£400 spare a month

[extremebungee]

Due to a pay cut AIBU to live on £400 per month after bills?

This is to include everything including petrol, clothes, haircut, treats, child stuff, extra food, presents, days out.

A basic food budget would be covered in the household bills but how hard will it be to stick to this?

It is for 2 adults and a secondary aged child.

Daily commute for both adults is 3 miles per day so limited petrol.

I know people have less and it's not a race to the bottom. However i
s this liveable rather than just survivable?
I do realise we are lucky to have any discretionary income.

How on earth is 400 pounds SPARE a month tight but do-able?!
It's more than do-able! Wish I had that much spare, I'm lucky to have 4 pounds spare most weeks lol

It sounds loads tbh.

£400 after bills and food- so to cover petrol, clothes, haircut, treats, child stuff, extra food, presents, days out.

So £40 petrol
Clothes- all my clothes come from charity shops, I spend £10 a month on myself, depends how old the kids are but if young then supermarkets for uniform and casual clothes- or again charity shops.
Haircut? I cut my kids hair myself when they were young, many hairdressers charge only £7 or so for a child's cut- maybe 4 times a year?
Treats and extra food?
Picnics, take food, plan trips out between meals, learn the art of fakeaway food at home.
Presents- you may want to budget for christmas and birthdays- so perhaps £80 a month.
Days out- I live near a city, there is tons of stuff to do free inside and out, museums, city farm, art galleries, lots of kid stuff, cheap cinema tickets weekend mornings, now that better weather is coming outdoor things too, kids love a picnic.

OP I honestly think £400 is loads of money.

agree speakout that's why I wondered what OP had included, because it sounds as if the worry is that essentials are coming out of that £400 too e.g. petrol for commuting to work.

The extra food?

We are staying with oh parents for a one off bill including basic food. So any extras will be from the £400.

I guess I don't include petrol as we could walk the few miles but we are teachers so often have books.

Child is in year 7 so no job just yet.

At least you won't have childcare costs in the holidays so that should help.

£400/mo for fun money is not too bad.

I think that's loads of money a month if food shopping is already accounted for. Also it's not like you are all going to have haircuts and need new clothes every month.
Another poster mentioned putting £100 aside each month, and I'd agree with that. Then you have a rainy day fund for one offs and emergencies etc.

It’s doable I manage on not much more after mortgage and bills one adult 2 children. Set a budget and check if there is anything you can do without. We’ve never struggled and that’s from being sensible and planning ahead. Can you look into another job or small job evenings/weekends to top it up? Make sure your pay cut is legal too, read your contract.

£400 is very tight and not something I'd be happy to do long term, have you means/plans for this to be a short term adjustment?

newjobnerves

How is £400 a month tight?

I am seriously not getting it.

First World problems.
£400 a month as genuine disposable income is definitely a lot.
What do you envisage having to cut down on? Nights at the opera? Spring skiing trips? Designer bags and shoes?
Have a sit and think about what you are asking, and contrast it with the very real truth that there is a need for food banks across the country. Food banks supporting families who would be happy to have £4 a month surplus.

Is £400 a month enough? shakes head sadly at the state of the country

So you’re both teachers and live with PIL , so I’m assuming no household running costs gas/ electric/ council tax etc. Food is accounted for in whatever rent contribution you make to them and you only have £400 a month between you left?
Am I missing something here or have I interpreted your previously post incorrectly.

wertuio

I agree.

We have around £80 after all bills, food etc. Surviving is hard. If I could get a full time, well paid job so we can afford childcare at the same time I would jump at it. Surviving is a miserable life. I have to question whether we can even afford a freddo, some weeks ffs 😓

That's basically your disposable income? That is loads!

Can you post your actual whole budget? I'm a little confused if you think this is tight.

The people saying £400 per month is tight just show that they don't live in reality. They have no clue how most people actually live.

Yes it is not a race to the bottom but for the poster thinking that with 400 a month spare that you would be entitle to tc or UC????

Before the disabled and carers would have received more but the government has been cutting help for the sickest and the most disabled for years.

Years ago tax credits were more generous as they were a credit and not a benefit. However, for the last 10 to 12 years the government has been busy rebranding them as a benefit and cutting them year on year.

They were bought in to make lower paid jobs more workable and to give people doing these jobs a good income and to raise children out of poverty. Now no one cares if the people doing these jobs have enough to live on or not.

However in any world £400 per month totally disposable income is not tight.

If you're both teachers how on earth do you only have £400 a month left?

It's doable. I probably have about this much left over once all my bills are paid. Out of £400 I can usually manage to fill my car up for the month, do a big shop and have a little left over for days out and the odd treat.

But dp has to pick up the slack if there are any big expenses like car troubles or expensive things for the house etc. £400 on my own would be tough and not achievable in the event of any emergencies.

@speakout

£400 a month to cover clothes for 3 people, Christmas, birthdays, unexpected bills, car services/MOTs/tyres/repairs, other family members birthdays, entertainment surely everyone likes to go out for a meal now and again, a day out. Not to mention when you just want to buy yourself something or have a holiday. £400 sounds a lot, but one car service could wipe that whole sum out, so that month no clothes, no extras etc etc. From October presumably they'll be looking towards Christmas? Yes of course set aside that £400 and it may build up, but I personally don't think it's sustainable for a fun family life, do-able in the short term, but being a full time working family id expect more.

I'm confused. I don't understand how two teachers living with relatives have only £400 a month disposable income?

£400 after essential food and bills have been paid is a tight budget?! It's loads - I wish we had that! As it stands at the moment, we are short by £100 most months and we have to go without loads of things just to survive and it's bloody miserable.

I don't run a car

how much do you need to extract for car servicing and possible new tyres etc?

if it was £100, then you had £300 left for non-essentials, that's still loads.

the thing is again about what you include. Clothes for growing child should be in the essentials budget. Clothes for two adults can't be a regular expense though, so that should be fine.

I'm in the camp that doesn't understand why Xmas has to be expensive, ditto family birthdays. You have to be very careful with this kind of thing, if you have a big family and you always buy a gift it gets completely mad.

Daily commute for both adults is 3 miles per day so limited petrol.

Books to carry or not there's a really easy way to cut down on the petrol bills.

As pl1 said, how do you have only £400 left if you are living with pil, both work and minimal childcare costs. What are you doing with your money?

Two teachers would bring in at least 60 000 together ! How do you only have 400 spare . The couples I know that are both teachers have a good lifestyle . Tutoring could be an option . It’s at least 20 / hour here for aqe tutoring and perhaps more for gcse maths etc .