Sick of it

[purplerobot]

The cost of living.

I earn £1865 after tax which sounds ok right? I also get £474 universal credit and £160 child benefit.

So can anyone explain how I simply cannot afford to live!!! I am sick of it!!!! I work full time and have 2 kids, never have any savings at all.

I don't go out ever. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't buy new clothes or anything at all. No nails or shoes or whatever. Nothing. I work and I stay home or visit friends.

I have credit cards maxed out that I pay the minimum on (£210 - will be paid off when I remortgage)

I have a mortgage £593 per month. Childcare £90 but that's included in universal credit.

My car is expensive at £175, I had no choice at the time as my old car blew its turbo and I had no money to fix it or replace it. I can't use public transport as I live semi-rurally so trains would cost more each month than the car to get to work and to get to the next city (I'm a carer for my sibling)

I spent fuck all on food. I try to stick to £50 per week. I don't eat lunch at work or buy coffees.

It's literally all bills. Nothing left over.

Never have any savings because I don't have anything left at the end of the month. Credit cards maxed out on things like school uniform, food, Xmas.

IM SICK OF IT.

How does anyone afford to live?

No child maintenance either as I'm widowed.

Sorry just needed to vent .

Cut out the gap insurance, gym membership, ring doorbell and Amazon. Switch to cheaper broadband. Switch to sim only when your contracts end. Every £5 makes a difference.

How long have you got left on your debts and car finance? They are you actual problems.

There are loads of free tv channels, no need to pay for a subscription if things are very tight.

I'm on UC, i get fibre vodafone internet for £12.50

I also get a reduction on my water bill, its called big difference scheme with seven trent maybe yours do similar.

Sim only contracts i get unlimited calls,txts and internet for £8 with giffgaff.

You can get internet cheaper like £20 a month if you ring them and say you’re in receipt of UC -they don’t advertise this but it’s there. I did this with Vodaphone
Ditch the doorbell camera

This just shows how low wages/stagnation are a real problem. If you include all your benefits it’s approx a 37k gross wage which I think is average for the UK. Your housing costs aren’t too bad either at 24% of your take home - many spend a higher %. But it still doesn’t leave you much due to everything else going up. 37k today is the equivalent of 30k in 2020 & 25k in 2010.

Ok so hopefully cc paid off soon but I assume stuff like Xmas /birthdays /one off stuff ends up on it.

Tax assume will be paid off at end of tax year.

Gas and electric- can you do anything to bring it down ?

Internet - we pay £20 for internet and freeview. Then £6 for Netflix

Pet ins - hiw many animals and what age? Ours is £11 pm for a 3 yr old dog

What's gap ins?

Gym you could cancel and do running/exercise classes at home. But appreciate it's harder to motivate

I'd cancel union (unless having issues at work) Amazon and ring doorbell.

Childcare thankfully won't last for ever. Ditto car.

When you remortgage can you extend term?

If you shave the bits off I mentioned it would save you around £100 a month

Do not know how you are keeping food to £50 v impressive.

I use a budget tracker to keep an eye on spending. And to save .

Also your outgoings as they stand at approximately £2250 and income is £2500. So with a few savings would would have £350 'spare' a month

I’m in a very similar position to you income wise, single parent to one DC. Definitely make sure you’re getting the best deal on bills - I get a discount on water and broadband with UC. It is tough and I am barely getting by. I stopped things like Amazon and reduced birthday/Christmas savings.
It might be worth talking to Christians against poverty. They helped me look at my budget and how to deal with debt. They can negotiate with creditors on your behalf if needs be.

I’m sorry to hear that you are widowed op. I’m sure I remember there being a payment from the gov in that situation? https://www.gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment/eligibility Could this help bring some more money in?

I'm echoing others here. You can get a SIM only deal (I'm with Smarty and pay £8, unlimited calls and texts and 16GB).

Internet, I pay £16 on a social tariff. Check your eligibility for UC - if you claim, you can get a social tariff.

I used to have Amazon for the free delivery. Now I just bundle my purchases up so that its over £25 to get free postage. If you're using it for the TV, may I suggest a torrent streaming site like lookmovie2.to

Your gas and electric sounds horrendous. Can you switch? Look at cashback sites like Quidco. I always use that site when buying insurance (or anything!) online. They offer a comparison service too.

PPs have suggested cancelling your Ring subscription. I also live alone and find my Ring essential for security and peace of mind.

