Can´t survive on salary without benefits. Doesn´t seem right.

[Fashionesta]

Just wondered if anyone else was in the same boat as feeling a bit miserable. Recently started new job, 31K a year, felt happy with that, potential to grow. Having done all my calculations and bills, if it were not for getting some money towards housing, I would be 300 pounds a month short :(

After pension I get around 1800 per month. Rent is 950 and I have one of the cheaper properties in my area so no ability to find anything cheaper - its me and DD in a 2 bed. No luxuries at all. Basic mobile phone on giff gaff 8 per month, no SKY etc, old car although paying off car loan of 150 month which bumps outgoings up. By the time I have paid all my bills, council tax, loan, after school club for DD and swimming lessons for her which I feel is essential, if it weren´t for the fact that I get some help towards rent, I would be -300 per month.

I generally feel like I earn a decent wage and panicking a bit about the situation. Not asking for a solution really as I think I am quite frugal, also sensible so pay for life insurance, car insurance, pet insurance and house insurance. Pay TV licence and so on. Shop at Tesco.

Anyone else don´t feel like they are getting by on what I actually consider a decent wage (although I realise in MN terms I am probably not earning much at all).'

Argh I just hate feeling poor all the time and I shouldn´t have to rely on benefits when on 31K surely!

Hi op I can't sort out the cost of living unfortunately but might have a short term tip to save on some bills.

I go to Aldi for food shopping🛒and spend £100 for a weeks shop for 4 with cleaning stuff, toiletries included. Whenever I go to Tesco its £150+ could this help?

The situation is awful for single parents. My mum was single and looking back she is an absolute hero and so are you 😘xxx

Our household income is under 24K and we get no financial help as it's too high. Take care with benefits as mine were miscalculated and I had to pay it all back.

Take care...if your salary has gone up recently you were in the old tax year. You may find that you are now earning too much for certain benefits and tax credits.

You need to rethink your lifestyle. You also obviously pay a lot into your pension. £31k should give you just shy of £2k per month take home.

I agree op, I’m in a similar situation. As a single parent on an average wage will never get on the property ladder and rents are unaffordable. It makes no sense and is the reason so many people stick with miserable relationships- they just can’t afford to live alone.

@Summerhillsquare

In many parts of the UK you'd be more comfortable. Rent is your problem here, you must be in the south east? In the north east you'd be looking at nearly half that.

Definitely not. I've lived in a (admittedly nice) 2-bed in the north east, and it was definitely not half that. The problem is just that renting is a bad deal in the UK.

If people choose to live in an area too expensive for their budget then I don’t think the government should step in.

Ok. No nurses, bus drivers, nursery workers, retail workers, hairdressers, beauticians, hospitality staff or kitchen fitters in the south of England then. How do you like that?

@anon666 some would seem to want to bring back workhouses

I bet the posters saying that lower paid people should move to a cheaper part of the country are the same people complaining that childcare is too expensive. What makes up most of the cost of childcare? Why, paying salaries to nursery workers, of course! Where do you think that those workers should live?

People can be so judgemental on here. I totally get your point and how frustrating it is. It's like a never ending rat race 💐

@pollymere

Our household income is under 24K and we get no financial help as it's too high. Take care with benefits as mine were miscalculated and I had to pay it all back.

No children?

I'd like to see big employers offering proper full time or 2/3rd hours jobs instead of 15 hours a week frankly. My DH has a small engineering business, but in a very technical area. His PA office manager earns the same rate as the engineers he employs, but she works fewer hours to fit around child care and horses. He could have advertised her job at £10 per hour and would have received 200 responses, because it's more interesting than bashing a till at Tesco, scooping ice cream, crimping pasties, picking fruit/veg/flowers or wiping adult bottoms in a care home, which are the main alternatives around here, unless you have a professional qualification. The standard of beauticians locally is very high, and the prices are very low. Our local school churns out beauticians, nail techs etc by the yard, and they are all lovely and highly qualified; not all are talented. But not many will move to London or create their own businesses, which is where they would make much more money to pay for the life and home they want. To get that, you/me/everyone needs to be ready to take a risk.

Rent prices are ridiculously high it's a sin. Rent caps should be reintroduced. If your on minimum wage its impossible to make ends meet.

As previously stated you are not being paid enough because employers have been allowed to keep wages low to please their shareholders.

