To struggle on this salary?

[Unfff]

Or more to the point… think it’s just not worth the hard work anymore?

Had enough. I earn 3,100 a month. My mortgage is 900 and car finance 300. Student loans 300. Nursery is 800 and I get 400 child maintenance. By the time I’ve paid bills… this months heating was 150! Water another 50. Phone bill and Netflix… I’m left with barely anything. My job is really full on and I work late or weekends often… I do t strictly have to but it’s the sort of job where you just do… otherwise things fall apart.

I don’t do expensive things. Can’t actually remember last time I went on holiday! AIBU to find it utterly miserable that taking home this much money means you still can’t just buy a coat or even new jumper etc without having to think twice?!

OP didn’t say she was on the poverty line, just that she’s working hard and money is tight. £250 a week includes food, fuel and other bills. It’s clearly not fun money. No she’s not at the level of needing the food bank but feels tough to her. There’s a lot of pressure being a single earner!

Maybe he is? £800 a month doesn't sound like full time nursery. Depends where in country I suppose. My son's nursery is 1700 a month.

She gets 3100 plus 400 maintenance that’s a large amount most peo0e average salary 25 a year which is about 2000 a month

Most bedding sets at m and a are under £100

Most people don't need to buy multiple bedding sets at any one time

But hey carry on pretending that £500 on bedding is normal and common if it makes you feel better

It won't help OP though to feel better or manage better

£1k is plenty left over. That's what I have left after bills. The stuff you mentioned is unnecessary, yes if you can afford it by all means buy it but you CAN get bedding for far less so you CAN make £1k go far, I just simply wouldn't spend £500 on bedding or £350 on hair and beauty and I don't feel poor at all with my disposable income.

Rightly, they would be receiving support from UC and child benefit etc. In real terms, a single parent on £25k would have more income.

What? It does go far. It goes to 2.5 lots of m&s bedding some of which is KING SIZE

Taking all 4 kids out at the same time is pretty normal, or should I just leave one at home to fend for themselves.

Renting a car, so people can take their kids to school would mean having another adult to drive them.

People that have only 2 kids should only have a smart car, and rent a car when they need to.

Are you being obtuse or you really believe what you are saying.

Super king!

It’s a normal bed size not made to measure.

The OP has food, insurance, and other items to pay out of that 1k, so does not go far. As I have said we are lucky that we can afford to pay £500 on bedding, but we could not survive on 1k a month.

I've been having the same thoughts. I wish I could leave the UK. The cost of living isn't great anywhere but in the UK it just feels like there is less chance of anything getting better because every time the Government says it might make tax a bit fairer all the rich people start wetting themselves and crying.

She gets 3100 plus 400 maintenance that’s a large amount most peo0e average salary 25 a year which is about 2000 a month

Shes not arguing others don’t get paid less. And someone on 25k with the OPs housing and childcare costs would be getting help.

It's not unfortunately. Especially not as a sole parent.

Why are people arguing about bedding and car rentals?!

Have you thought about moving up north you can get a lot cheaper houses up here. Might not make as much but it’s relative. I do think money goes further here

Because people can’t see out of box.

It would have been an option once. The benefits of doing so have noticeably shrunk since COVID. Plus with Brexit and now the state of the country generally I think if I was going to leave I'd rather make the effort to go further. I feel like if you're not a landlord or a city banker, there isn't really anything to stay in England for. It's not a country for the likes of us.

£350 is normal for hair and beauty where I live.

Breakdown
£175.00 highlight
£120.00 for a cut and blow dry.
£ 40.00 Eye brow shape, tint.
plus tips

Also the OP does not have 1k disposable income, they have to pay for food, insurances, and other bits with that money before clothes etc.

@TheSpoonyNavyReader What's wrong with the Jogger?

Just checked the M&S website and the most expensive bedding set for the super king size is £180 and this is of a range of 402 choices. Surely no one has 2 super king beds in a house? Would you put a super king in a guest room or for a teenage DC?

We paid £500 on 2 sets of bedding from M&S not Selfridges, which just goes to show the cost of things now. It’s an example which you seem blinkered to.

@TheSpoonyNavyReader Except it doesn't 'show the cost of things now'. That's what many people are pointing out to you. That's partly why you are getting so much stick. Just because you CAN spend £500 on bedding, doesn't mean you have to. In fact, compared to 30 years ago, there is a much wider choice, and many, many more places selling much cheaper bedding. Nowadays you can buy bedding in every supermarket for a fraction of what you spent in M&S.

Your example does not illustrate the point you think it does.

Far from showing that £1000 does not go far, you have simply shown that some people can spend quite a lot of money on run-of-the-mill M&S bedding (albeit with questionable celebrity endorsement) when they could equally choose to spend quite a bit less and probably buy a jumper and a coat with the savings.

@shuggles
You're becoming boring now. The poster does not have to defend her choice of car to you - and everyone is derailing OP's thread discussing expensive bedding, caes and hairdressing bills.

That's depressing reading as thats pretty much what I earned in those years, so in reality I'm getting paid no more than when I was starting out.

We usually roast a chicken on the Sunday and this is then used for 3 of the 5 weekday meals for a family bigger than yours. Combine this with some low cost food basics and salad and home grown veg and the savings are huge. I bet if you go though a lot of your monthly finances, a lot are frivolous. Cut out the shop bought coffees for a start. Thermos made at 6am lasts me until dinner.

One on the bed, and one in the wash…Surely people have more than one set of bedding. I have shown a screen shot of what we purchased.

It's the famous MN chicken 🐔!!!