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??

How many you feeding for £1200?

We don't get universal credit just a measly tax credit sum. I'm too scared to change in case that goes to nothing? We do have a disabled child, not severely and are going through a dla application although that will be a long process, I've heard waiting times are quite long.

I know it isn't a race to the bottom and I'm sorry, I'm just extraordinarily worried right now and it came out as a bit of an angry rant.

Taking it out on the OP doesn’t help. If you have a disabled child surely you know of the extra costs involved rather than accusing the OP of taking the piss and insinuating she shouldn’t be struggling. In 2019, 24% of families with disabled DC had extra costs of over £1000pm.

If you are awarded DLA then look at switching. Some families with a disabled child are better off on UC. Even without, it is worth looking in to as with just the standard element and child element you would keep most of it given the work allowance.

Cannot answer for myself, but a widowed friend living in Europe, no children, mortgage-free, no partner is on around €14k per month and doing very nicely as she is currently holed up in a 5* hotel.
Her mortgage was not paid off when her husband died, joint mortgage, but house in her name only.
Were she not a high earner, she would struggle to live on her widow's pension of around €600 per month. She is also very conscious of not having any other pension - price of marriage in her chosen country.

I know it doesn't help.

I take home about 4300 my husband is probably about 3800 a month. We both pay about 3k into a joint account. Always run out. 3 expensive children and a very high mortgage and outgoings. Not that I am moaning but 3 kids do all sorts of activities, which costs £100s a month. Our mortgage is very high. We also have lot of debt (if we didn't would be well off) is a never ending spiral when you have high debt levels. I realise how lucky we are to have a high income but trying to pay off debt from times when we didn't is very difficult!

This has to be a piss take.

@D0lphine why?

oh this thread is getting daft

on their arse earning 5k
struggling on £6k
cant manage on £8k

i can only think they have over streched on the home and like to keep up with others and have always been bi spenders

Completely agree! I doubt they are ever left with £10/£20 to stretch over a week or two! That’s struggling!

Currently not working, my DP is bringing home £2400 after tax, £80 child benefit.. our mortgage is £1000 pm, gas an electric £195, council tax £185.. to name a few. We are still saving £100 per month so I think there must be areas you can cut back. You need to write down exactly what you're spending every month and see where you can cut back if you are struggling

Start taking cash out every week or month, and assign it.
Start saving in those tins you can't open, one for holidays, one for Xmas , bday, savings.

Have a separate car fund... start £10 a month into these tins, don't use them this year ( 6 months in) , so you're 6 months ahead next year.

For Xmas you will be 12.6 months ahead and it will become a rolling fund.
Little amounts build up!
Every month make sure every penny is assigned somewhere, either into your tins or into a fund for DC clothes,or saving or car fund or fun etc.
You won't be able to go on holiday this year but by march you should have a base for something later next year's by either staying in the UK , b and b , yha, air b and b or abroad booking flights as soon as they are released and self catering or driving and using a ferry or Euro tunnel.

Re people struggling, actually it's extremely common!

People earn more and spend more to match their earnings because they don't understand how to budget properly!
I know very high earners who ,if they lost their job tomorrow would have absolutely nothing! No real asset's because they only have liabilities!
Some people create wealth by never spending any pay rise and investing it, saving it...

Between us we take home about £3,200 a month. We manage because we only pay £350 on our mortgage and our childcare is now only £240 a month. But the other big reason is we have no debt apart from the mortgage and we've some savings as a cushion for tight months. I feel comfortable and know we are exceptionally lucky.

We are older (late 50s) no mortgage and earning well, but I well remember struggling when our DC were little and we had debt.
There was a time where we would have £6 a day for food/nappies and it was just awful. Most of the problem was debt that DH brought to the relationship, he was also a nightmare with a credit card and incidental spending on little "treats" like chocolate/ wine/ lunches at work. We both realised that for things to change, he had to change. Therefore he handed over control of all our finances to me, we got rid of his debit card, cut up the credit cards and we agreed a weekly allowance for him.
I converted the credit card debt to a bank loan with a finite date, when we knew it would be paid off.
Learned to cook a million meals from mince. Started to visit charity shops and found some amazing bargains (Best buys being a £1.50 Ted Baker tweed jacket that resold for £85 on ebay and £20 for a new Outwell tent that took us on many breaks). Other holidays were those caravan newspaper breaks.

Started to grow plants and sold them on FB pages to save for Christmas.
Looked at our bank account every single day to reassure myself we weren't in the red.

It all sounds rather joyless written down, but the kids are adults now and they don't remember a lack of anything, they were warm, clothed, well fed and took part in many hobbies.
Have a look at the debt free section of MSE website OP, taking control is the hardest part. 😉

Family of 5. from waitrose, ocado or farm shop

the £1k on cards is clearing them in full

We are low income, but not struggling. The reason is simple, we have very few outgoing costs. We paid off the mortgage, overpaying when we had any spare cash. We don’t drive anywhere, so no car costs. Kids have flown the nest. We don’t drink, eat out, have takeaways or holiday abroad. No heating, lots of blankets and warm clothes in winter, short showers and no fans on in Summer. We use the Airfryer instead of the oven. We shop in Aldi&Lidl. Buy and sell on Vinted. We only buy what we have saved for (aside from mortgage). We have always lived in this manner, so we haven’t felt the pinch as much as others.

Afonavon would you mind sharing what your income is please? I think in the next few years we might have to drop down to one wage, I'd happily live sensibly like you, I'm just interested to know how much you need per month to live like that. It's hard to imagine when you're still got teenagers.

I forgot to say that when money was incredibly tight (even tighter than now) we used multiple bank accounts in order to budget. We has a food shopping account, Children’s clothes & shoes account, holiday (camping) account, emergency bill account, christmas&birthday account. We saved every last spare penny into these accounts (monthly Direct Debits). Each account had a bank card (at the time you could have your own photos on the card, which helped differentiate them). This system kept the money separate and easier to budget/save. It was less stressful than having money all in one place.

£1200

Afonavon thankyou, that's a little less than the income we'd have. Reassuring to know that we could manage on it with careful budgeting.

@Afonavon that sounds utterly miserable though. No one should have to live like that

berksandbeyond you are aware that an awful lot of people do have to live on that kind of income though right?

@Keyboardconundrum221 of course, but I would imagine most people wouldn't choose to? And most families with £1200 income a month would be topped up by benefits

berksandbeyond

@Keyboardconundrum221 of course, but I would imagine most people wouldn't choose to? And most families with £1200 income a month would be topped up by benefits

I don't understand the point you're trying to make. Of course no one would choose to be on a low income. Once your DC are adults the top ups stop. What's the point in saying 'that sounds utterly miserable though' I doubt the poster has decided to live on a low income for shits and giggles. This is how many people have to live and that poster was kind enough to share how they manage on that income, saying 'well that's a miserable way to live' is a pointless and unhelpful comment.