How skint are you ?

[Jbrown76]

Inspired by this thread on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/s/iR5TPqfSR7

£120 in the bank and £160 already set aside separately for food. This needs to last two weeks. I have to pay about £25 in petrol and £90 for car tax so I have £5 left for any emergencies 😂 but all bills are paid. My children will be fed and have clean clothes. Their room is warm at night for sleeping. Life is hard and smallest bump can be hard to manage. I don’t see a way out.

My heart goes out to all those waiting desperate for pay day. I remember that feeling well. I am ok financially now but it’s really not funny when you resort to putting your hand down the back of the sofa hoping to find a pound coin. Things can and do change so stay strong

I’ve just checked
this month have had to pay for one child’s balance on a history field trip…not an essentially but may be taken as an Alevel and has come up through covid with no extracurricular trips so we wanted to

another childs DOE balance

top up of another child’s term fees for uni accommodation which is crippling (exclusive of the money we give him to eat each month)

there are no other DDs to
come out and we are in our overdraft…but payday by end of week

It concerns me a little that you aren't saving in order to hold on to UC.

If you work out how much UC you will receive over the next 10 years, then work out how much you could save and grow your money with compound interest, you might find you're significantly better off saving and letting the UC go.

This is going to be individual to everyone but if you are good at saving, which it sounds like you might be, don't let UC hold you back.

Thank you @LiveOfftheSkinofARicePudding I went through a drawn out consultation period last year (sept 22 to May 23) and then dh’s started September 23. I survived and have a job. We work hard and have excellent feedback so it feels so cruel. The more you earn the further you fall and the number of jobs at that level reduces (but people don’t want you on the lower jobs because they don’t think you’ll stay - probably true). I’m soo bored of the uncertainty.

Skinter than skint at the moment. Jan is an expensive month for me. OH’s 40th birthday and my son’s 10th bday. A lot has gone on cc this month! I’m really hoping to clear some debt this year though.

Sympathy @TeenLifeMum . I survived three rounds of redundancy last year. Each consultation was worse than the one before. I’m hoping things stabilise this year but I totally understand the constant uncertainty. It’s draining.

Have paid off all debts start of year. Now to try and build up some wealth and pension pot.

@PiggieWig it’s all consuming. I want to get back to working and giving my dc the time they deserve.

@Bishopsgirl Fair play, that is an amazing achievement in 4 years. Well done.

Yep utterly tone deaf idiots. It was very clear from the initial
posts that this could have been a pretty supportive ‘ I understand’ type thread for people who are genuinely feeling financial pressure due to literally having NO spare cash. But as usual it has to be hijacked by idiots who are clueless about how many people are actually living at present.

Have been feeling skint for the last few years and currently feeling anxious but hopeful that things are going to improve for us. Many of the posts on this thread make me realise that I'll never be as rich or affluent as some of the posters on Mumsnet, but I'm actually quite lucky.

I've spent the last few years trying to pay off debts, and feeling as if every time I made any progress, something else happened, eg COVID and then rocketing utility bills. But I live in an area where lots of families and people around me are really, really poor, and even many with a reasonable income are paying extortionate private rents etc, and have never known how they do it. I bought my house in 1998 and my mortgage was really small compared to the value of the house, and it was a flexible account. I increased it a bit to get a loft extension to have more space for my sons, as we can never afford to move. Last year we paid off part of it with my partner's pension lump sum from a previous job - he's still working for his current employer of 25+ years.

But I haven't been working for a while and have credit card debts, and have just faced up to how much I'm spending on interest. No wonder that we have less than no cash left after paying bills. DP is awful with money and I get resentful about money disappearing for a lot of indulgences, for himself and the kids and sometimes treats for me too, but also money disappearing for his cigarettes and for downloads of TV programmes that he watches on his phone - and yes, I find that quite annoying too! - some of which are surely available to watch via other means we have access to.

Recently our income has improved a little, and my elderly dad is keen to bail me out. That means I can keep most of the savings I expected to have to pay off my mortgage with this year, for at least a little longer, as he's settled it - it wasn't very big, but he's also planning to help me with the credit card debts but this will take a little longer, as he needs to sort out access to more tied up savings. But I've also worked out a repayment plan to start getting those balances down a bit in the meantime, and if I'm not just paying off debt on credit cards every month (amounting to a shocking amount just in interest), things will start to feel better. I'm also hoping to return to some kind of paid employment. And DS1 finishes school next year and hopes to go to university, and DS2 is only 2 years below, so the costs of higher education etc are starting to seem very close.

