Can you actually live on your wages

[Justmephi]

So i am interested if others are like us?
Me and my husband earn around £3,500 between us (can change depending on his overtime) every month we only just manage to pay all our bills. We dont go out. 2 children at school. Mortgage of £900 and car payment of £325. I have no idea where all our money goes! And it feels like its only us that has this problem

 

[Gembo]

So i am interested if others are like us?
Me and my husband earn around £3,500 between us (can change depending on his overtime) every month we only just manage to pay all our bills. We dont go out. 2 children at school. Mortgage of £900 and car payment of £325. I have no idea where all our money goes! And it feels like its only us that has this problem

Have you sat down and written it all out and gone through it all? My husband and I have been the same for a long time and he is the one that takes care of most of our finances and I always felt confused and could not understand what we kept spending so much on. I finally had enough last month and I made a list of every outgoing we have and have now given us both an allowance and already we’re saving! It took me a while and was a bit stressful but I’m so on top of it now and feel so good about it. We’ve just been rubbish for ages and neither of us had really looked at it. I knew we should be able to afford to save more and now I’ve got it all in order we can. My advice would just be to look at everything, write it all down and go from there.

 

[ChuckaBuckaBingBong]

Make a spreadsheet to track spends! We each take a set amount each month for fun like takeaways, coffees out, cinema, clothes etc. It really does help to write out a budget for each thing.

Also, check to see if it's worth switching your car insurance or energy or broadband for a better deal if you don't check already.

 

[Meh]

Good tip is to sit and do an income and expenditure. Detail every single thing- don’t forget random quarterly payments or annual car insurances/MOT costs etc. Be honest about the figures as well.

Then sit and review which bills you want to save money on. For example, are you out of phone contracts and could go to a lower tariff? Could you call virgin/sky etc and talk about cancelling, they usually do pretty decent discounts if you’re looking to leave; I neatly halved my virgin bill. I also did away with theTV package as all I watch is Netflix.

Food/shopping- it’s back to basic stuff. More planning and shopping for it. Less popping into the shops a couple times a week etc. Walk into Tesco and you’re £20 on crap.

 

[Saddlesoap]

I agree with @Gembo have you written down all the 'necessary' spends. TV & Broadband bill, electricity, gas, water, food. Can you spend any less on them? If you are running out of money you must be spending it somewhere!

Meal planning is so helpful. Pre-COVID, I would spend £30-40 a week on food for my husband and I, but my friend would spend £70-80 just because she bought on a whim. Doesn't sound much, but could end up being £2k a year different!

 

[TARDIS Blue]

Yes, my wages are more than enough for me to live comfortably. I don't have children which helps a lot.

 

[Fofoca]

The short answer is yes - my wage is enough/supports my life style.

I do find it amazing how I once survived (and saved) with literally half of what I’m earning now. And now I have much more but have grown into my wage. As you say, where has the money gone?!

Like the others said, deffo budget - be honest and detailed. I also keep a spreadsheet of my monthly groceries - did that for a year to work out my average (I’m a one person household.)

Ignoring my addiction to luxury handbags (which I have a specific savings account for, part of being honest about spending habits), my Bermuda Triangle is Wilkos and Superdrugs!! I’ll want to nip in for a dry shampoo and some limescale remover and suddenly I’ve spent £20 in each shop. That’s £40 magically gone. And now it’s working out - how much am I spending on dry shampoo? If this is happening all the time, should I add an extra row to my spreadsheet? It doesn’t mean I’m banning dry shampoo but just seeing where the money has gone.

also, every penny counts. Maybe you’re already saving more but if not, even £10 a week or even a month is better than £0! And grow from there.

I think the fact you’re even thinking about it is a positive step. Good luck!

edited to add - I also have a budget for presents. Obviously there’s the unexpected gifts but I’ve got a steady cast list for birthdays and Christmas.

