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!

It's not cosmetics and supplements, it's food and absolutely everything between 2 people so more like 500 for food and 250 a month each so more like 60 pound a week.

The poster I was quoting was talking about cosmetics and supplements being essential purchases

I didn't say it was, I said I used to live on the bare minimum but it's far from a comfortable life with the ability to save etc

FFS
Is this a joke ?????
Some families only have a £1000 pm in total to live on.
Get a grip.

It was never 1000, there's always 4-500 already gone for food so it would never be 250 a week that you would be spending on all the other stuff.

If they can cut their food costs down there's no reason why they can't save. I've always saved even when I was on a low income. Put 25 or 30 pounds a month into a long term savings plan and anything spare goes into something like zopa.

£250 has to cover food too.

I get that. But they could cut their food costs down. The point was that someone else was saying that things like make up was essential

Yeah they can definitely save but that'd only £300 a year, a broken washer, fridge etc will wipe them clean every year unfortunately.

I'm aware of that. You were making the point that it would be tough going because of all the expenses they would have. My point was that they can buy cheaper brands

But you get a lump sum at the end. I've got 5k plus maturing next year from putting 30 pounds a month away. It's highly unlikely that they would need to replace white goods yearly

I was running a home on 396 quid a month until two years ago. All my bills came out of that.

Tell that to the £300 washer, £700 exhaust, £400 vet bill and £250 boiler repair I've had in the last 6 weeks 🙉

I understand that, but I don't think my standard is particularly high either. I'm not talking about luxury brands or extravagant spending. I just don't tend to buy the cheapest version of everything. I buy decent clothes, skincare, toiletries and household things, and those are ordinary expenses to me.

The point is someone on a low income cant afford to spend slightly more. There is no wriggle room. There's nothing wrong with buying perfume or make up from Primark or Lidl if that is what you can afford. It's not always possible to increase income quickly either

Imo this is getting used to what we have.
If we're used to having £1600 a month were going to find a £1000 a month hard and is the problem with life creeps imo. That treat bottle of wine or fancier block of cheese (just for example) soon becomes the grab and go option the can't be arsed to get lunch from home so having it out the tap and go that was never thought of etc.
So whilst to a lot of us a £1000 seems a lot (it is!) I can understand why it feels scary.
Definitely write all of your expenses out think of an occasional cheaper option etc.

Assuming you've accounted for all essentials other food . As long as you are not regularly eating out , pack you own lunches for work, don't go weekly to the nail bar, or have hightlight done each month or monthly spa treatments days, and don't shop in expensive independent grocers, you will be fine . You have considerably more left than some people. Go back to use cash for shopping if you can, while you adjust your budget and spending, and use shopping lists rather than impulse buys.

Its hard to give specific advice when you haven't listed outgoings. I personally use Groupon for meals. Other similar sites too. If you shop at Tesco you can get cashback on the cheddar app by buying gift cards and using them to pay for your shopping.

Absolutely. I don't disagree with that. I was just answering the OP's question whether they can survive on £1k a month after bills and my answer is - yes they can, but it won't necessarily be comfortable.

I've just totted up my average from January. It comes to £571 a month. I live alone but I am extravagant-ish this year, having been through several very tight years. I have items like:
£58 for personal effects (nice things),
£58 for gifts and
£65 for personal care. That's absurd, you only need max £15 for that shit really.
I average:
£15 a month on alcohol,
£20 on cafés and a whopping
£53 on non-grocery supermarket items. Cutting that back as of now!

My food is £275 a month. I'm a tight shopper, but don't deny myself - there's half a leg of lamb, a medium chicken, fresh fruit, bagged salads and several packaged Mediterranean sides in my fridge at the moment, and the freezer's so full I can't fit anything else in. I eat a lot; most of MN would say I eat enough for two.

Even if you spend £125 more than me (£400) on food, you won't be throwing money at my other ridiculous categories so will easily have enough for your weekly wine and whatever other small pleasure make your lives worth relishing.

So what I'm suggesting is that you can EASILY cope with £600 a month for your necessities, including some 'personal effects' and takeaways, etc.

That leaves you £400 for the stuff you like to save up for.

If you and DH eat meat, I strongly recommend buying larger items - poultry, pork and beef joints are always on offer. Just roast 'em, cut them up and freeze in appropriate amounts for a tagine, stir fry, whatever. Alongside ordinary stuff like mince, some fish and sausages/bacon, you'll always have a choice of main meal and it won't all be lentils.

Always check out the multibuy offers. You'll discover the ones that really work for you, making the shop a whole lot easier and better value.

The one thing you CANNOT do, in my extensive experience, is think "Oh, that looks nice!" and chuck it in your basket. Think "That looks nice, can I find it cheaper or make it myself for less?"

It's fine 🤗 Off to investigate what the hell I categorised as 'non-grocery'!!

You are rich, some folk have less than that to pay their bills from along with shopping, hair cuts, clothes, birthdays, emergencies etc.

£150 a week on food is a lot for 2 people. You can easily only pay half of that and still eat very well. It’ll feel hard to start with but you’ll get used to it and then when wages increase, it’ll feel amazing!

In answer to your question £1,000 is plenty. You’re just used to having more, so it feels hard. You can easily budget for that amount.

What is this thing you call "weekly wine". (I'll blame it on being Scottish 🤣

My full monthly income isn’t even £1000!

Do you have a partner or get any benefits?