How skint are you ?

[Jbrown76]

Inspired by this thread on Reddit:

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

@Nanaof1 I hope everything turns out well for your dh with his results. Coincidentally, we've been in a similar position. My dh had hodgkins lymphoma and then went through tests for prostate cancer, which, thankfully, were negative. During all this he had a psychotic breakdown, he'd just started a new job and, with his illnesses, he was put under immense pressure. He had his contract terminated and because of his behaviour during the psychotic episode, he will never be allowed to work in that field again. I also ended up immediately losing my job due to his psychosis. We already had a small amount of debt, thinking with us both being employed, we could handle it but we had to borrow more money just to live off and basically borrowed from "Peter to pay Paul". We massively downsized and I got a different, lower paying job and we've changed our lifestyles dramatically. I know what it's like to wait for the next disaster, you get so used to things going wrong it becomes a way of life. I really hope things turn out well for you and your dh, stay strong. If you'd told me a few years ago what was going to happen to us I would have thought I'd crumble but it's surprising what you can cope with and how there can be light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck.

Appreciate the space to moan
i work incredibly hard to be totally broke. My DH works but is also a carer to our disabled child so is limited on hours. Lots of debt.
i can’t really afford to put the heating on and as a result spent most of the morning cleaning mould from my bathroom ceiling.
im generally a happy person and i usually can appreciate the good in most situations but fuck me, January has been brutal

Not skint, but but well off either.
Have a few hundred pounds in current accounts and about 12k in savings but that is too get me through maternity leave which I'm currently on. About half of that is locked away until May, which is handy as that's when the "getting paid bugger all" portion of my maternity leave starts.
It's taken about 5 years of saving to build that up so not as young as I would have liked to have been when having the baby.
Credit card bill of just over a grand but most of that is because I've paid the car insurance this month. Will wait until I get paid and then top that up with money from savings to pay off the credit card bill (So I don't pay interest) and monthly bills and will do all my regular spending on the credit card (I get a little bit 0.5% of cashback doing it this way) and slowly try and get it back down.
No idea what finances will look like once I go back to work and have to pay childcare

Bit of random context:
Usually earn about 22k a year
Pay for a mortgage - lots left on that and will be for the next 16 years
Car is 17 years old
Last holiday was a week in the Chech Republic about 7 years ago.
Baby has been the thing I've been focusing on for years so hoping to find some balance in the coming years. Probably can't afford a second one though.

Ironically, a redundancy actually helped us out financially - one of us was made redundant and got a £23k payout, tax free.

Your last point is completely correct. When we were struggling; the clutch went on our car - it would have costed £1000ish to repair. We didn’t have it. Car was fully paid off. Our only option was to sell car and then take another car on finance, which used up all our discretionary spend for 3 years. Had we been in a better financial position we could have just repaired the car.

It's a lot of money.
@TeenLifeMum

£9 to see me through to 2nd Feb. £400 in savings and about 4k of debt. £225 set aside in our joint account for an upcoming bill.
The fridge is stocked and all bills including debt overpayments were paid this month so I’m not complaining.

@Mumof2NDers Only hotel near Catterick is a premier Inn, I think. However there are airbnbs that might be cheaper, like this one https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/13081229?category_tag=Tag%3A8678&enable_m3_private_room=true&location=Catterick%20Garrison%2C%20UK&photo_id=1380517430&check_in=2024-02-13&check_out=2024-02-15&source_impression_id=p3_1705858330_ZkBAW%2Bk7UWiXvJxp&previous_page_section_name=1001&federated_search_id=3c99cde2-2326-4785-99a5-e004703503ce

£28 in purse. £175 in bank. £320 in ISA. £5,0000 in premium bonds which I am seriously considering partly cashing in. I'm retired with a small pension and side hustle. I have stock to list online and plenty of listings. My fingers remain spiritually crossed always.

-3.5k on cards
-1.5k left on loan
-1k in overdraft.

It's a lot, but a hangover from when I wasn't earning much and had a series of financial setbacks and unplanned big costs.

I'm earning very well now, and will have cleared this by September at the latest. I've been able to clear about 25k of debt over the last 18 months or so, so I feel rich now. Needless to say, the amount I spend servicing this debt will be channelled into savings accounts asap.

Skint, was paid 21st Dec, not paid again till 30th Jan, I’m £200 in my £250 overdraft, my ex threw me out New Year’s Eve over a silly argument so had to find somewhere else to live that’s taken majority of my wages along with a deposit too, bought about £10 worth of food hoping to make it last till midweek, Jan is a long ass month, I’m on minimum wage so half my wages will be taken up on rent again next mth.

£10 until payday on the 25th.

Bank account has $34. Loads of debts that take amounts out each month. We usually limp through the end of the month but this one was rough as we had an extra $400 bill to pay. No savings, no retirement, nada. I can’t work on my visa so family of five on single income.

