Any one else just skint?

[LittlemissMama67]

Hello, I think I'm just looking for anyone who can relate so I don't feel so alone really? Anyone just always seem to be skint? My partner has a fairly way paid job £35,000 after tax. And I well don't I earn £500 a month, but we have 3 children and I basically work to pay for the car and the rent. Our rent is very cheap £300 a month because we're renting from family so we're very fortunate in that respect but even with £40,000 a year coming in we just always seem to be scraping the barrel. And im not trying to be like oh woe is me because I know a lot of people have it far worse and when I was a single mum my money didn't stretch as far as bills and we often ate not much. But now things are better and they're still so not okay 😳

my partner is paid weekly so we always know more is only a few days away, but he gets paid tommorow and I just had to scrape 4 separate bank accounts I have to send him £3 to get a meal deal while he's at work. What the hell is actually going on???

Despite what you’ve written, you clearly either have massive spending on luxuries or are just not budgeting properly.

You have a very decent disposable income, what is it going on?

Biggest comment that jumps out at me OP is you said “ have £xxx to do what we like with “

sorry , that’s the root of your problem.
all of your income should be accounted for and have a “pot” that it should go to on arrival .
at the moment , I would suggest every left over penny goes in to savings for a while .
it’s not responsible to not have savings when you are admitting some weeks you have extra money .

once you have a savings buffer ..
continue to save but also have a budget pot for fun / days out and stick to it .

Having financial discipline really does pay off .
(for families like yours where there is enough overall money - unfortunately some don’t have any options )

I did this from my first job at 16 and still do it now that I’m a high earner .
No one knows what the future holds .. better to have something in reserve .

UC goes off your salary after tax and Ni and pension are paid out so it may be worth doing a calculator to see if you could get anything. A lot of people say they can’t get anything and then are pleasantly surprised when they do. Also child benefit is worth having too.

do you have a separate bills account? Pay into there a set amount each week and leave the card. i used to do this when i got paid weekly. I find it much easier to budget monthly.

yup I definitely think you need to start seeing the money on. Monthly basis rather than weekly despite his pay schedule

on the weeks you have 300 left instead of just blowing it save it and work out your disposable income based on what it is in a month

It's only a small thing buy often makes big difference to people's budgeting. If he's paid weekly why are you repaying your loan and rent monthly.

Eother ask bank & landlord to change it or at least pay the weekly amount into a savings account do you have it there untouched.

It's post tax and rent is very cheap. Not too bad IMO. Not millions, but something should stay in the account at the end of the month.

Do you receive DLA and Carers Allowance for your autistic child?

No I don't get any of that because my daughter is not yet fully diagnosed. But she does. She has a SEN woman from the portal team come to the house to see her regularly, I don't want to sound as though I'm self diagnosing my child but she will be diagnosised with autism without a shadow of a doubt. Everyone that's seen her in a professional setting agrees but she can't be diagnosed untill her intergrated assesment.

the other problem is that my partner does price work as a tradesman. So some weeks his pay is vastly more or less than the week before so it's difficult to plan. Sometimes he will book in 60+ hours which should in theory bring home £670 pounds a week but he will be counter charged or not paid for work he's done. And then if the works not there he will get less.

the most he earns a week would be £450
and the most he's brought home a week was £1000

the £1000 is so rare though so take that with a pinch of salt. I'm just trying to say it can be unpredictable.

I meant least was £450

She doesn't need a diagnosis to claim DLA. If she needs more care than a typical child of her age you could well be entitled

Agree with @thebestsellingshow you should looking into DLA - I am not suggesting this as an answer to your money issues - however it is an entitlement should she qualify.
I think that with 3 children and little prospect of you earning more you have to be more careful with your spending and accept that if you want to do things like have 3 children (who will cost more and more) and save for a deposit then some months you will be just breaking even.