To think 2 adults can live on £800 a month not incl rent?

[abacucat]

Just that really. I think this will be perfectly fine to live on and pay bills.

Of course it is possible to live on that but I have always wanted a decent safety net of life insurance, pension contributions and savings - it doesn't appear that you've allowed anything for those type of expenses?

We can't claim for anything.

Ragwort Neither of us have life insurance any more as it would be incredibly expensive for us anyway.

Think it would be more doable if you didn't also run a car! Also you say you have no insurance other than car; that is not a good idea when contents insurance comes fairly cheap.

Not sure its worth asking a bunch of strangers. It would be better for you to list your actual outgoings ad see what it comes to. Then you have to factor in other occasional costs of which car repairs are likely to be major.

We've just gone through our finances for September and after the mortgage, direct debits and credit card payments we'll have £1,200 left for food and everything else.

For you, it sounds like you'd be fine but for us, that really isn't much. Although we could pay less off our credit card or not put anything into savings this month (both are direct debits) we hate being in debt and will have a more frugal month in September to get the credit card sorted.

If one of you has a serious health condition, life is likely to get more expensive not less. I would want to be building in a sufficient cushion for that.

We don't have a choice about a car really.

We couldn't. We live in a listed house with high running costs and we feel really stretched every month. We pay £2550 into our joint account and this just covers mortgage, bills and 1 weeks grocery shopping. I then pay remaining grocery shopping and childcare in addition. Things are pretty tight on a monthly basis.

Mortgage: 1400
Council tax: £180
Gas: £150
Electric: £50
Water: £48
Sky, broadband and phone: £40
Home Insurance: £50
Life insurance: £50
Cars: £300
Petrol: £250
Car insurance: £80
Mobiles: £50
Credit cards: £100
Childcare: £450
Groceries:£500

I just don't think it would be wise to try this forever. We all have months where we just haemorrhage money for various reasons, and it would be too easy to slide into debt.

And you can assume that over time rents will increase, petrol costs will increase, rainy days will happen. I think the stress of dealing with those things on an inadequate budget would be worse than the stress of struggling on in work. Would a different job be an option?

I think that would be well tight. The bills you've listed so far are about 300quid without adding the water bill (I have no idea that would be). That leaves about 500 for food, petrol, car tax, and all emergencies, Christmas, birthdays, haircuts, hobbies and socialising etc.

If you’re on such a tiny income, it seems unlikely that you wouldn’t be able to claim anything. Housing benefit, council tax benefit. On that income you’d be entitled to the warm home discount for your energy bills. It’s definitely worth looking in to.

Would you get pip or esa for the health condition?? That might help provide a bit of wiggle room in your spending.

Potentially given that your outgoings are low, but it will be tight. Will you also have the time and ability to do things like devote a lot of time to finding the cheapest things etc? I would probably try and cut out some of the small luxuries you do have, at least temporarily, just to build up a small savings pot. If you get hit by something unexpected, it tends to work out a lot cheaper to have a couple of hundred to deal with it there and then. If this is about quitting/reducing work on health grounds, as it sounds, could you perhaps delay it a little longer to build up a cushion?

No, no PIP or ESA. PIP is for people who can not do basic things like getting dressed or washed. And no with the income spent on our rent, we are not entitled to anything. Not sure why people don't believe this?

Plus with no home insurance or anything or contents insurance, if something big breaks down, like the boiler or the car, you’ve got no cushion at all to deal with it, and what could be a hassle, turns into a major deal.

It's possible, I could do it if i really had to of course but I wouldn't want to do it forever. Do you have savings?

There's about 450 left each month after bills and things. Which is enough to live on but you wouldn't be able to save any money for holidays and things like that. What if something breaks and you need to replace it? (Oven, fridge, car, washing machine, shower etc.) What if you have an accident and your car insurance goes up? What if your bills increase? That type of thing. It leaves you no wriggle room and it would get pretty relentless. You might not buy many clothes or have coffees and things now but you would never be able to do these things.

Because if thats the case, you might want to look at moving somewhere cheaper, especially if it’s just the two of you. For you not to be able to claim anything, your rent must be astronomical, well over £1000 pm. Plus there are some of these things that are not means tested.

We couldn’t.

I do 2 kids and 2 adults on that, excluding rent. After bills we have 200 spare a month

There’s also carers allowance if one of you is too ill to work.

Not to be too blunt, but what your suggesting is living well below the poverty line.

I'm really surprised by these replies actually as we have £500 a month after rent and I don't feel particularly hard done by.

I didn't realise we were so frugal.

It really does depend on so many factors though. If we have a change in finances I sit and write an income and outgoings column.

If you used bank statements and recent receipts and where really honest with your spending I'm sure you could see something to cut back on. Just noticed eat well for less on TV would something like that help.

You'renot Your figures are wrong. We would only be entitled to WTC if we had over £18000 a year, which would mean our rent would have to be over £700 a month. But the real issue is that we would both have to be working over 30 hours a week. Although in theory DP can do that, in practice I think it will lead to him dying young. It is too much for him. So no, we are not entitled to anything. So I am trying to figure out a long term plan.
I have been through PIP so I know what is involved, and unlike DLA, it only helps those who can not do very basic things like getting dressed.

We absolutely couldn't.

yourenot The person has to be more than too ill to work for someone to get carers allowance. They have to be getting attendance allowance.