Living on $12,000 a year

overlykeensaver

sharronloves2spend wrote: »

stopped just saying 'yes' to the kids whenever they asked for something, toys and games are strictly for birthdays and christmases only. HTH love Sharron

I think this is a great idea and one that I will start doing straight away with DD (aged 14 months!). She has plenty of toys but sometimes you see something else and want to buy it for her - however, I think we can hang on til Christmas now - should save a bit of money!

juliapenguin

sharronloves2spend wrote: »

stopped just saying 'yes' to the kids whenever they asked for something, toys and games are strictly for birthdays and christmases only.


I agree with Sharron too - when I was a single parent, my son really, really appreciated treats. When I met my second husband he was so impressed with how unspoilt Mark was and how he was so appreciative of absolutely everything that was a treat - even a bag of posh crisps (ie Walkers not Aldi!!) and he was delighted. After a couple of years of living in a more wealthy household where my stepkids got everything they wanted and didn't appreciate anything Mark was just as bad as they were :mad: . Now I've converted my OH to Old Style living and all three kids are getting better.

I think it's doing kids no favours to let them have too much stuff inbetween birthday and Christmas - we set them up for a lifetime of overspending and debt because we give them the idea that if you want something you get it immediately instead of saving up and waiting for the 'right' time to buy it.

I'm in a ranting mood today.... :rolleyes:

Have a good day, everyone.

Julia xx

sharronloves2spend

I am so proud of my ds1 whos just had his 12th birthday, he spent 1 week to choose a phone paid for with his birthday money, he's such a savvy consumer already he'd say "can i get that cheaper etc etc..." he's a mini me!!!!lol Two years ago that money would have been spent faster than you could say happy birthday and then he'd moan about all the rubbish hed spent his money on and how he'd wished he'd had more money!!! Thanks guys for your positive comments....unlike a certain MIL who thinks my children are DEPRIVED!!!!

juliapenguin

sharronloves2spend wrote: »

I am so proud of my ds1 whos just had his 12th birthday, he spent 1 week to choose a phone paid for with his birthday money, he's such a savvy consumer already he'd say "can i get that cheaper etc etc..." he's a mini me!!!!lol Two years ago that money would have been spent faster than you could say happy birthday and then he'd moan about all the rubbish hed spent his money on and how he'd wished he'd had more money!!! Thanks guys for your positive comments....unlike a certain MIL who thinks my children are DEPRIVED!!!!

Deprived? What a load of b*ll*cks. Deprived is where you are not loved or properly fed and clothed OR NOT TAUGHT LIFE SKILLS LIKE APPRECIATION FOR THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE AND MANAGING YOUR MONEY!!!! (Back on hobby horse...)

Good on you for being a great Mum.

crockpot

I have ordered `Tighwad gazzete` 1p plus p & P from Amazon, libarary did not have it. Was going to get it new so have already saved £10!

We are eating up all the [EMAIL="c@@p"]c@@p[/EMAIL] and then i will buy no more crisps choc or biscuits!

Watched `Honey were killing the kids` and they binned it all! Her kids did result in stealing to fed there sugar habit!!! But told mine they can still have choc/crisps at grandparents and on days out etc but I will not buy any more for home. Did not buy that much anyway, only if I got into Home bargins!

I did go into home bargins yesterday and bought Ritz crackers and bread sticks! Yesterday instead of crisps mid afternoon they had ritz crackers with marg and jam on- they were jumping up and down when they saw them!

I have made a meal plan for the next two weeks out of store cupboard and freezer, child will be eating the same as adults. The yougest is looking forward to sheperds pie, the eldest aged 8 pulled a face! He says he will not eat it, I said ok, you can have mash and veg!

My hubbie has changed his job less hours so less money, but the children now see him, and my office may be closing so I do not know how long I will have a job, so need to cut back now.

Even bought some porridge oats reduced to 50p in Asda yesterday, well it`s still raining and who said porridge had to be for winter!

