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?

I'm in the exact same position 17k a year 5ooq mortgage 250q car a month etc its a nightmare. 2 kids and pregnant aswell but you just get by i shop on a 40q a week budget money is a problem but at least we're all healthy and relatively happy.

Yummymummy - do you tend to use credit cards then? I hate being in debt and with £2500 on card already am worried that it would increase on less money.

After learning the hard way 2yr ago i swore never to use them again.... unfortunately my new partner has 1000 on a card pays car finance sky tv etc etc which i feel really makes it all a million times worse. Just end up playing catch up all the time. Personally i'm not in any debt though occasionally i go into my overdraft. Recently sold my car to buy leather sofa holiday abroad and decorate nursey!!!!!!! We did have two cars though but you catch my drift lol

umm strange! i applied for the surestart grant as we get ctc of approx £80 per week and have just received the notification that it will be in my account next week.

this is a one off payment of £500, we had to fill out a form and get either the midwife or health visitor to sign it to confirm pg and send it off. that was that!

we got it last time as well, 4 years ago, when our ctc was much less and the payment was £300.

Really not sure why you didn't get it mumfor thefirsttime perhaps you should querie it! (sorry if any spelling kistakes trying to type one handed while finisheing ds2 homework with him!)

here is a link to the surestart maternity grant page, not much info, but may clear up if thsi is the one evryone is talking about

here

Thanx for putting that about the 500quid grant i was so worried that i wouldn't qualify this time as we dont get wftc only ctc is it right that we'll still get the grant?

it looks like it from the info on the site. there is a bigger info pack that comes with the claim form, that has more information in it, and also the helpline number that it gives are quite useful for letting you know if to bother applying.

if you click the link to the dwp website it gives you more info as well.

not read all posts but £20k samall???? wtf???!!

We have £10k a year ish. £5k of that is rent, rest is bills and food. doable and we still eat organic most of the time.

AND we have huge debt so yes £20k is live onable

Sorry if Ive caused confusion with surestart grant. I am thinking of the one off payment, yes, like the one on link.
I applied on a form, signed by MW etc, but I didnt recieve it. I had a letter saying that my earnings were too high and that my tax credit elements etc werent high enough.
When I was full time I was on 11k a year, now Im on 5k a year part time and dh gets 14.7k a year, when I applied for the grant I think they took into account my full time earnings for the previous year? I dont know, cant remember what the form said. I didnt keep letter, screwed it up in anger!
I have never claimed benefits until I had ds and didnt really / still dont understand the system.
Me and dh cant seem to claim any help (except ctc and cb) as 'we earn too much'.
We have no savings, we pay £250 rent a month and £100 council tax a month.

work part time single mum to two, live south east with benefits get 15k, dont have any insurances, run a car but panic if it goes wrong.i find extras like birthdays and xmas an absolute nightmare

flutterbee and nmgeneral where do you live in southeast. me maidstone, kent

7777777 im nr lewes east sussex

Helsi, stop panicking woman!!
If it turn out to be bad news you'll be fine but will just have to budget properly. Don't buy anything for the baby until you are sure that you can't borrow it and then go for second hand. Most of my stuff was ex-display Mothercare off the market. You can get hold of a pile of cloth nappies for next to nothing and washing costs pennies.
You are pregnant so getting stressed is not good for anyone. Let us know what happens with your hubby...

lucykate - average household income is about £27K I think.

yes the "average" may well be around that figure - but the "majority" are probably on much lower than that.

Depends if the average is a mean, median or mode

well it sure as heck isn't the median - unless some people are earning - figures.

PS - does anyone know why my symbols are all mixed up on my keyboard? When I try and put " - it comes out as @ - and vice versus - and my pound sign seems to have vanished

HRHQofQ - haven't a clue, but mine does it, too. I thought it was just my (cheap) keyboard!

Your setting must have changed to US QofQ. You need to change it to uk, but i can't remember how, sorry.

At the bottom of the screen where there is a bar, on mine it has EN in a grey box. If i click on it it has the option to have it on US or UK english.

the average income is the mean. The vast majority of people live on incomes much, much lower than that

Thanks - that's seems to have fixed it now have my £ sign back

77777 and natm - you both asked where in Eadt Sussex I am sorry not being rude just been busy I'm in Polegate.