To be so sick of being broke?

[PrincessC0nsuelaBananaHammock]

This is pretty much just a moan really. I'm already doing everything I can to try and improve our situation financially. Although nothing's working atm. 😑

Both DH and I work full-time, on minimum wage. Me 45 hours per week, him between 40-50 depending on the week. And we still can't make ends meet. I'm talking having about £50 left in the bank 2 days after payday because all the bills have come out.

Not entitled to any benefits as earn too much for UC (on MW? 😐). Kids are grown up (22 and 18) but still living at home. DD1 is in college and on UC and waiting to see if she's entitled to PIP for her autism. DD2 is starting uni next month and works part-time herself.

I'm just so fucking sick of the cost of everything. To the point I'm questioning whether I can afford to buy a £6 pack of Benadryl for my fucking hayfever! 😡

Applying for multiple better-paying jobs every week and getting bloody nowhere! Urgh.

I'm getting it through She-Med, which is technically a clinical trial. The catch is you have to sign up for 12 months, and do weekly weigh ins on camera and a blood test every 3 months.

I don't shop at Waitrose, couldn't even if I wanted to! The nearest one is around 100 miles away. We're not posh enough to have one. 😂I do most of our shopping in Tesco.

It is a nightmare and we're told it'll get worse.

Ive gone through you're breakdown - I hope it helps.

Rent - £600 - can't get lower than this
Gas/Electric - £450 (paying off debt) - I am currently working on a roll out of free large capacity batteries to households through which utility costs can be reduced (think buy cheap use when expensive and sell excess when expensive) should save people c£1-2k pa depending on electricity use. Hold tight.
Water - £100 (paying off debt)
Council Tax - £165
Council Tax debt - £230 (paying off bailiffs)
Mobiles - £100 (2 on contract, paying off devices, 2 PAYG) Move these to all in packages with smarty, lebara or lyca. You will more than half this bill.
Car Insurance - £45
Diesel/car maintenance - £100 (DH needs the car to get to work as does permanent nights) - would suggest doing minor services yourselves (oil and filter changes) you can YouTube how to do them for every make of car known to man.
Internet - £65 (need top speed as WFH FT) - you can get better deals than this. I have BT 400 infinity its £41 pcm and it guarantees 400mbps speeds. There are cheaper services but you def dont need a £65 service.
Subscriptions/VPN - £66 - you can get this cheaper look at shark surf. Do your own due dilligence. I personally use Opera as my Internet service - it stops tracking etc and acts like a vpn free (well that's how I understand it anyway!)
Gym - £25
Mounjaro - £99 - go to the GP and have this prescribed or goggle what supplements to take to kick start GLP-1
Debt - £112
Groceries (including toiletries etc) - £850 (ish). This is a toughie. I buy

• chicken fresh from Tesco or ocado. It's £2.15 to £2.25 per kg for drumsticks or legs.
• frozen salmon from farmfoods - its £7.50 a kilo.
• mince/steaks from lidl or aldi but I do check for offers on supermarket websites.

You could also go shopping when it's yellow sticker time - morrisons bread go very cheap about 30mins before they close. But dont waste money travelling all over to save a few pence.

Check out discount dragon and approved food for tinned/packet foods - take account of shipping costs.

My current contract ends in 2 months. I have no work to go to. I'm a contractor. Last year I worked just 3 months and didnt sign on because I thought there'd be a contract with me tomorrow - yes for 9 months!! Thid contract pays me 50% of my previous contract so there is no spare money - the bottom has fallen out of the market I work in.

I have a big mortgage (4x your rent) and like you, 2 young adult kids at home who aren't earning their way yet. This month I have budgeted just £400 for shopping. I've just done a £90 shop at ocado because my dd is gluten intolerant. I'll do 2 farm food shops (we have 4 dogs and their food is more than 3 humans tbh) and a weekly morrisons/tesco/lidl or Aldi shop. I did the same last month. I managed it.

Good luck.

Like I said, it's sh1t!

Thanks, I already rent from a Housing Association though.

Plus about £600 a month on debt repayments. Plus paying board and lodge for two adults with their own income.

