to ask how much money you have after all your bills

[galaxyplease]

left each month, which you consider makes you a middle income family??

After our bills and food have been paid for, we have about £1000 left over every month.

We are lucky, we don't have a mortgage because we bought our apartment outright, so we just have to pay for food, insurance, council tax and the utility bills. We aren't putting anything into savings each month at the moment because we have almost the value of our apartment again in savings already.

Actually, I say we're lucky, but the only reason we're this comfortable is because dh's dad passed away and left him everything, and we'd much rather he was still with us.

violethill- ok so I forgot that my bulidings ins is part of my factoring fee (£17pcm)

as to contents ins- there's nothing in here worth nicking!
(my laptop's always with me)

There are 3 big heavy doors between me and any potential thieves and all my windows face out onto a busy road so not much chance of using a ladder to get stuff out.

If there was a fire, we would have to pay out a fair bit to replace everything but it is less than what I've saved by not paying contents insurance for 10 years!

Daisymiller - you give £400 per month to charity? When you're saving for a house?? Really??! I'm sure they appreciate your kindness but you could reduce that and have your deposit a lot sooner.

Catandfiddle - your gran sounds ace!

I'll be in a better position financially when I've paid off the debt that my ex kindly left me with (thanks tw*t) but that will be at least another 18-24 months. Until then its hand to mouth I'm afraid.

students do get free dental

No Riven, but I think some can get exemptions but it is means tested on the parents unless they are 'independent students. (I think.)

Cuba I don't see having my own home as an essential . We donate to charities that provide life saving essentials, it is a no brainer really. If I wanted to make savings we could live somewhere smaller or eat cheaper food.

laurie-doesn't your buildings insurance cover these repairs?

and would it not be cheaper to get it permantely fixed/replaced, even if that means getting a loan?

Bugger all. DS is a money pit with his expensive hobby, and we're paying every spare penny off the mortgage. Roll on October 2010 when it's paid off.

I could well be wrong, but I think students only automatically get it if they are under 18 and in full time education, so many uni students don't get it. I think if she is being means tested on you for other things they may not be classing her as fully independent so she may get some help.

After mortgage and household bills we have approximately £520 left over. Essential fuel bills (to travel to work) are £250 a month out of that. Food budget is £60 a week, or £250 a month. So we have approximately £5 a week left over for luxuries.

So for people who have a fiver a week left over, how do you cope with unexpected expenses?

Imagine being mortgage free, i cannot envisage that happy day at all.

You should go, Riven, I ignored a filling for months because I'm too scared of dentists skint to pay £70 for a filling but it ended up getting infected & needed root canal work which was waaaaay more expensive.

Stitch i time saves nine and all that

After all bills, including insurance, food, petrol etc we have roughly £1400-£1500 to spend. We save £1100 of this and tbh not sure where the rest goes, i guess it is swallowed up with extra food costs (we set a budget of £350 a month but it often works out to be higher), and there is the inevitable cheque to write for kids swimming, gym, Brownie subs etc.

We also overpay our mortgage as dh is in a profession that retires early (60)and we want to pay off as much as we can now. Also think mortgage rates will rise (only think that from listening to Question Time on BBC1 on Thursday).

We don't spend loads on going out as such and rarely do takeaways, but do treat ourselves to decent steak meals at home. Have also switched from school meals to packed lunches as I don't think they represent good value. Don't spend loads on clothes either, my girls love a bargain from Ebay and so do I, in fact I am always shocked when I go shopping for real and baulk at the price of ladieswear. Was a different story pre marriage/kids/mortgage.

Students over the age of 18 or in advanced education (anything above NC or Advanced Higher here) have to pay for dental treatment. There is a form that they can fill in to have their income assessed to see if they can have an exemption, but that isn't much help if your dentist suddenly decides you need a filling or whatever. (My DS1 had to have an x-ray as part of his check up last time and we had to pay for that, that's why I know.)

When you have an unexpected emergency, you do without. I did without a washing machine for almost 6 months, while we scrimped and saved for a new one when mine broke down a couple of years ago. I washed for 7 of us by hand. When the cooker broke down, we did without for about 3 months. When we have things like the day my DS3 hurt his leg at BB and we had to take him to hospital in a taxi, I borrow money from my DS1 who has a scholarship because he was the poorest person accepted to St. Andrews uni in his year or DS2 who gets an EMA which he is supposed to be saving for college.

Unexpected expenses are my worst nightmare because we have no way to absorb them, unless we take the kids out of BB and GB so that we don't have to pay for those. I said that we have 150pounds left over, but in reality, we don't actually have anything because all of that is earmarked for stuff and everything has to be factored in. For example, now that I have paid for camp, I will start to save up for new BB and GB uniforms and capitations in September and then for the costs of the outward bound weekend that they do, then camp again. Add into that new hiking boots, running shoes and whatnot when their feet grow etc and it's an endless round of saving for BB.

Well, unexpected expenses.... our boiler went, we simply without hot water and heating for 7 months, when DC1 was 4-11 months, until we had enough to afford the first installment of the repair. There's not a lot else you can do really.

(My 3 student children have always had to pay for dental treatment over 4 - 5 years each of being a student - there is a long form you can complete for an assessment of poverty which may entitle you to it free. I remember one who looked at it had some savings so was not eligible. You pay once you're 19. My 3rd child was 18 right through his first year at univesrity because of when his birthday was so it was free. And student loan is counted as income. Also the form is very very long and complex)

YANBU but I have no idea why you would want to know.

Never worked it out really ...

£500 rent
£400 food
£200 for my eldest at uni
£100 Gas & Ele
£20 water
£60 mobiles
£70 kids clubs and after school clubs
£450 petrol
£90 phone/tv/BB
£40 dinner money
£150 community charge
£100 car & pet insurance

I save about £500 - 1k a month ...and are left with about another 1k ...goes on going out, eating out, birthdays, holidays etc...

I think it's because they do not live near work. It's the "on your bike" thing - to live somewhere cheap and drive to where the jobs are. I spent virtually nothing on petrol