 

[idk2]

I can more than comfortably live on my salary - I'm single, no kids and still live at home so apart from my car, car insurance and phone bill, I don't regularly pay for anything else but have subscriptions like Spotify and Netflix. I pay for little things around the house, I usually do a top-up shop every week but its never a regular amount of money. I think if I was to rent, do a regular food shop every week, have bills and all that other stuff, it would be a lot tighter and I would really need to watch my impulsive spends.

What helped for me was changing all my direct debits to go out on the day after my salary comes in so I know whatever is left, is mine to do as I please and I don't have that hanging over my head. I never let more than 1 months of wage sit in my current account as I find it makes me feel like I can spend recklessly. For example, if I get paid 2.5k every month and my bills were £500, I know I should have 2k left in my current for that month but if that's not spent by the next payday, then it is transferred into a savings account. Repeat every month.

Another thing, I never pop into supermarkets if I only need a few things I can get at a local family-owned shop. I find at Tesco -or any big supermarket- I get distracted and walk out with tons of snacks and never the thing I went in for! That's easily £30 gone as someone else said. Family-owned corner shops or markets, I'm in and out. Also, tell your friends to stop texting you about clothing sales (unless its amazing, usually isn't!) This was a biggie for me. Same for turning off app notifications. Once the temptation is removed, I feel like I don't need it.

 

[Flowergirl123]

I used to have the exact same feeling, that there was never any money leftover! I earn plenty of money and my bills are half my wages but I never knew whether the other half went and felt like I had nothing to show.

I started doing what some of the other posters above said and tracking my spending and started budgeting. It took me about 4 months to figure out what worked best for me (turns out Excel tracking suits me better than paper!) and how much money in each category worked. Don’t feel bad if you try one method and it doesn’t work, there are so many YouTube and Insta pages with budgeting tips and advice!

But now going into month 5, I’ve saved nearly $13k, which is more than I’ve saved in the last 3 years! I still have a fun budget and eating out budget so I don’t feel deprived and I feel like every cent has a job to do. I’ve just stopped ordering random things from Amazon while watching TV, making food shopping lists and “shopping my wardrobe” instead of buying new clothes all the time. If I want something, I save up for it first!

I also recommend separate savings accounts. I set up one for a future house deposit and one to buy a new car (without a loan is the goal!) and I have automatic transfers from my current account.

 

[Koakes]

Yes my husband and I are able too, but it seems like we are in the same boat haha. The one thing covid did tho was open my eyes to how much money i/we wasted on things that are impulsive buys. I've started to try and keep tracking of my spending more and be more aware of where it's going. And it's definitely helped!

 

[Hello Kitty]

Yes my basic wage and my partners we can live off and have abit to put in savings. I can claim expenses and bonuses though so that helps for savings, my partner does overtime every now and then too.

 

[DuckDuck]

Not just mine alone no , it doesn’t even cover the mortgage. My husband earns a decent salary we have a couple of very large loans and a car on finance , we do ok , we aren’t broke , but we do have to save for holidays , but can eat out a couple times a week in the pub. once the loans go ( in about 1- 5 years ) we will then buy a holiday home in Spain ready for retirement which won’t cripple us financially.my car is finished in about 6 months , that frees up £250 a month so this will be used for the remainder of the loans. My husband gets a small pay rise each year so we try and chuck this at the loans . .. I’m in a crappy retail min wage job which I hate and try not to do over my contracted hours unless I have to and supplement this with an early morning cleaning job. I did have plans to completely change career later this year . Then Covid happened and I don’t think they plan on taking me back ( was volunteering ready to be trained up for them to take me on permanently)
We are comfortable ish, my husband is always looking for better deals on car insurance, broad, gas and electric and home ins . He dabbles in crypto , he’s a novice but there’s been times where he could have earned well but because he doesn’t completely understand he’s missed opportunity. It’s more of a hobby tho not so much trying to earn a living
We could cut back further if we really wanted to and probably get loans down to half the remaining term but he’s in a decent paying job, it’s stressful , we weren’t in this position when we met and now we are he thinks ‘duck it why not ‘
It’s me with the champagne lifestyle on lemonade money

 

[Belulah]

Slightly off topic but I’m a single parent who can live comfortably off her salary and save a large chunk so it annoys me when people constantly portray single parents as needing MLMs to be financially stable!

