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.

My friend cuts my hair for £10 every 4/5 months. Is only expensive salon cut hair acceptable hair care?

I'm not particularly high maintenance OP and I don't know if you consider yourself to be but if it's something you value you can be a model for a trainee under supervision for a very low price or sometimes free. The senior hairdressers wouldn't let you leave with it looking awful even if the trainee wasn't very good, there are also colleges that offer the same or mobile individual hairdressers that will be cheaper than a salon but judging your posts I don't think that's something worrying you.

Have any previous suggestions helped? Just try plan for financial things within your control and take the rest a step at a time x

Two adults here and after rent this is our bills list (including money that we put aside each month for one offs like the dentist or glasses).

Council tax - £120
Gas + elec - £70
Water - £50
Food + cleaning products/basic toiletries £300
TV (inc. Netflix) - 20
Internet - £20
Mobiles - £50
Dentist - £25
Glasses - £15
Tenancy renewal fee - £10
Buffer/emergencies - £100

That comes to £780. We don't drive, we walk to work and haven't got contents insurance (we should really I know, so add on another £10 for that in theory).

So yes, we could live on £800 after rent but there's no room for doing anything fun outside of watching TV and eating nice food. No Xmas or birthday presents, no holidays, no takeaways, no "shall we just pop to the pub tonight". No haircuts, no toiletries outside of the basics, no make up, no gym, no new clothes, no trips to the cinema or restaurants.

We could shave £100 off the food bill, be a bit more frugal with utilities and not put so much aside for glasses perhaps but that's about it.

Currently we have about £400 each leftover after rent and the bills listed above. Only having the basics covered is a hard life to live permanently and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Good luck OP!

It's Conley relevant to your situation! We pay £600 a month on food alone.

A hair cut isn’t a luxury. It’s basic self care.

I colour my own hair, at a cost of less than £3 a month and my daughter cuts it for me for free. It looks a let better than when I did used to go to the hairdressers many years ago and I get complimented on it all the time, by people I know and random strangers. I cut my daughter's hair, she has very beautiful hair. It isn't difficult to cut in a straight line.

My monthly bills are:

Council tax 90
Water 15
Gas and electric 35
Tv license 12
Netflix 8
Landline and wifi 30
2 Mobile phones 10

@NameChanger22 I have very thick, fast growing very curly hair, cutting it in a straight line would leave me looking like Marge Simpson. I'm lucky in that a good friend of mine used to be a hairdresser in a previous career and cuts it for £25 every couple of months, not everyone can just cut their hair with kitchen scissors and be done with it, and not everyone knows a hair dresser who will do cheap decent cuts. It's something most people have to budget at least a small amount for

Most people are capable of buying a proper pair of hairdressing scissors very cheaply and watching a few free hair cutting tutorials on YouTube. People don't though, probably because it doesn't occur to them and because they don't need to.

Plenty of people spend £600 a month on food. I don't know how, but they do. I can only assume a fair amount of that food ends up in the bin, either that or they are very overweight.

Not buying things I don't need doesn't make me miserable at all. It's fine. I'd like a little bit more money, but I certainly wouldn't waste it on haircuts and bin food if I did have more. Anyway, it's not up to me. I've been asking for a pay rise for 15 years and never got one.

More thoughts!

Obviously the "fun" things I listed above are not the be all and all. We aren't super wasteful with our disposable income and do try to save/be frugal where possible.

I think for me the idea of only having money for the basics is scary because it would feel so restrictive and exhausting especially if it sounded like it would be a permanent situation.

It depends on what your hobbies and activities are.

I earn £1100 a month but still have £400 a month to spend on the fun stuff. A lot of our hobbies are free or cheap. Music lessons - £5 a week, swimming £6, arts cinema £12 for 2 people, painting and craft hobbies - £10 a month, reading - free (library) or cheap (car boot sale/charity shop/sale books, eating out £15 or £20 (once or twice a month), festivals - mostly free, photography - free once you have a camera, parks - free, museums - free. We also have lots of days out with our railcard, take a picnic or eat in a café.

I don't drink or smoke or go to pubs. We socialise with friends by doing the above or inviting people round for dinner or going to their houses.

I think our life is very rich and not boring at all.

I think it would be better for the OP to see what they have leftover after rent AND bills (including food, yearly payments like the dentist/insurances etc and emergency savings). That way they can really assess if they can live on the money they have. There's no point covering all your basics but having no money for anything else.

Totally agree that you can have a fulfilling social life on very little money but if the OP won't even have that, it's not going to make for a happy existence.

That sounds really hard OP, as most others have said it sounds really tight. I know it’s already been mentioned but there are so many things in life outside the very basics to afford - occasions, savings, unexpected appliance replacements or car maintenance.

Also if your income is already that low and is fixed - it’s worth noting that costs of living are rising quite fast these days. With Brexit coming people are anticipating the price of even basic food to go up. Even though it’s still theoretical there aren’t plenty or future scenarios that could result in the same. You rent did you say? What if you need to find a new property?

