To think I must be overspending somewhere?

[STANTER]

I struggle for money. I'm a single mum. I earn £1600 a month. I live with my dad and give him £300 rent per month. Because he is my parent, universal credit won't help with this. My son's childminder fees are between £500-£600 a month. I have debts that I pay off at approx £200 per month. I get £50 per week from son's dad who doesn't see him and about £70 universal credit. Then the usual stuff, phone bill, fuel bills, food, nappies, etc. I am really struggling. Would you struggle if you were in the same position and on the same wage as me? Or am I overspending? I don't buy any luxuries. I don't know where it goes...

Didn't mean to post in general health. I've asked for it to be moved

I think you need to go through your bank statements and work out exactly what your costs are as a starting point.

Agreed you need to see exactly what your spending on. Cafes, snacks out, coffees out can eat away at your budget alarmingly.

How long will you have to pay childcare and debts for?

You need to write a budget and write down everything you are spending.
I am on less than you and its tight but doable.

Contact CAB to see if you are receiving the correct benefits. They will also be able to tell you if it's more beneficial to work less hours.

As others have said, write down everything and see what and where you are spending your money.

Look at your phone bill and it's you can change it to a lower monthly contract.

Meal plan and shop for only what you need.

Childcare is about another 2 years as my son is only 1. Debts around 4 years in total. Will sit down properly later and go through my statements

Your income seems to be around £1,950 a month. Wages, child benefit, maintenance and UC. Your main outgoings are £900 a month for rent and childcare. So you have £1,050 a month left for phone, petrol, food etc. How much is your debt each month? Because £1,050 a month for phone, petrol and food seems more than doable unless you have a crazy commute and go through hundreds a month in fuel

Sorry just saw that your debts are £200 a month. So this leaves you £850 a month for fuel, phone, food etc. Seems reasonable?

Childcare - £600, Rent - £300, Fuel - £100, Debt - £200, Car finance (which my ex used to pay and I am now stuck with) - £96, I'm in court proceedings at the moment so am occasionally having to pay for solicitor letters etc so I guess that makes things slightly worse, I pay my car insurance monthly as couldn't afford it as a one off payment, then the rest goes on food, and other things we need.

You have £5/600 disposable income for you and a baby, that’s more than enough, it doesn’t cost much to feed the two of you.
Definitely write down everything you spend and that’ll give you a picture of where it’s going.

Are universal credit paying for the childcare?

@solomummy no they aren't. I get anywhere from £0-£70 from universal credit but it's usually £0

I think it's the solicitor letters that are doing it. Hopefully it'll be better once court is over.

Have you put in claims for the childcare? They may well.pay 85% of the fees.

Look back over your bank statements for the last 6 months. What are non essentials and what are essential but not regular (solicitor fees).
When will your debts be gone?
It’s plenty to be living on.

@solomummy I have, but I earn too much. If I dropped my hours I would actually be better off but it would damage my career and I don't know if I can risk that at this point in my life and after studying so hard to get here.

Yes, you’re over spending. As others have said go through your bank statements

Or instead, take out £70 in cash from your account & that’s for the week, keep every receipt and at the end of the week see where the money went.

Financially you’re in a good position, very low housing & utilities and in a couple of years your outgoings will reduce dramatically as nursery fees disappear

So I make that £1000 a month after rent. Yes I think you may be overspending you should be able to live and save off that.
Make a list of all expenses and see where you can cut back.

Telly- do you have an expensive package?
Phone - do you have a posh phone on 20/30 quid contract?
Have you done u switch (or similar) on fuel?
Do you buy a lot of brands?
Any expensive habits?

These are easy things to chip away at to start.

On paper it seems like you have loads leftover tbh. You need to write down every single direct debit you have coming out.

How much is your phone bill pcm? Car tax? Car repairs or anything like that?

You can definitely be saving a good few hundred per month. Do a income v outgoings spreadsheet (or write on paper) and work out a budget for food / petrol etc. Then work out your monthly savings and transfer it to your bank account on pay day. Don’t wait till the end of the month. Check your bank every few days to keep on track

Do you claim childcare costs through UC ?

A quick calculation shows that if childcare costs are included in UC you should be getting around £367 a month UC ?