To be struggling on 3k per month?

Would they? Do you mean that they’d pay the rent? I’m not sure the OP would get that much overall.

£3k a month after tax is not a lot at all!!

If two people were earning £1.5k each, they would be topped up with a shit tonne of money. Way more than £3k a month.

I use a spreadsheet for budgeting and would be lost without it. All my direct debits etc and monthly costs are listed, and if I know something is coming up (ie DH birthday) I save each month.

Then once all my known costs have been deducted from my take home pay, I divide the rest into 4, and have an equal amount each week, that tends to keep me on track. Five week months can be a pain though!

Well apart from the valuable asset you’re paying towards of course. In my area the rent cap is 950 per month for a parent with three kids which isn’t enough for even a two bed so it doesn’t pay to be on benefits either.

TV licence cost?

£50 is quite a lot for cat food unless you have multiple cats. I have 1 dog and spend a lot less on dog food.

You water bill is very high. For reference, it’s the same as my water invoice for my pub. We are on a commercial rate plus have staff members living on site.

You have around £700 a month unaccounted for. What you need to do is stop thinking of this as spare money. That is your fund for non-monthly expenses:clothes and shoes, Christmas and birthdays, car MOT and services, holidays, house repairs etc. £700 is a good amount for this, but not if it gets spent on takeaway lattes and having your nails done.

You need a budget.

If you were renting, UC would give you an extra £550 PCM.

It does not pay to own a house and be a single parent.

Is that £50pm on cat food? That’s a lot.

Yes you should be able to manage on 3k given that your mortgage is very small. Your expenses are less than you bring in. What do you spend the rest on? 150 pw is also loads for food and you could surely reduce that to 100 pw?

Ask for a water meter. I didn’t in a property once as it wouldn’t be possible to have one. But I just went though the motions the assessor came round and said it wouldn’t be possible but they discounted each bill.

yoh should have a tv licence if you’re watching any live tv, whether it’s on the BBC or not. Sky is a real luxury. Our household income is much higher and we wouldn’t dream of it. We do have Disney which has been creeping up so we take in turns to have Netflix or Now tv for a few months.

have a look at your phone. If your device is paid off, go on a sim only contract.

Okay, so yes, I think you are spending a lot on little things and that’s why it’s adding up. I currently earn about £2000 a month (self employed from a family business).

Dh earns maybe a bit more, so I’d say our monthly income as a household is £4500 (but there’s 4 of us, including 2 adults who eat all their meals at home and use water, electricity, etc all day long).

mortgage £1700
council tax est £210
phone £50
car insurance £37
water (I actually don’t even know)
electric £150
heating oil £50
petrol £180 (per month)
internet £29
dog food £50
food shopping £480
Netflix/prime £15

Our mortgage is much more than yours, but it looks like you’re spending a lot on electricity/gas unless you have a massive house, same with petrol and food shopping unless you have teens who are eating loads.

We have 5 bedrooms in a massive old cold farmhouse to light and heat and we’re spending about what you are - and we’re home all day every day as work from home.

Same with food - £150 a week is a lot for one adult and children. I’d say we probably do spend that with extras, but there’s 2 adults eating 3 meals a day plus snacks, plus the kids. I don’t buy cheap food and I don’t budget food shopping. I buy whatever I see that I like. It could absolutely be cut down. I’d see if you could aim for closer to £100.

Get rid of bloody sky and all the extras like that. Netflix and prime costs us combined £15 a month, which I make back on free shipping on Amazon anyway. Kids watch a lot of iplayer which is free.

Get rid of the coffees out, lunches (packed lunch for days out), nails, hair, whatever it is you’re spending little bits on.

We have probably as much left over as you (after our £1700 a month mortgage) and I feel quite comfortable. I even have a horse who costs me £300+ a month.

You can save money on pretty much everything there (except mortgage and council tax).

Get a more basic sky package (or cancel). Review phone contract. Meal plan cheaper options etc. pay car insurance annually next time.

You have enough money for your expenditures so you need to get a bit clearer on where the money is going. For 2-3 months write down literally everything you spend.

You need to check your last 2-3 months bank statements to see where your cash is going because there is about £700 unaccounted for.

Also check on your water bills they are very high. And if you on a meter you might have a leak or something.

If you cancel SKY and don't watch any TV on the normal channels and don't use iplayer. You don't need a TV licence. So no freeview. Or any channels broadcasting live.

For TV, I pay:

TV licence £12pm I think
Netflix £5pm
Broadband £22pm

I temporarily have Disney at £5pm, but about to cancel. DP provides access to his Amazon Prime and, temporarily Apple TV. The latter will be cancelled soon.

My mobile is £8pm.

It doesn’t, by my calculation it comes to £2,266 - some of those sums are per week and so should be multiplied by 4.3.

with that, OP, you have at £8k / year unallotted but this will also have to pay for holidays, Christmas, birthdays etc. Unless you are very careful you are all into “just about managing” territory.

Why is your phone bill so high? Is that because of the DCs’ phones as well? I have unlimited calls for £15/ month

You need a TV License even if you have sky if you watch BBC.

Phone expensive if out of contract soon ditch it and do sim only
Sky very expensive luxury again ditch it but in mean time lower your package with them

You should have about 700 left where is it going?

Even with Sky you need a TV license if you want to watch BBC programmes.

I would definitely see if you can get onto a water meter - we pay £30/month for four of us.

This is just under £2k.

What seems high:

Water - see if you can get a meter
Food - look into cheaper options.

Car insurance - £840pa? Can you get that cheaper?

Sky? I think I'd ditch that, or is it your broadband too?

Things missing:

House insurance
Travel
Car maintenance
Car tax
Clothes
Broadband
Mobile phone (unless that's the £60, in which case, you can cut that to under £10 SIM only)
Haircuts

Missing from income:

Child benefit
Child maintenance?

I think you can cut back in some places but you need to be really clear what you're spending on and budget for everything.

Ignore your parents, or ask them to please refrain from commenting. But you probably do need to do some work on this so as not to run out of money, especially as your actual living costs are fairly low.

No, not if you are only streaming from Netflix and Amazon etc. You only need a licence to watch BBC.

Looks like you should have around £1100 a month left over after your expenses.

don’t forget all the extras like mot tyres clothing school or baby extras,household things etc etc.

have you been through your bak statements?