AIBU to worry that £1000 a month after bills is not enough?

[OhFuckety]

We have had a sudden drop in income. We didn't have loads to begin with but now we have even less and I'm panicking a bit.

After all bills but without food, we will have very slightly £1000 left. There's just me and DH. Is this doable? I've budgeted to within an inch of my life and cut ALL necessary crap but I'm thinking food/toiletries/household stuff is going to eat away about £150 a week of that at least.

We have no way of earning more for the time being but DH hopes to change jobs in the new year which will hopefully bump up our income by about £150pm.

Tell me I'm being a twat and this is completely possible and we'll still have enough for the occasional nice thing!

You are using a whole deodorant every week?

Invest in dishcloths instead of using kitchen roll.

Own brand bog roll is £8 for 24 rolls, are you using that much between the two of you?

Try Asda opticians. MUCH cheaper than Specsavers even with my specialist prescription.

Sorry to go on about the gums. You said that they bled every time you brushed. Gums do that when they are inflamed, in other words, they are angry. We naturally think we need to stop brushing because they bleed, but it is the exact opposite. The more they bleed....the more they need brushing. The bleeding subsides after a few days with good regular brushing. You have to be really fastidious, especially now with the state of NHS dentistry. And believe me, I know all about autoimmune conditions and the various effects they can have

I do a lot of Amazon subscribe and save orders for loo rolls, toothpaste etc. I also add lots of stuff in my basket and if it goes on offer I buy it.

I use astonish cleaning products. 99p in Poundland. Lidl products are probably slightly cheaper.

Yes, a can of deodorant between two. Just the Lidl or Aldi own brand though so only about £1.

We use three six packs of toilet roll a month, about £2.50 each. Unfortunately my meds make using a lot of toilet paper essential 😬

Dishcloths are not great from a hygiene point of view for me, I need to make sure everything is super clean. We don't spend loads on it anyway, maybe £3pm.

I don't have an Asda opticians near me but I've been looking at online places like Goggles4U and Firmoo, their prices look bonkers compared to what I've been paying!

They used to - since I started using corsodyl toothpaste they haven't at all. Miracle stuff! And something it would make no sense to stint on because emergency dental bill end up costing a lot more. My meds make my gums inflamed unfortunately (I'm super fastidious about cleaning), but the Corsodyl does seem to be keeping it in check. I'm lucky enough to have a brilliant NHS dentist too.

Lots of libraries have online books, and audio books free, I listen, or read on my iPad, or phone.
I have an app called Libby, I download several books a week.
I listen to audio books as I go about my day: cooking, cleaning etc.
Take a look and see if it’s available in your area - I haven’t been in a library in years.

I have about 15 washable sponges , they go in the wash every evening along with the tea towels. There's no need to use disposable ones.

You don't need to spend anything on books if you already have a kindle. Sign up to bookbub and you can get at least one free book a day. I'm assuming you have mainstream tastes

I do YouGov,I might earn £50 the time I'm 80.

I recommend you look back at the last 3 months (or more) to work out where all your money has been going. All the things you say you do/ want to be able to do should be possible on £1000. But somehow you have been spending significantly more - so what on?

My breakdown would be £400 food and groceries - including wine, cleaning products and toiletries. Try online shopping and dropping brand names. Then £100 socialising (eg a meal out, drinks or takeaway). £200 for your fund - the one for glasses, options, washing machine and a weekend away. £100 each spending money. £100 save for Birthdays and Christmas (gifts, extra food, extra meal out etc). The remaining £100 can be contingency and if you don’t spend it, chuck it in your fund.

I have nothing left over after bills so you are doing great compared to me

Just to add, make sure you have really covered everything with your bills calculations. Do you pay anything annually you may have forgotten about?

You must be joking, several kids,4 pet and £879 a month left for food clothing holidays and we do it no problem tbh

Presuming DS is an independent adult, he can contribute to the Christmas activities and food shop this year? Set yourselves a present budget, for him to you both too.

But you will be able to save. Definitely. I have a family of 4, we have approximately £1000 left after bills each month, and save £500. We eat well -cook from scratch etc, but don't eat out often or drink much. Shop from Vinted and Ebay; all clothing and footwear, including for growing teens, homewear, tech etc. It's absolutely doable, please don't worry yourself.

My mum and I get a takeaway for Christmas. Works for us

That would come under bills though surely

People have different incomes, OP states a drop in income. How would you cope with such a drop, regardless of amount? It is not a race to the bottom.

How do you afford Christmas, birthdays, dental appointments and any days out etc? Do you use your savings for these things?

Two adults.

Just popping back to say a massive thank you to everyone who commented.

I slept better last night than I have for weeks thanks to this thread. I needed some practical advice re budgeting and money saving ideas and, possibly even more importantly, a large dose of perspective. So a special thank you to the harsh but fair posters!

As I said upthread I have experienced extreme poverty from childhood (literally no shoes or food at some points) which led to more poverty and rough sleeping in early adulthood. I worked hard with some help from various agencies to turn my life around and was doing a brilliant job if I do say so myself! Then a few years ago various health issues, including a particularly nasty chronic illness, threw me a massive curveball and here we are.

I'm very aware how fragile everything is and how quickly you can lose everything and I just spiralled a bit at having to give up work and the resultant drop in income. I appreciated so much how lovely it was to be able to buy nicer food and a bottle of wine without thinking about it - there was a time when even having one hot meal a day was a luxury. I was scared of losing the nice stuff and also scared of a slippery slope situation. Which was obviously catastrophizing and being melodramatic but that's how I sometimes get about these things!

So thank you all again ❤️💐❤️💐❤️

Free books https://openlibrary.org/ and https://www.free-ebooks.net/ I've used one but not the other. If you have a local library card but no physical library nearby they may have provision for you to read some things online.

We dont really do Christmas gifts for each other but you could be given books and cosmetics as Christmas presents. I remember when Badedas bubble bath was a luxury gift! This year you might want to ask for a water flosser. I expect you find flossing hard if you are getting a lot of infections but it's really important. It's good that you like cheese as keeping your mouth ph neutral helps limit bacteria. You only need a small cube though.

Yougov is literally pennies per survey. Between 25p and £1.50 per survey and then 10p for the add on surveys.

If I allow 75 a week food shop for me and child we then have zero left. So am sure 1k between two adults is fine and dandy
Those that have savings as an expense/part of monthly spends do not realise how lucky they are :)