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!

Personally I think you need to treat the dentist/optician/christmas etc as though they were bills. So put aside say £200 a month in your bills account for those things and then your actual food/fun spending money is £800.

I don’t think you’ll be dining out at The Ritz all that often , but you should be ok. Loads of batch cooking, using your freezer if you have one and being very careful with meal planning so as not to waste anything. And tbh you don’t need to go mad with Christmas presents etc when cash flow is difficult. A few rousing games of Ludo will suffice !

Aaaah this looks so reassuring and helpful, thank you so much.

Yes we have the cheapest of everything else - no TV subs, £10pm for both of our phones. We've always done that so we have more to spend on the fun things. Which is great, but it means there's even less fat to trim off now!

£125 a week is loads, what are all the toiletries and cleaning products you're buying?

Im places like Home Bargains I can't see how you'd even mange to spend a tenner a month to cover that unless you're buying really expensive make up and all the branded cleaning sprays

Wow. You are being really dramatic. You can easily save for dental/opticians/holidays/Christmas from £1000 and eat well If it is just 2 of you.

£300 food
£150 dentists
£150 opticians
£200 holidays
£100 Christmas
£100 slush fund/savings etc...

Or whatever

I don’t think food and toiletries for two people will need to cost £150 a week. For a family of four we spend £500 a month, including toiletries and cleaning stuff etc. No alcohol though as we don't drink.
And even if it did cost £150 a week, that would still leave you £400 a month. And you don’t have transport costs, or household repairs.

OP - I'd have a look at the MSE budget spreadsheet.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#spreadsheet

You won't get sensible answers on this thread because of the way your OP is written - people are reading that you have £1000 a month to spend on food (ok and a bit put aside for the dentist and Christmas).

I'm going to guess by "regular bills" you mean things like council tax, gas, electricity, water and rent/mortgage. You don't include all the other things that you have to pay out for as they are less regular, but they are more than just food.

Look at the budget spreadsheet - work out what the £1000 actually has to cover. Then you'll have a better idea if you can afford it. If you can't, then you can come back and ask for budgeting help.

I've moved to Asda opticians. Varifocals are the same price as simple prescriptions. Life (and money) saving experience. Saved about £400 compared to Specsavers.

Also, I would count Xmas, car tax etc as essential savings (but my budget on Xmas is tight so it's only £60 a month) so deduct that at the start from your 'leftover' money.

If you really are struggling, you need to reframe your financial brain - are essentials really that? Do you really need several streaming sources? Do you need the full TV package? Every penny adds up

I think you could comfortably feed 2 plus cleaning products and toiletries and a bottle of (not expensive) wine for £100 a week. Our weekly shop isn’t much more than that and we have 2 kids that eat loads. Why don’t you start with being strict over the food and see how you get on. You could probably drop it lower if you were really committed to it. Are you able to batch cook, freeze and generally spend more time making your own food and shopping for bargains which is usually cheaper but more time consuming?

Any drop in income is hard, and costs are rising too. I don’t think you’ll be destitute, but it’s scary how fast it can be eaten up. I think, given what you’ve told us, you could still put aside at least £200 a month to savings and have a decent lifestyle.

It sounds totally fine in that case. For most people their biggest unexpected expenses are to do with their house and car, ie boiler breaks or car has a serious problem.

We are also taking a major step down in income and I am sorting out a new budget. Like you, my main concern is the irregular bills/saving and the lack of former 'treats' can be depressing. We have been through this before, and I find it helps to see the whole thing as 'a project' and really get into the whole money-saving thing (yes I know many people are doing that all the time but clearly op and I aren't). With food, I've suggested one week in the month where we really go all out to go as cheap as possible - like a challenge. For Xmas, as we have done before, it's second-hand or home-made only. Dd (21) is living with us and not working - that is my major wild card expense. I am not just giving her money but want to support her to get work and be independent - driving lessons are a major bill for example. We could all do with new glasses.

I am reading all your replies and you're all absolutely brilliant, thank you 💐 The 'give your head a wobble' type comments and the budgeting ones are especially useful/needed.

Thankfully we have a lovely NHS dentist and we've just had checkups and this time all was fine so touch wood that will do us for a year with no emergencies (although I've jinxed that now!).

