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!

I think you've made your point about the DC’s father contributing! He's living abroad and not all.countries are helpful in chasing them. You make it sound like its so easy and that the OP has been neglectful. The things some parents do to avoid maintenance is shocking!

Its a disgrace that single people only get 25% council tax discount. Based on the average of two adults occupying a house it should be 50%.

Is there any chance of your developing a little sideline business that would provide you with a few hundred a month? I had a shop on Ebay and even when I was employed I made a $300-500 pcm selling what some would call "old tat" (things I inherited from my nan). I now make several thousand a month still doing that on top of my various pensions.

I wasn't clear enough.
yes when you own your house you are not getting the housing element, you still can get other elements ie child element and single rate in OP's case.
As OP stated shes getting top up from UC £300 which including the housing element, and if she wasnt renting and paying mortgage she wouldnt have that element so her final UC reward would be wiped out by her salary.

I would say £31k is above average! How the hell are you eligible for benefits when teachers and nurses on £25k aren’t eligible for anything??

I do sympathise OP - lone parent too and this isn't what I signed up for - I had expected to raise a family on 2 salaries.

My ex husband also moved abroad and I cannot get maintenance - and he incurred lots of debts before he left.

I had a solid professional career behind me but being a lone parent has reduced the hours I can feasibly work as I have no back up for late meetings etc (I'm not in a position to hire a nanny). Moving near family has helped a lot as they can help with emergency childcare. I have a side job as a gardener too and they provide child care while do this, which supplements my income, but it's ridiculous that its' necessary given I have a professional career, but I earn half of what I did before motherhood. I've also had lodgers but I'm not in rented accommodation.

@AC12theletterofthelaw

Some posters on this thread really need to have a word with themselves and read the thread properly.

Sneering witches.

Agree...absolutely shocking replies from a few! I hope they have kinder children!

@Akai2345

Could the OP let us know how many meals she gets out of a chicken?

2 - we're greedy fuckers 😂

But are we honestly saying that those earning an average UK wage should not be able to have a decent life?

It’s been like this for ages though. I think one good wage would have been enough to support a household in the 70s (when many families had a working dad and sahm) but now pretty much everyone I know needs two wages coming in to make ends meet. The only people I know with only one person in a couple working is where that working person earns huge amounts-like over £100k. Unfortunately that’s that’s not you so I would expect a single earner on your salary to struggle in the southern east.

Fwiw-I didn’t do swimming lessons for my kids, they were just so expensive and you don’t need them to be able to swim proficiently. I took mine to the local pool myself a couple of times a month on Sunday mornings and they had loads of practice-they are all very confident swimmers now.

Agree there's no policy curb on landlords and this is quite deliberate. In the example above, the pp mentioned that a landlord would need to charge 145% of the mortgage repayments to get a mortgage. That is the mortgage company doing its job : some wanker with no commercial assets or capital walks in off the street and wants to borrow half a mill, damn right the lender needs to protect its interest by requiring sufficient income stream to cover voids and maintenance.

Now there could be policies in place that prevent this eg no scope for clueless tinkering individuals to be involved in the provision of residential housing unless they've got substantial clout behind them. But instead we've got policies that say yeah just charge what the lender is asking, that bumps up market rent in the area and the government tops up when working people can't afford to pay it.

Same goes for absent parents really, it's a policy decision not to pursue them. Taken because the department set up to pursue them was so monumentally shit that the government decided to just assume no resident parents get maintenance and again throw money into the fucking massive financial black hole left by their absence.

None of which is within any of our control and certainly outside of the OP's sphere of influence.

@SeaShoreGalore

I’m a lone parent and get working tax credits and child tax credits.

I use to money to buy botox and very expensive chocolate.

I didn't want to say..shhh😂

@Fashionesta

The irony is I'd probably pay less on a mortgage but I will literally never be able to buy as a single earner and therefore pay crazy rentals every month.

That depends on the cost of the house, but if you are in the SE and could get an equivalent property for £250k with a £25k deposit the mortgage would be approx £1100.

When H was on £55k we found it hard because our mortgage was £1300 and his fares were £500. It’s things like that which are crippling.

Swimming lessons - a necessity. A pet isn't - they are bloody expensive especially when vet bills are in play . If you can barely afford your rent why would you have a pet ? Not having a pet is hardly the equivalent of wearing a hair shirt.

Anyone else find it incredibly frustrating that childcare only covered for 85% if by ofsted registered?

I don’t want to scam UC over!t children are 9 and 11, I use my neighbour to collect them from school (driving distance), come back, get from organised from school, start on dinner and then I’m home.

I rely on her and they love her

She’s on ofsted registered so zero financial contribution

I'm really sickened by the unkind comments on this thread. Some of you are really hard - and ignorant - bitches

Not ofsted registered

It’s been like this for ages though. I think one good wage would have been enough to support a household in the 70s (when many families had a working dad and sahm) but now pretty much everyone I know needs two wages coming in to make ends meet. The only people I know with only one person in a couple working is where that working person earns huge amounts-like over £100k. Unfortunately that’s that’s not you so I would expect a single earner on your salary to struggle in the southern east.

I'm a Londoner born in the 80s. Hardly any households I knew had 2 f/t working parents particularly at primary but they could afford houses in huge swathes of London.

2 - we're greedy fuckers 😂

Oh dear

🤔

Do you have an iron, an ironing board & neighbours?

@me4real

I don't really get it as you're on several grand over the average wage. It's more than enough to live on.

Isn't that the OP's point? That it should be more than enough to live on, but when you break it down it's not really?

Of course! Iron your neighbours OP!

If I moved to another area where rent was £300 less and I didn't get top up I would have roughly the same each month

You’d be supporting yourself though, not living on handouts.

You are living beyond your means, so you need to tighten your belt.

People always have choices in situations like this, it’s just that the choice you need to make is quite an unpalatable one.

@doomonic

It’s been like this for ages though. I think one good wage would have been enough to support a household in the 70s (when many families had a working dad and sahm) but now pretty much everyone I know needs two wages coming in to make ends meet. The only people I know with only one person in a couple working is where that working person earns huge amounts-like over £100k. Unfortunately that’s that’s not you so I would expect a single earner on your salary to struggle in the southern east.

I'm a Londoner born in the 80s. Hardly any households I knew had 2 f/t working parents particularly at primary but they could afford houses in huge swathes of London.

Yep-the 80s were v similar to the 70s when you only needed one salary.

How the hell are you eligible for benefits when teachers and nurses on £25k aren’t eligible for anything??

Eligibility is not decided by occupation

Even in the 90s things were much more affordable

...also, I make it that you’re paying £200 a month into your pension. This needs to stop, you can’t afford it.

It’s very difficult to read that your paying so heavily into a pension, while claiming benefits.

You remind me of a friend of mine who constantly claims poverty, expects everyone else to sub her because she’s saving hard for a deposit.