To live on £250 a month - HOW??? Please help.

deliciosa

How would you do it? A friend of mine needs help. She does not want to spend on credit cards but her income has just been cut. No chance of her doing part time job on top of it as has to care for elderly relative.

Her rent is £450. How is she supposed to live on the rest (£250)? She does not pay bills, but mobile phone, and travel needs to be paid (Travelcard £92, mobile phone £50 ish I believe....) This leaves about a hunder pounds to spend for a hwole month! For food and everything from toothpaste to coffee... she is really panicing. Any help would be appreciated!

(Land_of)_Maz

as her friend you could take her credit cards from her and freeze them, that way she won't be tempted to spend on them willy nilly.

Mobile looks high, worth considering reviewing that or cutting back?

£25 a week for miscellaneous spends is not so bad if she takes packed lunches....

mcmanlyn

If she can reduce/cancel her mobile that'll help a bit, and is that the cheapest travelcard she can get? Or could a different route save anything?

I bet i don't live off much more than that - i split it up into weekly amounts, then split that up into food & toiletries. If you get rid of brand names & shop around you'd be surprised how much you can get for about £10-£15 a week.

It will most probably mean staying in a lot - so quiet nights in watching tv will be a plenty And the occasional pub trip with the leftover cash i've saved

Does she get a carers allowance, don't know much about it but my mum got it when looking after my gran?

duchy

First step is to see if the mobile phone contract can be cancelled-20% of disposible income is ridiculous-she needs to at best cancel it and get a (free) PAYG chip-at worst renegociate it down to a lower tariff. Basically call the phone company and say she can't afford it anymore and take it from there. A mobile phone honestly isn't an essential-especially if there is a landline in her home but with just PAYG you do keep your calls short-or wait for people to ring you
Ebay everything that isn't nailed down, books-sell on Amazon.
Packed lunch for work and menu plan. It's amazing how little you spend if you use what you have-and also freeze leftovers. For example a chicken from somewhere like Aldi will make a roast, chicken sandwiches for work, with a bit of rice and a jar of sauce will make a curry, add a few veggies to some of the meat and make a stir fry. So that's three main meals plus a couple of days sandwiches for under a fiver including the bread rice sauce and veggies if you shop carefully. Most of us spend far more on food than we need to and planning ahead often means eating better for less money both health and taste wise.
I'm sure lots of other people will have ideas but hopefully that will start her off.

Mappygirl

Tell her not to worry, but she going to have to be prepared to change her lifestyle and put more effort into her food. Making things from scratch and as others have said do menu plans will save money. Also need to shop around and go to cheapy shops more!

It can be done, so far this month my weekly shopping bill has been £30, this is to feed me, DH, DD and 2 dogs, and it incudes toiletries and cleaning products!

HTH x

basketcase

Has she applied for Housing Benefit etc? Does the £450 include Council Tax? If so, is she claiming/receiving Benefit for (or exemption from) that?

Someone else has already mentioned Carer's Allowance.

Sorry I can't be of any more help...

Burlesque_Babe

To echo above, swap mobile to cheapest tariff or if not tied in swap to PAYG.

Meal plan, keep a spending diary, use up everything in the cupboards. No ready meals, cook everything from scratch, use or freeze leftovers. Tesco Value or Asda Smartprice will become her best friend.

Staying in is the new going out according to a big article in the news today - so swap any nights out for a DVD - there are lots of free DVD trials to hop between to get them for quite a few months for nothing.

Ebay everything that isn't nailed down - old mobile phone, extra handbags, shoes bought and never worn, CD's, any console games, clothes that looked good when tried on but just didn't cut it when tried on again and are now in the wardrobe.

Introduce her to Quidco, Pigsback, Slice the Pie, One Poll etc etc etc to start clicking and earning extra pennies.

Speak to the local benefits agency about any kind of carers allowance for both her and her relatives.

Definitely achievable but will taking planning and thought each day.

deliciosa

Hi guys, THANKS I am printing this all out for her.

She does notpay council tax. As for these quidco things, I dont nderstand myself even, how to do them.. it only pays when you buy things, no?

The rest is all very very good advice, thank you on her behalf. I will print this whole thing out for her and give it to her this evening

keelyjrs

also visit the oldstyle thread. I have saved loads of money taking bits of advice from there

redsquirrel80

Definitely do-able - I live on approx that amount every month after rent, council tax, tv license and minimum debt payments are paid, have been for the last year or so and don't see it changing anytime soon! Definitely agree with the others on careful food shopping (I spend about £50-60 a month including toiletries and cleaning products) and cooking to get the most out of it. Also online surveys, selling on eBay etc to make some extra money. If she gets a pay-as-you-go mobile then topping up at Boots or Tesco means she'll get Advantage card/ Clubcard points which are always useful.

Oh and get her on here for lots of tips! And wish her lots of luck! x

mummytofour

If she is a carer for an elderly relative and gets carers allowance then she can get 25% discount on council tax.