Looks like I'm over budgeting for food/toiletries/cleaning stuff. I'm very cheap to run - my skin care is basically a £1.79 Aldi moisturiser and £2 face wash and hair is £4 Pantene shampoo and conditioner a month - so not much there. DH is probably even cheaper! We do buy special toothpaste recommended by our dentist which is £3 a pop but honestly since we have started using it our mouths are so much better and we've avoided a lot of emergency dental bills so it's worth it. Deodorant is a quid a week, I rarely wear makeup but if I do it's just lipstick and a bit of mascara. No hairdresser bills. Cleaning stuff is probably about a tenner a month, I am immunosuppressed so we're a bit fanatical about cleanliness!

So yes, I think I have slightly overestimated what I need to spend there. I already batch cook fairly regularly but will do so more often and will just eat less crap (we have a cheese, wine and cold cuts habit on a Saturday evening which we can stop, we could afford it then but we can't now and I'm sure we'll think of something else that we'll enjoy as much).

Thank you all again you absolute legends ❤️

If I had £1k spare a month and had to just pay food from that for two adults I could still save £600 per month!

I think if careful, meal planning etc, you could keep your food bill to £400 a month. And save the rest for your other bills, dentist etc. Unless you have something serious with your eyes, options etc shouldn't be more than occasional? Anyway, your £600 will begin to mount up, giving you the cushion you are after - I do understand the fear of something big coming along. Try not to go down the credit card debt route if possible because those things are so high in interest - I don't know how that level of interest is allowed to be frank!

I live on a lot less than 1k a month.

How long is a piece of string?
You’re into frequent dining out and cultural experiences, buy designer clothes and go on expensive holidays - no, £1,000 per month after bills won’t be enough.
You don’t spend much, don’t eat out and don’t do regular takeaway coffees - look into good options to invest leftover money because you’ll have plenty left at the end of the month.
You’re the average couple who likes the occasional takeaway or night out - £1,000/month sounds about right.

It all depends what you need the money for. Loans, expensive hobbies, eating out, holidays. Presents. Christmas.

Yes but that doesn't mean food is the only thing she needs to buy with the £1000. She has also mentioned, toiletries, clothes, any trips, Christmas and birthday presents, dentist and opticians

As you seem very concerned on the dentist costs have you considered a dental plan? You pay about £12-15 a month and can claim back costs for check ups and dental work up to a certain amount, might be worth looking into @OhFuckety

Oh my gosh you've just reminded me that DH has this through his work for free and doesn't pay for check ups/fillings! It only started a few months ago so I completely forgot it when budgeting. Still have to pay for mine but still, that's one less expense! I'll see if I can find something similar for me, thank you for the suggestion (and the reminder!).

No loans/debt at all, we don't eat out much (a few times a year while we're away) or have expensive hobbies, holidays are usually one or two UK two-day breaks a year. Christmas we do (used to!) spend a lot on as it was our big 'thing' of the year. We would spoil DS too (he's in his 30s and left home so no expenses there) but no wider family or friends to buy for. We've already agreed to cut Christmas spends massively this year which is a bit sad but heyho, it's not the end of the world. We are a daft household and will make our fun doing similarly daft, cheap things!

If you are having to give up work for health reasons then definitely check everything you may be entitled to benefits wise.

Sorry you are in this position, and that you have no support network other than your DH, that must be tough.

Can you pay to add on DHs plan, if you're not already included that is? Although it's probably not worth paying much as NHS dentistry is fairly low cost.

Given the information you've posted, you do seem unnecessarily worried. Are you finding you're running out of money and perhaps your spending in areas you've not thought of it higher than you've allowed for.

Your income is low, but so are your bills so it should be fairly easy to make it work as long as you're reasonably careful.

It’s not just the food/ cleaning though presumably. OP would need to budget everything that isn’t a bill in that £1000, so:
Haircuts
New clothes
Lesuire activities
Meeting a friend for coffee
Birthdays and Christmas
Nights away or saving for a holiday
Any emergencies eg car fails MOT, need to call a plumber

Of course it can be done, but it’s unlikely to just be food.

We have about £1500 for a family of 2 (2adults 2 toddlers). That’s to do all food shopping, toiletries, cleaning stuff, petrol, days out, birthday cards and presents etc. we currently have nothing left till we’re paid on Friday. It’s like this every month for us. And our household income is over £100k a year it’s ridiculous.