To find budgeting hard!

[UndertheCedartree]

I'm needing to really sort my finances out.
I have an income of £1268 (UC, CB and child support) per month. There is me and my 2 DC (12 & 7)

My mortgage, utilities and other bills come to £652.86. I keep the CB for DC's clothes, shoes, toiletries, treats, birthday/christmas presents and friend's birthdays. This leaves about £20 aside which I keep as an 'emergency' fund. So I am then left with £110 per week. I'm thinking £50 for groceries and £20 for transport. I have to pay £5pm for a debt and £20pm mortgage arrears (need to increase this if possible). That leaves £15 per week for sundries.

Can anyone see anything obvious I have left out? Are there things I could cut down on do you think? Does £50 groceries for 1a 2c sound ok?

Helen198 the OP answered that upthread.

I'm currently recovering from a mental breakdown and still in hospital. I'm trying to figure a budget for when I come out. I will still be doing therapy in the community so I know I will have to take it slowly so I don't think I could do anything straight away but maybe im the future

Sign up for Zipzero OP, that will help towards your utilities/council tax.

Warning! It's a bit addictive!

Definitely speak to citizens advice all of this can be very overwhelming when you are on your own and your mental health is already fragile. They should be able to help you with all you claims and support you getting your monthly mortgage payment reduced to interest only if that's possible. Good luck it is doable and take the help you are offered x

You may be able to apply for a reduction in your water bill as your income is small. Check the website
Get well soon

I think your child benefit is approx £150 a month which is over 10% of your monthly income.
If you want to ring fence that for the children you need to take that out of your budget and see if you can
realistically manage.

Whilst it's a nice sentiment to keep it for the children you need to be kind to yourself aswell.

That £150 will make a big difference to your budget and pressures that you face.

just to check op that you have a single person discount on your council tax and receive or have applied for council tax reduction/support (it's called different things in different authorities)

@Isleepinahedgefund - I may be able to cut the transport down but sometimes we need to get the bus into town which is £5 for all of us. And sometimes I need to get a taxi - for example I have to take my son to appointments at the child development centre roughly once a month which isn't on a bus route.
I really need more money but UC & PIP don't oblige very quickly.

@Helen198 - yeah employers don't look very favourably on the fact that you're in a mental hospital!

@LEELULUMPKIN - I'll have a look
@Pjsandbaileys - I'm already paying interest only. I've got an organisation called CAP coming to help me sort out my mortgage arreas.
@Happygirl79 - thank you so much
@Blankscreen - it's £138 per month. I do dip into it for emergencies but by prioritising saving some each month for birthdays/christmas, clothes/shoes, and paying their clubs and keeping a little bit for an activity or treat for them I feel it is the best way I can shield them as much as possible from the effects of me being unwell and keep things stable for them. I'd rather go without than them. But yes, I agree - I do deserve a treat too sometimes.
@pisspants - yes, thank you I have been given a disregard.

OP, this is something that's really helped me - doing online surveys. I'm not able to work either, so am signed up with about 8 different sites. It is really, really nothing great (think being paid 25p for five minutes giving your opinion on an advert for a BBC drama for example), but it adds up over time. Most sites pay you in amazon credit, which I just let build up until it gets to birthday parties/Christmas when I don't have the spare cash, or for when I have to buy something practical for the house.
It's not the most fun thing to do, but it has made a huge difference to us. I'm on a similar budget to you, and fairly similar circumstances. You'll get through this. Keep an eye out for small local charities that offer a 'community meal' once a week. Quite often not only will they feed you, but will have advisors there, as well as excess food they NEED to have taken away - I get a fortnightly message from my local one saying 'sadeyed, we have a TON of stuff from the bakery, if we can't give it away, we have to bin it. How many loaves do you need?'

@sadeyedlady - thank you for that. What survey websites do you use? Amazon credit would be perfect. Luckily I have a local foodbank I will be able to go to once a week once I'm out of hospital where I can have lunch and get a food bag.

Have you applied for a winter fuel payment? You can do it online once a year.
www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment

@Thelnebrati - it looks like that is for pensioners so I won't be able to get it

Sorry thats the wrong link, you can get a fuel discount, I apply directly to my electricity supplier on their website.

I've just installed zip zero so will have a go tomorrow!

@Thelnebriati - thank you

try this one
www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme

@Thelnebriati - brilliant, thanks

I use swagbucks to earn a bit extra money for presents etc. They pay out to Amazon and other places (you can get PayPal but it's worth more in vouchers). I mainly do surveys but there's other ways such as watching videos to earn extra.
www.swagbucks.com/refer/niknaks76

@Takingabreakagain - lovely - I'll have a look!

The survey sites I mostly use are valued opinions, power of opinions, mindmover, panelbase, answerpoints, pureprofile, Smart Opinions UK and Ipsos I-say. There are LOADS of them out there - and sometimes they offer product tests as well, which is excellent (usually really boring stuff like deodorants, san pro, laundry detergent). You get free stuff, and then paid for telling them 'I didn't think the fragrance lasted long enough'.

Agree with PP that bulking food out with soup/casserole mix is a really cheap way of making a meal last longer. When we're on the bones of our arse, I make a pot of soup/stew with a £1 mixed veg pack, a couple of stock cubes, and a handful of casserole mix. It feeds the three of us for about three days. If I feel like being extravagant I'll even add a couple of sliced sausages Sardine pasta's another supercheap meal - cooked pasta, flake one tin of sardines in tomato sauce (about 45p), and a few dollops of mayonnaise. A dinner for three for well under a quid.
I know someone had a brilliant thread quite a few years ago about how to keep your food bills down and one of their suggestions was offer a dessert with every meal for DC. Even something as basic as tinned fruit. For some reason it feels more like a meal, so cuts down on snacking, and means you don't have to offer such a big meal, because they get something extra on top.

But good luck to you - as I say, I'm in almost identical circumstances. I'm deliberately bumping this thread now in case other people have more ideas...

Thank you @sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea - I hope things improve for you, too