To not understand how other people manage whilst renting?

[mrscostello000]

We have rented for years, never could save enough whilst renting for any form of deposit.
Have had to move 9 times in the 11 years of renting due to rent going up / landlord selling / re letting to friends and family which is hard enough but how do people afford this crazy private rent??
In Surrey where we are, we are paying £1150 for a 2 bedroomed house ( 2 children so share a room and will be for foreseeable future which is not ideal as 1 boy / 1 girl and eldest is approaching 5 )
My husband earns £2300 a month so too much to claim anything and I'm a stay at home parent caring for my baby and pre schooler. How do people do it when bills / food takes up a good £800 a month which leaves us about with £400 a month for everything including petrol for the pre school run 2 miles each way 5 times a week so a good £200 a month goes in the car to get us around and we are then left with hardly anything.
Is everyone in the same boat or am I missing something?

I really feel for you, it's just such a source of stress. Rents are going up so much and where do people just find it? Of course you can move to a cheaper area but the situation is the same, just less costly.

In a way it's comparable to increasing interest rates BUT you generally have more security/ safety over that and people generally get longer to plan for needing the extra cash.

Get a job that fits in with husbands work. If he works in the week, get a weekend job. Of he is home at 6 get a job in a pub or restaurant.

Set yourself up in business as ironing service or something.

You can't have it all ways.

When I was younger my dad worked 9-5 and my mum went out the minute he came in and worked 6-11.

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

You have £10k of tax free allowance being unused. Even working minimum wage for 12 hrs a week would add around £350 a month to your income.

When I said half I was just giving a rough guess.
It would actually have been nearer 65% plus the train fares into Central London everyday so bringing that a lot further towards 80% so I would have been about £200 a month better off for not seeing the kids between 730-630pm everyday.
No other childcare options and as I said they wouldn't entertain part time hours.
Youngest is only 2, not entitled to funding for another while as she's a September baby.
I agree the visits aren't helping but I've felt a bit isolated leaving London so have wanted to see my parents and friends as much as I could however it's stretching us too far I can see that now.
Oh yes I'm not saying it was being single that granted her council housing however I've had friends that have lost their rental homes due to landlords selling, also gone through the hostel process only to be given a list of private rentals that they would get as one / both were employed.
They don't do this if you're unemployed and single, that's why this woman did it and was successful in getting her council house for now less than half of my rent.

Can you live somewhere cheaper? Our rent is £500 in Yorkshire.

As i said he works must Saturdays and many Sundays so weekend work wouldn't work and have been looking for evening work since youngest born. Did even look at night work but to sleep in the day would mean a nursery for youngest and as jobs are minimum wage wouldn't be financially viable

I am a bit surprised by the rent prices you are mentioning for South London. I'm not a real estate expert, but have been living (renting) a two bed flat until late last year in an extremely trendy area in Hackney (in zone 2), and it was and still is £1400 a month. That was for a split level flat with a nice kitchen and a little garden.
Are you sure that two bed flats in South London are £1700 and above? In zone 5?? I find it hard to believe...

I don't really see the point in picking apart the OPs bills or telling her to move 200 miles away (like it's that easy ) the point is it's hard to rent and you're vulnerable to spiralling rental costs.

£150 a month on insurance? That's a massive amount for 30 something's, even with an accident. Is it his insurance and you added to it, or the other way round? Whichever it is is it cheaper to do it the other way round?
If he only needs to use the car on odd times when he's working rurally, can you drive him there then do your thing, then pick him back up again? Inconvenient yes, but could save money if you are only insuring you.

You don't need a fancy phone. Forget keeping up with the jones and get a cheap one.

Surely there are other houses, even at the same rental price, that are closer to schools. As far as I know there are just as many schools in Surrey as anywhere else in the country, and most places have schools closer than 2.5 miles away. Or move a bit further out so you are over 3 miles and qualify for free transport.

It does sound as if it sucks though.

I feel for you OP, our rent (up North, believe it or not!) was £1500 for a fairly horrible, noisy 3 bed terrace with no parking or proper garden. It just felt so galling paying it every month! And the feeling of insecurity is awful, we had to move from our previous place with two months notice and it was extremely stressful.

