Is £350 per week enough to live on (family of 5)?

[DiscontinuedModelHusband]

DW and I are struggling a bit financially.
Over the last few months, we just seem to be treading water - no additional money saved, credit card/overdraft debt not reducing.

I've worked out that after all our normal bills, mortgage, credit cards, regular kids activities, savings etc we should have about £1400 per month to live on (for food, clothes, presents, eating out etc).

DW thinks this is unreasonable, and that I should ask my parents for help (they are fairly well off, but by no means wealthy).

My argument is that asking my parents is not really a sustainable solution in the long-term - I think we need to fix our spending habits.

She's now not speaking to me , because she thinks my pride is the problem.

There is a smidgen of truth to this - DW and my parents have a frosty relationship, meaning we barely see them (perhaps once per fortnight, for a meal - mainly DW's choice).

I feel uncomfortable asking them for financial help when they don't really get many normal grandparent benefits (proper time with GCs, they never get to holiday with us, GCs have never stayed at their house etc).

Our relationship is largely financial as it is (they help with school trips, uniform, have lent us money in the past), and I dislike this very much (I don't think my parents love it either, but have always been happy to help).

Should I just swallow my pride here?

Or should we try and sort things ourselves?
Is this even possible for £350 per month?

[outvoid]

Sounds like more than enough to me and I think it would be rude to ask your parents for financial assistance tbh.

[bitchfromhell]

Maybe I'm missing something but round here you could have a bloody nice life for £350 per week. Depends on your priorities I suppose.

[ethelfleda]

£350 per week? You said per month at the end....
However if it’s per week then you’re not being unreasonable!!

[user1483387154]

That amount is easily doable. You really dont need to ask for financial assistance at all

[HisBetterHalf]

Not enough info. Is that two wages or one? Are any benefits included? What activities are you paying for? What are your savings?

[ethelfleda]

Yes you can’t ask your parents for assistance so you can afford to eat out more. That’s not really fair - if you were struggling to pay your mortgage then fair enough...

[user2928362]

I read that as £350 a month and thought it was tight but doable. £1400 a month just for food and luxeries is loads and if you're spending all of that you really need to look at how.

[tomtom1999xx]

If you’ve got £1400 left over after all bills paid I’d say you’re very comfortable.

[DiscontinuedModelHusband]

Sorry - £350 per week!

[ZippyBungleandGeorge]

If you've got £350 a week left after your bills and mortgage have been paid you don't need financial assistance!

[DaanSaaf]

The fact that eating out was in your list shows you're not managing money properly. Does your dw work?

[Lllot5]

£350 a week sounds enough to me. Plus asking your parents every month is not sustainable surely. One off big expenditure is different but not monthly just so you can have a bit more spending money doesn’t seem fair.

[DiscontinuedModelHusband]

2 incomes, no benefits.

Zero savings currently (but have just paid for a holiday with them).
A lot of debt.

[NoBaggyPants]

What is she spending £1400 a month on? That's a very healthy amount, why does she need more?

[meepmoop]

What are you currently spending £350 a week on?
Surely clothes aren't bought every week. What's your food bill?
You also don't need to eat out every week so could save money there.

[Mixingitall]

That’s easily do able. Have you looked at how much your spending on food, petrol, and little extras that add up to a lot over a month? Do both yourself and DW work? How old are the children? Could you do a proper budget and assess spending?

[TokyoSushi]

We live on £250 per week after all bills but including food & petrol, (both very short commutes) it's absolutely fine!

[Bemystarlord]

£350 pw? No you don't need their financial support, thats more than enough.

[churchthecat]

WTF?! £1400 is a huge amount!

[Isitweekendyet]

It will be tight but you’ll get by. You have no choice, you can’t keep going to your parents for hand outs, it’s unfair and not surprising there’s bad blood they probably feel used.

Look internally, can you downgrade anything? Cars, internet, sky, phones etc. Is it time to move jobs? Get the kids to drop an activity each etc? Times are hard so I really sympathise, we’ve gone through phases like this where it feels you’re constantly scraping the bottom of the barrel when there’s nothing left.

But asking other people for money isn’t the solution, regardless if they’re wealthy or not and regardless if they’re you’re parents.

[22Giraffes]

£350 per week is more than do-able without needing to ask for financial assistance from your parents. I'm shocked your DW would think otherwise tbh!

[DaanSaaf]

I'm not sure this is a serious post. Knock the eating out on the head, buy cheaper food, tighten your belts a bit and you can easily start paying off your debts.

[Bigpizzalover]

It’s all relative but to me £1,400 a month disposable is a HUGE sum and I’m not exactly on a low income for my area.

You do not need financial assistance. You need to fix spending habits.

[adaline]

£1,400 disposable income is more then what lots of people earn altogether!

[Theclearing]

So she doesn’t like them but wants their money?