Husband leaving, need advice on v tight budget pls

[Raver84]

Evening
Looking for some help and ideas.
My husband is moving to a rental in march.
We are in the process of divorce and living together is no longer manageable.
I am staying in the house, it's on the market, until it sells.
After every bills and the mortgage I will have 400 left for all food, clothes etc, petrol car repairs I have not included. I own car outright have nothing on finance but a small credit card about 500.
The total amount is made up of his maintenance for the kids., child benefit and my wages.
I am worried. I don't think I can claim UC I'm a ft student and my loan was calculated against his earnings so I get a v small maintence loan.
I work 30 hours per week and no chance of increasing as I'm doing all home schooling
I have 4 kids 10 to 3.
Please can you help me with how I can make 400 work until I sell the house. I dont really spend any petrol at the mo as working from home.
Please offer any advise or tell me I will be ok

Will ring water Co too bill is huge as 6 of us right now on a meter. I think the meter only works as a savind for families of 4 or something otherwise its better to be on rated

Could you get a lodger? You can earn something like £7500 pa tax free under the Rent a Room scheme and it’s usually allowed under a regular residential mortgage.

Check rates for your area on the Spare Room website.

Also worth looking like Monday to Thursday or Monday to Friday lodger (you can specify on the Spare Room website where they are there for work or study so don’t bring things into the home aside from clothes for the week and are registered for council tax at their main residence.

@DuaLipaSuction

Great advice mint but I'm not sure about the water meter? Would it be worth the OP doing that if there are 5 of them?

No. Don't get a water meter OP. Ask the water company if there's any discount for those on a low income and see if you qualify.

Porridge oats and potatoes are the foods that fill you up the cheapest way without being unhealthy. Buy a sack of potatoes and large bag unbranded porridge. Cheese sandwiches too, family size blocks of cheese, add a little salad if there's anything left over.

If you're doing salad with a meal get the separate ingredients and cut it up yourself, not a bag/tub salad. Pizza can be stretched to two portions by cutting in half and adding salad.

Frozen or tinned veg so you don't waste anything by it going off.

One tin soup, one tin mixed veg (drained), in a bowl and stir, 3 1/2 min in the microwave, split into two portions and add a couple slices of bread to each, makes a cheap meal.

Rice boiled with water can be put in soup to bulk it out too or added to a meal instead of potatoes. Home made rice pudding is a cheap and filling dessert. Boil the rice then simmer until soft, use 50/50 milk water (plenty), stirring constantly, add jam or sugar, serve.

Bake cakes, much cheaper than buying ready made, cook a pizza in the oven at the same time.

Get your washing done early and on the line by 9am if it's dry, especially if there's any sun or breeze it'll be dry by dark or 3/4 dry if there's no sun or breeze. T-shirt under jumper and vest for a base layer. Only wash your jumpers and jeans if they're dirty/smelly/1 week worn, whichever happens first.

Watch TV in the dark.

Hot water bottles in the beds, an extra blanket on top and only put the radiator on in bedroom half hour before going to bed, to take the chill off the room.

Humans lose a lot of heat through their heads so hoodies help. Blankets on sofas to put over yourselves makes a big difference. Look on Facebook selling pages for piles of them going cheap. Keep doors closed and only heat the living room, and the bathroom long enough to dry off the towels after use.

Plan your car journeys so you're going in eg a triangle or square round the roads, not going out then home several times per day. Saves miles.

Stock up on reduced sticker 10p loaves of bread and freeze them until you need them. You can toast it from frozen if there's no time to wait for it to defrost. Freeze reduced meat and fish too.

Blankets on sofas to put over yourselves makes a big difference. Look on Facebook selling pages for piles of them going cheap.

I'm in the sofa under 2 now

Get clothes off Facebook sales pages, bags of them for free or £10 etc. Check out your charity shops when they reopen. I've got one that sells all items for £1 each including shoes.

Books from the library, some do CDs and DVDs too for a small rental fee.

Check out free to attend local festivals/events on community pages online or your local paper or community notice board. Free entertainment for the kids. Cheap bicycles off Facebook for £20. Football in the park. Cinema on 2-for-1 night for a birthday treat and take your own popcorn from the supermarket.

DuaLipaSuction me too!

