anyone live on an income of £20000 a year?

[helsi]

Hello. My salary is just under £20000 per year and dh is on a basic of £14500 plus any commission. He has only been there since September but has been called in to see the big boss tomorrow and so I am now feeling sick that something is wrong and he will be finished. If that does happen then I a going to advise that he works part time or evenings as he has not had much luck with jobs in the last few years and I am sick of the uncertainty. My job is muc more secure so after i have had this baby it would be better for me to come back full time.
Does anyone else live on a small wage like that? how do you cope?

ah yes, we only have one car - cars swallow up money like nobody's business. We also don't go in for much dIY malarkey

dh just txt me to say he can only think it is to do with key performance indicators (targets), although he told me that he was told at is appraisal not to worry - unless he either lied and things weren't ok or they have changed their mind.

no sadly that wouldn't even cover our mortgage!

Helsi could you re-mortgage to reduce your monthly payments?

I've just re-mortgaged because it was the only way I could pay to sort my heating out, have borrowed more, extended the time and still have lower payments.

Even with paying off the tie-in penalty, I'm still better off. Obviously I'll end up paying out more in the end, but I don't care.

Depends on your priorities whether that would be an acceptable option for you.

I live in a little village in South East England and my DH only earns 12k and after my maternity leave is over I will have no income (only on standard maternity pay now) as I am not going back to work. We just get by and you will too, if you write down everything you spend day to day you will be suprised how much you waste. 20k in my book is not a small wage we could live pretty damn easily on it.

we manage oo reasonably little money compared to most. we have 2 teenagers(expensive in itself!)and a toddler. i think you just learn to pull your horns in and manage with what you have. we dont want for much in the great scheme of things both still able to run a car. i do miss having loads of clothes and nice holidays but the pros definately outweigh the cons.where is your village flutterbee?

Remember to factor in no childcare costs.

for the new baby I need most new things as I sold all of it after dd1 as didn't thik I'd have anymore. When I say "new" I mean new to me. Luckily I kept the cot, but will need new mattress, moses basket, travel system etc.

yes tinker that will save me £120.00 per month.

Can you ask around friends to see if you can borrow/buy stuff?

my god, please borrow a travel system and moses basket

you use them for SUCH a short time

in fact I wouldnt bother with a moses basket unless I could borrow one - straight in the big cot for mine!

I am hoping to borrow will ask round friends.

sorry i just feel so sick for what tomorrow might bring. my stomach is heaving and I know it will all night now.

Most people will be only too glad to pass on baby clobber. We got a lot of stuff from my SIL and then passed it to my own sis.

Really hope it works out for you. I would borrow anyway, even if things are OK money-wise!

helsi - moses basket - up to u, but just brought all my stuff and basically we went for a cot bed option (MIL paid for) we have to get a matress, were planning on a good quality one thou, crib we've borrowed from the family, clothes i've got 2nd hand, as with blankets etc and a few sheets. MN of course is a fab place for bargins (thanks girls) as for the wages erm even with all our debts etc we could manage yes.

We live on less than that and with strict budgeting and careful shopping and lots of planning,it is totally do-able!

Maybe I need to sit down an look at all outgoings. I should do anyway irrespective of money. Thanks ladies I am just fretting about his meeting tomorrow

There are some thread about at the moment on economising.. and cheap healthy menu's..

You can get a Surestart maternity grant of £500 if you are received child tax credits of £546 per year or £1091 per year if your child is under 1. Savings do not affect this.

You can apply before the baby is born or have 3 months afterwards. I was late applying because what I would actually receive in tax credits took that long to be sorted out. I was turned down, but appealed, turned down again, went to Tribunal and got an ex gratia payment. Don't leave it too late!

have not read whole thread, but 20k is not a small household income, i would guess that was above average. as far as coping goes, you just do. if the worst happens when your dh sees his boss, just do things like start buying a pack of nappies now with each weekly shop and stockpile them (that's if you are going to use disposibles).

we lived on a household income of about 15k a year until recently

Sorry but do not agree about the Surestart £500 grant - I get £1405 a year in tax credit - I got refused it.
I thought you had to be on Working Tax Credit and Housing Benefit and more to get it?
I am not on any benefits except from Child Tax Credit.
Maybe Im wrong.

I think people are talking about two different grants. We got some sort of one-off payment when ds was born and dp earns more than £20 K. It was linked with Child Tax Credits - is this the 'grant' people are thinking of? It was automatic, we did not have to apply for it.

We live on 22k - our mortage is nearly 900 per month as well as all other bills but we manage - you just adjust.

CTC goes up for the first 12 months after a new baby is born (automatic), but the SS grant has to be applied for. I have checked all the forms, andit matches the info Frosty gave.
I've applied, and should be eligable, but haven't actually heard yet. Mumfor1sttime's experience has me worriednow, I'll be phoning to check on it tomorrow!

Tamba how o earth do you manage to do that with a £900 mortgage? you must be excellent at budgeting.