to think it’s impossible to be single working parent and be paying mortgage?

[spookybird]

It just doesn’t seem possible to afford!
How do people manage to be a single working parent, paying for childcare, and own their own home (ie be paying a mortgage!)
Background : my good friend is about to be in this situation and needs as many tips on how to do it as possible!!

The first two years are likely to be the worst in terms of childcare costs. After that she’ll have 30 free hours, and then the child will be in school. Can she manage until then (go interest only on the mortgage, take out a loan)?

A well paid professional or city type could do it.

A lot of people now have insurance so when he spouse passes away, the mortgage is paid off.

I do.
I work FT, very hard. And I get paid reasonably well, as much as many men with SAHMs do, except that instead of paying for all a wife/partner’s living expenses, I pay a student to do afternoon school pick ups.

Tips:

Budget carefully, and don’t get into debt.

Get tax credits. I badly needed these at one point, but didn’t even know they existed.

Manage your mortgage carefully. Don’t over extend yourself, and make sure repayments will be affordable even if rates go up.

Compromise about where you live. For me a safe convenient location is the priority, so I’ve gone for that, and sacrificed space and modernity...

Manage without a car if you can. (I know not everyone can). They are absolute money drains.

Get tax free childcare if you are working. It’s actually a very generous govt scheme.

Compromise on how you spend your time. I don’t think as a SWP you can work hard, be there for your kids, AND have a life of your own. You can only do two of those three. It means sacrificing a lot of “me stuff”.

Check out the blog www.wealthysinglemommy.com. It’s American and thus sometimes a bit cringey to British ears but it has some positive and sensible things to say about achieving financial independence (IMHO, others may disagree!)

Mortgage cost less than rent...

I do, had deposit money. Mortgage is cheaper than rent. Im in a senior position. My parents collect kids from school, which helps a lot! And I'm term time.

Mortgage is generally cheaper than rent but the difference is if you’re a lowish paid single parent you’ll almost definitely be entitled to housing benefit to cover most or all of the rent. So no housing costs at all.

I manage, just. Had the house a few years, but the deposit was from an inheritance from my late grandmother. A decent salary for the area (not high, but certainly OK), DC aged 14 so no childcare costs but plenty of outlay for various activities, very little in maintenance from ExP. I own a car which is 18 years old and the yearly costs are cheaper than a new one. Mortgage always paid the day I get paid as a clear priority. Hols are now spent in GB, or in the last half term as days out. So it's doable but a bit hand to mouth by the last week of every month. Grimly holding on to my job as public sector and frequent cuts.

If you don’t need housing benefit us you have a mortgage Universal Credit will be better for a single parent. They don’t care what you spend it on, I personally am about £100 a week better off with UC

I do it and have been for nearly 10 years. I also worked part time for the 5 years. In the early days I spent very little each week primari
Clothes, petrol and Lidl shopping with a list and calculator. It was hard but got easier as the years went on and I returned to work full-time. I now have a very generous salary and we live extremely well.

I was very fortunate to be able to afford to buy a flat in my early 20's before I had children. 20 years later my mortgage is pretty small. In fact on my NHS salary there is absolutely no way I could afford to rent a 2 bed place in the area I live. I earn over the threshold for tax credits and housing support and rent would be over £1000, and certainly in the current climate I wouldn't be able to buy now.

I do but my mortgage is a 30-year term to keep the monthly payments down.

As I understand it universal credit is going to hammer single parents with a mortgage the most. The work allowance has been severely cut and doesn't make up for the lack of the housing element at all. I'm predicted to lose £260 a month.

I would be able to but don't earn enough to get a mortgage. My rent on a tiny place is 1750 a month so a small mortgage would be a delight.

As I understand it universal credit is going to hammer single parents with a mortgage the most. The work allowance has been severely cut and doesn't make up for the lack of the housing element at all. I'm predicted to lose £260 a month.

That's exactly what it will do, and everyone will be put onto it. In many, many places, they already are. So it's not a good idea to say 'oh, get tax credits' because they will be gone in a year or two so it's important to budget now for what you can afford on your earnings. It might mean you can't afford a mortgage at all, but that's life, isn't it? Plenty of people can't. Also all the more reason the other parent needs to step the fuck up and pay their fair share to support their kids. Burns me up that they can literally walk away with no consequence.

One of the things I did that made my life easier was set up 3 bank accounts. One was my current account where my pay went into and day to day spending came out of.
One was a bill account and on the day I got paid enough money to cover all bills for the month was transferred into that account, this avoided surprise direct debits late in the month that I’d struggle to cover.
The third was a savings account. Again it was an automatic transfer on the day I got paid of £20. Anything left in my current account at the end of the month went in there too (very rare occasion). This was my ‘Oh shit’ stash for broken washing machine or car failing MOT etc. As my salary increased then the amount I put in increased. Eventually I had enough to replace my 20 yr old wreck of a car with a newer old wreck of a car.

I knew that what was in my current account was that months ‘available money’ and that bills were covered from the outset.

I guess I could now, we've had a fairly long period of DH being unemployed and my wage covered everything.

If he wasn't here some things would be cheaper, but I would need to find childcare before and after school.

As I understand it universal credit is going to hammer single parents with a mortgage the most. The work allowance has been severely cut and doesn't make up for the lack of the housing element at all. I'm predicted to lose £260 a month

Like i said upthread, i think i am going to lose all my tax credits (£450/month). As i have an interest only mortgage with an ISA as a repayment vehicle. Done that way as I couldn’t afford a straight repayment mortgage and it gave me more flexibility to under or over pay.

Now UC takes “savings” into account that money meant to repay my mortgage will mean I no longer qualify.