You will be able to get maintenance loan recalculated, get in touch with them. Also you can get UC but they reduce the amount they give you £1 for £1 so you are more penalised than if it was earned income. However they do have a disregard amount ( I believe it is around £110 pm) so definitely worth applying for and yes you won't be needing to pay any council tax after he has moves out. Hopefully taking these adjustments into account you will have enough to get through to the end of your degree. Good luck x

If you haven’t already you could try applying for your uni’s ‘hardship fund’ or similar.

My dh got made redundant when our ds was at university. He automatically qualified for a bursary from the uni and he was able to borrow the full amount on his maintenance loan.

Switch energy suppliers? That could reduce your bills a bit.

Go SIM only for your mobile?

Cancel any subscriptions, gym memberships, anything like that? (My friend was a me

As well as blankets on the sofa I always use my dressing gown, like an old fashioned house coat, and a scarf. DO NOT use a scarf for sleeping though, V high risk of strangulation.

To help reduce bills unplug anything that isn’t in use, lots of things draw a small amount of power, like a computer on stand by. So things like an electric kettle, microwave, electric oven etc.

Food, add red lentils - they cook right down, to anything like casserole/chilli/bolognese. If you cook chilli/chicken casserole/pie/shepherds pie, halve the meat and double the beans. Sausages/chicken etc, chop them and they go much further. I use 4 sausages for 4 adults by doing this, increase the potatoes/rice and veg. Same with eggs, scramble 3 eggs instead of poach/fry 4 eggs.

A whole chicken is better value than individual portions and thighs/drumsticks are cheaper than breast fillets.

If the DC eat half an apple slice off the side they haven’t bitten and use it for a desert, crumble or cake.

Tinned fruit can be added to rice pudding as suggested up thread, or baked with oats a la Cooking on A Bootstrap/Girl Called Jack. Small tin of mandarins, small tin of pineapple, use the juice/syrup, mix with oats and bake. That’s delicious and filling.

If your STBXH isn't paying towards the mortgage then you need to calculate his equity from the point he stopped contributing, this was around a year in my case, I got a valuation shortly after he left and made sure he didn't benefit from my mortgage payments, it wasn't a huge amount but made me feel better. H

Also, don't underestimate how much less you'll spend on food etc. with your STBXH out of the house, it made a significant difference for me. Also, while it's scary having all the responsibilities and making decisions on your own, you are in control and you can do things your own way, it gets easier.

What about the your ex OP will he pay anything towards your children?

Hi OP

I echo other posters suggestions

Check out the waterside scheme through your water supplier. It's a national scheme for those on slow income and/ or have someone in the household with a condition that required more water usage.

C/tax: you will qualify for a full exemption due to full time student status. Income is irrelevant.

Apply for UC, you may qualify due to children's allowance x4 and an allowance as a lone parent. Child maintenance is disregarded in this calculation.

Shop around for the cheapest utility suppliers, mobile phone, broadband, insurance etc.

Sell things on eBay/ Facebook marketplace.

Don't give up your course. It will be worth it in the long run.

Best of luck

Sorry typo *watersure not waterside

Really sorry to hear that you've found yourself in a tight spot.
Tracking everything you spend, if you are not already do it can be a really good way of seeing where you can tighten the belt.
If you have some time to spare in the evening to list items and to make the trek to Post-offcie.
Selling whatever you can online is a good way to go about it.
With car boots sales closed locak facebook groups could be good to get come cash. ebay can be really difficult because they take loads of commission from you. Look in your hous for big-ticket items - Tools, surprisingly can get really good cash, Wedding Dress is high value item I sold mine on www.bride2bride.co.uk/ and it could make good memories for some else down the line?
I don't know what your studying is for, so with distance learning for you and the kids maybe you can relocate to somewhere cheaper in the UK?
Hope any of this is helpful
Sending good vibes

Echo above.
apply for council tax exemption, only adult in the house and full time student = free

uni harship fund - can be upto 3k a year

speak to student finance to recalculate your loans, you are single now it may be more.

what are you studying? some have extra bursaries and funds available, phone student services and ask - they can only say no

ditto the food ideas too, look on the reduced sections and freeze stuff

selling pages are fab, lots of bargains on there to be had

good luck :)