Always skint and have a 3 month old child. I need money advice

quidsy

Popping into the supermarket on way home for yellow sticker items that you can then eat for lunch & dinner next day will save a lot. Often the Tesco-Sainsbury express will sell a sandwich that went off that day for 20p. That WILL last for lunch the next day, a multi pack of crisps are usually going for 5 packs for a pound & a bit of fruit & you have lunch for well under a pound a day. Also break your shop up into monthly for dried, canned & freezable staple goods then leave yourself £10 a week for fresh items, there are so many yellow sticker deals in supermarkets at 7-8pm every night, you could stretch your budget much more.

Flinchy-Stryder

SavingPennies wrote: »

Do internet cafe's even exist now? Your local library will let you use computers for free and its easier than trying to do a course on a tiny phone screen...

Evening/weekend bar or shop job, ive seen restaurants and shops advertising being near chrsitmas...

Move back to your parents?...

Yep they exist, they are like gaming places where people who play world of warcraft hangout. The library closes at 5pm and i get home after 5pm so that is no good. I'll have a phone around the pubs now and see what they have available.

moomoomama27

Does the child live with you? If so are you claiming all the benefits you can?

You don't mention utility bills/council tax/ tv license in your rundown is that covered in your rent?

quidsy

The phone is locked in for 2 years, let's move on & give the lad a break I would make a note of the earliest they will let you off though, always good to be prepared.

Would you mum help out with your laundry? Even temporarily until you have more coming in, £11 a month will pay for nappies for a month.

lazer

AS you are are 19 the low wages will be for a year max


*This rate is for apprentices aged 16 to 18 and those aged 19 or over who are in their first year. All other apprentices are entitled to the National Minimum Wage for their age.


You will have to get minimum wage after year 1 of the apprenticeship - £5.31 an hour - which will give you £165 a week for 32 hours.


I'm sure its hard for you at the minute, with a 3 month old, and living away from home for the first time etc. but it will get easier.


Your wages will go up, your child will get older etc.


Also - as you are living on your own you should be entitled to housing benefit and council tax benefit

SavingPennies_2

To be fair, assuming you are not in debt, I think you are doing pretty well on such a low wage. Plenty of people your age (and well beyond) are still living it up at home being subsidised by mum and dad. Unfortuntaly now that you have a child to support, you are just going to have to work/try/think a bit harder. Realistically no matter how well you manage your money, that will mean getting a better/ another job.

[Deleted User]

Definitely go for a bike, it's only 7 miles. You'll probably want some wet weather gear - LIDL and ALDI often do quite decent quality bike clothes. You might be able to get a bike on freecycle - https://www.freecycle.org/ You also won't end up waiting for buses plus its quite fun. Not to mention saving £540 a year in tickets.

Ideally, if you are making dinner you can make extra to put in the fridge for the next day at lunch.

If you want to justify your phone - it's £30 a month which includes internet access, line rental and phone calls.. these days a BT landline is ~£15, internet is £5-20 depending who you are with .. so realistically £30 isn't terrible if it replaces other things.

Plenty of supermarkets will employ someone for an 8 hour shift at the weekend, or maybe 2.

RAS

Flinchy-Stryder wrote: »

I have a freezer and fridge. I do feeze most stuff but with sandwich items for lunch they dont freeze well. I froze a pack of ham and when it came to it i couldn't seperate the slices cause they froze together so i had to defrost it all and it went off.

Is where you work, live or go to college near a supermarket? Check it out on the way home/later if possible.

You can get Yellow sticker deals on a lot of things; like loaves of sliced bread for a 15p. If you see something like that buy it, split into several portions and freeze them. That way you only need to take one out at a time and it should not go off before you have eaten it.

You can make up and freeze sarnies if you want.

You can also buy very cheap pasta, make up a batch and use to make pasta salads with some mayo and tinned fish for a bit of variety.

Flinchy-Stryder wrote: »

I dont think i can get help with council tax as i'm not in a council house?

You should be paying Council tax if you are in an annex with its own door but maybe do not go there just at the moment.

The link also provide information on how to get help with RENT, which you are paying.

enjoyyourshoes

Could you cycle to college and back ?

Freezing sandwiches (making a weeks batch) and taking them out the night before to defrost in fridge is sound advice.

Laundry at Mums (she would understand if you spoke to her)

rationalising the phone bill sound like good advice. I got my kids down to £10 each, decent number calls, texts and downloads. Just have t manage the numbers

Some really good advice above, write the down individually and prioritise them in order of Doability and start one at a time.

clarryd

You should deffo make your own lunches. You can make them all in a weekly lot and freeze them. A cheap loaf of bread and some cheap sliced meat, if you want a tomato in for a more filling/tasty sandwich don't put this in take it with you in a separate bag as you will end up with slabbery soggy sandwiches if you try to freeze this also, also a piece of fruit incase your are still hungry.

This wouldn't cost £2 per day and is more likely healthier than you are buying elsewhere.

I also would make home made soup. This can also be frozen into portions so you can just take a portion out of the freezer as and when you fancy this for your lunch as a change from sandwiches. Home made soup can be very filling and is cheap to make, you just get your vegetable from the market as you will get a better deal. If you go late in the day you will get the best deals as the stall holders don't want to take the produce back with them. Soup is very easy to make.

Just a few little things that will save a few pounds a week and the money is better off in your pocket.