Some advice please

veggielove

Hello

We are a family of 3 and we are living on one wage, this wage is not much more than £1500 a month, we rent a house and we can not bring in anymore than this due to me not being able to work.

We have no debt apart from paying up a car repair bill from the local garage.

How can we start saving money on such a small income?

I think we need a plan for a proper budget. We make one and then the food budget seems to get blown really early in the month (we eat separate as our child is very fussy but so then she eats simply anyway) We don't buy extravagant things either no holidays or eating out.

What is the average 3 person a month food budget. We have £200 from the wage and then approx. £40 a week tax credits. That is for food, toiletries and cleaning products too.

Thanks for reading

Willing2Learn

Have a look at the MSE article linked below. I earn between £150-£200 per month doing surveys and market research.
Top 25 Online Survey Sites - Get paid cash for surveys & market research

Also, start keeping a spending diary and then use that and your bank statements to complete a Statement of Affairs (SOA). Then work out a workable monthly budget from that.
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

veggielove

Thanks that's great will try these

davenport151

Food budget - If its getting blown early in the month can you split it into weekly amounts?
You may find one week you spend slightly more, one week slightly less.
Toiletries and cleaning products - anything you can cut down on? Non branded products. Plus you don't need much more than basic products to clean the whole house.

Budget wise -I put aside 'essential' money each month; petrol, monthly bills, etc.
Then I work out an amount to put aside for those yearly expenditures (car maintenance, insurance for example) I work out how much I spend on these a year and divide by 12 to give the monthly amount.
Beyond that you should be able to see what is left over.
Do give the budget planners on here a go.

DCFC79

Maybe post on the dfw board and post up an soa.


Your child is fussy about food, how fussy ? Is it just simply she likes a particular make of things ?

Flobberchops

I would say check out the "Boost your income", "Old Style Money Saving" and "Benefits and Tax Credits" forums if you haven't already.

A good place to start might be to use one of the online benefits calculators and make sure you're claiming everything you're entitled to. You mentioned you're not able to work - are you claiming disability allowance?

Regarding food shopping, do you buy long life staples in bulk each month? Rice, pasta, canned goods, other essentials like toiletries and cleaning products? You can get plastic takeaway style food containers in bulk (works out at a few pence each) from Amazon or some houseware shops, try bulk cooking and freezing simple meals to microwave, and try to commit to having those at least a few times a week.

As the dad of a formerly very fussy toddler I sympathise. Do whatever you have to on that front! I got all the advice, solicited or otherwise on that score. "Don't let her leave the table until she eats it", "She'll eat when she's hungry", etc. Nope. She starved herself. She lost weight. We caved, let her have what she wanted, and the phase passed. There'll come a point when your child will want to eat what everyone else is having.

Kentish_Dave

Can you look at the income side of things? That income is only 44 hours a week on minimum wage, so why no more hours or getting into a job on a higher hourly rate?

Doing so few hours on the lowest legally allowable wage is always going to leave you struggling a bit.