To be struggling on 3k per month?

[Strictlyskint]

I am a single mum and really don’t know where I am going wrong. I am usually fine until there is a week to go until payday. Christmas is coming up and I am really stressing

It actually comes to approximately £2,200, as some of the figures given are per week.

£600 a month on food seems very high. Do you do a lot of takeaways/convenience foods? Is it an area you can reduce spending?

Your list adds up to less than £2k a month so are you spending the remaining thousand on frivolous ‘stuff’?

When I had to trim my spending I went through all my outgoings and incomings. I made a list of all my dd’s and the days they come out. At the beginning I checked my account every day. I still check frequently but only 3 or so times a week now. Not a single penny leaves my account without me knowing what it is and why it came out. It’s become second nature to me now to know exactly what state my bank account is in on any given day. Looking back I could kick myself over how easily I let money run through my fingers, I must have wasted so much.

I don’t even use sky at all, since I split with ex I haven’t even plugged it in but they keep sending me bills and asking for the equipment which I need to apparently pay for

If they are asking for equipment that you don't use, tell them they can have it.

Honestly, for someone stressed by Christmas, you sound incredibly passive to your own financial situation!

If you're spending too much and it's stressing you out and you know you are 'frivolous' then stop spaffing money on crap and you'll be less stressed.

@Strictlyskint I always suggest YNAB (You need a budget). I bet you'd save loads because you don't have a handle on what you're spending and you would become aware of it really quickly.

My gas and electric is £250 month

Council tax is second on the list

Only if you watch iplayer/live TV. I'm guessing if you're paying so much for sky you also have broadband/other stuff included. Need to sit down and see if you can get these services cheaper elsewhere eg with your phone company. I've saved a lot since started to actually shop around for this stuff.

You need to sit down and check your banking apps and look at all out your outgoings. Check the direct debts and standing orders.

Are you paying home insurance, life insurance, pet insurance, because you didn't include them?
Do you have other subscriptions? Netflix, Spotify etc?
Do you have credit card repayments?

£150 a week on food for 3 people is a ridiculous amount. There are 4 adults in my house and we spend between £70 to £100 per week and that includes a takeaway once a week.

Cancel sky, send the equipment back and set up a TV license to pay monthly.

Well do it then!

Not sure how that is going to improve your frivolous spending but get your lower paid job, go on benefits and all is ok 👍

Can you leave all your money that covers bills in one account and not touch it and transfer the £700 or whatever it is you should have left after bills to a separate account so that everytime you buy something it’s clear what you’ve spent money on? Although a quick look at your bank statements will tell you’ve where you’ve spent money

If you live in England, you have a right to the free installation of a water meter.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/water/paying-your-water-bill/changing-to-a-water-meter/

Make this, and the cancellation of Sky, the top priorities and get the savings you are making automatically transferred each month into a savings account.

Consider a water meter. That bill is astronomical. Is Sky essential, and can you reduce your fuel bill? Mine is a fraction of that and I WFH so have the heating on a fair bit.
And as others have said, right now you should have around £700 left over. That's got to cover clothes, shoes, hair, dentist, optician, etc etc and these things add up fast. Write down EVERYTHING you spend for a couple of months and you'll see where it's going. You can then decide on what you can do without.

What about child support payments, do you get those?

There’s quite a lot not included in your list. Birthday presents, haircuts, clothes etc. And I imagine you go out sometimes?
Your parents are being quite unhelpful with their comments. But maybe you need a more detailed and realistic review of outgoings.

Why are you counting 2 adults. Mine income is around £1500 take home a month. Wheres the £1109 child benefit. I got it a few years ago but it was about £80 a month

What’s given you that idea?

Anyway OP look at switching to Monzo. You can create “pots” to put money into e.g one for school holidays, one for Christmas, one for clothes etc. then sit and budget your pay each month and split it into the pots

It's united utilities. They're hideously expensive and going up every year.

https://www.unitedutilities.com/my-account/your-bill/our-household-charges-20252026/how-bills-for-households-without-a-meter-are-changing-for-20252026/

Ours is £92.30 a month.

If your income is £3000 and your outgoings are £1540, where does the rest go? You should have £1400 a month as surplus income?

Your food bill seems high for 1 adult 2 children?

We have 3 adults (4 if DS is back from uni) and our bill is between £130-140. We eat differently, I’m veggie, others not, so it’s on the more expensive side as I have to buy alternatives - we can’t just buy more of the same, so that can put the price up.

Is there anyway you can cut this back a bit?

Your mortgage is very low. You should manage on your salary reasonably well. Depends where the rest of the money is bring spent.

She doesn't need to get rid of the cat! Honestly. It's a live animal, part of the family not something you just chuck out to save £50 a month.🙄

You’ve added it up incorrectly - the petrol and food costs are weekly, other costs are monthly .

How old are your DC, OP? I was thinking you could try to get your food bills down a bit, but that probably depends on the age of your children.

When I was younger and not very good with money (and didn't have enough of it), I had three bank accounts to ringfence my money. You might want four. One to deposit money into for rent/mortgage, one for bills, one for groceries, and one for spending. It means the first two, the most important, always get paid/aren't spent on other things. And the last one makes it really easy to monitor spending on extras.