Skint, but that’s because I’ve just paid the balance on the holiday of a lifetime so I really shouldn’t complain. I made a conscious decision to prioritise holidays and experiences when we came out of the Covid years, andDD is a teen so this is an expensive time anyway. I have virtually nothing in savings and £20 left till payday, but plenty of food and a car full of petrol, as well as a secure job, so I feel very fortunate.

I am always very suspicious of threads where the OP asks others to volunteer really personal information without anything about themself.

Not skint. Freezer reasonably full, around £300 in the bank, money in savings. I grew up in poverty and was taught how to make one pound do the work of two. Still find it hard to spend money on things other people take for granted, like a coffee in a cafe. Have also experienced massive rises in interest rates and redundancy.

Pretty horrified to see people with savings talking about overdrafts and credit card debts. Unless those credit cards are 0% interest that's throwing money away. We would never have booked holidays while in debt. With the exception of the mortgage and our first bed if we couldnt afford it we didnt buy it.

£638 in bank until payday next Friday, £199 on credit card. £2500 in savings x

This with bells on.

What about you OP ?????

I'm not exactly skint because I save quite a bit but I lack discipline when it comes to daily budgeting and always seem to be in my overdraft by the end of the month - I've got about £20 to last until Friday. I had £90 but then I went on a Vinted rampage, I need to sort myself out.

DH and I are baby boomers but didn't get together until in our 40s. Paid off our mortgage two years ago but have savings of around £6k but credit card debts of £26k which came about when DH was on long term sick for 3 years and then having to wait two years for pension company to stop faffing about and start paying him his pension. I was made redundant 18 months ago and made to take early retirement by former employers to get my private pension.
It is getting better now we have a regular income for DH and me but I still have over 3 years before State pension kicks in so it will improve over time. So am feeling skint - but nothing like some folks are feeling it on this thread.

£200 in my current account to last until Friday (after I pay off the credit card), £2k set aside to cover annual expenses like insurance and rates, £1k set aside to cover a possible holiday this year (not booked yet), and another £2k set aside as longer term savings/emergency spends.

I feel like the wage for my full time job disappears really quickly, and I have to watch my spending, so the money in my savings came from a second job, that I really needed the last couple of years. Hoping the next couple will be more comfortable (at least until our mortgage fix is up in 27).

By the time I get any significant inheritance, I will likely be close to retirement age.

Yes, that's what happens to most generations. My Silent Generation parents did not receive any inheritance until they were in their 50s. I (Gen X) have received an inheritance in my 50s. That's kind of how it goes unless you are unfortunate enough to lose your parents earlier in life.

At least you are in a position to consider you might get an inheritance. Many people won't, however long they wait. Those of us who do are very lucky.

Let me see… After mortgage, essentials, and after school club, I have £190 a month left for my family. That has to cover food, toiletries, clothes, going out, new shoes when outgrown yet again, travel, gifts, endless cleaning materials to clean up after the bastard cats…
And some people I know wonder why I don’t have a life! I can’t flipping well afford one!

I'm skint and not skint.

I've got about 1k in my bank but half of that is weekly rent until mid Feb. I've got just over 7k savings but I am not touching that. I pay for my car service and mot, also car insurance out of it then pay back in weekly.

I was left with nothing 10 years ago by ex who is also DDs dad and I've done well to save. I'm really careful with money.

£40 in bank…. Until the 31st… 2 kids to worry about… got enough food though… going to london tomorrow, (pre booked) and put money away for the meal we are having… might have some left from that… so who knows.

I have £300 in my bank account and £1000 on my credit card that I'll clear in full when I get paid on Monday to avoid paying any interest. I'll then need to put essential spending like food on the credit card before clearing it again next month.

I have £700 in a savings account that's taken me 7 months to save which will pay for a dental bill I need to pay next week.

At one point I stood to inherit half a million but it all got spent on dementia care home fees.