To think I can live off £350 a month

[SethWho]

Just me and DD after bills and rent. Is it possible?

@SethWho

Hi all, thank you for your replies. Food- I put £200 in my Monzo for that. Separate from the £350. I could deffo prep more and use the grocery money on other things. DD had just qualified for 30 hours childcare so that is going to be £43. Hoping to live on the rest of the £350 for petrol, hair and beauty, treats and clothes. When I write it like that it seems a lot! How could I see what I'm entitled to? I'm a single parent with no contact with ex.

after seeing this update yes you are privileged... hair, beauty and treats are not necessities.

She doesn't need to learn to love lentils as this she said this sum doesn't include food.

She can go on happily hating lentils, and naively posing as a poor on t'internets.

£350 a month for one adult and one small child after food and all other bills are covered is enough imo. I’d squirrel some away each month in a savings account just incase anything big needs replacing, car repairs etc but I think you’ll be ok with that much personally. Small children are cheap, I’ve learnt this the hard way but they start to get very expensive as they reach puberty.

Yes if it is not:

• rent
• bills
• food

You can live on very little after that. You issue may be savings for bigger problems, but month by month you should be fine with that.

Many people live with far less after the essentials

Definitely more than enough to live on. I've lived on a lot more recently

Sorry, should say - a lot less recently

@SethWho

Hi all, thank you for your replies. Food- I put £200 in my Monzo for that. Separate from the £350. I could deffo prep more and use the grocery money on other things. DD had just qualified for 30 hours childcare so that is going to be £43. Hoping to live on the rest of the £350 for petrol, hair and beauty, treats and clothes. When I write it like that it seems a lot! How could I see what I'm entitled to? I'm a single parent with no contact with ex.

If you have 310 a month left over to spend on " petrol, hair and beauty, clothes and treats" then why are you asking here?

Prioritise optimum nutrition and diet for your child. You're building her body for a lifetime.

How can you say that when you don't know how much petrol she needs to buy? Or how much the DDs school uniform costs

Because many of us have or do. I'm not saying it's a brilliant set of circumstances, but it's not exactly what the thread headers painted.

[quote Theresamagicalplace]@Comedycook £350 a month to spend on luxuries is not a tight budget at all.[/quote]
This!

I don't know why people are giving the OP a hard time.

Obviously they're not going to be sitting in a cold dark house eating cold beans, but it's not endless riches and the OP is going to have to make choices about what she spends her money on with that amount to play with.

£350 for petrol, hair and beauty, treats and clothes.

I am sure you will cope somehow OP.

Save £150 monthly for emergencies, birthdays and Christmas.

Maybe reword your title to something like 'Is £350 enough disposable income for an adult & child after all bills accounted for?'.

You'll get more relevant replies to this than your current title which is misleading.

@BarbaraofSeville

I don't know why people are giving the OP a hard time.

Obviously they're not going to be sitting in a cold dark house eating cold beans, but it's not endless riches and the OP is going to have to make choices about what she spends her money on with that amount to play with.

That's the point though.

She has that to 'play with'
Yet she phrased it like she's 'Living off it'

If all essentials are paid, and £350 is left to 'play with' they're far far far better off than a huge amount of people including some on this thread, saying anything otherwise is a bit daft.

Your question is disingenuous .
Hair and beauty, treats are as expensive as you make them.

You could spend £200 a year tops on hair and makeup (which I do) or go for a monthly cut and colour which would be £100 a month.

You could buy only essential clothes or want something new and stylish every so often. The majority of my clothes I’ve had for years, I hardly buy anything new so it doesn’t even register as an expense.

The only way to know is to figure out what YOU want and see if it fits in the £350.

If EVERY bill and all the rent is paid then yes since that is excess income. Do you mean EVERY bill though?

If every bill is covered then that's fine

@BarbaraofSeville

I don't know why people are giving the OP a hard time.

Obviously they're not going to be sitting in a cold dark house eating cold beans, but it's not endless riches and the OP is going to have to make choices about what she spends her money on with that amount to play with.

Absolutely. I don't think £350 a month for treats, etc. is a lot at all. We're very lucky that we have much more than this left per month so for me, Is really struggle to rein things in. However I appreciate that for those who budget to the last £1 then this amount extra each month would be amazing.

Agree that is £350 disposable income enough for one adult and one child is a better way of looking at it.

It's not an enormous amount but significantly more than many people have.

£350 a month is a dream for some people, including me!

£350 after bills is plenty. I have about £400 after bills are paid and this covers my travel to work which is about £150 a month, food and some treats and I live a good life. If I need anything I put a bit aside and save for it. I spend about £30 a week on food and have the odd takeaway.

I’m on a low budget but I think OP is getting unnecessary flack for trying to work things out. We don’t know why she’s asking so it’s unfair to jump to conclusions. She could be planning to leave a financially abusive partner for all we know (hopefully not and you are just working stuff out). She’s obviously not lived on this budget before so is asking advice from others that have.

If she was asking how can I hide £100k from the tax office then fair enough!

@Iseeyoulookingatme

£350 after bills is plenty. I have about £400 after bills are paid and this covers my travel to work which is about £150 a month, food and some treats and I live a good life. If I need anything I put a bit aside and save for it. I spend about £30 a week on food and have the odd takeaway.

Well I have more than that and really struggle. I never get takeaways. I'm assuming if you spend £30 a week on food, you don't have children. The op has a daughter. Kids cost a fortune!

Av petrol costs and childcare leaves you with about £215 a month.
Put £50 into holiday fund and £50 into an emergency pot (repairs, unexpected trips etc).
Split the rest across Christmas, Birthdays, other people's presents, trips out, school uniform, clothes, beauty. Calculate the split over 11 months and don't pay into it in Dec or Aug

Many years ago when I was on a low wage and a single parent to eldest DC (then a baby), I lived off about £350-400 after mortgage, childcare and travel to work. That had to cover all my other bills- council tax, utilities, insurance, phone, TV licence, nappies, food (my weekly food budget was £25-30). And I still had a little left over each month for clothes/toys, and other general expenses. It was tight but doable.

So £350 for luxuries is hardly scraping by. I earn £60k a year now (not a lot by MN standards I know) and don't spent £350 a month on the things on your list! (more like about £50-60 max)

People are vile unless you are sat in the dark and weaving lentils to keep warm. Op has as much right to ask as anyone else.

I’ve seen both sides and living on thin air was hard but I would never begrudge anyone who had money for asking for advice.