Do you have a community pantry nearby? I'd be lost without mine! I pay £5 a week and get around £20 worth of food. All long date stuff, not expired. Alternatively, you could try sites like Discount Dragon to buy food which is near to or past their BBE. Also, get the Too Good To Go app and Olio apps. They are excellent!

Talking of apps, you could also get the Petrol Prices app. You can look at stations near you and how much they charge per gallon and then you can fill up at the cheapest one.

Not sure what you mean about gap insurance being a scam and not allowed to sell it?

My car was stolen last year only 6 months after buying it, without it I would have been owing the finance company £4K with no car to show for it.

For those asking, it pays out the difference between your purchase price and the amount the insurance company will give you if your car is stolen / written off.

Btw are you getting single occupancy on council tax?

For a start, I’d cancel all insurance except the car

I think that it is the system at fault because it does not make a special provision for widows.

You obviously cannot get maintenance but you only receive the same benefits as someone who can.

I really feel for you but people on 2 incomes can't cope so it is hardly surprising that you cannot.

You should get extra financial help from the state but you don't.

I totally get how frustrating it feels but if you think about it, your income and help from the government is giving you and your children a pretty decent life. You have a home, a decent car, nice birthday presents for your kids, a few luxuries. You have rightly opted to protect yourself in case of loss with good insurance cover.

Once you've paid your debts and CC over payment, you'll have a bit left over.

That's what we work for, to afford all the things you are able to afford and over the years, you'll have a bit more disposable income and more luxuries.

If you weren't paying off the credit card debt you would have enough for a holiday if you went out of term time and shopped around.

Well a chunk is going on utility bills, Council tax, fuel for the car and credit card debt so that’s half of it gone already

Gap insurance is the car insurance that basically covers the "gap" between the car value and the finance.

The internet package includes Netflix, which is the only tv we have.

The phones are both pay-as-u-go, and it's the cheapest tariff of everything as I check constantly (that's how poor I am I'll switch even if it saves £1)

I really do need the ring doorbell as cars regularly get stolen here, also I live alone so I need the safety.

My car is 10 years old, worth 5k and the finance as of right now is about 3k, so if I were to crash, I'd have to find that 3k which I absolutely could not xx

I’m so sorry you were widowed. That’s unimaginably tough and I really feel for you.

Of course you yanbu to be sick or it and I do think you should get more help from the state.

How old are the children?

Head to Moneysavingexpert Debt free wannabe board if you haven’t already. You’d have a lot more wiggle room in the budget with no debt and they have some really supportive knowledgeable people on there.

You can get monthly sim only contracts from £5 pm including loads of data.

You can buy a Tapo security camera for about £20-25 that doesn't need a subscription.

You don't need to pay for Prime, few things are cheaper on Amazon and even when they are, you can get free delivery over about £20, or regular offers on Prime for occasional purchases.

If you crash your car, you claim on your standard insurance policy.

Now TV is cheaper than Netflix and has regular offers. We've had it on and off for years and never paid more than half price.

Definitely change your broadband, we pay under £25 pm for full fibre.

Also switch your bank account regularly for the free money. I've made over £1000 doing this.

Have you switched your credit cards to 0% offers?

This is so tough. Not much help I'm afraid, other posts more helpful I'm sure but I noticed you mentioned options and wondered if you'd checked if your employer offered vouchers for eye tests and towards glasses? Apologies if you have, just thought I'd mention as all mine have done and it was a big help at times.

We have a ring doorbell without the subscription so we can still see who is at the door when they ring the bell but nothing is recorded. We then have a cheap tapo camera which does record so use that for checking cars etc overnight.

We have cheap sim only deals. I pay £8 a month.

For us Amazon is a luxury so we just use the monthly free trials every so often. We have Netflix for the teens and have the £4.99 with advert package rather than paying double without adverts (there are very few adverts to be honest).

The thing is, the OP trimming the odd bits here and there (Amazon, Gym, phone etc) will not make a big difference in the grand scheme of things. The odd quid she will save by getting rid of those items will quickly be swallowed up by those one off/annual costs that crop up all the time.

The problem is wage stagnation coupled with unrelenting rise in the cost of living.

There will be people on the thread soon enough telling the OP she should count her lucky stars as they only have £5 left after paying all their bills and others will criticise her ‘luxuries’ like the gym. This race to the bottom is so depressing.

Sympathies OP. I am thankfully not on a low income and do not struggle financially but I’ve noticed our household income is now just swallowed up with little room for savings and it is shit.