To think bringing kids up on no money would be misersble

[Strawberryblues]

I earn 35000 or thereabouts. Its not terrible. It means I only get cb.

After bills not much left.

How do people do it?

The cut off for WTC IS £40k so you would get something. When I added it up it was about £160 a month. Assume you'd get maintenance too?

My income including everything is £17000 and I have no debt and save 10% each month. I work a term time only job so pay no child care in the holidays.My housing costs are only £250 a month as my parents brought my house for me out of inheritance which I know helps massively.

It's plenty to go around, I run a car, we go on holiday - although normally city breaks in Europe or the UK as we live by a lovely beach so going abroad for that seems a bit pointless. DD has lovely clothes that I normally buy in the Fat Face or Monsoon sale. She does lots of extra curricular activities. I'm a single parent so generally don't spend money of going out in the evening but we do eat out quite a bit.

It all to do with priorities I have a £6 a month phone contract, I buy good quality clothes that will last in sales, I have minimal bills i.e. watch subscription tv instead of having a contract with sky or virgin so I can cancel at anytime. Childcare is a the biggest outgoing most people have a long with mortgage and I've been fortunate to have jobs that whilst low paid have meant I have little need for child care or my parents have been able to step in.

Housing costs are the most important factor imo. We could live easily on that income op because our housing costs are low.

PrincessHairyMclary. Good for you but I genuinely can't see how you can manage comfortably as you say, plus save 10% on £17000 a year.

OP do you have children or are you thinking about having them?

I'm sure you'll get responses from people who raised children on 10p per week back in the day and think the mums of today are entitled but I agree with you. A little bit of money helps enormously. I went through a stage when DD was younger of not being able to afford the things she needed and it was miserable. We had enough for food and our house but it really grinds you down stretching out the periods between buying new shoes and never going anywhere you might need to spend money. And by that I mean the odd soft play or farm with friends, not Legoland. We have clawed back a bit due to me changing jobs and saving hundreds on petrol and it's a relief to be able to treat DD every now and again and to do normal things like paying for a haircut.

If you earn 35k then you'd be fine bringing up a child, it's more than quite a lot of the population.

They find a way because they have to.

Often involving a precarious system of loans, credit cards, overdraft, borrowing from family and friends, sometimes getting stuck in the payday loan cycle. Using food banks, doing illegal stuff to make a bit extra like drug dealing (even minor stuff like selling your painkiller prescription you no longer need to someone), sex work, cash in hand work. Working multiple jobs at once.

Yes, it’s shit. I don’t have kids yet because until the past few years I just haven’t been in a stable enough financial position (I’m 30 and it’s taken several years at uni, working multiple jobs at once, to get to where I’m at now where I’m on a similar wage to you with a partner on a slightly better wage).

I’m tentatively planning on trying for my first child next year, have a savings account I’ve been working on for the past year and a projected idea of what I want to have behind me before TTC.

I’ve been absolutely bones of my arse so skint where I couldn’t even afford a prescription to treat a chest infection but couldn’t miss work because I wouldn’t be paid enough to keep things afloat so had to spend a week at work increasingly ill (I’m asthmatic) before I got paid to then skip meals to afford my antibiotics... and considered some seriously risky actions to try and keep afloat. I would never bring a child into a financially insecure environment (I can only speak for myself and no judgment on other people’s decisions there), even though I know you can’t plan for everything we’re doing a pretty good job to try our best.

Housing and food are a huge cut of our budget.

Dh earns more than 35k but again no benefits other than CB. But we have 3 dc and pets.

35k is a lot of money. It just depends where your priorities lie

Good for you but I genuinely can't see how you can manage comfortably as you say, plus save 10% on £17000 a year

Why?

£17k is £1245 a month. Plus £80 CB, the poster receives £1325.

Minus savings of £125 and housing of £250 she has just shy of £1k a month for her and one child, with no rent or mortgage to pay.

Sounds fine to me. It's so short sighted to say 'oh how can you possibly live on...'

People do. And some even still have nice lives

When I earned 18k I was on 1100 a month. Obviously that was fine as had no kids or anything.

It's childcare more than anything.

We bring up two kids on 45k (H has just had to reduce his hours due to health). Day to day living isn’t bad at all. It’s affording the bigger things like cars and holidays.
We are very fortunate my parents financially supplement us so we’ve never had to live without cars or holidays though. We don’t ask them but they give us money and pay for things like servicing the car or buying us a car.
We are only now in our late thirties at a point where we are nearly debt free and going to be able to save enough so we have money available for things like washer repairs, car repairs.

Yes it is miserable especially for the children. I don't get why people would do it or choose to have a child on benefits knowing it heavily restricts the child's outcomes but millions do.

It depends on your rent/mortgage cost and childcare costs as to how much of your £35k salary will stretch too.

