Both work and we claim UC but still can't afford to live.

[Mocha1]

We have 3 kids, 2 who aren't at school yet, my husband and I both work 30 hours a week for charities so not highly paid. We also have childcare for part of the week and then juggle the kids between us the rest of the time (We don't want to work more as we dont want the kids in fulltime childcare). We rent and down't own. We claim UC but we are still really struggling to make ends meet. We really try to live to a tight budget but I have no idea how to lower our expenses any more.

Am I missing something? Is this normal? does anyone have any tips for saving money/ making more income somehow? I feel a bit at a loss as we keep dipping into our savings for just day to day expenses and we're nearly at the end of those.

Our income at the moment (I'm on MAT leave) - £3980
Outgoings- £4250

Do these outgoings seem like a lot for a family of 5 living in the south west? I've been going over our budget and I have no idea how to save any more unless we literally never bought another birthday present or went to a soft play ever again.

Tax payers pay landlords mortgages all the time. What's the difference?

Apparently, that’s far more palatable

Landlords pay tax on rentals and provide accommodation. Their mortgage is not ‘paid’ by the taxpayer.

Again they used to ! All these Boomers that have apparently worked hard all their life for their pensions for years and years and years, the social paid peoples mortgages in full in many cases before 2012 and sometimes if they managed to negotiate a lower rate than the standard one they were being paid by the social there was a surplus.

We do it for student loans, why not have welfare loans. Might help control what people take if they know they may need to be repay it at some point.

Landlords don't provide accommodation unless they are building the homes themselves.

Student loans are a ticking time bomb though. Most of them will be written off at the taxpayer's expense in 30+ years' time.

It does seem illogical to me. The state pays a landlords mortgage for decades and still nobody is securely housed at the end of it! Money down the drain, and only pushes prices up.

I refer you to the 'practicalities' part. The student loans system doesn't actually make money.

Really??? I have paid my mortgage all through my life.

This thread is evidence of someone having children they cannot afford. How many people have children without financial stability, yet then trot out "oh I can't afford xyz". Wait to have children.

Choose your career wisely and your partner even more so. It is not the tax payers duty to fund your bad mistakes. That is the problem, people go into it expecting someone else to bail them out. Well soon that will not be the case. Stand on your own two feet and set a good example to any children you have.

Just in case you're still reading the thread @Mocha1 , and I can quite see why you might not be, things that have helped in our house (single mum working in charitable sector, one tween) is to get the emails with Martin Lewis' money-saving ideas, for example I have just switched energy providers and made a huge saving per month. Heating I only switch on for an hour first thing when it's chilly and then a couple of hours in the evening, or we just light the fire and stay snug in one room. We eat well but I've managed to cut the food bill by focusing each evening meal on a different carb, so baked potato one night, pasta another and so on, but all topped up with plenty of veg and some protein which is the pricey bit; so meals are filling and mostly healthy but as inexpensive as I can make them. I also buy supermarket pizza bases and passata and make our own - takes five minutes - and that's much cheaper than ready-made (and usually a lot nicer). I completely get why you want to have one day each with the kids - could you work compressed hours to increase to a full-time salary but only work four days a week, or nine days a fortnight? All the best, it really isn't easy ATM, and you absolutely don't deserve the pile-on you've had on here...some people on MN are cruel and intolerant.

Its not beneficial to their development to live in poverty either...
Work more hours= get more money

We get a bigger work allowance than those that rent but I agree with you.

We bought in 1981.
We were both teachers but it took me 3 years to get my first teaching job and my husband insisted we bought before having children.
Neither of us would have been able to pay that mortgage ( at 15.5% ) on one of our salaries alone. So yes, in our case as teachers, I did have to go out to work to pay for a bit of the mortgage , food, council tax , TV license, the odd new clothes etc. And of course the girls came along in 1983, 1985 and 1987 (heaven forbid - 3 !!! )
We never had spare money for anything but did go camping once a year and the children were happy.

the Income is with UC included.

we do not ‘expect’ the state to look after us but I am very grateful they are helping.

my husband is actively looking for work around our current hours to help us top up our income while I’m on Mat leave.

In all honesty what would be the point in one or both of us working far more hours when MAT leave finishes and then just paying for extra childcare?

what UC gives us right now is far less that what 30
hours of child care for 2 children would cost the government.

im sure many of you are getting help with childcare, how are you OK with this? But not Ok with us claiming UC so that we can look after our children?

we do contribute to the economy by both working 30 hours, we also contribute by working in jobs that support the most vulnerable in our society.

we do need to make some cuts/ changes I understand that, I do not have my head in the sand. That’s why I was asking for advice.

universal credit is literally designed to help those who are working but cannot cover their everyday living expenses.

the soft play comment was literally to give a random example of a random non essential item. For context we hardly ever go to soft play.

thank you to everyone who has given constructive advice. I’ve taken it on board and we’re making changes to something we hadn’t yet thought of.

to those of you who have been simply horrible- I will
not take any advice from someone who does not show me that they have my best interests in mind.

If people can work full time and not rely on the state, then they should work full time.

There is no benevolent entity that smiles on people claiming UC but also frowns on asylum seekers getting £10 a week.Asylum workers aren't allowed to work.

Thanks for the update, OP. It’s sad the MN hypocritical benefit-claiming bores have dominated this thread. Wishing you and your family all the best.

i dont have strong feeling on this but I imagine those utilising free hours and working would say that they are paying that back (and more) in tax 🤷‍♀️

- I will
not take any advice from someone who does not show me that they have my best interests in mind.
Fair enough but that's not how a public forum works.

The OP just wants a pity party. If you dare to make constructive suggestions, such as changing jobs or increasing hours, you don't have her best interests at heart.

🙄

Being honest I don't see the issue with claiming and working less whilst being a parent. I used to work weekends. whilst my husband worked all week We just missed family time a lot. So I cut it down. I am hoping for a try at a third. At some point we will all be working full time and paying tax until we are seventy anyway.

That is absolutely not what I have said. And I am not looking for pity. I was looking for constructive advice.

I very much doubt that you, who has insulted me and sworn at me has my best interest at heart. You need to take a look at your behaviour

If you don’t want the dc in full time childcare (again quite normal for 2 working parents) then one /both of you need to find a 2nd job / an evening or weekend job while the other one is home looking after kids

bar staff
waitress
24 hr shop
care home

Why would strangers on the internet have your best interests at heart?

You have an over reliance on others.

You need to think differently about things I think.
So if DH is looking for other jobs I assume it’s all around your working hours. I assume these are also badly paid.

He might be better looking for a FT better paid role (non charity and 37 hours) and then you finding something around that. That might increase your overall income.
Then as children go to school change things up again.