one salary family

savier

hello

I would like to know if it is possible for one to make a two children family, without owning a house and without his wife to work.

Is this sustainable? I know many occasions in other countries that they manage to live pretty well with only one salary (a moderate salary, not something excessive), but I doubt this can be done in UK.

Can you describe me an example that this could work? For example x for salary, y spent for food, etc.

thanks!

cookyy2k

Depends how much you earn, where in the country you live (rent varys wildly across the country), if you own a car (for commuting or not), how old the kids are (youngsters will eat less than teenagers). There are many, many variables and no one on here is going to give you an answer for every possible combination of variables.

You would be best putting up an SOA then people can advise you on your specific circumstances.

FireWyrm

I do it.

My salary is way above the national average, of course, but my actual running costs are comparable to most people.

I spent about £1000 a month on mortgage and other fixed costs, an additional £250 (now, I have done much better than that in the past) on food and about another £100 on fuel.

I can survive on £1400 a month easily but it does take some advanced planning and discipline. Minimum wage is currently £6.31 and on a standard 40 hour week, that gives you a take-home of just on 11K per year. You would obviously need to do better than that, so given the average wage is around the £20K mark, you will take home about £1368 a month. More is good obviously. You really ought to be able to earn 20K though without trying too hard.

Children cost as much as you let them. There is freecycle, car boot sales and Ebay to help you out. There is also child benefit which amounts to £2500 for three children per year. If you use the childbenefit for them, since that is the purpose after all, you wont go far wrong.

savier

cookyy2k wrote: »

Depends how much you earn, where in the country you live (rent varys wildly across the country), if you own a car (for commuting or not), how old the kids are (youngsters will eat less than teenagers). There are many, many variables and no one on here is going to give you an answer for every possible combination of variables.

You would be best putting up an SOA then people can advise you on your specific circumstances.

what's SOA?

As for rent, I don't see great differences, if you exclude places like central London. In my case, I am excluding London.

As for car, I think it is necessary, as in smaller cities, public transport isn't convenient. But its usage will be limited, since distances are short in small cities.

As for the kids, It's part of the question, that the single salary should support the family from childrens' birth until they will be able to leave home.

apardion

It probably depends on where you live etc. My family lives on only one modest salary in a very expensive city. Not only do we cope but I put money into savings every month.

We don't have a car any more (don't really miss it), I have become a dab hand at cooking nice food with cheap ingredients. Also, we have no credit cards, no debt (except for mortgage) which helps. Most of our clothes are from charity shops but I am extremely fussy and only buy good quality things. No one would know our clothes are from a charity shop. We live in a small flat so declutter declutter and you are not paying for a bigger property than you need.

We have freesky, pay as you go mobiles but we don't skimp on things that mean a lot to us. I have an iPad and use it every day. That was a thought through expense that we decided was worth it.

A lot of our furniture came from the local auction house/Gumtree. I can't believe what some people spend on new furniture.

I could go on but I don't want to bore you.

It is a mindset, I feel like I am playing the game of 'getting the best value for your buck' after all, my Dh works hard for his wage.

Tixy

savier wrote: »

what's SOA?

A statement of affairs, a list of income/outgoings etc, details of any debts,

savier wrote: »

As for rent, I don't see great differences, if you exclude places like central London. In my case, I am excluding London.

A property I could rent here in the East Midlands at £450 a month would cost around £700 in say Cambridge and perhaps more still in somewhere like say Brighton. The salaries for similar jobs in those places may similarly differ, or it may not.

To answer the original question on a decent (but not excessive) salary definitely doable. On a lower salary then you obviously also need to factor in what benefits you might receive (e.g. tax credits as well as child benefit).

Its also about lifestyle choices, with 2 children some people are happy in a small 2 bedroom house or flat, others would want a 3 or 4 bed house.

But there are very many people who do have only 1 income and manage so it must be possible.

Mojisola

savier wrote: »

As for the kids, It's part of the question, that the single salary should support the family from childrens' birth until they will be able to leave home.

Once the children are at school all day, there's time for the stay-at-home parent to get part-time work or start a business from home. You don't have to live on one salary for twenty or more years.

It would be very difficult to find work if a parent was out of the workplace for so long - it's better to keep the break short.

New_and_Improved_Me

YES - is the short answer.

There are quite a few families that survive quite happily on one salary with kids.

i myself come from a family of 7 children where my father was the only one working. We were neve rich but we survived fine

Tixy

Can you clarify this

savier wrote: »

I would like to know if it is possible for one to make a two children family, without owning a house and without his wife to work.

Do you mean a family of just father and 2 children, with no wife

Or do you mean a family of 2 adults and 2 children where the wife does not work.

Either way both are manageable, although each scenario would incur different costs (childcare in the first instance, additional person to feed/clothe/extra heating costs etc from being at home all day in the second option).

b0nz0

Yes,

We did it with 2 and then 3 children on a salary of £26,000, we received child benefit and some child tax credits too. I have only recently gone back to work. It's not easy as pie but "you learn to cut your cloth accordingly" as the old saying goes. If you want the finest of everything and the sole earner only earns minimum wage then it's not going to work. If you budget and are realistic then it is entirely possible!

I am one of 6 and my dad was the sole earner and his wages were awful but we got by.

quantic

It depends greatly on your spending habits, I know families (in the north of England) with an income of 70k a year who "struggle" and at the same time I know couples who earn way less than half that who manage just fine.