How much do you earn and are you struggling?

[AG1210]

touchy subject I know.

we have a monthly income of just under £3000. We have 2 kids.

DH earns just under £2000 a month.

ds gets DLA, I get carers allowance, child benefit, small amount of tax credits and £30 PW maintenance off ds's dad (he probs should be paying more but I haven't got the energy to sort this!) brings us to just under £3000 a month.

but we are always skint!!

house is mortgaged and it's currently £350pcm which is cheap. If we were renting we'd be on our knees. But we've had a lot of necessary house repairs in the last year which hasn't helped - boiler and heating repairs etc.

we don't spend about our means.

like anyone, bills have shot up but we have been struggling for a while, so even more so now. Always over drawn by the end of the month.

we don't spend above our means. Don't go out to eat, drink alcohol or smoke.

we also run 2 cars. we took out a loan for our newer family car (not brand new!) which we are still paying back. The other was bought outright 15 years ago before dh met me. . 2 cars is a necessity where we live as there is little public transport and dh works unsociable hours. But if dh car goes wrong (it's not looking good atm) we are screwed as can't afford another. This is a big chunk of our income gone.

we have some credit card debt - about 2 grands worth buy could be worse I guess.

we've cancelled Netflix and other subscriptions.

not had a holiday in 7 years.

we have recently spent our on annual passes to a local theme park which cost nearly £200 but thankfully they are valid for a year and it's only a few miles away so will give us something to do with the kids at the weekends - hopefully they don't get bored of it.

made cut backs with food. Food has gone up but I'm buying less to compensate.

how do you get by each month?

we shouldn't be struggling so much should we?! Is this just life for everyone now?

I totally appreciate that there are families much less off than us and I can fully sympathise.

I am just at a loss on what to do.

there's just always something extra we have to pay out for too!!

any money saving tips??

Are you willing to post your budget? Do you know where your money is going?

I mean your ex should absolutely be paying more than £30 a week maintenance for starters, that's appalling of him

Is your husband’s £2k post tax?

If you get £3,000 a month and your mortgage is only £350 then what are you spending the vast proportion of that money on? Do you know? Because I don’t think you should be struggling if you don’t spend a lot on anything apparently!

Not really that effected yet but we’ve taken some action in upgrading some lights and new heating thermostat which has reduced our heating bills massively.

couple pf holidays planned, we own our cars outright and only debt is mortgage which we are still over paying.

weve always kept our expenses low and still can save etc.

biggest challenge is two daughters at uni and only entitled to the lowest loans - so pressure is on more when they’re at uni. But both have summer jobs and one has a job at uni

our monthly income is around £5k after tax. And we know we are lucky but also plan hard on bills and expenses.

After tax! So he brings home £1998 a month or similar ☺️

Always over drawn by the end of the month.

we don't spend above our means

And you have £3K cc debt. Not being arsey (we’ve got cc debt too and about to unavoidably spend on house repairs so I fully sympathise, it’s tough) but you actually are “living above your means” if you’ve built up debt and in overdraft each month.

Same income as you but higher mortgage (£600) and no kids…..but I put money away in savings every month, regularly go away, and don’t live anywhere close to my overdraft so even accounting for the extra people to feed and clothe you must be spending quite a lot of money on something else??

I think it's our bills. £120 Pm council tax, we also have to pay £50 a month for the company who manage the housing area we live in (compulsory payment), £90 water - south west water are most expensive in country and we seem to use a lot, £50 phone and landline - BT are the only providers here and hike up the price and due to lack of
Phone signal at home a landline is neccesary. £400-£450 on food. Paying out for 2 cars etc. It just all adds up! these are just a. Few examples. Dh put us on a fixed rate energy tariff last year and we are currently paying £150 a month for gas and electric. We don't have sky tv, we had Netflix but cancelled.

what doesn't help that without fail every single month, something goes wrong and needs paying for. Last month it was a gas leak in the house. The month before that it was the car needing work. A few mo the ahi it was the boiler needed some work. We don't seem to catch a break at the minute.

