To really struggle to save money

As previously mentioned, I’m surprised that you think you’re not entitled to a top up from Universal Credit 🤔
Anyhow I think your current work / life balance sounds spot on .
Your little one is very young so I imagine all nursery hours aren’t funded ( I’m older so I don’t know enough about this )
I am a granny and if my daughter/ son in law were in your position I’d offer to have the wee one 1 day per week or maybe 1.5 days to save on some of the childcare costs .
( I know a nursery setting can be good for little ones so I’d expect you still want to use nursery)
Is it possible for your parents to help at all ?
The only thing that stands out to me is popping to corner shop , that’s expensive and could be managed if you plan your other food shopping differently?
Being on the ball with switching providers for utilities and phone / broadband / car insurance can save £ too .
I don’t think a once a month takeaway is being extravagant either 🤔
We don’t get takeaways but that’s mainly because the good ones round here are pricey and my own Chinese cooking is much nicer and tastes fresher than the restaurant 😂honest.
With shopping for things like toiletries and skincare items I wait for offers and buy several.
Same with dishwasher tabs and laundry detergent.

You both sound awesome has he considered plumbing. If he is handy more then into say office life it could change your lives. You should become a private tutor also, you already have potential clients. Hardest part is finding a person you truly love and enjoy, your half way there.

This 💯

I also find MN in general to be very judgemental….

Saving money seems to be a MN obsession. But a lot of women on here earn very well and have high earning partners; they can afford to save.

I was a working single mother for many years with a low-average income and saved not a bean during those years.

It's normal not to be able to save money if you're not a high earner. The cost of living is high, you have a lot of outgoings. You have to be realistic and not beat yourself up.

It will get easier as your DCs get older.

OP as you have a degree could you train as a teacher

OP
Have you heard of the help to save scheme run by the gov? For every pound you save they give you a pound if you can leave the money there for 2 and then 4 years I beleive it is. I'm struggling but determined to put something into this every month. It's very tough. I've been counting every thing recently and always run out of money about 2 weeks before payday. It's horrible atm.

If you have a degree, you could qualify as a teacher in a year.

Op when we weren't up against it, I started saving 2 pounds a week into one of those tins you can't open.
Sounds silly perhaps but when Xmas came it made a difference to have something saved to pull on.
I then expanded to 3 tins, Xmas, holidays and bday and used freecyle for everything, yellow sticker food and so on.

I would do a budget and keep a spending diary. Top up shops are not a great idea and will be more expensive so I suggest you try and avoid them. As you had to pay for a faulty boiler I guess you own your home presumably with a mortgage so higher interest rates will have affected you.

@redfox you are time poor and cash rich.

Most people have to make a choice / compromise regarding this, and I think doing what you are doing is fine. But a little bit of a buffer of emergency funds would be good.

The fact you have your degree and a career path in mind means you can hopefully get a higher salary later. That's something to aim for.

What hours does your daughter do in nursery? Is it not mostly funded by the 30 funded hours?

I think it would be good if you could get bar work or supermarket work, even just one or two evenings a week. You could even set up a new bank account just for those wages and don't touch them, just treat that as your savings account.

If you're only doing 20 hours during the week (presumy term time) it might be a nice balance for you all for you to go out to work a couple of evenings and leave your daughter and husband alone for some time together. Might be good for you too, bar work and supermarket work can be very sociable and a lot of fun.

Do you own or rent? If you own or are in social housing that's good. Private renting not so secure and I'd imagine your rent will be high.

Yes you should definitely be entitled to UC! Even without housing element there is the child element and childcare costs you can re-claim upto 85% of....definitely double check, it has been a massive help to us since we have had DC and I've worked less hours/been on Mat leave etc

EP is a well-paid job, but it’s highly competitive to even get accepted and then a 3-4 year (potentially unfunded) course. It’s a doctorate (like a PhD) so obviously very academic and one hell of a dissertation at the end of it. It’s not something to undertake lightly and will take a lot of hours away from family life.

