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.

Bloody hell! You are on low income, on UC and bring home over £2700 a month???

Sorry I know this is not the point of the post but I think this is a huge problem in this country

I'm always dubious about these types of threads and suspect lazy journalism.
Stirring people up about benefits and the OP hasn't returned...

Do you know about help to save.

Government scheme for people on universal credit. Max you can save is £50 per month, instant access, but after 2 years the g'ment gives you an additional 50% of what you saved.

Take home for me is £3,680. I save over £2,000 every month.

I also save £950 ish to a pension every month but that includes my employer contribution.

We have separate finances as we aren’t married. My OH earns £2,800 from his normal job then his company makes some from his side hustle (usually £3-700) which is then taxed annually. Hard to work out the monthly take home. My OH saves every month, but is concentrating on paying down a car loan at the moment.

we’re so lucky sometimes I can’t believe it. A few years ago I had to sell possessions to survive which was scary. Lived on pasta and Marge, had no heating etc.

Two FT working parents, no benefits, about £6k take home per month. We save £1k automatically and then more if anything left at month end. Mortgage £900/m - house is tiny, been here for 15 yrs, but can’t afford the jump to anything bigger in our area. £500/m on two cars. No holidays as both DCs are disabled and we can’t holiday happily unfortunately due to their high needs which often compete. So there’s the thorn in an otherwise comfortable picture.

Long term or short term saving?
My monthly savings pots are:
£100 for Christmas
£100 for birthdays
£50 for car emergencies and service/MOT, what is left over at the end of the year goes into a separate pot for saving for a new car.
£160 for children's ISAs
£100 for house hold emergency fund. This is quite a hefty pot now and I might use it for something else if I needed too.
£200 for holiday.
I did a similar system, although the amounts were smaller, when I was a single parent. I like to have 6 months wages saved for peace of mind. But when on benefits had to be wary of saving more than the £6,000 point where benefits start to reduce.
We don't currently have a long term savings goal, what we pay into our pensions are already quite generous. We might think about saving for a new bathroom when my next pay rise kicks in.

@Monkeypopcorn we are similar to you, being totally nosey on an anonymous site what do you consider as "hefty" in your saving pot pleaae.

$22k/gross per month. $4k/month into pensions. $12-14k/month gross depending whether it’s a 2 or 3 pay period month for me. $3000 mortgage and property tax ($1000/month). Childcare $2400/month. Aim to save $3k/month on top of pensions.

I recently learned our household income is only just above the median for our city, which feels ludicrous, but welcome to West Coast tech cities…

My monthly income is £443, but my house is fully paid for. I'm not entitled to benefits, as I have inherited a little money - it's over the maximum amount of 'savings' allowed, but not enough to live on.

This.

I’m shocked at the “well I don’t get that” type responses.
I am likely going to become a single parent in the near future and have been calculating how much I need to earn to manage (me and 2DC).

Average rent for 3 bed house £1200-1500, plus council tax, bills, fuel and food, you’re looking at around £2k p/m on basic needs being met. I would be able to receive a (much needed!) top-up from UC and if it gets to that point I will have no shame in claiming it! And that is following putting myself through 3 years of study to become qualified in a profession where the starting wage is 30k. Which is not worth the same as it was 10-15 years ago by any means, particularly if you are on you’re own.

The fact that so many people are eligible for a UC top-up basically illustrates that wages are not high enough, that is not OP’s fault, blame the government for that one.

Hi Everyone,
I've been at work today, which is why I haven't responded. I read the first few posts, and scanned down a bit to see someone asking me if this is an I'm-on-benefits-wind-up-post.
Absolutely not.

I will read the rest of the thread later on this evening and respond, but I didn't want to not respond in the meantime, in case I get flamed for not coming back.

It wasn't my intention to piss anyone off, or wind anyone up.

My earnings are low, and these are topped up with UC. Of course I am aware that my benefits will reduce as the children grow older and come out of full time education.

Before I reach that point I aim to change jobs and come off benefits altogether, but for now, I am unable to do so, due to the health needs of one of my DCs.

Thanks to everyone who replied - even those who have been negative, as it will help me see my situation for what it is, and put things in perspective.

Yes, it is a huge problem that wages aren't enough to live on so people need to claim top ups.

Where did OP say she didn't think she gets enough? Show us.

Op probably means she has a low wage but with UC top up it adds up to that much . If you have 3 kids born before the 2017 cut off, then you get child element for all three so it's possible op is getting quite a significant amount of UC which makes her total monthly income as high as it is.

OP is also working. Did you miss that bit?

Thanks @Beezknees, and to the other people who have counter balanced the idea that I am a lazy scrounger who isn't grateful for the benefits that I receive - I am very grateful and have never said that I should receive more.

I still haven't RTWT, but will do. Never before has any thread I've started, resulted in so many replies - it's even more of a divisive and contentious issue than I'd realised.

Many people have mentioned NMW - I earn slightly above this, but due to health issues of one of my DCs, and the stress caused from divorcing an extremely abusive man, I had to slightly reduce my hours.

Even after reducing my hours, though, I work / earn enough for the people at UC to leave me be, and I am not hounded to work more hours because the hours I do work fall well within the threshold. So, please don't imagine that I'm working two days a week and putting my feet up for the rest of the time - this isn't the case.

Thanks to @User01020304 and @TestinTestina

You are NOT a low earner - try living on a total income of £1,400 a month and see what that's like (2 teenage children, 50/50, no maintenance, just my wages to cover everything - I'm lucky if I've got as much as £80 to £100 left after all my outgoings).

Earn £2500 a month net. Save £400-500. Single income household (35 hrs a week), SAHM, 2 young DC's.

This thread has become more about having to explain/ justify the fact that I receive UC, than savings.

People have asked about my rent, and the haters are going to love hating this: my rent is £700 a month, which reflects that I live in an undesirable area. You only live in my part of town, if you can't afford to move out.

I no longer have Netflix, I drive a very basic car, I buy clothes in charity shops, but only when I actually need to buy clothes, infact, I don't really buy anything unless I need it, with the exception of the odd takeaway and chocolate occasionally.

Thanks again to everyone who has posted advice and tried to help - the contrast between your posts and some of the others is striking.

To those people who enjoy judging - I hope that you are able to always remain on your high horses, and don't at any point fall off. I certainly never expected to have to rely on UC.

Please don't judge people who do.

On another note - I was in A&E with one of my DCs in the very early hours a few days ago.

There was a man who was elderly and who was an alcoholic, another lady who had also escaped an abusive relationship, and a man who had had terrible mental health issues.

After we had all spent the best part of 8 hours together, sharing things that you would never normally disclose to a stranger, we said our good-byes and my DC and I left.

I turned to DC and told him how proud I was of him - this young man, who had listened and spoken to each and every person with respect, without judgement, with grace and manners, whilst feeling really ill. He had listened and empathised, and shared a joke with these people who many of you probably wouldn't give the time of day.

If living in a shitty area and claiming UC makes people more human and compassionate, then at least some good has come out of it.

@HappyCamperTent

I'm not 100% sure of teachers pay scales, but if you're full time, surely you should be one more than just over minimum wage?

I'm sorry to read that.
Are you sure that you aren't entitled to UC?
I think you probably are.

You are probably entitled to some Universal Credit and def entitled to child benefit. If your exH income is high it maybe you can claim for both kids as he won't be entitled to anything. Failing that you should get half child benefit, UC for one child, and some housing benefit if you are renting.

My brain is struggling to work out how anyone in this situation is surviving. I hope you're OK.

Well said OP. Ignore the haters.