Plan for next two weeks is to keep out of shops and only take a small amout of cash when I buy bread and milk so I can not be tempted with `cheap` offers. Need to bottom the freezer and cupboard!

sharronloves2spend

Thanks Julia, my inlaws are really wealthy. We don't speak now due to husband turning his back on his materialistic upbringing. We are all very happy especially now we don't have to justify our lifestyle to anyone.Love Sharron

moanymoany

ceridwen wrote: »

hi moany moany

Had to laugh at yr comment re "lifetime clothes" - you know you're getting older when you start making comments like "this will see me out"!! Yep - I've got to that age myself! I'm onto thinking - well, I reckon I'll need to replace the bed and cooker once more and the fridge-freezer and washing machine twice more.......!

Clothes - don't get me onto the subject of clothes - how on earth did I ever get so many?! Oh - I get it - it was for the life I might live, then the other type of lifestyle I might live...... Its another sign one is getting older when you only buy clothes for the lifestyle you actually DO live.! Jeans, jeans, more jeans...... and a couple of outfits in case I have to dress up smart or - at my advanced age - actually go dating again ever (!)

Ceridwen, this made me laugh until the tears rolled down my cheeks. How wonderfully philosophical and how true. It never occured to me, but, I do now have clothes for the life I actually live.

My DH came downstairs the other day, he looked so pleased with himself. 'I've just been through all my work shirts, and I reckon they will see me through to my retirement!' It says it all!!

purplepixi

A few years ago, I was a single mum of a baby, I earnt £10,000 before tax.

Straight away people think that because you're a single mum you can get a council house and have cheaper rent - well, er, no, I got told I wasn't entitled to one. I had no maintenance payments off the father (still don't 6 years later!:mad:), and I worked full time.

My monthly out goings were:

Rent: £550
Child care: £400
Car insurance: £65 (3rd party only just passed my test then)
Petrol: £80
Council tax: £20 (approx, I can't really remember)
AA: £6
Child bond: £10
TV License: £10
Food: £70
Nappies etc: £30
Water, gas, ele: £35
(didn't have a telephone!)

Thats just the basics, I can't remember anything else, I'm sure there was more, such as shoes and things.

However I did get a little help from the government.

£200, for my rent
£400 childcare (which did cover it), and child benefit £40 (might have been a little more)
Income from work, less tax and NI, was about £500 per month.

Anyway, with the maths:

Income: £1100
Outgoings: £1276

Ouch: total means I was minus £167 every month!

At the time it was horrible, I was constantly trying to make that extra money. I had no credit (not a bad thing though), hadn't had any before so I couldn't get any. But unfortunately I didn't have a choice, I had to go to work, and being young that was the only job that would pay and train me at the same time. What out of that could you take out? Not much really, maybe the AA, and maybe the car, but with a baby I would have never been able to get her to the childminder and then get to work on time with out one.

Altough, my top tips would be - get a slow cooker! I had a second hand one given to me by my grandparents (still using it now). Great for making meals in advance, and using up ingredients! And don't say no. Often pride is something that stops people when they are offered help, help doesn't have to come financially, but if your hoover breaks and someone has an old one they no longer want, don't say no because you want them to think you can afford it, just say yes and thank them (to be honest I've had 6 hoovers and never paid for one). This works for anything.

These days however, I'm married and no longer at work, funny how it never gets better, all these people saying married people get more, well, my husband is now over the braket for the free NHS, school lunches etc, but if I was to go and work as well, my entire wages would be on childcare, so we'd be no better off - catch 22 really.

Altough we have more money now, I still live very frugually - force of habbit I gues, although these days the bank balance isn't so bad at the end of the month.

Truth be told, as a single person living with friends of family, you may be able to live off £6,000 but for everyone else, I dare say it would be incredibily difficult!

scubaleopard

My husband is just about to retire and we will have about 11k to live on so this is going to interest me

Hardup_Hester

Hi Scuba
My hubby & I live on approx £9000, as he is disabled & rarely works, we live on my wage. PM me if you want to chat
Hester