I know a number of very unhappy EPs who are basically utterly fed up of having to toe the Local Authority ‘party line’ and spending all of their time doing statutory work.

I totally empathise OP! We are in very similar boat, slightly higher earnings but with 2 kids. I'm working part time 18hrs and only earn about 13k but until DC2 is at school it is most financially viable option, and also want to make the most of time with her as I did DC1.
DH works 40hrs a week income about 32k.....neither of us much hope of any career progression really, due to opportunities/skilset/confidence combined.
We can afford all the essentials, and activities for kids, days out, occasional meals out or takeaways etc, kids each have clubs and extras such as gym and Spotify, but have to be frugal with often getting clothes and kids presents 2nd hand etc, holidays even UK ones put us in debt, and bigger unexpected expenses such as car repairs are tricky.
We never really have anything left over at the end of the month....anything we have ever saved gets eaten up within a short period on something or other.
It feels like everyone around us is better off than us to be honest...probably doesn't help that we live in a fairly affluent area (we rent though) I know people casually getting new kitchens, extensions etc and think how on earth do you do it!
Everything is so expensive now that it seems you're doomed for saving if you don't have a well paid job :(

OP if your husband is a tradesman could he potentially be a self employed handyman at the weekend? I'm fairly sure I heard my local handyman makes £50k+ a year. He just advertises on facebook. Maybe he could have a dabble at the weekend. Seriously though tradesmen are really raking it in round my end, North West.

Having said that don't beat yourself up at not being able to save, you're doing well to be paying the bills and managing expensive problems like a new boiler, especially with a baby in nursery.

Also if your current setup is working for you, then don't feel peer pressured to do more hours. If you are enjoying your work life balance with your baby good for you. In a couple of years when DC is in school or getting their 30 free hours maybe you can get more work. But this time flies by, as long as you don't feel like you're on the bones of your arse poor and it's making you miserable, crack on.

The Ed pysch idea actually is a good one. TA work, even senior, is terribly paid and always part time as tends to be term time only.

Could you look into teacher training?

£27k is high for a full time TA wage-none of ours earn that. How many hours do you work now?

Could you go full time school hours (8.45-3.15?) and use childcare for those hours? When do the partially funded hours start?

I think that for now, you need to park the thoughts about saving.

The only way to make more is to get more well-paid jobs, which from what you say won't be particularly easy.

But - it won't always be like this. Once your baby is at school you won't have nursery fees and might be able to move home or find something a bit more lucrative.

Sorry ignore me on the prescriptions, I read it as your DD being 9 months old!

When I had my DC prescriptions were free for the first 12 months after they were born. A quick google tells me that’s still the case so make sure you’re on top of all that sort of thing.
Tax free childcare is another one, make sure you’re using it to pay for nursery.

Depends where you are in the country

I'm up North. I only earn 23k for full time work. Average salary around here

Not to state the obvious but you can’t save on a low salary unless your outgoings are very low.

The only way to do so is to earn more.

It's rubbish when money is so tight. There's been some good suggestions so far. I would try to skip the monthly takeaway and perhaps get in a nicer than normal frozen pizza (lidl do some). Try to limit the corner shop type purchases, ours is extortionate. Trying to buy your regular food shopping whilst it's on offer can also save a few pounds here and there. Which is your normal supermarket?

I agree that you need to boost your income somehow. Could one of you take on some seasonal work? Royal mail has Christmas temp jobs, various shift including nights. I know some of the retailers advertise too. Could be a good way of getting some extra money amd seeing how the extra shifts impact your family.

I think it’s worth double checking you’re not entitled to UC. I know there are complicated variables, but I know people on higher salaries than you who receive it.

Also, are you using tax free childcare to pay for nursery hours?

As has been said, you’re on low incomes, having lots of savings isn’t realistic at the moment. You both sound sensible, hopefully you can find a bit here and there to make things easier.

Would it be at all manageable to set up a standing order of even £5-10 per month to go into savings? Ideally on the same day that you are paid, or thereabouts.