Are we going to be able to survive on this money?

[username6050]

£2,100 between us a month.

Rent is £900.
DP has to pay £400 maintenance.
£450 nursery charges a month.
Will have a 2 year old and a newborn.

It's all seeming impossible!

That seems very tight. How about food, utilities, transport, clothes, misc spending?

The maintenance payment seems high, has DP checked whether this is correct.

Do you have any savings to fall back on?

There's not much left over after everything. Have you checked if you are entitled to any benefits?

Are you both working and claiming everything you’re entitled to? You can’t survive on £350 which is all you’ll have left after rent, maintenance and nursery.

@HairyFloppins just checked and that's why I'm asking. They said they don't take into account any maintenance he has to pay so they see it as £750 left over rather than £350!

You haven’t even included bills and food.
So I can’t see how you can.
Is he the one earning the full 2100? What’s your mat pay?
Because it seems he’s paying a lot in CM

are you eligible for tax free childcare for the nursery fees?

@Justbreathing no, he works FT, I work PT, that's why there's nursery charges.

Are you absolutely sure you’re not entitled to any universal credit? Who did you check with?

Does maintenance have arrears? It seems very high.

I would recalculate the cms
And I would seriously consider giving up your part time job for a year. With 2 small kids you’ll get more government help, sadly that’s the way it works.

How much of the 2100 is his income? £400 CM seems very high, how many children is he paying for?

There isn’t £750 left over though is there. There’s £750 minus council tax, utilities, Internet, phone, Tv license, food, clothes, school trips, birthdays, Christmas.

Does the 2yo need to go to nursery during your maternity leave? That would be a big saving in the short term.

Are you including things like child benefit in the £2100?

No, you can't survive on £350 a month, if it needs to pay for everything except rent, cm and nursery. Is that taking into account the additional child benefit for the new born? How is that broken down in terms of your earnings and his earnings?

If you have a newborn will you be on mat leave? If so, can you take the toddler out of nursery for a bit? Not a long term solution, but gives you a bit more for that short time

Our utility bills, council tax, insurance and car come to a lot more than £350 a month. And that’s without food, nappies etc.

We couldn’t survive on that, sorry

I’ve no idea if this still exists but there used to be 2 year old funding for some families for nursery. Speak to your hv or nursery to see what other help there is for you.

What has the maintenance been calculated based on? I have a friend on £80k who moans about his £600 pm payment (one kid) if you’re only taking home £2.1k a month this seems steep.

What's changed recently?

The amount he is paying in maintenance seems too high?

Is it worth you working ? Maybe stay at home you may get more help and definitely go back to CMS

And yes, could you reduce the nursery sessions?

Also, does the nursery charge include the newborn or is that just for the toddler?

Barren I'm guessing the op has gone on mat leave?? Or the child maintenance has been increased?

No, you can't. You need to include your bills to see how much you've actually got left over for the month but I can't see how it would be possible.