I am about to live off £100 per week

[FlatBrokeForTheFirstTime]

Ok here goes. Please don't judge. I will skim over my background. Divorced and now I am dealing with a lifestyle change like no other. My sons are at Eton.

I have a little house in Wiltshire with a mortgage of £50k. I have a tiny flat in London that I rent out to make some income. I have a crap job and my pay is £30k. What none of my friends know is that I rent a bedsit off a guy near Paddington for £200 p week. After all of my outgoings I have £100 a week to live off.
Out of this I have to buy food, petrol, anything the boys want (so hence I am looking forward to them going back to school so that I don't have to buy them food too) Sounds bad, but that is the evil truth.
I don't expect pity, but I have enough clothes etc from my married life to get by, and they are still in date.
HOW on earth can I do this? Do I take out £100 in cash each week and put that credit card aside, out of my purse, for absolute emergencies? My maintenance from my ex has stopped. I don't get child maintenance as he lives overseas. He does give the boys pocket money and is generous to them.

I don't have a boyfriend. I am just on my own, trying to make ends meet. Apart from my mortgage have no other debts.
My biggest fear is never being able to afford another foreign holiday with my children.
How can I get out of this and improve my situation? What do I eat to make sure I am living within my budget? I think it must be about £60 after petrol.

Late to the party so apologies. I think the car is an essential in the OP's situation. Rural Wiltshire or the centre of town are not the most economical places. I would make that car work for you OP, by doing a big Lidl/Aldi shop on the way to or from London at the weekend so you have lots of cheap healthy food to keep your boys happy and healthy. I'm sure you know all this,but homemade flapjacks, cakes etc made with 42p flour and the free fruit that's falling of the trees. Also soup as a main meal (with homemade bread) rather than Steak and chips on a week night supper.(In fact I would stop buying steak). Macaroni cheese is filling and cheap to make, if the boys like meat do a beef joint on one , then cottage pie/ beef and ale pie the following day all bulked out with loads of local veg (carrots/pototos/greens) it is labour intensive but much more economical than buying individual portions of meat.I bet that's what the boys get fed at school anyway.Other cheap meals in this house are sausage stew (I make it spicy), pasta/pesto (home made), home made pizza, butternut squash or spinach risotto. Things are not as tight as they were here, but now I know I can feed the family (2 adults a 9yo and 11yo) for £40-50 pw I resent paying more. In our case the extra pays for the dcs extra curricular activities (£250 pcm) but with them being at Eton I would guess that's covered.

It sounds like you are doing a great job and I second the others in that you could cut this budget right down when it's just you, could you bulk cook at the weekend in Wiltshire then bring freezer meals to London for the week as it's difficult to cook economically for one(again using the car). Also ingredients for packed lunches and I would even bring fruit (I am horrified how much fruit costs in tescos metro or sainsbury's local). Remember OP this is not forever, I don't know how old your boys are but they will grow up and then you will just have yourself to support.

You say your car 'isn't worth much' but it must be worth a few £k and be expensive to fuel, tax, insure and maintain, being a big Audi.

If you sold it and bought a small sensible car like a Skoda Fabia or a Honda Civic, you will release some capital and save on running costs.

Have looked looked at minimising all your costs? (gas/electric/insurance etc) - if you haven't done this before, you can save loads. Have a look on the budgeting section of moneysavingexpert for a step by step 'take a day to save 1000s' guide. Even if you only saved £20-30 a week, it would increase your budget for food and other costs significantly.

If you saved £20 per week, you could probably afford a holiday abroad every couple of years or so, so hardly 'your children never having another foreign holiday'. However, you would also have to look differently at what sort of holiday it would be - I imagine that you have previously been long haul, or skiing, or luxury resorts. This wouldn't be possible, but if you booked independently, you would be able to get an apartment and budget flights, and still have a relaxing week in the sun.

I think your main problem is, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, is that you aren't used to thinking like someone who has to live on an average income and needs to budget, hence your comments of a £30k salary job being 'crap' (it is actually well above the median salary and also above the mean average salary, which is skewed by a minority of very high earners). I bet your car isn't what most people would call a banger either.

The car thing isn't as cut and dry as changing to a more efficient one. With older, cheaper cars it can be a case of better the devil you know. The OP knows her cars history, knows how reliable it is.

Please don't sell your properties unless and until you know you absolutely have to.

I think it's great you're considering how to live on less now, rather than carrying on as you were and realising you're up to your eyes in debt later. I had a drastic change in circumstances a few years ago which took DH and 1 from having £1k a month spare to being in debt every month. I didn't face it head-on and am now in so much debt it's scary. Well done for not carrying on regardless.

You already know from what's been said before that you can make it work with £100 but that doesn't really help you make sense of priorities. Budgeting software can help you see your money broken down into chunks and help you form your priorities. The £100 is obviously a 'chunk' but could it be more if you say switched suppliers etc etc? I use YNAB and that lets me 'see' my money properly (iykwim).

I'm not sure I follow the maths here.
You rent out a one bed flat in London, for more than you pay in rent ( about 400 pounds more, at a guess.)
You also get 30k from working, plus child benefit, and possibly tax credits. Your children are fed at school, and you don't say that you're paying the school fees - presumably your ex is?
If you are living in London could you not get extra cash by renting out the house ( airbnb?) During term time? Or get an evening job while your children are at school? Or get a job near your house so you don't have to incur rent?
I think you should be able to manage on 100 pounds pw if that is after bills.
Its only VB yourself to feed. If you are not used to living von a budget, then bear in mind that eating and drinking out is the quickest way to spend your money. I reckon to buget 25 pw per person for food and household stuff, which leaves you plenty of change. You can shop at aldi or your local ( non organic) market.
The hardest thing is that your children will be mixing with other children from very well off backgrounds, so may feel a little hard done by, but it won't kill them to know your financial position, and understand that things have changed. I hope they appreciate how fortunate they are.and it won't hurt you or them not to have foreign holidays. Though if their dad is abroad won't they be visiting him?

How much spending money are the children given?

Car journeys you can generate extra income via blablacar.co.uk or you could sell your car & join a car share scheme, where you only pay for the time that you use the car & I think no maintanance costs

If you are working in London do you have to pay to park your car if so how much & do you pay congestion charge ?

It seems odd that you rent out your flat, but you in turn rent a bedsit. Why dont you rent a cheaper room in a shared house ?

Increase the rent of the flat that you are renting out

Why dont you live in your own flat & rent out the sofa. If you rented to someone who works nights you would see little of one another

A room in the Wiltshire house could be rented when you are not there eg someone working in the area could rent 4 nights a week & go to their own home the other days
Rent out the car park space ?
Rent out the loft space ?

Could you release equity out of one of the properties to decrease the mortgage on one of the properties ?

Do not auto renew any bills check for cheaper deals using comparison websites

Compared to most people you are "asset rich", you need to find ways of making your assets work harder for you

Moving closer to Windsor, suggest check right move

Properties near Windsor are expensive !