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!

I bought a few of Miguel Barclays books and his recipes are very good. His books are all about cooking on a budget

Family of three. After bills we have about £400 a month to cover everything. You will be more than fine.

No, I don't get anything because DH works.

I have £200 after bills

I personally think Premier Inn and Travelodge can be more expensive than some other places you find online. Not sure that you would need glasses every two years unless there's been a major change in your prescription

It would help to list what the £1000 per month is for and an approximate cost of each item.

If you’re very careful, you can manage on that.

Opticians aren't free for people on UC. You get an optical voucher but that covers the cost of frames -you still need to pay other costs. Dental isn't necessarily free on UC either

It’s fine / you will have spending money left after bills and food - assume you have included the yearly bills like insurances as well as the months

look at your use of toiletries and household - there is a lot of stuff that people buy that isn’t needed - a damp cloth cleans most things and we are better off without smelly things

allow 500 for your weekly shopping bills - you will go lower if you move to a predominantly veggie diet and cut the smellies

that leaves 500

100 in your emergency budget pot
100 towards hair and clothes
100 towards some fun nights out
100 towards health and exercise -
and 100 to …

Most of my clothes come from Vinted/eBay/charity shops. I have always loved a bargain!

Main issue for me is shoes. As I mentioned up thread I have a chronic illness/disability which has left me with completely fucked feet. The shoes I can actually fit my feet into and walk at all are pretty expensive (winter boots can be about £150 in the sales) and I wear through them quite quickly because of the way I walk. I do have a pair of boots I bought in the sales in January so hopefully they will do me for this winter but my day to day trainers/shoes are about to die.

Christmas is once a year so one or two months you’ll have to buy each other and relatives a few gifts. Opticians is once every other year typically. Dentist twice a year and provided you care for your teeth, it’s just the cost of a check up. Cleaning stuff and toiletries are neither here nor there, just a few extra quid on top of the food shop. Buy clothes on Vinted.

That’s more than enough. I have a family of 4 and don’t even spend that on food, toiletries and cleaning products a week so I’d be shocked that you’d need to spend more as just 2 adults. I think you’re probably panicking unnecessarily.

It's doable. You just need to do some budgeting.

You say that dental/optician are big ongoing expenses but they wouldn't be every month so can you allocate £100 a month to that so you have something set aside?

Also would recommend putting some money aside for savings even just £100 a month.

Food shop, it's just a case of being brutal, using up what you have and more scratch cooking.

You say £1000 after all bills but then say you haven't account for opticians and dentist etc. work out how much they cost you a year and then divide that by £12 and put that aside each month. Monzo has some great functionality for this sort of thing - you can allocate pots and name them. I have ones for childcare, Christmas, holidays, car, petrol, decorating, house insurance etc. basically anything that is annual bill and I save monthly form them.

As for shopping, we allocate £700 a month, 2 adults and 2 primary age kids, a dog and 2 cats. It includes toiletries, cleaning stuff, pet food etc. any left over at the end of the month goes in to the Christmas pot.

A few recommendations for helping - look at switching bank accounts, e.g. Monzo with a referral code gets you £10-£50 free instantly. First direct were doing a £175 swim offer. I have 2 direct debits on a current account (phone and pet insurance) that I use as a switching account so my actual day today account doesn't really move. I made £600 last year doing this.

Secondly, see if you have any voucher schemes you are eligible for e.g blue light card, blood donors, sprive for those with mortgages (appreciate this isn't you),.some workplaces offer them and buy a gift voucher for your food shop and you save about 4% they do most major supermarket except Aldi and Lidl.

You are not a twat. You've had a significant loss of income and not being able to save the way you could before, it's worrying you.

Frankly, 150 pounds after bills is not a lot. But on the other hand you don't have worry about petrol/public transport prices and many of the "what if" possible repair household appliances are covered by HA.

It should be doable with a bit of tight budgeting on grocery expenditure (food, washing powder, toilet paper etc). You should be able to save some money for incidentals like dentist and optometrist, which you don't necessarily need every couple of months.

If you can't save for holidays or Christimas' presents, so be it. Until your family gets extra income reigning in spending to cover necessary essentials is how you manage your budget.

It's doable, OP, but it just requires a slight change in lifestyle. I find "I have £33 a day to spend" easier to manage than £1000 for the month.

Cooking from scratch will save you lots, as will a packed lunch if you work in the office.

Thank you for the hug. Actually very appreciated right now. As well as the financial implications, not being able to work/earn for the first time since I was in school and doing a Saturday job, and knowing that won't change, has been very difficult. It's a lot to adjust to even without the cut in income. I worry about being even more isolated and feel a shit about not contributing although DH has been absolutely wonderful and kind and has told me not to be so blimmin ridiculous, we're a team etc. Still feels like an ending though.

Hopefully DH will be earning a bit more from January (but very much hopefully and not definite) but still nowhere near what we had. But even if he does we're going to carry on with th savings we're making now so we can build up our actual savings.

We have similar after bill just now (should be double hit paying £1200 in nursery fees currently) and it’s really tight tbh

See op I think when you listed what you want out of life- that’s where the problem is. You used to be poor but it’s accepting that things like travel lodge stays, going to the optometrist and dentist, buying anything other than the cheapest toiletries, having what you call a decent (I’m guessing expensive!) Christmas are things you have to start forgetting . I’ve awful teeth and it’s just tough luck really- I don’t go to the dentist. Not great sight but I can’t afford to go to the optometrist for the moment. Same clothes for years, treat myself the odd time to nice make up because I’ve roseacea but toiletries are mostly the euro shop! But it’s not a miserable existence- I just don’t spend money because I can’t (4 kids!) !! You’re lucky in that big bills don’t come up for you (washing machine etc) and you must have decent clothes, toiletries and glasses now. You can definitely afford to put some form of money by out of that and actually if you embrace being frugal you could get decent money put aside in a year! Best of luck!

I’m in a one parent one child household and have £1100 left over after bills. I save about 500 every month and if there’s a big spend like holiday or car repair I can save 800. I do this by:

Shopping only in Aldi and mostly veggie diet
Batch cook/freeze
packed lunches for both of us and coffee in flask
zero booze

If I get to the end of the month and have spent under £250 on food I celebrate by taking us out for lunch or dinner. It’s a good incentive to stick to the budget the rest of the time and feels like a bit of extravagance after all the frugality!

Good luck x

Ps library for free books! Board games for better entertainment 😉🥳

She doesn’t even need to be careful - 1k a month for two adults to pay for food, the dentist, the optician , clothes and Christmas presents is PLENTY of money. I honestly wonder what planet people are living on if they think that amount equates to being in any kind of financial difficulty 😂

Try vinted for shoes as well. I cant wear cheap shoes for pain related reasons as well, and I need proper arch supports. I look on vinted now and get them there much cheaper.

@OhFuckety I understand where you are coming from. It's not managing for a few months, it's the long term reality and reduced ability absorb increases that creates the worry.

That said, you are in a good position nit having car and maintenance costs to factor in. That makes it much more doable.

I'd still put away your £200 at the start of the month. I think we all adjust our spending to match what we have and keeping that habit and getting jnto a good routine from the off is sensible.

In terms of still being able to enjoy the odd weekend away, have you considered caravan holidays? Modern statics are great and you don't have the same expense of eating out for every meal. There are quite few close to train stations or public transport (look up Haven or Parkdean) . You can get them really cheap outside of school holidays, especially if you can do Monday to Friday.

I think your budget is doable but managing the food spending is key.

We're also facing a drop on income so I understand why you're worrying. But I've told DH we need to set up specific savings pots for the annual expenses sowe know we're covered.