Sick of having plenty of money on paper but not enough to actually live!

[MrsMop2026]

We get around £3,000 a month on paper that is loads.
Shouldn’t be struggling at all but why am I always struggling to put clubcard vouchers & pennies together at the end of the month.

Rent - £1,200
gas & elec - £300 (paying back some debt)
council tax - £150
water - £35 (on a special tarfif)
petrol - £200 (but obviously that’s now going up and god knows what that will come too - and yes I use my free bus pass where I can and no I can’t use less)
cats - £200 (i have four so it’s expensive Im trailing the cheaper supermarkets litter at £2.99 for 10 litres atm so hoping to get this down and next I will try cheaper cat food)
Food - £600 (cant get this cheaper ones diabetic other has AFRID)

leaving me with £260 a month but that just seems to go so quickly with school uniform, school trips, the occasional day out. :(

I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do expensive days out, takeaways are a luxury in this house.
It is so stressful isn’t it? How does everyone else manage?

Well hopefully the diabetes can be gotten under control. 🤞I know one girl who was diagnosed when she younger than ten and uses one of those monitors on her arm.

It is under control, a1c is really good but that’s because it requires a lot of monitoring to get to that point. Diabetes requires 100s of mirco decisions a day not easy to put that on a child. Even adults experience burn out with it.

Doesn't matter if it's under control or not... My son didn't have an Asthma attack since 2023. However, as a parent you must provide Asthma plan +medication for ANYONE who will look after him "just in case". Nursery/school have forms on board in classroom for everyone with Asthma, Diabetes, etc. I am asked to assist him at every school trip as no one wants an extra headache.
It's not that easy as it looks like. You can't hide diagnosis.....

I wasn't down playing it. I just said hopefully it can be gotten under control but obviously they will stay have diabetes. My son is still autistic just because he might have a good day. If this is the child that does not currently receive DLA I certainly think they have a good case to apply for it

You want the assessment period to be nowhere near your wages going in or once a year it might clash if 2 wages fall in the assessment period and wipe uc out

so best to avoid 26/2 depending when get paid

def apply for uc , you may get help with rent - if you are entitled to it you won’t get it - but sure you will get some uc esp with dla being claimed

tho do agree with saying one adult working isn’t enough - I get you can’t leave your children alone /have medical issues but maybe the non working parent can look for evening/night work or weekend work - you mentioned uber

bar work - cleaning offices - waitress - delivery driving - 24hr supermarkets - care homes etc

I really, really wouldn't cancel the insurance! Definitely not for the 3 younger healthy cats. They can need urgent, lifesaving vet care out of the blue and having that insurance could easily save you 5K+ or having to make heartbreaking decisions. Happened to so many people i know. Maybe shop around for cheaper insurance deals..Look to increase income elsewhere through benefits and DP trying to get evening work like you say.

I know this sounds harsh but if they had urgent medical problem like cancer persay I would put them to sleep.
I’ve seen first hand a dog owner keeping their dog alive just for their own sake and they have to express the dog just for it to urinate I couldn’t do that to my cats it’s cruel to keep them alive in certain circumstances like that. As for road accidents, the two that go out do not leave my garden (had a bad experience where a teenager poured a can of coke over them and put them off) and the other two are indoors. i am going to put £75 away each month for vet bills till Ive built up some savings for things like dental.

Yes I am off work today so will be getting the dreaded DLA form completed along with putting in a UC application. The diabetes is under control, but it’s not like autism where they have a good day and things go swimmingly it requires a lot of brain power to have a good day with diabetes or sheer dumb luck. It’s a disease that basically does whatever it wants to do, there is no two days the same. It’s hard to explain unless you have experience of type one yourself.

@MrsMop2026 Unfortunately you are right, unless you have to manage T1D or have experience of managing it, people wont understand it is a 24 hour job which like you say, isn't predictable day to day, litle things can impact management and requires lots of micro decisions, and is exhausting.

I'm glad you have had some support on this thread especially from people who understand and are going through the same thing. Please don't listen to the people with no experience trying to minimise the care you both do, or tell you as carers you must work more - you really don't.

I hope things get easier financially, and that the DLA award goes through quickly for you 💐

@MrsMop2026 what age is your diabetic child?

But no dogs, ever again. They break my heart. They are stupid loyal idiots, who get into your heart as puppies and at the end of twelve years tear it to pieces!

Just to say I put in a application for UC they are verifying things but seems I may actually be entitled to around £600-800 a month that we have been missing out on! Thank you for encouraging me to apply.

When it goes through and you have access to your journal, make sure you request the disabled child element and carers element and that it is back dated to the start of the DLA claim. It will go to a decision maker but should be approved.

People are crazy. Your rent isn’t that high - we pay £3000 mortgage!!

Good. Thats what it’s there for

And you will have an asset to leave to your kids or to sell and live off in years to come

Well that is a stupidly high mortgage as is the rent OP is paying.

I mean it’s all relative, my mortgage is 2k but we take home over 3x that.
1200 is high if your income is 3k…

Sorry, I was just trying to say that rents and mortgages are very high nowadays and £1200 doesn’t seem high for a family of four. Where I live, you can’t rent a small 3 bed detached for less than £2000.

It all depends where you live nowadays further south you go more expensive! We used to live in Hampshire and believe me my now rent is nothing in comparison. That said a Mortage you get a house to keep forever, rent nothing.

That’s good that you have put a claim in !
ensure that DLA and carers element is also on it.
if your child is on high rate DLA and they are the same sex you can say they need there own rooms based on care needs. Same if they are opposite sex but under 10.

She responded to this question earlier on in the thread - wish people would read the bloody updates before keeping on with the same things.

Oh that is good news! I bet you are pleased you started this thread - despite the number of posters keeping on haranguing you with the same points and not reading your updates!

Well presumably your earnings are a little higher than the OPs 🙄

This is excellent. This is what its for. That amount is transformative and give you breathing space.
You would be mad not to claim it.