the year, whenever you spot a good deal, and put them away. December 2014 will come as less of a shock than (I'm guessing) December 2013 did.

It IS hard. But you're doing the right thing by keeping on keeping on, and being aware of the value of money.

At least you won't be using as much gas and electricity now that the weather is better.

Don't feel bad about moaning. Life is hard sometimes - we're all entitled to have a moan now and then!

[winkywinkola]

I can't believe how overdrawn I am after the Eater holidays. No typo there either.

I made the mistake of not sticking to ALDI and popping into all the other supermarkets all the time to keep the hungry hordes happy.

Back to ferocious meal planning and budget now. Baked potatoes, cheese on toast, scrambled eggs beans and waffles for a couple of weeks now. Trying to claw back into black.