Sorry OP I know you just wanted to vent, but this is a nice family holiday, regular meals out, or whatever it is that you want to be able to afford. Most people couldn't repay £600/month debt and also afford things like you do. To be fair you could be paying for avocado on toast and ski lessons in that grocery budget!!

Thank you so much @Booboobagins , that's really helpful!

Thats £99 for the first month only. Then its £159 every month after even on the 12 month subscription.

Always looking for better paid jobs. We both have transferable skills, it's just getting to interview stage which we haven't yet.

Not if you signed up before 31/1/25 it isn't. £99 per month.

I have just had a look to see if its worth changing. Its not

Swap to lidl. It's the cheapest supermarket. Made official by the yearly award. We get most of our shop from there. Fruit and veg is good. The little meat we eat has been decent as well. The app gets you extra savings on things they know you like to buy and you get 10% off your shop every now and then. It really does add up. We'd never go back to one of the traditional supermarkets. They give you a free bakery item as well later in the day. I can't recommend it enough.

Hence being on Mounjaro, which helps not only with calorie intake, not being able to eat big portions but also silences the food noise and the cravings.

To be blunt - if she’s well enough to be in college level education, she’s going to need to work and contribute properly. Benefits are absolutely not a long term support option - I wouldn’t be relying on any future government for any support for anything other than the most severe needs. Moaning about it and complaining about how unfair that might feel won’t help.

You’re also very fortunate to have such very low rent. You really do need to be knuckling down and clearing debt, no matter what you consider to be treats for working hard or “necessities”.

Thank you! Yep, still in the weight loss phase, although it has slowed down. Losing around 1-2lb per week now. Ideally want to get down to 9 stone-ish (I'm only 5'2) but I'd be happy at 10 stone tbh.

This is bollocks. You can’t pay for a bona fide clinical trial.

I actually eat beans quite a lot! And yes the Stockwell ones from Tesco at 28p.

I didn't think kids waiting to start college could even get UC tbh. PIP I guess will depend on how the disability is affecting her.

This thread is wild.
OP, never use this site to vent, especially about money. It never ends well.

I find Tesco pricey, do you rely on club card rewards for Christmas or anything? Aldi would probably be much cheaper, I shop for 4 (2 kids but one eat adult size meals and they both like things like fridge snacks (fridge raiders, yoghurt pouches, pepperami sticks, smoothies etc) that add up fast! And we eat a lot of meat (3 chicken based meals, burgers, meatballs etc each week) My shopping also includes dog food and I usually spend under £130 a week (it's been £150/160 in the summer holidays as they're not usually home for lunch)

On the mounjaro line item - OP I earn significantly more than you and have very little debt apart from a mortgage. When we’ve had unexpected bills or outgoings my mounjaro is the first thing to go.

Okaaaay, then it's not a clinical trial. I don't know WTF it is, I do know I first heard about on here and signed up before the offer ended at the end of January. Not sure what else to tell you. Would you like to see the monthly payments of £99 on my bank statements as "proof"?

Same here. Couldn't afford to continue. I have two kids at Uni that we are supporting and just couldn't carry on. My current job is ending next year ( fixed term contract) and I'm so worried about not being able to find something else. I keep thinking that MJ might be a good investment s at least if I could lose a significant amount of weight I would be able to do care work or something.

I use my Clubcard points for Disney+. Every 3 months I get a new free 3 months. Never once paid for it.

The problem is, many times people get frustrated with the OP just refusing to act like a responsible adult, with their head in the sand and refusal to engage with appropriate solutions.

In cases of genuine need, this place can be incredibly supportive, and full of good ideas and helpful links. But yes, if you just want to come and moan when there are a few reasonable steps you can take to make your troubles less severe that you just don’t want to do, you will get your arse handed to you.

Car insurance seems high, too. That's £540 a year. If it's expensive because the car's in a high insurance group, I'd change it for something a bit more modest.

Disney plus is £6.99 a month, changing to one of the budget supermarkets (aldi or lidl) could save you £200+ a month so it would be worth considering :)