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?

..

I'm shocked how cheap some of your utilities are as pay just over £700pm on bills EXCLUDING our mortgage (which is thankfully not massive), food or spending & savings.
£500pm on c/tax, water, gas, electric £100 on home+car insurance & life assurance
£90 on 2 mobiles, broadband, tv license & optician dd.

Is it just because we live in the SE? We were due to downsize to reduce our outgoings but only saved a small by reducing the mortgage & dropping a c/tax band it's barely worth it. Maybe we should move back home to the NW if that's the case!

My children certainly aren't miserable but it does make me sad that I can't take them on expensive day trips and holidays more often. We are average earners. Can afford housing, utilities, food and a car with a little bit left over for 'entertainment' but not much for saving or splashing out. We would be happier with a little more

The poster who lives comfortably on £17,000, and is incredulous that others need more money, when they were GIVEN a house! That made me laugh. The rest of us have a huge amount of mortgage or rent to pay! And FREE child care from parents. Your parents are subsidising you massively.

We earn £15,000 a year, used to be £6,000 wage then £6,000 of UC on top and we managed! Never been miserable, the only misery we have is when UC can’t seem to make correct payments. My child is fed, clothed and has nice days out. We don’t go to restaurants much but then again I work in one but we do have nice days out. Just because we don’t earn over £20,000 a year doesn’t mean we can’t have a child, look after them or have nice things. I grew up in a single parent family where dad left when I was very young, I grew to appreciate everything I got when we had no money, my mum never let me go without though and I will do the same for my son if we ever end up in that position.

I earn my 16k last year. I bring home about 1k a month and receive 220 a month tax credits and 80 a month cab. Rent and council tax is 650 a month leaving 600 for food, bills and fuel. Everything. It is miserable and soul destroying.

Mymad I think people forget about the cost of insurances, MoTs and car tax etc when calculating their outgoings on these threads

Council tax £40

Why so low? Mine is £150 a month... absolutely hate seeing it go out of my account...it's one of those awful expenses that you have zero choice in. Even with gas/electric you can shop around, cut down on your usage...zero you can do about CT.

Sara do you pay for childcare as you should get at least £100 more tax credits if you have one child and don’t pay childcare from this?

Hi OP - I don't think you're clueless at all! Childcare is a horrific cost it really is. Time and again I see women dropping out at work after having children because they haven't got free childcare and the cost of childcare is so phenomenal.

So yes I sympathise. More practically I will say that this is just a few short years before they get into school and the childcare costs ease off and you still have the benefit of your career.

Good luck!

Council tax £40

Why so low

social housing, northern, single person discount, Universal Credit deduction.

No childcare costs. One child and apparently paying 50 a month back on an overpayment.

I don't think it's miserable at all. We have enough money for everything we need and most of the things we want. I think we have a good lifestyle.

I earn 13k and don't claim any benefits (by choice). I pay 1k a year in taxes and national insurance, I pay 3k in childcare costs, £2,500 a year for bills, £2,500 a year for food. I don't have a car, we cycle everywhere, or catch a train, bus or plane when we go away. So that leaves us 4k a year for fun. Our mortgage is paid off. We have no debts of any kind. We have some savings.

I don't buy many clothes, I spend less than £100 a year on my clothes (I still have lots of clothes) and about £300 a year on clothes for DD; we go on holiday every year; we eat well; DD goes to various different clubs (all of them are cheap or free); we go to the theatre and cinema every month; a few times a year we have a big day trip or weekend away; we both have lots of possessions - a combination of stuff bought new, charity and car boot finds. I don't think we go without anything much. We don't feel poor at all.

Soon I won't have the childcare bill so we'll be a lot better off and I'll be saving up for a big long haul trip.

When I hear of people earning 70 - 100k and not having any money to do stuff I just assume they are either not great with money or they are choosing to live somewhere very expensive.

I envy people whose council tax is just £80 a month. I live in a one horse town with no amenities and I have to fork out £100 and that is with single person discount.

And I don't live in the south east anymore either. In fact where I live is very basic.

I think council tax is very, very expensive and getting worse. I think we should get rid of it and just tax people more on income. It's a very unfair tax.

I think it’s disgraceful council tax is considered a priority bill. You have people going without food or basic security to pay the council £100 a month

I don't think that people whose parents supplement their income or pay their mortgage truly live on 17,000.

I think for those that do life is very hard!

Being able to spend a lot of money taking children on days out and fancy holidays doesn't necessarily make happy children. Many children love going to the park, walking in the woods, visiting museums, cooking with parents, doing arts and craft etc. Camping holidays are great fun for children.
You can cook perfectly healthy meals from scratch for a reasonable price. The big costs regarding children is obviously child care.

Somebody higher up this thread said their water bill is £20 a month I pay £43. How it is possible to pay such a small amount!

I don't live in a rich area whatsoever so I fail to see how £20 is sufficient ....

I think it’s disgraceful council tax is considered a priority bill. You have people going without food or basic security to pay the council £100 a month

I agree with this. We're not going without food to pay it but it certainly makes a significant dent in our budget every month.

Is it an imprisonable offence to not pay it?

Good grief! I only earned £37,000 a after 30 years' teaching, ending up on UPS 3 (upper scale with no additional responsibilities). I brought up a child as a single parent with no support and paid a mortgage. I did not think I was badly off (although I was had much less than this as a mature student when my DD was a baby).

£35,000 is much, much more than a lot of people have.

Wish i only paid £20 water...we pay £57 a month & there's only 3 of us in a small flat! Council tax is £156 a month. Only saving grace is the rent is capped!!

Children remember tikme with parents. We mostly went on outings that cost petrol (or to the big park - no petrol). So deliberately to a beach with no ice cream or shop for example or a wood with no shop so not even pester power and you bring your sandwiches with you. I am not saying however it is easy having very little money and I have never really been in that position althouth we did for a time spend 50% of each of our full time wages on childcare (we had 3 children under 4 at one point and both worked full time always). My council tax is £3200 a year. ugh.

My water bill is £200 a year, paid in two £100 installments.