to think the amount of money im left with by the end of the month is ridiculous?

[yellowcheesepie]

I recently went back to work after mat leave and am sat here wondering how on earth this is worth it ?! after paying all my bills of food, rent, electricity, water, internet, netflix, phone, commute and childcare etc i'm only left with £200 a month to save? i'm not a big spender either, all my income goes on the mentioned above plus £100 spending allowance for myself.

I'm not trying to rant, but i'd like to understand how other working mums do it? is this a reasonable amount to save per month or is there something very wrong in my finances? I live with my DH and we split all bills / expenses if anyone is wondering

I’m sorry but the responses on this evidence why this country is in the mess it’s in and how we all accept this is the way life is! It isn’t living working to simply pay bills! £300 a month as money to self and savings is literally nothing it’s one meal out and money saved for essentials like a car break down! Everyone get a grip and realise that this isn’t normal and unacceptable we’ve been brainwashed by the government! Stop making OP feel bad and look at yourselves and what you are accepting by living off less! What is the point?

Maybe because we've all been doing that for years... I saved up for a deposit for a house with less spare than that and my parents never had that disposable income until they finally paid their mortgage off. It isn't an amazing amount of money but £300 spare a month is a privilege and it just shows how many people are blind to how the working class live.

I think people are blind to how the upper classes live. From their perspective having £0 left, or £300, or -£300, is all the same. A significant part of of the reason that so many are living like this is because people at the other end of the scale have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, free at the end of each month. Mostly without even working, just by owning things that produce wealth. Owning companies where other people work to produce their wealth for them, while they squabble over who has more or less left over each month.

If you've got -£300, or +£300 or whatever else each month, it's all the same bracket. It's all working class. If you're having to work every day, all the time, to afford the essential basics for life, and hopefully keep your head above water, then you're working class. You don't have any choice but to keep working, working.

The most important thing that the people at the other end can do is keep their lifestyles mostly out of the public eye, keep their money hidden from the tax man, and keep the people at the bottom at each others' throats instead of uniting.

I see the OP hasn’t come back. Typical! But yes - YABU.

Why would you come back to a bunch of abuse about how lucky you are to never be able to save enough to afford a home and know you'll struggle in retirement?

It does seem unfair but once childcare is either not required or reduced (due to children's age), it will get better. Everyone struggles during the early years - and it was the same when I was young (67 now) so not a problem with any particular government. It will get better and then you may be glad that you went back to work.

Maybe if your DH had paid his share for childcare you could have contributed more.

Our money is 100% joint. So what I paid and what my husband paid is really not the point.
He paid in everything he earned and I paid in everything I earned.
If you ONLY looked at my salary (instead of me being a SAHM) I worked for £100.

he still earned more than me as I was part time.

playing the long game, I now earn double what he does. (& his has gone up 50% in 10 years)

my advice is to not be short sighted. But it depends on your career.

After she was asked if she claimed benefits I think.

Other Mum’s manage it by earning more

Ive recently gone back to work and am back to my £1500 a month left over.

Exactly!
a lot of people barely cover childcare with their wages let alone rent, bills, family stuff AND disposable income!

it sounds like you are doing very well.

Just out of interest, aimed at those who are agreeing that it's rubbish to "only" have £300 left after essentials; how much would be a good amount to have left, and why?

@usernamealreadytaken i don’t think I weighed in on this too much but having any money leftover is a bonus in my eyes. we get paid in 2 days and I have approx 750 left, dh has approx 1800 left and we have paid for a weekend break this month too, put some money into savings at the start of the month too etc. BUT we have no mortgage, no car payments and no debt so I understand that we are NOT the norm.

@usernamealreadytaken for me I think around £1000 is enough to make it "worth while". I appreciate it that's more than peoples wages but for me the time away from my family would need to be worth it.

😯 what job do you do?