I am not very good with money

[turquoiseamethyst]

There's my confession. I ignore matters pertaining to money because it scares me. I am reckless. I do not budget. I do not know HOW to budget.

I need to because I am now a single parent; soon to be ex-wife of a profligate earner and I need to tighten my belt.

So:

I have approximately £800 p/m in income from properties I let out.
On top of this I have CB for two, soon to be three, children.
And I have £800 from STBXH.

That should be more than enough. Here are the essentials:

CT - don't know how much this is. Need to check.
Other bills - same
Car insurance, when I've bought a car, petrol.
Food (obviously)
My 8 year old has music lessons, these cost £50 a week
We have animals. Lots of animals. 2 cats, 4 rabbits, chickens, a sheep and 3 ponies. Oh and fish.

I suppose I'm looking for hand-holding as I HATE HATE HATE dealing with money and finances but know I need to.

Well your priority is paying bills not upkeep of ponies. They must be expensive.

First rule of budgeting: know your outgoings. Find out.
Does your XH pay your mortgage?
£50 a week on music lessons??

Council tax - you can find out what this will cost when you know what band your new property will be in. You would get 25% discount as only one adult.

Bills - gas, electric, water, insurances for house and car - also car tax/MOT/rescue/servicing.

TV licence

Does your 1600 plus CB need to cover housing costs too?

I think you'll struggle on that if you have to look after all those animals. I'm thinking more vet bills and unexpected costs rather than upkeep although that must be a chunk of change.

And yy £50 a week on music and three ponies - you will likely need to prioritise first of all.

If your only income is £800 and the other £800 is child maintenance you will be entitled to tax credits of approx £160 a week for three dc as maintenance isn't classed as income. Also a 25% discount on council tax.

Okay.. well done for realising you need some help.

Can you log into your bank account online and make a list of everything bill like that has gone out in one month? This will tell you what's going out and whether you have enough money to cover the basics.

We can go from there... don't be afraid. You're making the first steps.

I must admit that on that income you're going to struggle to pay for music lessons for that amount and looking after 3 horses but work out the essentials first - bills and what is left over - and you can see from there.

Your DC's music lessons are £50 per week? That's a lot for an 8 yr old. That would cover 4 half hour lessons round here.

Budgeting is really quite simple: add up all your outgoings and all your incomings. Then make sure you aren't spending more than you receive. If you are, you need to drop something. You can decide what to drop based on your own priorities, but some things are obviously non negotiable, like rent, CT, electricity, food.

What is difficult is a) having the willpower to stick to the budget I.e. not allowing yourself little spontaneous extras which you might have got used to if your income is usually higher, and b) working out how much of a slush fund you need for emergencies. With all those animals, and properties to maintain, I am guessing you would need a good chunk of emergency money.

£1600 per month isn't a huge amount. You would need to be strict with yourself.

We don't have a mortgage (or a TV!)

The three ponies are Welsh ponies (for anyone horsey, essentially that means they are pretty hardy and used to British environments! Luckily they live here so I don't have to pay livery costs. It's hay, some feed, and rasping their hooves sometimes.)

Not sure re tax credits as I have "savings" in the form of property - this is an ongoing "debate." At the moment I'm trying to assume that I won't get them then if I do it's extra.

Income is approx £2458 a month not £1600, you will be more than ok op.

How do you make that out Soon?

If you are entitled to tax credits why wouldn't you claim them? You need to contact the tax credits office and get them to send you a form and they will work out the rest. We couldn't survive without our tax credits - we receive £120 a week and use this for our weekly budget for food and other essentials.

Go on the "turn to us" website and put your details in and see what you are entitled to.

Ah, right. No mortgage is good, and Welsh mountains also good. But you might still need a vet sometimes.

I have found that withdrawing an exact amount from the bank, then dividing it up into different categories e.g £100 for food, then only paying in cash can really help you get a feel for his much you are paying for things, and help you spin it out if you're running short. Put each category's cash into a different jar. If there is any left at the end if the month, move it into a savings account that us your emergency fund.

Fairy I have and have been told I'm not entitled to claim although this seems to be in some dispute.