That probably needs to be a whole new topic to be honest. He barely sees him too so it's not like he's paying less because he has him regularly. Once a month on a good month tbh 😩

I hear you OP. We jointly bring home slightly more than your family, but our nursery bill is huge at just under £1k which is what creates our difficulties!

I don't have time to look at it the mo as just about to whip out on the school run and hospital app!

thankfully mine are in school but now yes nursery fees are a killer!

35 k and yes I am. If it wasn't for DP who I now live with I wouldn't manage I don't think without having to sell the house . Huge mortgage inherited in my divorce , 2 teens, 2 dogs, car costs, bills increases. Bit of debt to pay off but nothing major.
I get that it's relative and I'm lucky to own a house but if the question is would you struggle to maintain what you have now (but basics-we aren't holidaying and eating out a lot etc) I mean just house, car, bills, food, then yes it's tight.

Hi OP,

I think you should be better off than you are my take home is about what you have a month altogether and I am on my own with two kids and manage to save.

I spend less than you on food (veggies) and only run one car but your mortgage is way lower than mine. Do you spend a lot of fuel and or kids activities perhaps?

I terms of how to get more, is there anything you can do like a few evening shifts which won't affect any benefits?

I imagine that if you carefully break down your spending, you should see where your money is going. We have a slightly higher income (£3700) but much higher mortgage (£1000) than you, and we manage to put some away into savings each month as well as have a (cheap) holiday each year. We are also renovating our house at the moment so have money going out for that.
Do you spend a lot on fuel?

My take home pay is 2100 (after 100 quid pension contributions to be fair).

Your mortgage is incredibly low at £350
You do not have childcare bills
How much are your monthly loan repayments?
How much do you pay towards credit card debt and overdraft?
It seems this is where your money is being swallowed up.

Your food shop is about average for a family of your size. Do you take lunch/snacks to work school?

I don’t think those council tax and water rates are particularly high. My council tax I £2200 a year so £220 and month and the water charges on top (in Scotland we pay with council tax) are £690 for the year. If you’re on a water meter then you’ve an opportunity to reduce that, particularly as you recognise that you use a lot of water.

Water is £90 per month so over £1000 a year! But yes council tax might be low. Not sure how much it is elsewhere.

also all the extra costs involved in raising a child with additional needs 😩

£350 mortgage
£120 council tax
£50 company who manage the housing area we live in (compulsory payment)
£90 water
£50 phone and landline
£450 on food.
£150 gas/electric
= £1,260

So £3,000 less above you’re at £1,740 to spend.

Paying out for 2 cars etc.

• split this into fuel, upkeep (repairs MOT, tax), insurance

Debt repayments
Mobile phones?
Clothes & shoes
House fund (repairs, maintenance etc)
Insurance (house/contents, life ins)

What you need to do is work out how much you should put aside monthly for things that don’t occur monthly but you know you need to pay - like car or house repairs, or clothes.

My income is around 2/3 of yours. My rent is double your mortgage, my bills are higher and I am struggling. Based on your figures you're only committed to spending just over £1,260 a month so you should be in the position to be clearing the credit cards which would be a start

Its just the two of us and we both have good salaries and we’re noticing the rapid increases across most of our outgoings so I can only imagine how unbelievably difficult it must be for families and those on low incomes. How on Earth can you factor in price increases when all of your money was already accounted for?!

You need to look at all your accounts to see what you've been spending your money on. Download a few months transactions into a spreadsheet and sort by category.

You also need to aim to put money away (a few hundred a month) to cover annual and irregular expenses and save so you can replace cars and boilers without borrowing. You should be able to manage this on a £3k income with such a small mortgage and no childcare to pay for.

My guess would be you're spending a lot more on food and drink in and out of the house than you think, not adding up little incidental expenses and not counting interest you're paying on a credit card and overdraft, the latter is very high (40% pa!)

If your credit rating is good, you should be able to transfer the credit and overdraft to a 0% deal to save paying interest. Then don't spend any more money on credit.

Have a look at the Moneysaving Expert budgeting section and do everything that is relevant.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/