How are people living with a single income?

[chrlng]

Hi. I've been struggling to understand how people are living on a single income. Not about how are they living but about how they have enough to buy house and go for holidays abroad and be generally comfortable. Most of the people I know have 2-3 children and are living comfortably with a single income. I mean a close to minimum wage income. My husband is a driver. His wage is £25000 per year. It works out about £1600 per month. And I'm on maternity but from my job they can't find a part time position for me so it turns out we'll live on a single income soon. We're only having a 6 months old baby.

Our spendings now:
Mortgage £268
Council tax £122
Electric/Gas £120
Montly payment for car £125
Car insurance £120
TV channels/broadband/phone £55
Water £55
Charity £28
Pet insurance £20
Pet food etc £30
Home insurance £15
Petrol £50
Baby food/nappies £120
Groceries £200

Sum: 1,328

Remain £272 from my husband's wage without any extras, holidays, activities for the baby, toys etc. If I have to buy something more or travel to my country once a year we're below zero.

The question is : since I'm not British and I don't know how things really work. Is there something that people do to get benefits or earn from the government more than they're suppose to? I've tried the benefit calculator and I can't claim anything more than child benefit (which I already claim). I'm not asking what people are actually doing because I've heard about people doing something to trick hmrc. But is there really something that these people are doing to claim so much to have a pretty comfortable life?

I'm a single mum so obviously only one income - differences per month are
£30 car insurance
£10 phone
£22 water
£0 pet insurance
£0 pet food
£10 charity
£0 baby food & nappies

So £350 a month less which pays for a holiday (and some saving). I'm in awe of your car insurance and baby food bill.

No benefit claims here either.

Debt or they have an income source you don't know about.

Hi! Thanks for your reply.
No baby food, groceries, baby clothes, toys, Internet, TV? Sorry for asking, how can you work with a baby? Are your parents helping? I wish I had someone who I trust to take care of my baby while I work.
The car insurance is around £1350 per year. Just got a license and a new car.
Baby food/nappies....It's £66 for milk(minimum), and £48 the nappies. 6 packs of x30 nappies (if change 5 per day) per month if I can't find them on offer = £114 and wipes that I bet are more than £6 but let's say £120.
Can't figure out what we're doing wrong 🤦🏻‍♀️

I really don't know. Seems like they have a comfortable life and they are not the only ones. I know couples with kids who are not even working at all and they have enough to buy pets with pedigree etc. It feels awkward to ask them what's their income and where they get it from...

How come you wont get benefits.

Have you looked into benefits?

I was a single parent about 15 years ago my wage was about 16k but I got benefits of approx 14k putting me up to 30k for me and two kids. Now we jointly earn roughly 65k and have 3 kids. With extra food, petrol, tax , insurances, childcare, bigger house plus an extra child we are significantly worse off than when i was a single parent.

Can you cut down on pet insurance, charity donations, your nappies & baby food seems quite high too if you are analysing the details.

We live off one wage. Of around 35,000. We have one child and another coming.
Car is our own so no monthly fee.
No pets
Baby mainly eats what we eat other than some things we get in special for her. So not really any extra bits.
Mainly reusable nappies and wipes. We do use some disposables but don't get through a lot.
We still manage to eat out, day trips, buy toys etc. Some months it's a little tight, some it's fine.

Do they definitely have a comfortable life of minimum wage with 2-3 kids? Seems unlikely to me, unless housing is ridiculously cheap! Possibly they are claiming UC - have you tried actually applying? You may be surprised at what you get, even now when getting maternity pay.

In regards to your outgoings, do you really spend £48 on nappies? I buy mine from Aldi and they cost less than half that. Can't really get around the milk cost but wipes cost me like 70p from Aldi too so don't spend more than £5 a month. My baby is actually fairly cheap to me, she costs me less than m the amount I get in child benefit (I buy clothes from Vinted, toys from charity shops)

I am currently on maternity pay too, with my partner on a low income (19k) and it's tough. I will have to go back full time as I am the main earner so there is not getting round it, I earn much more than a days cost at nursery.

We watch terrestrial tv & catch-up, plus a £10 contract on an old iphone.

My ds is older now but I was lucky that bf worked for me, followed by home made baby food, not because I couldn't afford to buy it but because it tasted vile.

