Is £800 a month after rent enough for a family of 3 to live on?

[Froslass]

Sorry if this sounds really ignorant/stupid.

I have no idea!!

Basically I'm panicking now because we've realised that OH's student loan will be counted as income so we wont be entitled to housing benefit. We're fine until baby arrives rent wise, as we're both in full employment at the moment.

But come end of september, my temp employment ends and so does oh's (as he goes back to uni, works for my dad every summer).

I'm hoping to find another part time job once baby is here, which should bring in another £400-£600 a month (depending on how many days OH is at uni, thus affecting how many days i'd be available for work)

But until I do with OH's part time job and student loan, our entitelment to tax credits and child benefit we'll have £800 left a month after our rent is paid (£400 a month).

Will this be enough for food, bills, car, baby etc?

I'm really, really worried xx

 

[pinkymum]

Not entirely sure didn't want to read and run. But I could live on that. Infact I live on less, now Emily is here I'm really not spending that Much more. I'm pretty sure its do-able hun

X

 

[evie_smith]

Yea that's def do able we only have 1200 are rent is 625 a month so your better off than me and I've got 3 Kids x

 

[Amyrose]

its amazing how we cope with wot we have hun dont worry about it im sure when you juggle things about a bit you will be just fine. xxx

 

[evie_smith]

That 1200 is inc my child benefit and everything also jut to put your mind at rest. So we live on 575 with rent away that every last penny we have x

 

[Me, My Girls & I]

Definately! I used to do it on under £500 a month and that was with £100 council tax, £80ish car insurance and then bills on top!

 

[Constantstar]

Wow we got a part buy part rent place and total for rent/ mortgage is 900 a month then we gotta add gas electric etc so ur doing well to have 800 spare a month!

 

[Piglet10]

we live on bout 800 a month but have 200 car payment 2 car insurances etc to come out of it so ull be fine! xxx

 

[munchkin1982]

wow, wish we had the extra £800 a month! Wonders what I am doing wrong now lol We are averaging (off the top of my head) on £650-£700 a month through benefits and credits at the moment.

Food down here has suddenly risen or at least so it seems. Put it this way when we go shopping, what we used to get for £20-£30 is now costing almost double! It's a nightmare but I would say that you should be absolutely fine on £800. It might also help if I stopped the OH buying damn LP's for his collection of Ebay mind lol xx

 

[Lacey's Mummy]

wow, wish we had the extra £800 a month! Wonders what I am doing wrong now lol We are averaging (off the top of my head) on £650-£700 a month through benefits and credits at the moment.
xx

Bloody hell, you get loads Sarah! We only get £175 a month and that's for both kids!
Your be fine with £800 hun, you learn to budget when you have too x x

 

[Constantstar]

wow, wish we had the extra £800 a month! Wonders what I am doing wrong now lol We are averaging (off the top of my head) on £650-£700 a month through benefits and credits at the moment.
xx

Bloody hell, you get loads Sarah! We only get £175 a month and that's for both kids!
Your be fine with £800 hun, you learn to budget when you have too x x

We don't get any help at the moment I only think we r eligible for the 80 child benefit when baby's here. It's rubbish. Xx

 

[Amy_J]

i think £800 is pleanty!!!

buy in bulk when possible, and batch cook and freeze. some weeks we spend £60 on meat for example but it lasts us more or less the whole month!!! we put aside for bills, luckily we dont pay water as its included in rent but we do pay electricity, last one was £360!!!

our rent is ridiculous and we dont get any benefits with it, so we try and save as much as we can!!! i put lo's child benefit in an account for him and dont touch it unless i have to for example we got his highchair with that cash and bits like that!!! like LM said you will learn to budget where you have to!

 

[munchkin1982]

wow, wish we had the extra £800 a month! Wonders what I am doing wrong now lol We are averaging (off the top of my head) on £650-£700 a month through benefits and credits at the moment.
xx

Bloody hell, you get loads Sarah! We only get £175 a month and that's for both kids!
Your be fine with £800 hun, you learn to budget when you have too x x

Lol Chaz... that's the TOTAL - JSA to cover both of us as my IS stopped, and tax credits and child benefit thats all. ALL our bills have to come out of that. I can't remember the last time I bought something for myself! I'm awful though. I spent all MY birthday money on Layla lol.

OH doesn't work atm Chaz and I'm obviously a stay-at-home Mummy at the moment too. What makes it even worse, is that if I was to get a job full time (unlikely but IF) then we would be worse off and have even less money

IF and WHEN OH manages to find work again down here then we would be a grand old £50 better off per month!!!! And that would be with him working a 7 day week!!! Bloody ridiculous huh??? xx

 

[Lacey's Mummy]

Sorry hun, I didn't realise your OH didn't work!
I know what you mean about spending money on the kids!
My sil said to me yesterday, you always wear that top... Yeah cos all my money goes on the kids! I can't remember the last thing I brought for me!! I even went to a toy shop the other day to get Lacey a birthday present but ended up looking at baby toys for charley!!

