To ask how much

[feelinghothothot]

Is enough for a family of 4 to have a sah parent? I know this is not a one-size-fits-all scenario, but generally speaking. No debt (except home), happy to go camping but with the odd great day out!

feelinghothothot... where abouts will this Handyman be... I could use one ... someone trustworthy.... we are south west London area.
Me also a sahm. But I don't know how people do it on 15k. Or 30k. So I'm not even going to talk about that. But keen on Mr Handyman idea - especially if local!

we might be too far down the m4, chick, which is a shame. but i'll get him to start now and hopefully in a year when time comes to give up work he will hit the ground running. i'm actually all for it - the only snag is that we haven't been together long - 18 months - so it is a massive leap of faith on my part!

Well if you want a cheap holiday you wouldn't be looking at all inclusive foreign holidays :) ... you'd be looking more at camping, haven or possibly a mini break with premier inns as a base.

Or like us you just don't have a holiday.

It all depends what's important to you.

At one point our income was very high. I didn't think anything of buying all my make up at chanel and I once arranged for a particular dress to be couriered to me from London to norfolk for an event.

Gradually we have whittled it down because we both like me being at home. You find you spend less being at home. You don't need fancy work clothes and make up and 20 pairs of shoes. You might want them - and that's up to the individual- but you don't need them. I have 2 pairs of shoes now. Converse and sandals. That's it. I used to have a wardrobe just full of shoes.

If you're an anti social old trout like me you don't spend money on going out because you actually don't mind having no friends because after spending your life being surrounded by people having peace is very therapeutic. I don't smoke. We don't drink any alcohol. We have Netflix for entertainment and do a lot of walking and getting out and about to parks etc. We are lucky to live in a nice rural ish area. Not so easy if you live somewhere more urban.

We also find that whereas when we both worked we would spend loads on take aways and convenience foods we now spend less because I've got the time and interest to cook. I make cakes. I cook from scratch.

I don't have hair cuts. I cut my own hair and just tie it out of the way most of the time (I used to spend £150 on a cut and colour).

We budget down to the last pound. I write everything down that we spend in a notebook I keep on the side in the kitchen. If we go over one week I make it up the next. I ebay old to buy new where I can.

I think it's one of those things where not everyone can afford to have a sahm or dad but certainly if it's important to you it's worth cutting things right back and seeing what you might be able to do.

I might go back to work when ds is older. I might not. I love being at home and don't regret leaving my job even for one second. I guess everyone and every situation is different.

I earn 30k DH is the main carer , he works shifts around our childcare in a supermarket, earns about £10k a year.

We could manage without his money but we wouldn't get our holidays and treat days.

I think you'll probably need about £5k more than whatever you currently earn .

My friend is a SAHM, her DH earns around £20k (possibly a bit less) plus tax credits and they definitely don't have a luxurious lifestyle at all. I'm amazed somebody can be on £30k and consider they live the good life. We're on quite a bit more than that, with a low mortgage (but highish maintenance costs) and while we're not on the breadline, we're certainly not burning £50 notes!!!

We have a household income of £33k pa. We live very comfortably on this but have a small mortgage (£500 PCM) on a nice house as we live in the arse end of nowhere a quaint market town. We have no family nearby to babysit so don't get out much for fancy dinners, have one UK holiday every year but this suits us at the moment with young DC as the thought of taking them abroad brings me out in a cold sweat, run two cars but one is 15 years old, have a sahp so no childcare costs.

We consider ourselves to be comfortable but then we have low standards . Still I think a 4 bed house on a small mortgage, free activities nearly every day available for DC, the odd takeaway, plenty of wine and hobbies and interests which happen to be cheap/free mean we are happy with our lot.

Fairylea
Well if you want a cheap holiday you wouldn't be looking at all inclusive foreign holidays ... you'd be looking more at camping, haven or possibly a mini break with premier inns as a base

I think posters' curiosity was piqued by melissa saying her family travelled the world and were able to get holidays for 4 people for £500. Your experience is much more what I'd expect for a fairly low household income.

