Will this be enough?

[Gluedllama]

Two dc, looking at renting a house which is £900 a month.
Total income including child maintenance is around £3k a month.
If I allow £900 for the rent and another £1k for all bills is this realistic? Meaning I’d have just over a grand free income. Is this doable?
I have no idea as I’ve never been on my own before 🙄 possibly I could get a few more hours which might make it £3,200 a month.

It seems ok on the surface

To make sure, look at average fuel bills for that size house and confirm the council tax price

Any childcare costs?
Could you still afford it if mortgages go up?

Depends on where you are and how old your children are. Do you run a car? Debts? There are so many variables. You need to make a list of everything that you pay for.

I rent for £850, monthly income is £2400 BUT I have very few outgoings - I don't pay for my car or phone, only have dc half the time so food bills low and rarely in the house through the day so fuel bills not mega. It totally depends on your outgoings, on the surface it's totally doable. You'll get 25% discount on your council tax too

Under a third of your income seems reasonable. Do you have childcare costs? And how much of the income is made up of maintenance - would you still be able to afford all the bills etc if he failed to pay one month?

Of course it’s doable, many people earn £26,000 not have that left over after rent and housing costs. Unless you have massive childcare or debt or loans to pay for. Or impossible high lifestyle you need to maintain like school fees, expensive car loans and hobbies.

The way a referencing agent would work out affordability is does the rent x 30 - any large expenses (£27000) equal less than your annual household income ((£36000). If it does, they deem you can afford it.

This calculation takes into account average living costs (bills etc) so is used as an across the board average.

So, on paper, theoretically yes, you'd be fine.

When H was still working and we had two teenagers at secondary school we were spending 2.5k a month.

This was without any rent or mortgage, North-East in an area with a relatively cheap Music Service; but we didn't skimp on stuff.

I reckon you should easily manage for the three of you, unless you have to pay childcare.

I earn 900 odd and my rent is 750. I do get tax credits and some housing top up but nowhere near to the tune of 3k. Probably works out about 1.5k but I manage. I'd feel like I was rolling in it if I had £1k spare

3k ffs. People survive on a lot less

What do you mean by '£1k for all bills' does this mean include food and travel/car fuel or just gas, electric, council tax, water, broadband etc?

Don't forget about annual and irregular expenses, you need to save for those each month. Probably worth looking at advice on budgeting, such as:

www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

How reliable is your maintenance? It sounds like it should be OK, but you won't be able to spend without thinking and might get unstuck if your ex is unreliable with maintenance.

Only you know what your outgoings are - the phrase '£1k for bills' is completely meaningless unless you have itemised it!

If you have itemised it, why are you even asking as you know how much money you have left.

That seems a very, very tight budget to me, especially with the cost of living rising and likely to continue to do so for some time.

Do you work in an industry where you'll get payrises that match inflation and will cover increased rent/ tax/ council tax/ energy/ food bills etc? If not, I'd be worried about the cost: income ratio here. It may be fine now, but what about in a year, or two years?

Tight budget? Really! I had to pay £850 mortgage as a single mum, £350 childcare, earning £2400 and only entitle to £45 tax credit and no maintenance. I made due fine. Had to be careful, didn't have much to save, but it wasn't right either.

£3,000 is more than doable and indeed a good income for 3.

I'm a single mum, too.

But I'd be worried if after tax, mortgage/ rent and bills I only had ~£1k per month left.

That would then need to cover food, commuting, clothes, days out, school trips, Christmas and birthday presents, holidays, prescriptions, any extra curricular activites and transport there and back, car maintenance, house maintenance, replacing old appliances as they die, school uniforms... etc

I realise some of those are optional, but many aren't and I'd be worried about even covering the important ones for kids to have a good life with that budget. I also realise many do that because they have no choice, and sacrifice all but the very essentials. But even those would be hard to squeeze into £1k, especially with energy bills and tax rising so shortly that figure could easily be £700 or even less.

Just because you've had to scrape by before (I have too!!) is not a reason to tell the OP that it will be easy on that budget. It won't. Any curved ball like a broken washing machine or boiler or MOT requiring a lot of work on the car etc could put her into a very difficult situation.

Personally OP I'd try to find somewhere with a cheaper rent to give yourself more breathing space in the budget. There is nothing worse than worrying about how you will pay your bills. The next couple of years are going to be very tough financially for everyone unless you are exceptionally lucky so you need some slack in the budget, IMO.

Also the fact that this budget includes CM is scary, I hadn't noted that when I first responded. My advice OP is to make sure you have enough to cover everything without the CM and view that as a bonus if it does consistently get paid. It shouldn't be that way, but it is, and you'll make your life much less stressful!

@vivainsomnia

Tight budget? Really! I had to pay £850 mortgage as a single mum, £350 childcare, earning £2400 and only entitle to £45 tax credit and no maintenance. I made due fine. Had to be careful, didn't have much to save, but it wasn't right either.

£3,000 is more than doable and indeed a good income for 3.

How is £3000 double £2400?

Ahhhh you said "doable", not "double". Sorry. But I still disagree. I mean maybe yes it is "doable", but it will be miserable and stressful in the context of the outgoings the OP is describing.

Comparisons are really only relevant with enough information and I don't think the OP has posted about what she hopes to buy from that £1k left per montj, or what to do about the larger items of expenditure that inevitably crop up from time to time and are not included in that basic budget (I can't see how they can be).

It sounds like a very precarious situation to get into, if she can avoid it by renting somewhere cheaper.