 

[TheScarletgirl]

I don't earn a lot but i can - i do try and save money and not going out has really made a difference . My rent is paid and and savings aside i have £500 for food and anything else for the month . I live alone and try and spend about £30 on my weeks shop. I think i will limit going out after lockdown as my friends don't have the same outgoings , i really need to start saying no.

 

[Pixipoppy]

I earn around £1800 a month after taxes etc. I could live off that easily but I do buy a lot of unnecessary crap and put £200 into my savings which means I generally don’t have much left at the end of the month and usually have to dip into my overdraft. I wouldn’t be able to afford my rent on my own though, so if I lived alone I’d have to cut back a lot.

 

[onlyheretoorbit]

My husband and I keep our finances totally separate, he earns £21k and I earn £23k. We've divvied the bills up between us so that we're essentially paying out the same (he pays the mortgage and the Sky bill, I pay utilities, food shopping etc.) so then whatever money is left is ours to keep. He has a credit card and a few subscriptions to pay for but he's always left with a decent amount to spend, whereas I have a DMP to pay off a hefty amount of debt (entirely my own doing), plus I commute to work and other stuff which means I'm usually only left with about £100-150 a month as 'spending money'. I wish I could have more, but if it weren't for my DMP I've have another £350 left so it's my own fault!

We could probably just about scrape by on mine if we cut back on a few expenses, but we'd struggle on his.

I bank with Monzo and I use their 'Pots' feature to help me manage my money. I have pots set up for food shopping, bills, savings etc. and every month I just split it all up and put it away so I know whatever is left in my actual account is mine to spend. Going through the process of a DMP really helped me understand my income and expenditure and see where I was leaking money - that and finally being medicated for bipolar

 

[Dot_Cotton]

For years I probably wouldn’t get the 2 weeks into the month without being skint. I am a spender. Not necessarily on expensive things but even going to B&M or Wilkos I just love to buy things. But I have been trying to cut back and put money away for a house deposit (renting currently). Over 6 months I have saved £2500 which is amazing for me because I have never saved in my life. I am crap with money.
It hits me when we are always skint but family and friends on less than us have houses and afford holidays every year. So must be me and my spending habits.

 

[Belulah]

For years I probably wouldn’t get the 2 weeks into the month without being skint. I am a spender. Not necessarily on expensive things but even going to B&M or Wilkos I just love to buy things. But I have been trying to cut back and put money away for a house deposit (renting currently). Over 6 months I have saved £2500 which is amazing for me because I have never saved in my life. I am crap with money.
It hits me when we are always skint but family and friends on less than us have houses and afford holidays every year. So must be me and my spending habits.

I have squandered so much money over the years. Quite shameful really! I have so many clothes, my child has so many toys and books. Most of which are only looked at once!

 

[petitspois]

As others have said:

-Write it all down (and all of it, even the things you don't want to)
-Shop around for gas, electric, bb, phone, insurances
-Don't get extra insurances on white goods and electricals or the British Gas monthly payment scheme to cover repairs. Things like that are just drains.
-Look at your food shop. Shop at Aldi etc. Look at sites such as 'feed your family for £20' for tips.
-Scrap direct debits you don't use (such as gym, subscriptions, Sky package etc)

Take a look at Martin Lewis' stuff which has helped me loads.

If you spend 900 on mortgage, 325 on car, then say another 350 on other essential bills (utilities, c tax and so on) then even £400 a month on food then that leaves you £1,525 a month. If you wanted to be tight with yourselves then it's possible to save £1,000 a month - at least for a while.

I should add that I know that last sentence sounds patronising and it's really not meant to. I'm just sharing what's helped me and what I've also seen on TV shows on this topic. It's so easy to think you are stuck in a situation (and many genuinely are) but you've got in in your grasp to get more disposable income.

 

[Warpaint]

Yeah I do okay but I'm lucky that my rent is quite cheap. Lockdown increased my saving ability by a lot. Before I'd spend it on going out, gigs and holidays.