We were sensible and waited until we were secure in jobs with a saving system pot behind us to ensure we could give ours a decent start and ensure they could have many experiences and never felt apart from their peers at school. Having been the child that grew up with nothing i know how much it affects then and as an adult and wouldn't ever do it to my own.

With no mortgage or childcare then 17 k is plenty for a nice life. I am impressed by the previous posters saving discipline too.

Minus savings of £125 and housing of £250 she has just shy of £1k a month for her and one child, with no rent or mortgage to pay

So let's say 1k a month...you then need to pay...

Council tax
Gas
Electric
Water
TV licence

Possibly

Wi fi
Mobile phone contract (ok the op said only £6)

Then the pp said they run a car so tax, mot, insurance, petrol.

Then food costs over a month.
Clothing
Extra curricular activities

Sorry, I can't see how it can be done..and before anyone says anything, I'm not on a high income at all.

Oh and our nursery fees end for good next month. That has been a crippling expense. The government’s 30 free hours at nursery is a godsend for us.

On 17k she'd be entitled to benefits too.

My DH and I bring up two children on £64,000 a year between us. I realise this is a good amount of money.

We have a rental property that brings in a bit extra on top of that as well.

We also live in Scotland which helps because it’s definitely cheaper to live here. We are big savers because we like to know there’s money for a rainy day.

We have a household income of 25k with two adults, one child and a dog, and we can pay all bills, not much money for fun. But we live in the south east in a small flat and mortgage cost is £650 a month which is a large chunk. We are planning on re-locating north and will hopefully be mortgage free and then I anticipate we will be comfortable (holidays/savings/fun) on a similar income.

I appreciate we are extremely fortunate to be able to do this though!

It's all personal perspective though.

'miserable' can be very different for each & everyone of us,
as can a 'nice life'
it's what's important to you , not others.

personally, I would be able to manage & enjoy bringing up a child or children on 35k.

Re: princesses example, its highly unusual to have such low rent/mortgage and no childcare bill (term time jobs are like gold dust if you're anything but a teacher)

It's not an example of managing on a low wage, it's an example of extremely lucky circumstance imho.

It means sacrifices, meaning the parent may have to limit nights out /takeaways , alcohol, cigarettes etc so that it saves money,

It means the parent can't go out and buy new clothes, shoes, make up, have hair and nails done etc as and when she feels like it as money would have to be saved

It would mean budgeting for food and buying the cheapest economy brand of food, so that you get as much food for the least amount of price

It would mean shopping online for cheap clothes or buying them at a cheap store like primark so you can get the most for the least amount..

It would mean having to spend more time entertaining the kids with free entertainment as the budget wouldn't stretch to cinemas etc...so plenty of trips to parks, beaches, free places etc...

It is do-able and plenty of people do it...and the kids grow up fine,

£35k?

I detect a stealth boast, this is plainly more than most people get.

My total income including tax credits and child maintenance from exh is around £20k. I earn minimum wage plus commission in a sales role.

I actually feel pretty comfortable on that but I have only one DC, no childcare costs as he is school age and I only work 10-2.

Roughly works out as about £1600 per month and bills are
Rent £425
Council tax £80
Gas/electric/water about £80 for all three
Food shopping £250
T.V. license/internet/phone bill £100 for all three
Travel costs £75 a month. I do not own a car as have no need for one.

Leaves me with about £600 left over for clothes/holidays/trips out. I put what I can into savings.

I would like to own a home though, I'd feel a lot more secure if I did.

£17 k included the Tax credits, child benefit and child maintenance I receive.

I wasn't saying it's easy, nor was I bragging just that it's possible and people can do it without living on bread and water. But I know I am very lucky in regards to childcare and housing costs.

I don't live in a city, DD was unexpected, I don't date nor socialise much of an evening which costs a lot, I don't intend to have more than 1 DC and I spend the money on her as should be whilst also doing an OU degree to better my employment prospect once she is grown when I am no longer eligible for CTC, CB and CM. My utilities come to around £250 a month + £40 petrol. Most of the car costs generally come out of the savings at the end of the year.

DH and I have a joint income of 29.5k and we have two children and have a fairly decent life.
I do t think we are poor. We are in a universal credit area, so only receive child benefit.

Former My figures for that would be:

Council tax/Gas/Electric/Water/TV licence - £215
Wi fi/Mobile phone contract - £25
Then the pp said they run a car so tax, mot, insurance, petrol - £150 ish

So that would leave £600 for clothes/food/activities for one adult and one child.

And that's before CTC which I'm assuming that poster gets on top.

If she had four strapping teenagers on that income, I get that it would be tight. But I can see how she can afford everything she says tbh.

Housing and childcare are our massive bills. If someone took those away I'd be on easy street.