Can I afford as a single parent to stay in my rented house.

[twinsetandpearls]

I know these money threads upset people but please acknowledge I am in a difficult place and want some advice.

Dp and I are likely to be splitting in a few months once the house is sold. I do not want a penny from the sale as dp put the money in.
I would like to give dd a sense of continuity and stay in the same house. Dp currently looks after all of our finances and I am ashamed to admit that I dont have a clue about budgeting.

I will have no debt and my rent is £850 a month. I will be bringing in after tax and pension payments just over £2K a month. I will need to pay council tax, £60 a month in petrol nd utility bills, oh and eat! That does sound doable to me does it to you.

Where are you getting your utility figure from? I amy have it wrong but that seems very low to me.

Have you looked into what additional support you may get in WTC, FTC, HB etc? Entitledto.com is very good for working these things out.

I would have thought you could manage it though, it may be tight but then you get used to that as a SP

Yes it does.

Nearly £1k per month should be okay. Remember single persons discount on council tax.

Don't think you'll get an additional support tbh. A single parent with 1 child on benefits is expected to live on £135 ish per week after rent and council tax.

I'm sorry to hear that twinset. I don't think we've ever chatted but I'm truly sorry to hear you might be splitting with your partner.

You may qualify for some tax credits, perhaps? I've no idea but worth checking I guess.

You then need to list the following things:

Food budget
Council tax
Water
Electric
Gas
TV Licence/internet/satellite subs
loan agreements (if any)
Credit card(s) (if any)
School expenses for your DD
Petrol
Car maintenance/insurance/licence
Dental fees etc
Phones

I'm sure there are more. You may find it helpful to keep a money diary over the next few weeks to see exactly where your money goes. A couple of pounds here and there on coffee etc soon mounts up. If you have gym membership, cancel it, and any other monthly expenditure that is non-essential.

I'm sure you can do it, so long as your outgoings are less than your incomings and you've been honest about your outgoings with yourself. I was single then, but it taught me valuable lessons on budgeting which I am grateful for.

Hi there - first I'm so sorry you're in this situation - haven't been on MN for a while and didn't know this was happening.

Anyway, I think that sounds do-able - I earn slightly more after tax but have debts and our mortgage is £950 a month and we manage!

Say this is roughly what your monthly outgoings will be, based on what you've mentioned:

Rent = 850
Council tax is about £130?
Gas, Elec, Phone, Water - about £150 - £200
Petrol - £60
Food - £320
clothes/household stuff - £100

That makes about £1,700 a month so far (I think!). Do you have childcare costs, or any other travel costs?

Try and put away £100 a month if you can and I'm sure there are other things not on the list which will eat into the remaining £200 a month, but it seems possible.

I think you could just do it with a few sacrifices like luxuries really.you should get some help from tax credits etc.It sounds a good plan not to uproot dd it will be worth it to keep that stability for her

According to entitled to a person earning £2100 per month with £100 per week childcare costs should get £103 per week W/FTC plus HB as well. The amount of HB will be difficult to predict as it is likely the house is oversized for HB purposes.

Of course you automatically get £10 CTC and hmmm child benefit which is around £18 per week I think.

sorry my petrol is £60 a mnthh, I will have to pay childcare.

I cant believe I will get housing benefit on this house.

I am shocked I could get WFTC as well.

I am really reluctant tbh to claim any benefits and would rather live in a smaller house.

I would do a spreadsheet setting out all your monthly, quarterly and annual outgoings and work it out from there. It helps me to have it written down and with budgeting.

You'll get single person's discount for council tax and you may get some working tax credit too. Check here

I would start looking for a cheaper house anyway. I wouldn't expect you to get anything if much in the way of HB, somewhere with cheaper council tax a definate bonus.

When is your rental contract up for renewal - any chance of negotiating your rent down for the next 6 month period?

Sorry to hear this twinset.

Is dp dd's dad? Will you get any maintenance for her?

I think the finances sound manageable, you just need to keep an eye on things at first. Start frugal and then become more generous if money allows.

Dp is not dd dad, I dont take maintenance from her dad at the moment as we dont need it. However if it became clear this was making life hard for dd I would ask her dad but I could not see it being more than £20 a month.

Twinset, it is up to you of course, however, the benefit system is there to provide support, where needed, to ensure people are living at a reasonable base level. This is a system you have been paying into and which you are now entitled to. Perhaps you could look at what you need to be able to live at a comfortable enough level, work out how much you are short of that and then only claim that amount? ie if you are £300 pm short and W/FTC works out to £400 pm then claim that, if you are £100 pm short and HB is £100 pm then claim that instead IYSWIM? You can also stop claiming if you feel it is no longer required. It would just make this initial bit easier until you find your feet and work out just what you can and cannot manage.

A word of caution with HB though, they can (and do IME) get very uppity with SP who do not claim maintainence for their ex partners.

Sorry to hear this Twinset.

Put your details into www.entitledto.co.uk and it will tell you what you may get help wide.

Try and work out a resonable budget don't forget about things like car tax/maintenance/insurance and house contents insurance.

This may help a little
www.makesenseofcards.co.uk/soacalc.html

Also get yourself aquainted with www.moneysavingexpert.com

Have a look at the bill of the house you are in, that will help.

(MrsGW now off to take some of her own advice

I would not claim benefits if I was not taking maintenance from dd father that would be wrong. I actually feel uneasy at claiming any benefits to be honest I earn over 30K a year and therefore if I cant afford to live the way I am I need to make cutbacks.

It is actually 2300 I take home after my pension and tax are taken out.

Have checked and apparantly I could get about £400 a month in tax credits. I think that is obscene that tax payers money should go towards someone like me. I am actually considering writing to my MP to complain. The money could be put to much better use.

as a point of interest - I have just checked on entitled to - the assumed interest rate on my savings works out at 18%!!!!!!!!
Wish I could get that.

Gosh me too!

Hi twinset

Sorry about your situation.

I'm on my own and earn approx the same as you and wish my tax credits were £400 per month! I can't understand why you are wondering how you will cope financially but then say tax payers money shouldn't go towards someone like you. Tax credits are there to encourage people to continue working when the alternative may be to solely exist on benefits. Please don't feel guilty and claim what you are entitled to.

Good luck

Hi twinset

Sorry about your situation.

I'm on my own and earn approx the same as you and wish my tax credits were £400 per month! I can't understand why you are wondering how you will cope financially but then say tax payers money shouldn't go towards someone like you. Tax credits are there to encourage people to continue working when the alternative may be to solely exist on benefits. Please don't feel guilty and claim what you are entitled to.

Good luck

Twinny I'm really sorry this is happening to you - is it inevitable? or is it just a possibilty?.

Whoops sorry!