To ask your monthly household income, and how much you save, on average per month?

[NeverGuessWho]

I am BU to ask, I know.

I am a lone parent, earn a low wage, and am on UC, with three teenagers living at home.

My total household income is £2,740 per month (net).

Currently, saving is sporadic, but I need to change my mindset so that saving is prioritised and can be maximised.

I'm just looking for some inspiration and to gage an idea of what's do-able on my income.

Thanks.

OP I am in a similar position, low wage and topped up with UC. My income is a bit less than yours and I have one less DC.

Bills come to 45% of my income, a further 15% goes on food. I save £420 at the beginning of every month via standing order, broken down into kids expenses (uniform, birthdays etc), holidays, house emergencies, and for car maintenance. I allow £50 a week for transport, doing things with my kids, socialising etc. and then try to save whatever is left at the end of the month. Sometimes this might be £300 if I have come under budget on things, sometimes I will have to put the last food shop on a credit card and pay it off at the ends of the month if things have come up.

I am conscious that my income will drop off a cliff when the DCs leave school and worry about how I will support them if they go off to uni.

£1690, single parent, live in an expensive area. Currently save £0. In fact any savings I have are being depleted with cost of living.

OP, if you want decent advice on how to save money in your particular circumstances then you should start a post saying - this is my income, these are my outgoings, where can I save money.

What other people can and can’t save is basically irrelevant to your specific situation.

You're on over £1600 a month more than me, @NeverGuessWho! My DH is the higher earner (I'm PT) and we bring home around £4100 a month, and DH is putting approx. £1k a month in savings (we are moving house so trying to save as much as poss before out mortgage triples!)

It is surprising to hear it described as a low income because in Scotland that income would push you into the 42% tax bracket (£43663)which in turn loses you some benefits and you are considered well off.

Total family income around 2800 a month
That's two part time wages and UC top up
Save around 500 a month at the moment
Our rent is 850 a month though and has been for 7 years but is going up to 1050 a month in January and UC all ready give us the max amount of 800 for a two bed flat
We have two kids 7 and 2

I take home approx £2200 per month and save £750 most months, but I am childfree, so wouldn't expect you to be able to save the same percentage of your income. You'd need to give your outgoings for anyone to really help. But as a PP says, the 50/30/20 is a good place to aim for. Also 'pay yourself first' so I always transfer money into my savings account when I get paid instead of saying I'll transfer what's remaining at the end of the month. But you can't really think about saving until you really understand your expenditure and see whether any improvements can be made there first

A number of people blasting OP for calling it a low income. She didn’t. She said she was low waged - and she probably is, with the rest coming from UC.

I’ll admit I also had a, “fucking hell, how much UC?” 😳 moment - but OP didn’t write the rules.

Incidentally when I do feel 😳 at how much UC can be, it’s because it shows just how shit NMW is.

NMW full time should be enough that the only necessary benefit payment should be a housing payment to deal with massive regional variations in rent.

Income is a red hearring. Your outgoings and disposable income is what counts. £2,740 is manageable if you have low rent/mortgage. If you don't have any rent or mortgage to pay then i'd say thats a comfortable amount.

A million posts before the op comes back. Once she's got everyone in a tizzy.....

How on earth are you getting nearly £3k a month on a low wage and UC?

Wind em up and see them go

Household income of £7000 a month, £3500 of which goes on bills/mortgage/childcare (not including food). Probably manage to save £500 a month, but it fluctuates throughout the year depending on how busy we are.

We should really be saving a lot more, but we are quite spendy and our general outgoings/mortgage have increased by around £800/900 a month since May.

She's got 3 children and it depends how much her rent is. I bring home £1500 from my salary of £22,800. I get £500pm UC on top making it 2 grand. And I only have one child and a low rent of £500pm. With more children and a high rent it could easily end up being £3k or more in London for example.

Pointless thread of you wont include your outgoings...

The figure she's quoting probably includes her benefits.

I can’t work out what other people’s income has got to do with the OP sorting her money out. Would it help OP if Elon Musk came on here giving his income/savings breakdown🤷‍♀️

NMW full time should be enough that the only necessary benefit payment should be a housing payment to deal with massive regional variations in rent

But to support how many people?

The amount a single person with no DC needs to live on is far less than that needed by someone whose partner is a SAHP to several DC. Even discounting rent, you have differing numbers of people to feed, clothe, transport and entertain and the larger family property will attract higher bills, which are separate to 'housing'.

What do you propose? Have a separate NMW depending on circumstances? Surely not? The current situation where NMW is relatively low, then more top ups for larger households is more workable than paying people who have families to support higher wages. Or are you suggesting that NMW is increased to a level at which it will support a family? To what standard?

But as the OP has demonstrated, the right combination of wages topped up by benefits is sometimes far from a pittance, despite the picture that MN likes to paint.

Min wage without UC, no savings

But as the OP has demonstrated, the right combination of wages topped up by benefits is sometimes far from a pittance, despite the picture that MN likes to paint.

It fully depends on individual circumstances. I live in a high unemployment/uc area. Most people I know struggle on UC alone or with part time employment. I’m not in the south east but rent have doubled over the past few years. Most people I know have used a food bank, the one attached to my local community centre often has a queue down the road when it’s open.

Yes there are people who are not struggling on UC. I’m one of them, however that is simply due to circumstances meaning that I’m not capped. My children are disabled, they receive the highest care rate of disability allowance. On paper it looks like I’m ‘rolling in it’ and it makes many people angry. But I am a rare case and one I’d never have chosen. Once my children are older I’m going to be financially and professionally fucked.

I think what people always forget in this type of situation is that once the kids hit 18 OP's benefits will dramatically decrease. There will no longer be the child element included in UC and child benefit will stop. There may also be a reduction in the rental amount, e.g. in my council area as a single person with no dependent children you would be entitled to an allowance for a one bedroom property which is currently £340. I know of nowhere where it would be possible to rent for that amount. We have no idea how much OP's rental costs are currently.

If this post is real and not a wind up then OP does have to think very seriously about saving although obviously if she saves more than £6000 in total that will affect her UC. Life on benefits is not the Shangri -La many posters seem to think it is.

this is almost exactly same as us! feels like we're on good wages but minimal savings really

Yes it really is

Is that including your UC? Just that amount is more than both our wages and top up from UC. Usually once you pay the bills you put some savings aside on a standing order. That is what I try to do anyway. I will say that you might be needing to plan for when your children leave education because your UC will drop significantly.

THIS is what people seem to forget.

I have a 15yo. I do not struggle now admittedly, but I have 3 years until my UC stops and I still earn under £23k. I was previously earning more but the company I worked for went into administration so I've had to start from scratch with a new company. I should be able to get my salary up to £31k in the next 3 years, which I can manage on alone but only because I'm fortunate enough to have a housing association property so my rent is low.

Everyone saying "I only earn blah blah you're better off than me" could you live as a single person, on a minimum wage salary, and pay all your bills and rent? Because that's what will happen to many people when the UC stops when the kids turn 18.