How much money could you live on

[terriblemistake]

if you had no mortgage (not sure of outcome of divorce but this is one scenario - there are other scarier ones) and had 3 dc to support on your own?

Am a little terrified (understatement).

a week

Sorry, posted in AIBU by mistake.

I'm a single mum with 3 dc and we get about £300pw in benefit entitlements (child benefit, tax credits, income support and council tax reduction). House is owned outright, I don' t work. It's a tight budget but we manage - we cover all our bills and food shop, and the dcs do one activity each per week. They get free school meals.

Food would probably be £75-100 a week*,
Bills (CT, utilities and phone) £120 per week*,
I'd put aside at least £50 a week for uniforms and emergencies and Xmas.
Anything beyond that (transport etc) you'd know better than me but for me personally it would be £30 a week (including a free day trip and getting there by bus)

• these figures are based on meal planning and buying tesco value everything. I could get it lower but I make cheap snacks and treats like using a flapjack tray bake, topping with melted chocolate and refrigerating. Kids love it in lunch boxes. I don't like us to "feel" poor food wise. So it could be lower but obviously if you have any diet requirements or less time to mealplan that could be an issue. *bils figures is based upon a cheap CT area andexpensive electrical heaters.

All of my bills (as in direct debits - CT, gas/electric, water, insurances, phones etc. Also include £40 a month in this, which goes into a separate account for Christmas and birthdays, clothes etc) come to £450 a month, so approximately £103 a week. I allow £60 a week for grocery shopping, including toiletries and cleaning products (me and 11yo ds, plus the dog), £7 a week for the dog (food, vet etc), £30 for the car (fuel, service,MOT) and £25 for "sundries", so school trips, scouts, top up shops etc. I'm very strict about putting money separately and not doing impulse purchases as currently on benefits and on an extremely tight budget. So that's £225 a week minimum. Anything over that goes in the separate account for emergencies. It's not a particularly nice way to live, but we have a roof over our heads and food on the table so got to be grateful for that, and I live in hope that one day my health will improve enough to work again.

When a single mum to two under fives i managed on a £28k a year salary and £300 maintenance paid sporadically . I got child benefit, obvs, but nothing else as i was repaying an over payment fuckers

But i also had a mortgage.

If it's a divorce and you have a choice then I'd go for £500 per week to live comfortably but as above it seems you'd live on less. I see lots of mainly women with 2 or more children getting maintenance, child benefit, child tax credits, part time work & working tax credits getting mortgages as they've used those incomes to save for a deposit. So even if maintenance is low you may be able to use multiple incomes as above to get the amount you need.

Thanks all.

My aim is to eventually get 500 a week net . But it will take a while to get there .

Not working my bills (gas, water, electric, mobile and tv) are £200 a month and i spend £40-80 a week on groceries and toiletries (inc nappies) so £150 a week if just for now. If you include buying clothes savings and toys i would need £200+ a week.

Working you need to add £175 a week childcare and £90 a month council tax, plus commuting and work expenses £25 a week which adds up to about £430 a week.

Look at money saving expert, and mysupermarket- both of these should help reduce your outgoings

Me and a toddler. 300 quid a week for everything including rent. I work and receive tax credits.

I think £500 a week net would be pretty comfortable.

Bills etc are about £200 pcm for this house, but only 2beds, so call it £350 assuming gas central heating and more electric useage. That also includes my phone, car tax, Spotify but not house insurance or car insurance. Another £25-£50pcm car insurance (pref paid yearly) and food, cleaning stuff and toiletries should be doable fairly comfortably on £400 pcm. So that's £800 so far. Add £50 pcm for birthdays/xmas/clothes for kids (maybe more depending what they're used to, £50 pcm car maintenance, £100 pcm petrol (that would be 800ish miles per month), £50 for random shit for mending the house/other bits. So then up to £1050, plus pocket money for you, savings for holidays, pocket money for kids, and I reckon you could be reasonably comfortable on £1300 pcm.

Thanks very much for all your messages. They are all really useful figures.

I reckon you could be reasonably comfortable on £1300 pcm. which is about 18K gross a year - which I think I could manage to make.