Can we survive like this for long? (I've namechanged for this)

[pennypincher]

Would appreciate some opinions please? I've recently gone back to work, DH is staying at home with DS. I am on just over £20k a year. Out of that we have to cover mortgage, council tax, utility bills and household/life insurance which come to around £800. Then there's food, running the car which we need, DH's credit cards (minimum payments), clothes for DS, absolute minimum work clothes for me, cat care, DH's CSA payments (has to pay minimum even though not earning), DS nursery for one day a week (so DH can try to find part time work) - all out of the remaining £500 or so (including tax credit and child benefit). I can't afford new casual clothes, shoes or a haircut; we hardly ever go out or have takeaways; don't know when we'll next get a holiday, etc. God forbid that the boiler breaks down or anything.

The last bit about not affording clothes, shoes, haircuts, etc. has been pretty standard for the last few years but now I've got DS to think of as well. We've got to be able to get things for him. I'm trying to cut down on the food bills as much as poss, but need to make sure DS especially gets a good balanced diet. I make all his food from scratch and most of ours.

This isn't a whinge, I just wanted to put over the situation and get opinions on how sustainable this is in the long term in case DH doesn't have much luck with part time work. Also some advice on money saving would be great. Thank you!

Pennypincher, have you a spare room you could rent out for weeks here and there for foreign exchange students? That can pay well.

Has your dh considered market research telephone interviewing? It also could be a job where his management background would be a positive bonus. I assume he used to present his work to people?

You can do it evenings and weekends, from an office (so you don't use your own phone) or from home. You can get paid a set rate, not commission. I used to do this many years ago when when I was a student. I assume things haven't changed as I still see plenty of ads for it. It was a very flexible source of income and as you were an anonymous voice on the phone, age, appearance etc were not important. Lots of resting actors and musicians did it with me, as well as retired people.

I used to mark exam papers but depends what he does as to whetehr that's a possibly. It used to pay for our hire of a little holiday cottage in France each summer.

A tip from an employer on the job front, when I get Cvs from people who sound great but have obviously had high powered jobs before, I just think "No, they wont want the kind of job/salary we are offering" and dont go any furthur. If however it is accompanied by a letter stating that they realise that this job is more menial/lower paid but it is something they have always wanted to do/fits in with partners hours etc, then they get the same consideration as everyone else.
might help

My sister got cleaning jobs at one point despite her degree from Oxford. She also used to go into companies at night for a computer cleaning company. I remember her showing me the proper way to clean a computer.

Miggy - that's very helpful thanks. I will pass that one on. It's always difficult to know how to get that over to an employer. Worrying that you would make assumptions without that letter though - some people are a bit reticent about going into that kind of detail in an initial approach.

Their is only so much you can penny pinch without it affecting your sanity, your family really does need a 2nd income. until something suitable comes up anything is better than nothing - be it bar work, babysitting or market research. good luck !

hi pp, have read through the posts and just wanted to let you know what little tips I use, somethings have probably been said before but here goes:

my dh works full time, I'm the sahm but I work at our local asda weds/thurs 8pm-2am and fri 8pm-3am and I come out with about £500 every 4 weeks, when applying for the job i told them the hours and days I wanted to work and i got them exactly, plus we get 10% discount instore and they do plenty of double discount days too

i always send tips and anecdotes into weekly magazines, i get paid about £20 for each

i cut out all coupons from magazines and packaging

i sell ds clothes and toys, dvd's and music on ebay

carboots are excellent for buying baby clothes, very cheap and hardly worn

also we are thinking about investing in a bread maker, ds is going through a bread stage and its working out very expensive

yes, i'd say have a look at a few shopping receipts and get a feel for what percentages you spend on different things. there was a phase a couple of years ago when i calculated i was spending 15% of our food budget on yogurt (and our food budget was at least double the national average then). I bought a yogurt maker...

We didn't buy orange juice for exampel for about 10 years because it was so much more expensive than tap water.

ok, i haven't read all the posts but enough I think to get the flavour! if you like animals why not think about some kind of animal related work he could do to top up the income? dog walking, pet 'sitting' - i mean more like going to people's houses to feed their cats while they are away. he could set up himself, advertise at the vets?, or contact someone who does it locally to see if they ever need any extra people? sorry to get hung up on the pets angle but it's just a thought. it gets him out of the house and he could take the ds.
otherwise do check out debt free 2007, lots of tips and moneysaving expert. we are /have all been there at one time or another and support from others really helps.

Hi PP,

DH and I are in a similar situation to your in fact worse. DH is the sole earner and he brings in £16,800 per annum so we apparently earn too much to get any financial help but earn too little to survive. We have a mortgage, loan and credit card payments that have to be made each month that take up every penny of DH's wage. So the council tax (£103) food, bills etc etc all have to come out of the tax credits or my overdraft.

We don't have contents or life unsurance and we certainly don't put DS into childcare at ur own expense. I am at college 2 days a week so when I am there the college pay for DS to go to a childminders if they were to stop paying I would have to cancel college, never mind having a day to myself.

I am looking for evening work but because I don't drive it is a little difficult, I am hopefull about an evening office job that I am sending an application ion for tomorrow so fingers crossed.

Does your DH drive, if he does then he will get work easily. He could walk into a fast food shop and get a delivery drivers job easily and no childcare would be needed bacuse it's evening/night work but it just depends on whether he will do that kind of work. There is also carework and loads of it.

Please excuse my spelling