Going to buy a house, but will have no money left, living costs

System

itch_for_a_glitch wrote: »

You have an income of £3200 ish, that isnt an income, its less than dole.

I completely disagree, £3200 is a lot of money, frugals could live on it

System

lessonlearned, good post thanks. Im quite insecure, always fear the worst, thats why I'm planning such a low budget, hopefully I wouldn't have to "live" on it though

Upsidedown_Bear

lessonlearned wrote: »

There is a book called something like "Living on a £1 a day" Sorry cannot remember the author off hand. Some good tips in there.

There used to be a thread on here, a challenge called something like the "Living on £4K a year". It was a couple of years ago now. There are some "Frugal Living Threads" so maybe the £4k has now been upped a little to keep up with inflation.

The book is by Kath Kelly.

The first "Living on £4k a year" by Frugaldom is here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/640131

There are a number of follow up threads. The current thread is the "2013 Frugal Living Challenge".

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search.php?searchid=146646255
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search.php?searchid=146646577

G_M

My guess is the £3200 pa is what is declared as taxable income.

The £70K extra in a year is easily attainable in certain 'black economy' activities!

morfmedia

Solar is a terrible investment now the feed in tariffs have dropped. 10 year ROI, they look ugly, maintenance, more to go wrong etc

pawsies

I earn similar and have a house too but I got donated the money for my house.

It is incredibly stressful to live on 3kish a year and try to maintain a house.

My electric is £100ish every 3 months so about £400 a year, and gas is about £60 every 3 months so about £240 a year BUT I would not change provider as they have great customer service and use only green energy which I strongly support so that's my own fault haha

I am scraping by atm trying to run a car, pay the bills and eat but I'm lucky in that I don't have to rent and my partner pays the council tax as he earns slightly more.

So basically I'm in a similar situation, it sucks being on minimum wage!!!

lindsaygalaxy

Pawsies - can you not get help woth working tax credits?

pawsies

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

Pawsies - can you not get help woth working tax credits?

I'm not sure I'd qualify as a homeowner but I will definitely look into it

purplevamp

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

Pawsies - can you not get help woth working tax credits?

pawsies wrote: »

I'm not sure I'd qualify as a homeowner but I will definitely look into it

I'm not 100% sure but I think you can. We're looking into getting a mortgage and have been told they take tax credit into account as income, I don't think they would do this if you couldn't claim because you owned your home. It just depends on how much you earn.

BitterAndTwisted

I think you have to work a minimum of 16 hours a week to qualify for WTC. Posters over on the benefits part of the forum would know.

If the last couple of winters are anything to go by the OP's estimates for gas and electricity are a tad over-optimistic. Not having anything in the budget for property maintenance or repairs, clothes or going out is just madness.