Oh gosh. This is so subjective and MASSIVELY depends on what part of the country you live in and how willing you are to roll-up-your-sleeves/DIY/forgo luxuries etc. You really have to think about what kind of lifestyle you want, your family values and be able to crunch the numbers.

I'm a SAHM and have been for 13 years. It's important to us and works well for our family but it's been a bit of trial-and-error. DH earns roughly £150K but we were still feeling the pinch. A fancy-car payment, a renovation LOC, 'naice' groceries...basically too much of everything. We downsized our house, sold a car, economized on groceries and extracurriculars, Did-It-Ourselves and eschewed fancy holidays and meals out (I'm a very good cook now). I ride my bike to do local errands and DH takes the bus to the train station instead of driving. Much more comfortable, but just to say that you really have to cut your cloth according to your means and try to live on as little as possible, banking the rest for a rainy day. EVERYONE needs a budget.

Ah I see. I must have missed that post :)

(Sorry my last post was to amillion).

You could have a million answers to this question. I'm a SAHM to DD's 3 & 1... DH brings home about 8-9k a month (contracting)

We struggle

That looks ridiculous written down but it's true.

curiousgeorgie is your mortgage £7k per month?

We managed ok with dh on 40k and me doing a few shifts in a pub a week for a bit extra so no childcare costs. Our mortgage is lesa than 600 a month, which helps.

Ps, I've just found a week AI in the Canaries for first week of school holidays for £900. Took some playing around with dates but it can be done.

As per everyone else, it depends on your outgoings, now and projected in the future.

DH earns around 125K but with our mortgage of almost 2k a month and 2 lots of school fees (we weren't expect into have to pay for those when we moved here, good old catchment areas) we still rely on my income to keep us living comfortably.

£30k - £500 pm mortgage (saved massive deposit), 2 Spanish holidays a year, BUT we only have a toddler and baby to be. Having said that we get no benefits at this point and CB is saved for the future. Also have a lovely car with the job which saves a lot of money.

Hotukdeals

Go on there now 2 week breaks for 400.You just have to go this week but late deals are fine for us

We have been on a weeks uk hol, 2 weeks all inclusive and a week self catering abroad in last year on our 30k with no debt. We will be going away again abroad before year is out. We go in school hols though or/and very late deals. If you fly really soon its so cheap its crazy. We did our 5 star 2 week long haul all inclusive beach wedding for under 2k. You just have to be commited. When I was younger my mum used to sir in travel agents for 2/3 hours at a time until she got best deal. You can also try alpharooms and build your own.

Thanks, Melissa - excellent pointers. I'm going to look at them today

Like everyone else says totally depends on your outgoings. We just about manage on £60k but do occasionally struggle (can't pay everything immediately and spread costs of big bills over a couple of months - dh takes packed lunch etc) and there are no hols or car out of that (fortunately DH does a little consultancy which pays for hols).

BUT, our rent is £1500, our CT is £240 and DH spends £400 on fares a month. So if those were less we'd be much more comfortable.

Holidaypirates.com is another one I know people have gone through but not tried yet myself

DH earns £39k and I earn approx £10k doing private tuition in the evenings when DD is in bed. That's enough for us to pay a mortgage of about £800 and to stay out of debt, plus make overpayments and have some savings. We life very frugally in order to manage that though-e.g. we don't have a TV, we watch Netflix; we swapped Waitrose for Aldi; we budget every single penny including 'fun money'; we save every month for the larger/less frequent bills. It's possible but tough!

DH and I earn 35k between us, and pay very little in childcare (£200 pm) so in order for us to have a SAHP one of us would need to earn as close to 35k as we could.

We are NE. 450pm mortgage and only debt is a loan for a car. We dont go abroad as ee dont really like beach holidays, but dont scrimp on nughts out or weekends away wih friends. I wouldnt scrimp to be a SAHM.

Mind, the main purpose of the car is to get me to and from work so that could go if I were a SAHM (great transport links, but mental shifts mean they dont suit my job).

I did it on 25k

Uk holiday every year, nice house in the north of England and ran 1 car

No savings though