Thanks Well

Are you wanting a list of things you will need to budget for?

Council tax
Water
Electric
Gas/heating oil
Buildings/contents insurances
Tv licence
Landline /broadband
Mobile phone
Life insurance/critical illness cover
Music lessons
Hobbies/clubs/softplay/toddler groups for younger ones
Swimming
Eating out/takeaways
Your own personal socialising
Clothes/shoes/haircuts - all of you
Dentist (yourself)
Opticians - glasses/eye tests/contact lenses
Prescriptions - you wont have to pay for yourself for at least a year due to mat exemption, but otc medicines even Calpol isn't cheap!
School trips/fayres/charity donations/non uniform days etc
Fuel/public transport costs
Car maintenance
Car tax, insurance, mot
FOOD AND GROCERIES
Nappies
Emergency savings fund
White goods replacement fund
Holidays
Christmas and birthday for the DC
Other Christmas spending

That's what's on my budget, anyway

How many lessons is £50 pw, could they be group rather than individual which would be cheaper? Single person's discount for council tax should reduce that bill. Any chance you could get paid work either before the baby comes or after ml?

Thanks, that is very helpful :)

Trying to Lizs but it isn't going to be easy as DD is only going to be 15 months when DC3 arrives.

The music lessons CAN be reduced but I'd really rather not - it would upset DS.

If you do qualify for any income related benefits it could open the door to accessing other services such as a funded early years place once dd is 2 or free training when you are ready to go back to work.

I doubt it - STBX is on a high, high income and I have a degree.

Maintenance is disregarded when it comes to benefits like tax credits etc. I receive maintenance from my ex and it is never used as income.

If there is some dispute about the tax credits what is the situation now? Have you submitted a claim and been told no?

I think you will find if your income is only £800 from the property then you will be entitled to more than you think. Maybe I am wrong though!

I agree with making a list of everything you will have to pay towards.

Even allocate yourself a budget for things like clothes for you, clothes for children, school shoes, school trips, school lunches, misc fund for school unexpected costs like a gift for teacher leaving.

Group things together so you can see more clearly which things are priority, such as housing related costs, which things you can cut back on.

For the next couple of weeks, make a note of every penny you spend. What you spend it on, who it was for (or what category it was for). This is painful but is necessary to get a good view of what you are spending money on now.
Remember to include all existing direct debits and standing orders plus any regular payments from your bank account and credit card, such as subscriptions (Netflix for example).

Look at what storage space you have for bulk buys. This could be for things related to home, or the animals. Is your hay supplier reliable, cost effective. Cheapest is not always best, you need reliability of supply and of suitbale quality, you need enough on immediate storage but need to take account of the space it takes up and risks involved (such as fire risk with hay).

If you have recently split from your partner, then try to keep things consistent for your children but also be realistic. Keeping things like music lessons is fine if it can be afforded. Make oldest child realise that to keep things like music lessons there will be cut backs in other areas.

Things you can cut back on will be very specific to your family situation, so only you will know what you can reduce and what you can not. So making lists of all the things you pay for, will pay for, is a starting point to getting to grips with your cashflow and budgeting.

Theres 2 main things - know how much you need to live on each month (by listing expenditure as above and finding out the total), and know what you will have coming in each month. I know its not as easy as saying, oh I will have £2000 or whatever coming in on this same day each month, but if you are already alone you need to apply for tax credits now and find out one way or another if you can get it
. I don't think they can backdate your claim very far, if at all, so claim now. It wont cause any problems if they refuse your claim, just always be honest with them about the situation and they cant ever be in a position to say to you, that you owe them back an overpayment, if that is what you are worrying about perhaps?

And the.council tax discount should be applied from now if you are already the only adult living in the property, that's 25% off the bill I think?

If it were me, I'd prefer to reduce my bills upfront than scramble - so I'd sell the ponies, give away/sell some of the other animals and cancel the piano lessons - you can always reinstate them later on and tell the dc it's temporary to see how things go financially. These things can be character building, no one needs piano lessons. Also, the property income - is that maximised or can it be boosted in any way?