 

[Froslass]

Thanks everyone, sorry if I've offended anybody, I'm just so clueless about the whole thing!

OH is entitled to the maximum loan/bursery per month, so thats where most of our income will come from, then we'll get max tax credits and child benefit, plus OH's part time job..

I'm hoping to get a part time job though too, I hate the thought of not earning and being dependent on him!

I just have no idea how much bills, food baby stuff etc costs!

I'm pretty confident about actually feeding us for as little as I can, but I don't know how much that would be! I also was hoping to to BLW, so i woudn't be buying jars or baby food all the time.

I might just puree what we have when it comes to weaning ie veggies and stuff.

This has all happened so fast I feel totally unprepared, clueless and totally scared!

I don't know what I'd do without everyone on here to help me out! x

 

[Froslass]

I;m not sure if I'd be allowed to claim job seekers though, is that income assessed? x

 

[Squeakz]

We get housing benefits and I have maximum student loans and the like....how come you can't get HB?? X

 

[Froslass]

I don't know, the benefits advisor told us student loans/bursaries count as income

Maybe it's diffrent in scotland where i am? x

 

[munchkin1982]

Sorry hun, I didn't realise your OH didn't work!
I know what you mean about spending money on the kids!
My sil said to me yesterday, you always wear that top... Yeah cos all my money goes on the kids! I can't remember the last thing I brought for me!! I even went to a toy shop the other day to get Lacey a birthday present but ended up looking at baby toys for charley!!

No worries hun. He is a driver (like yours I believe just not HGV as not got license for that) but the work down here is awful. He had a contract with Home delivery network for 7 months up to Christmas and then it ended and had no joy here since awful. Don't worry about what your sil said. I dread to think what people think about me lol, I literally have a handful of tops and 3 pairs of trousers at the moment that I will wear to be comfortable lol. My wardrobe really has gone to pot at the moment but I don't see the point in buying new or more clothes at the moment as what with TTC again etc etc. xx

Thanks everyone, sorry if I've offended anybody, I'm just so clueless about the whole thing!

OH is entitled to the maximum loan/bursery per month, so thats where most of our income will come from, then we'll get max tax credits and child benefit, plus OH's part time job..

I'm hoping to get a part time job though too, I hate the thought of not earning and being dependent on him!

I just have no idea how much bills, food baby stuff etc costs!

I'm pretty confident about actually feeding us for as little as I can, but I don't know how much that would be! I also was hoping to to BLW, so i woudn't be buying jars or baby food all the time.

I might just puree what we have when it comes to weaning ie veggies and stuff.

This has all happened so fast I feel totally unprepared, clueless and totally scared!

I don't know what I'd do without everyone on here to help me out! x

Oh you've not offended at all hun. It's good to work out things ahead. The key as many have said is to learn to budget. A key piece of advice I've learnt over the years... especially if you shop at Tesco... if you get the ordinary "tesco's own" foods in coloured packaging etc with pics, it is no different to their "value" foods. You are just paying the extra for the pretty packaging. This was also confirmed in a programme I was watching on telly a while back too. Personally, for the sake of packaging, is it worth it? Oh and also... really read those labels on foods for low fat food. It doesn't always work out to be a healthier option! xx

I don't know, the benefits advisor told us student loans/bursaries count as income

Maybe it's diffrent in scotland where i am? x

That could also be the case. I would look into it more though. Do you have any other friends at all that are on benefits who go to college/uni etc? Maybe ask them? Or google? must be info online about it? xx

 

[Froslass]

Thanks hun x I will def check out with friends and stuff, but I'm thinking it's probably correct, because It we spoke to the woman that would be actually dealing with our application. I did the benefits advisor online, and I shoult still be entiteled to job seekers, so thats an extra £200! x Plus we'd still get £20 a month housing benefit after you deduct OH's loan/bursery, so every little helps

I have no problem at all buying the tescos own stuff, I'd def be more inclined to! I really enjoy cooking, so I'm sure I'll be able to get good healthy food for us for as cheap as i can I just wasn't sure how much I'd need, or how cheap it would be!

I feel so much better now, it's just really worrying!

OH has also just revealed to me that has quite a bit packed away in premium bonds, so we couldn't get benefits anyway! This has bloody annoyed me (although we're very lucky to have this) because had I applied for benefit and they checked him out, I'd have gotten in trouble for not knowing!

I think were going to pay 6 months rent in advance with some of his money, to allow us to save and budget and time for the tax credits and loan to get sorted out once baby is here.

It's all so confusing, I'm so BAD with money it's ridiculous! x