I was very lucky to find a lovely child minder after mat leave, but it was essential because by then my ex had turned abusive, so I had to make it work. Good childminders do exist. Go and meet lots of them, see how they work and follow your instincts. Try to find one close to your work so you are nearby if needed. No parental help at all (both dead).
Car insurance and nappies are inescapable though. It's tough for a while but you'll cope. And it gets better quite quickly.

I understand but there's a £10,000 difference here. My husband only gets £25,000 😕

Just checked the benefit calculator.
These are the results if I say that I'm not working and we're on a single income.
£252 per month (I'm already claiming child benefit).

Can somebody help with the below?
I think I'm 100% confused 😵

"Overview
You can only make a claim for Child Tax Credit if you
already get Working Tax Credit."

"Eligibility
You can only make a claim for Working Tax Credit if you
already get Child Tax Credit."

It doesn't make sense 😆

Bit of weird question isn't it?

Many people only have a single income and adjust their lifestyle accordingly.

You might qualify for benefits and you should apply for what you are entitled to legally but it is not about ''tricking'' HMRC which frankly is a rather tasteless suggestion.

We can't. And that's with DH earning £35k

We tried it after I gave up my job after illness in January. On paper it looked like it would work, but gas/electric prices plus car maintenance and that sort of thing have us very gradually spiralling into debt.

We have one child in school and our mortgage is £780 pm.

I'm going back full time in September. Wrap around care will be £400 a month and it's not what I wanted, but it is what it is.

Your car insurance seems really high, any way to reduce that? Shop around for a cheaper insurer? Can you get a black box on the car, often that reduces cost but monitors how you drive.

When I became a stay at home mum my husband was making £26k. We managed and saved for a holiday but took a few years saving. Our son got his free hours at nursery when he turned 3.

Do you need to make the charity donations? That's £336 a year. I used to do charity donations but cancelled after son was born.

£272 leftover each month is a pretty decent amount. I know it will go on certain things that come up needing paid but could you get £50 saving out of it each month?

You haven't included petrol/diesel. You should get rid of the monthly car payment to buy a second hand cat outright.

Your in the same position as me, not classed as a low earner to recieve benefits - but also not a high earner that you can lead a comfortable life.

There seems to be an overlooked group of people that earn too much to recieve help - but actually not enough to afford the rise in inflation.

To answer your question though, i honestly have no idea how people do it! Were on 2 incomes and still struggle towards the end of the month but i am due to go on to maternity in September and i am so anxious

If you are a couple with a child, and on only one average wage, then in many parts of the country life will not be “generally comfortable”, it’ll be a bit of a struggle.

There are places in the U.K. where it will be easier, and some where you won’t be able to afford to live at all.

You won't be able to claim child or working tax credit anymore because its not open to new applicants. Its universal credit you need to look into.

I'd be very surprised if you're not entitled to anything. W

I'd say you are benefiting from a really low mortgage payment.
Car insurance and nappies look really expensive. Water also looks high - are you on a meter?

100 Pampers baby dry size 3 cost £12 at ASDA, and 98 of the own brand ones £5.20.

There are also other bits you could cut.
If you dropped the charity (28) halved the nappy spend (24), shop around for the water and car insurance, cut some of the phone and TV packages on next renewal, you could have £100 a month extra. And if you qualified for the Universal credit, you'd be up maybe150/month.

Some say they live alone when they don’t.

I don't really know anyone with 2+ kids living a comfortable life on one low income in terms of going on holidays and luxuries and things. Most of my friends are either both working parents or have one parent as a high earner.

Either they have money coming in from other sources or are using credit cards or something, particularly with the cost of living increases, would be my guess. Or living rent-free or getting family support.

DH is an average earner but we wouldn't be able to afford our two DC if I didn't also work at least part-time (or we would have to severely cut back and have zero wiggle room).

So I think if you're managing to pay the bills then that's probably all that can be expected on a single low income with two kids.

Also remember when budgeting to budget for the non-monthly stuff too. MOTs, clothes, haircuts, dental treatment, boiler servicing, birthdays, Christmas, car maintenance, etc. That money needs to come from somewhere even if it's not a monthly commitment.

MoneySavingExpert has a really good spreadsheet that includes everything and breaks it down into monthly amounts so you get a true idea of what your expenses actually are.