The only thing that really jumped out at me was your mobiles. Ours are much cheaper, sim only on Giff Gaff and Virgin for about £15 which gives you unlimited data.

I think you need to keep a diary and track all your spending for a month, as a lot of your figures are estimates. You can't really set a budget until you know exactly where all your money is going.

It doesn't seem as if you can do anything about your rent at the moment, and even if you moved somewhere cheaper, it's a lot of money to actually move.

You should be able to cut your groceries budget to £60 per week easily enough, and change your phone when your contract is up. It might be cheaper to have broadband at home and Giff Gaff phones, for instance.

I would also focus on getting your bills as low as possible. Go through everything and cut anything that isn't essential.

I would also think about trying to walk one of the pre - school runs, as walking there, back, there and back again is too much in a three hour session.

Finally, there are lots of us trying to live frugally over on the credit card forum. We are a friendly, supportive bunch, and you're very welcome to join us.

we rent £1250 for 3 bed in zone 3 London. no car. tube to school 6 stops. round trip takes 2 hours.
but its London.

also been in same place for 7 years!

'I could have returned to work, if I wanted the kids in a day nursery 5 days a week as they refused me part time hours, of which over half would be used to pay the nursery so I opted not to.'

You reap what you sow. It was hardly realistic to expect a life of luxury in an expensive part of the country with just one person working and not in some incredibly high-paying job.

We were pretty much destitute when renting in the South East. I honestly didn't have a pound for a toddler group and we once made £60 last three weeks, including food. It was hideous. My hubby earns just a bit less than yours. We've moved North and are comfortable. It's fine for a boy and girl to share a bedroom until puberty, though, in my opinion. And you probably could cut your food bill?

So much sympathy though, it's a horrible struggle.

Which train station in London does your DH need to get into? There might be cheaper areas to rent that other MNers can recommend that will still give him an acceptable commute.

If you are waiting for your DC2 to hit 3 to get the funded hours to give you a bit more wriggle room for PT work vs childcare costs, then at least there's end in sight of only until next year. (sounds a long time, but you do have enough to get by now).

Perhaps try to encourage family to visit you more, just catering for a few extras on a Sunday lunch wouldn't add that much to your food budget but would mean you could cut your travel costs without cutting seeing family.

7 years? That's great I only wish we could have rented that long!
We've never missed rent and landlords always been very happy with us but for one reason or another ( mainly selling up ) they've always been a year or 2 max.
This one has been long let so far so would be hesitant to move as have been so unlucky before and every move is reference fees / deposits if higher than the last / vans etc so not cheap

OP you do seem to be rejecting every reasonable suggestion others are making...did you want help or did you just want a moan? Moaning is fine, but I think you should have said so then maybe people wouldn't have wasted their time if you are not going to take anything on board.

Could you find a part time evening/ weekend/ night job to fit around your dh so that you have no childcare costs?

Sorry you feel like that I don't see what advice you think I'm rejecting other than the work advice as I keep saying that I've looked for evening work only for a long old time and there's nothing, only full night jobs

He runs the company so no company van
As I said it would have been about£200 a month gain hence why I didn't stay working as the travel to Central London and nursery wouldn't have made it worthwhile

Is there a health reason you cannot walk to school? It's not an unreasonable distance for a health adult and child, by any means, particularly as it's not even every day.

a couple of split night shifts a week could be manageable. I did this when I young kids, not saying it was easy, but I'd do perhaps a tues night and elest ds would go to pre-school for athree hours and the baby to a childminder for a few hours and I'd grab a few hours sleep. Then did a friday night and dh had them on sat whilst I caught up on sleep. Like I said not easy but do-able in the short term. There always seems to be care work available.

You have read my mind as that's exactly the plan when she is entitled to her 15 hours, again not viable until then as minimum wage and petrol to get the the jobs and back as wouldn't be that close to us as there's nothing very near us other than a newsagent shop!! But come jan next year that's my hope to at least do night work somewhere even in a supermarket