How do people manage on little money?

[istheheatingonyet]

Ive just spent the best part of £300 on getting my teeth cleaned by the hygenist, a weekly shop for 2 ( adult son also here temporarily) and getting my hair done.
Now I know the third is a total extra but it's one of my few extras.

How do people manage? it's madness.

Of course it's not an unreasonable choice.

But her original post was wondering how people can manage on very little money - and the answer is that they don't get their hair done or go to the hygienist, or spend £300 on the weekend. Those things just don't even cross your mind when you don't have the money.

Genuinely, how can groceries only cost £180 a month in London?

My goodness, £35 for the hygienist is an absolute bargain. Mine is £82 😩

OP, remember, we hve to ‘cut your coat according to your cloth’

ergo, without the £300, they might tie her hair back, brush teeth
more often and more thoroughly
possibly with bicarb, feed son home made pie, mound of potatoes,

bread and butter pudding, bottom of the fridge soup, home made cake,
big pot of tea, it can be done.

Poor/er people manage by planning, doing without, lowering their
expectations of life, cooking properly, cheaply, make do and mend
in a simple uncomplicated lifestyle.

Many are keeping their heads above water by deeming luxuries
what other people take for granted, ie skiing in Chile, when a day out
to Kew Gardens or wherever is as far as many will visit,
low income families with children, pensioners, single parent families,
disabled.
“ There is no nobility in poverty “ though

Teeth are important though they hold our faces up.

We have "little money" but also we have "little costs" - our mortgage (25 years, 15% deposit) is only £402pcm

You’re assuming everyone can get an NHS dentist.

I didn’t read any of tht as sarcasm or nastiness ? but resigned to limited spending

here is another platitude - necessity is the mother of invention - if you had £4 until the end of the week and a son to feed you would find a way.
You have certainly started a hygienist costing competition here ha ha

Budgeting/ money management. I’d pay for the most pressing thing, put the others on hold until next pay day.
I’m retired so pretty fixed income from pensions. DDs are covered, food and petrol budget, fun money then the rest goes into my savings account. I can draw on that if there’s a big bill — car repair, new boiler, need to pay for healthcare etc..
I’ve always lived as if I was low income even when I was a high earner, hence the life time money management.

I go to an NHS Dentist where I pay £16.00 to see the Hygienist (it's no way near as good as a private hygienist but I can't afford private anymore). I only get my hair cut and my roots done every three months (it used to be every eight weeks but I can't afford that anymore). I just have to suffer the grey roots for a few weeks, plenty of the school Mums do where I live. Food we have a budget and stick to it. We stick to shops own brands and rarely buy branded items. I cook most meals from scratch and everyone has a packed lunch.

@DoloresODonovan Thank You. Yes teeth hold up our faces. One poor lady I know looks so much older than her years due to a sunken face.

There are no NHS dentists here. I had a shit dentist last time who lied to me and messed me about. This one is honourable. Gum disease is my responsibility. I have not taken as much care as I should.

There is the odd unpleasant post but never mind. the good outweighs the not so good.

?

Ignore them. I get it's hard when you are used to having these luxuries before things got so expensive.

I'm on a very tight budget but get a really good cut and colour every five weeks. It's my little treat as I don't spend on any other luxuries (clothes from a charity shop but only very occasionally).

My trick is going to the local college to get my hair done. What would cost me £130 in a salon costs £25 at the college (although they do charge 50p for the most awful badly made cup of instant coffee!). The students are very well superb and in about 15 years of going I've only ever had one bad hair cut.

@oakkiln a small victory today was a jacket from Vinted for one pound. Hurrah!

I had the same thought today after a very expensive trip to Tesco that shouldn't have been expensive.
You take your eye off the ball for a moment and you've spent a fortune.
It's so hard for those on a tight budget. Life is expensive.

It's not unreasonable for you to pay to see a dental hygienist or eat the food that agrees with your system, no. But it's still true that the answer to your question about how people on low incomes manage is, they have to forego stuff like that. There is a reason poverty and poor health are correlated.

Bloody disgusting. I have helped out for years and years with community projects, seen some hungry people and children. Terrible.

Unfortunately I hadn't realised NHS exemption card had just gone out of date and actually got fined for agreeing to a clean on an outdated card. £110 paid off at £10 a month for a year. I wish they had a record of when your card is out of date as I earned a couple of hundred over the next year and wasn't entitled to one (which I didn't realise) and I would never have agreed to a clean if I had known. I'm now far too embarrased to go back to the dentist at all!

I cut my own hair. Don't see a hygienist and budget £50 a week for food.

Yep!

@Germanymunch thats awful. I believe there is some sort of link between dental hygene and demantia for example? What a disgrace that you should be in this position.

They don't spend unnecessary money. And cut back on basics such as heating., bit silly to compare yourself. You can afford luxuries. Lots of folk can't.

I can't afford them and I am acutely aware of the mess the country is in. I feel sad for people who can't afford something as basic as a dentist.

Ive been lucky with my teeth but I realise that other people aren't. One filling years ago (nearly 50) and I've never needed to see a hygienist.

Hair cut is £3 at my local college.

I live like this because there is no alternative. Lone parent caring for a disabled child.

We can both survive on £20 a week for shopping if necessary. Boring over a long period of time though!

I eat out as well, but buy a veg box, and cook from scratch most of the time. It's only for 1 person

Some very literal people on this thread. It’s quite clear that OP is expressing concern for people on low incomes.

It really wasn't.
Her thread title is "How do people manage on little money* and people have answered that question.

It often gets thrown about on MN. There's a holidays thread today and after a while someone came on and said "How do people afford so many holidays?". I mean, clearly, they have higher income and lower expenses than people who can't. It's just such a daft question.