This is one way to look at skint and poor.

Gordon Brown has urged Jeremy Hunt to act on startling new research into Britain’s threadbare benefits system that showed that the poorest families must spend an average of 63p in each pound to meet basic food and energy needs.
The former prime minister said the paper was a “wake-up call” to the chancellor that “reveals the arithmetic of poverty”, and forces the UK to “face up to the fact that it is in the throes of a crisis”.
The study highlights how a couple on benefits with two children must spend nearly 50% more of their income on food and energy than they did in 2012, when the figure was 46p. This is due to the precipitous fall in real-terms value of benefits. The equivalent spend by the average UK family is roughly 20p in each pound earned, the report says.

We're not spending 63p in every pound on food + fuel. If we did, we couldn't afford our commuting costs, housing, insurance etc. (Commuting is just over 25% of our combined incomes and housing is a major chunk of the remainder.) We're spending more than 10% of our income on fuel. However, I'd need to understand more about the distinction of "received" and "earned" income vs post-tax.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/21/gordon-brown-urges-overhaul-benefits-system-study-crisis

I can't find the original report to look at. (Maybe due out later this week?)

This is one way to look at skint and poor.

In fact, re-reading this, it feels more like some groups are being actively (malevolently) impoverished.

If people are spending 63%, I've no idea how they meet housing, Council Tax, commuting costs etc. We couldn't begin to pay all of the 'other costs' out of 37%.

I’d imagine (given that it is in specific reference to the poorest of the poor) they are talking about those who are out of work; so may be in receipt of housing benefit etc; and not have any commuting costs either.

I needed to read this thread today.

Solidarity to the other posters on UC and struggling to get to the end of each month, that’s the boat I’m in.

Ive borrowed money to get through this month; like others I get paid early in December, plus the cost of Christmas means January is always a long difficult month. But tbh I usually need to borrow bits of food shopping or energy money here or there. Currently, I have £2 of borrowed cash left in my pocket, nothing in my bank accounts. I’ll get £30 of child benefit in my account tomorrow, and I get paid on the 25th. There is a reasonable amount of food in the house and enough energy to last without having to scrimp but only because I have borrowed. No savings I can access, have a small amount of child benefit savings as part of a loan scheme that in previous years I have used to cover Christmas.

Part of it is circumstance and part of it is poor money management which becomes a cycle of boom and bust.

I am determined this month to really get my stuff together and budget correctly and carefully.

I have debts but from bills rather than loans these days. Credit was ruined when I first became an adult and perhaps that’s for the best as I’ve not been able to borrow any significant amount of money.

I want the future to be brighter and feel more in control of my circumstances. I am lucky in that although I am on UC, my income now I work full time should cover my outgoing, but it is very hard for additional expenses and actually living, and for the majority of the year there are extra expenses (birthdays, school holidays, back to school, Christmas) that stretch my already thin spread budget.

I have £9 untill Wednesday and that is out of money I've borrowed so will need to pay that back on Wednesday. Same family of four . It's getting so hard ! I need to get to work and back tomorrow so that's £4 the rest will be for more milk and bread for school lunches .

I have just worked it out and we do spent very close to 63% just on housing and groceries.

That leaves is under £1k for everything else including almost £200 council tax bill and £180 on monthly travel. It is tight.

Skint. Payday is Friday. I have about £30.

But kids both have money in dinner money accounts and it's gonna be a week of clearing out random stuff from the freezer, but we can cope.

Can I remind people who are really down to their last pennies that most councils have reopened their support funds (mine is funds for gas and electric at the moment) and cost of living payment restarts from feb 6th.

I'm not skint, but not a high earner either. Single mother to DS13, and on £45k salary plus £8-10k p.a self employment. I'm in social housing so perhaps that's why. £15k savings, £700 in current account and further £1400 in savings pots.

Exactly! The question is ‘how skint are you?’ Some people are, some aren’t…everyone who wishes, is allowed to reply surely!

About £40 in bank; get paid a week on Wednesday.. but it’s my first wage when I’ll be wholly on SMP so that’s enough to cover my bills & nothing else.

I have a fair bit of credit available on my cc, and a £1k overdraft I will be using.

-£300 overdraft
credit cards £2500
Food and petrol til payday though
someone said thank goodness for council tax months! Agreed!

Pretty skint.
I have debts which I am paying off. I don't have any savings, I am doing a debt management, so what I have spare goes to the debts. Luckily the debt company doesn't take any money off me for there cut. (a lot do.) but we haven't had a holiday in a few years.
Sadly my partner, like to drink and gets the munchies, so he spends most of his spare cash on himself. I have told him to maybe slow down how much he drinks so we can have a holiday.. But this is met with reluctance. He drinks 8 cans £5. For 4 most nights of the week, them gets the munchies and buys a lot of junk. So at nearly £50 a week on just alcohol, it would add up.