Selling all the locally owned housing stock off too cheaply to buy votes and then allowing subsidised buy -to -let mortgages to all and sundry ...

Almost sounds like a plan to ruin society....and you are stuck in the middle like thousands of other hard working people.
Use your vote .

@dementor72

As previously stated you are not being paid enough because employers have been allowed to keep wages low to please their shareholders. Selling all the locally owned housing stock off too cheaply to buy votes and then allowing subsidised buy -to -let mortgages to all and sundry ...

Almost sounds like a plan to ruin society....and you are stuck in the middle like thousands of other hard working people.
Use your vote .

31k a year doesn't sound like a low salary to me ! It's rent prices that are the problem.

It’s housing costs and unfortunately is what it is. I’m a top 5% earner (according to the labour soundbite a couple of years ago) and I don’t feel well off.

Not trying to be a pity party. I know I more than get by but still. When I was younger this sort of salary would have been seriously comfortable. Now I am paying £2k per month on a house purchased from an ex black cabbie. Not knocking the profession but a Black cabbie now wouldn’t have a hope in hell of buying the house I recently bought, it’s just shows how times are changing.

Totally understand where you’re coming from OP! Many job salaries are far too low these days.

I don’t even have kids but I earn less than 31k, so worry a lot about the future/money. My job required a degree too

I kind of wish I didn’t waste my time reading all the comments though as some PPs have pissed me off.
Ridiculous how people can say OP should just move somewhere cheaper or give up “luxuries” 🙄 why put the blame on a hard working single parent

Hate how working full time is not enough to cover living costs. Also, ignorant people will argue “it’s a choice to live down south” or “your fault for choosing that job, you need to retrain” ... plenty of low paid roles are essential for society to function.

It amazes me that people earning a much as the OP is say that they 'struggle' to get by.

Back when I was working (10yrs ago), I was a single parent and only doing 25hrs a week due to having a disability, so my NHS salary was only £15,500, finances were tight but we managed. Then I was made redundant and have had to manage on ESA benefits of approx £760 a month and disability benefits of approx £350 (to pay for personal care), with a mortgage payment of £500.

I'm still paying off debts that my ex-husband ran up around 23yrs ago after I'd left him but we weren't divorced yet (he wasn't working when companies started chasing him, so as I was still legally his wife, I was forced to take on the debts).

I've just paid my last mortgage payment (5yrs early) with no help from anyone else, I do have a paid for tv service and run a car, I also have assistance at home that I have to pay for and a dog for company but can't afford the £50+ per month for insurance for him so I have to keep my fingers crossed that he will remain healthy. I don't have 'luxuries' per se but I don't exactly struggle, I 'manage'.

Yes, my son is now grown up and left home so I no longer have childcare fees to pay but if I can manage on my £1,110 per month (£13,320 per year), I'm sure others can manage on £31,000 plus £3,600 in rental benefits!

You mention paying into a pension. You must make sure it is sufficient, because what you are laying out now will likely be your cost of living in retirement.

So what a lot of people are saying is if your low paid you have no right living in the capital. Good luck with your lovely city life then. No buses, trains, shops, teachers, nurses and standing knee deep in crap, NO CLEANERS!

@Ddot

So what a lot of people are saying is if your low paid you have no right living in the capital. Good luck with your lovely city life then. No buses, trains, shops, teachers, nurses and standing knee deep in crap, NO CLEANERS!

I have lived in the capital Rent was extortionate Absolutely loved it Could afford it

Now I don’t live in the capital
Can’t afford it

Not remotely bitter. I don’t have a “right” to live in the capital. Just like I don’t have a “right” to own a jag and holiday in the Maldives.

I say this a single working parent who also has top up benefits

I think you've missed dots point @Itsabeautifulday81

@Itsabeautifulday81. A good point. A lot of people think that if DWP miscalculate benefit then you don’t have to pay it back. For some benefits like Jobseekers Allowance or ESA, you may be able to negotiate a lower amount if the fault wasn’t yours. However, with Universal Credit you will always have to pay back the full overpayment regardless of who is at fault, so it’s worth keeping a close eye to make sure all changes affecting UC are reported promptly as even the little things can add up.

Sorry that comment was meant for polymers !!

Polymere !! Bloody autocorrect !!