Your DH working full time is not an option you say - can he work part time, does he already? If he does could he find a wage increase somewhere? For instance even if he does unskilled work, switching to a night shift would earn him a couple of extra pounds an hour.

It’s hard to advise unfortunately without knowing your current sources of income or fill price of any necessary outgoings.

For instance with me and my 2 small children I could do £800 a month after rent and bills easily and with plenty of money to do nice things and have little luxuries - but that’s because I don’t drive or spend really any money on transport. Even a bus ticket for the whole month would only cost max £70, I think it’s £60 actually.

I know you say these have to be your circumstances, you definitely need your car etc., but frankly I’d be looking at making some pretty big sacrifices to ensure I had enough to see you through and make sure life is enjoyable and not a constant stress and struggle. Also don’t underestimate the impact on wellbeing of long term financial stress. Could you find a job closer to work or cycle so you didn’t need so spend such a big chunk of your £800 on a car?

Also make a list of nice and full filling things in life that are free or cost a minimal amount to balance out your tight budget -

• Nice walking routes
• Going to the library and picking out books
• Museums
• Drawing or painting if that’s your thing
• Taking photos, making collages etc
• Studyig even? With a student loan if your income is that low you’ll never be paying it back; the OU is fantastic. If your DH can’t work and is also short of money it might be a nice thing for him to do.

Good luck anyway. I hope your circumstances improve

I think you can spend a lot of money on good and neither be massively overeating nor throwing a lot of food away. Some products are just ridiculously expensive, and some people only want to buy those sorts of food items.
I don't know how much my monthly food spend would be if money was no object but it would be a hell of a lot more than now, and that wouldn't be due to buying more food.

I think you can spend a lot of money on good and neither be massively overeating nor throwing a lot of food away. Some products are just ridiculously expensive, and some people only want to buy those sorts of food items.

Only if you’re cooking ready meals and nothing else! I spend £150 a month on food for two adults and a child.

I'm thinking more of the truffles, caviar, kobe beef type foods than ready meals. Stuff that's not even on my food radar but which you could easily spend a fortune on if so inclined!

Only if you’re cooking ready meals and nothing else Actually it's really, really cheap to eat ready meals. I'd save a fortune if I was willing to eat that way. Food gets expensive when you want to eat well - fresh fish and shellfish, organic meat, good quality fruit and veg etc.

@mostdays to be honest though if you buy that kind of thing then you've got no right to be moaning that money is tight. I can't really drum up a lot of sympathy for people who say they're skint but will only eat the most expensive foods or shop at certain stores.

Actually it's really, really cheap to eat ready meals. I'd save a fortune if I was willing to eat that way. Food gets expensive when you want to eat well - fresh fish and shellfish, organic meat, good quality fruit and veg etc.

Really? I find instant food to be the most expensive. We spend about £40 a week on food for three of us. We cook from scratch 4-5 days a week and have a quick meal on the other days. We would spend even less if we didn’t have those two days.

Childcare only is £500, bills , food, loan/credit card payments/ rent £650,council tax, cars insurances, WiFi/tv/landline, mobile phone bills, going out. Outgoings only almost £2000 so there’s no way we could live on £800 lucky those who can

Petrol

Actually it's really, really cheap to eat ready meals. I'd save a fortune if I was willing to eat that way. Food gets expensive when you want to eat well - fresh fish and shellfish, organic meat, good quality fruit and veg etc.

Only because you are comparing ready meals with very expensive fresh food. I can make great fresh food for far less that I could feed a family of 7 ready meals with, which would be incredibly expensive.
You can eat very well without eating only expensive food. Organic is mostly a con and you pay for brands, prestige and packaging.

My council tax is £200 a month. My dual fuel is around £130. Water is £18. Car insurance is £40. Home insurance abut the same. And that's without all the other costs eg travel to work, car-related costs, fixing things when they break down, telephone/internet etc.

So no I don't think it's enough to live on. The council tax is the real killer though. People moan about VAT and IHT coming out of taxed income, but council tax is pretty iniquitous I think.

I agree Blair

I have found the cheapest way to eat is to base most meals around rice, beans, pasta, potatoes, bread, porridge. Then add fruits, veg and protein - which can usually be bought very cheaply as the supermarkets are closing. Buying sauces, oils, tofu etc from Asian supermarkets saves a lot as these things are very cheap and come in big sizes.

If I stuck to these things alone I could probably feed 2 of us on less than £20 a week. But I don't, I add lots of additional snacks, treats, drinks etc which bumps up our weekly shop to about £50 a week. I don't buy ready meals, they are usually too expensive or not very nice.

We live off £500 a month once the rent has come out. We have a 3 year old and another baby on the way. It’s tight but we manage. what we would do for an extra £300 a month!! Lol

We have less than that after basics and we have 4 D.C., so yes you can!