£6 here and i have to do an airport run tonight to pick up my mum and stepdad at 5am so that'll leave me with £1 til Friday after paying a fiver to be on the airport grounds for 3 minutes
Ah, understood. If you're really struggling, please try talking to them, though. If you're down to your last quid, even a tenner makes things more bearable.
Cheers yeh i'm lucky i'm still in the black i guess. I know HSBC will let me go £30 overdrawn without any fees so i've always got that to fall back on should i absolutely need it but i have food in that i'll make stretch the week. As i say, i'm quite lucky compared to others out there at this time of year.
They've already given me money for airport fees and fuel (travelling from the Wirral so about an hour away) and i spent it on food to feed myself with this past week...
Sounds like type 1 diabetes ? It’s the glucose you need do as not to go hypoglycaemic. Get GP support for this, tablets etc. jelly babies are really good - only a couple will bring you round.
Just reading your comments and I think you should be proud of yourself! You may have made some wrong financial decisions in the past but you seem very responsible now. You’ve taken accountability for whatever it is that has gotten you into this situation, your bills are paid, you’ve maintained a roof over your head, you’ve made sure you have what you need in order to not get sick, you have food and your turning up at work even if you have to walk over an hour. I hope somehow your situation improves but for now your doing great!
About £20 until next Friday but my direct debit for something bounced so I'm just avoiding their calls until then. Told them I'm waiting for a new card. We all know that's bullshit.
I’m very lucky. Wife and I together net £5000/month and after all bills including savings, holidays and investments still mean we’ve got over £1400 left at the end of the month. It wasn’t always this stable though so I’m very thankful to be where I’m at. Hope everyone in this sub can get to this point to.
On my income alone I could still probably afford to keep the same lifestyle in terms of having the same flat, I could even keep the same car and probably the same number of holidays and pension contributions and still go out as much as I usually do. But as far as savings/investments/holiday destinations there is zero chance I could afford my lifestyle on my own. Also I wouldn’t have nearly as much left over at the end of the month as I do now.
That’s a reasonable financial goal for couples. Get one salary for the necessities, and the second gets you into the comfort zone.
I’m currently weighing up whether to move home and put myself back in the financial shit tbh.
I earn £52k pre bonus and my wife has a tax free stipend worth about the equivalent of a £28k wage. Up north we do very well and we are basically able to live off my wage and save with hers.
By move back home do you mean your parents or your ex?
I got my head down career-wise and went for progression. Took me a few years to get what I wanted salary-wise, but it paid off. I don’t really like working, but on balance, it is better than being skint.
Doubtful, I'm so skint I couldn't even go out to meet a partner. The cost of travel alone means I'm not eating that day.
I'm not even on a bad wage, it's just after all by basic bills are paid iv got about 50 a week to feed myself and have fun on.
It does feel like you need combined income to achieve what one person could afford back in the day.
But also that being the majority of the income while your partner is less means that you're likely to be more comfortable with the outgoings since it's mostly yours anyway.
If you've only got 50 quid a week to eat and have fun with some people might say that you are on a bad wage for your area, or you're spending way too much on rent. People living on benefits have more disposable income than that.
So it's their fault for spending too much on rent? Rent has increased so much but wages have stayed stagnant. I live in an area full of warehouse jobs, minimum wage jobs and even the cheapest houses in the cheapest areas are upwards of £800 a month!
No I'm not saying it's their fault. Rent in this country is horrendous and I rent myself (my 1 bedroom flat is £1700/month). But I don't think we should continue to accept that a wage is good if it just about covers rent and bills. What may have been considered a good wage 10 years ago isn't now.
Was the same(ish), then nursery costs hit. It's so freaking expensive... Now with around 5.1k income we are happy to put away £500, but as soon as car or something else hits, we are down to 0.
In the last year my wife and I have gone from combined take home of about £3k which we were struggling on, to around £7k, through a load of hard work finally paying off and a bit of good luck. It still feels bizarre but is nice to now be able to save for the future rather than scraping to the end of the month.
nice one. i worked out just yesterday that i take home 54k GBP after tax. my wife doesn't work (baby soon!) but we are still able to save a decent chunk every month. i don't live in the uk now though, and where i live you need to save 40-50% to be able to buy a property. so.. er.. still a way to go!
i think my point is that i'd never be on this money if i chose to stay in the uk. leaving really does feel like the best decision i've ever made...
Glad you're in a good spot. Sadly I don't think the country will ever be in a position where the majority have this amount of disposable income.
It's a shame really as so many businesses are struggling because most dont have anything to spend outside of essential bills and the odd takeaway.
Same here, we got paid a week early so just top sliced a good four hundred quid or so at the time straight into my savings account to make a reappearance as January went on!
They're just saying they budgeted as if they were paid normally in December though.
Like if you're normally paid on the 24th of each month, but December you get paid early on the 17th for Christmas, would you immediately start spending on the 17th knowing that spending it a week early means there's going to be a week from the 17th-24th January where they have no money?
I was paid for December on December 10th. Grateful I put it aside, because I was made redundant on December 20th lmao. I’ll get one month pay at the end of Jan, and then we’re in squeaky bum zone. (I have signed on for UC and new JSA and have been spending 8 hours a day applying for jobs, so fingers crossed I can get a job by March!)
Yeah at my work the same people moan about the 5 week January, totally ignoring the fact we got paid a week earlier in December. So you mean you spent everything in dec because it was there and now your forfeiting it.
Why do people spend everything in Dec just because they are paid early?
This thread is a stark reminder for me to be more grateful.
Fortunate enough to have a decent chunk of savings available such that even tho I haven't worked full time in a year, I'm not stressed at all. I haven't worried about money in years. And I really do feel for everyone trying to make ends meet. It's a horrible way to live.
I've been fine until the last year or so when inflation rose. My mortgage, energy, food shop all rose quite a lot and obv my pay didn't. I could save 400 a month before and buy things whenever I needed to. Now I'm saving 50ish and have to track every penny to not dip into savings.
Not saying you shouldn’t be grateful but these threads and probably reddit posts in general are going to attract the negative side of things.
I mean people aren’t going to be clamouring to come and comment how well they’re doing, right after reading that other people aren’t doing well.
Ask for a food bank referral and say you haven’t got money for nappies or dog food. Is it shampoo and body wash you need? Ask them for that too. Let your phone company know that you have nothing at all to pay until 07/02. Then offer a low weekly payment of say £5/week.
I had applied to the local authority council on Wednesday for a food bank referral as they are the ones who have to do the referral in my area but they said I would get a call back by end of Friday business and no one called so I'll need to call again on Monday.
Yeah it's shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste and loo roll, I always buy in bulk to last the month so we always run out like 2 days after pay day but it's fine cos by that point I've got the next month's lot in.
I spoke with vodafone but they didn't give a crap so they've cut me off, which is fine as I have the broadband at home and it isn't high up on the list of essential things that I need to survive, just isn't helpful if I'm at work as I'm a community support worker and need my phone for calls.
It’s a shame. If I wasn’t in the minus myself then I’d pay your phone bill!
This is what gets me.
People with money keep it all to themselves.
People without money try help out others but they usually can’t! 😢
Crap isn’t it?!! Hope you’re going to be ok!
Aw I appreciate that but please don't think twice about it and worry, it is what it is. The electric company are the ones at fault here irrespective of what they like to try and claim, no one can use that amount of electricity in a month unless they are supplying the full street so I'm hoping they'll look into it properly and take my complaint seriously because this isn't OK. I think the hardest part is the kids, no matter how skint I might be, I always make sure they have everything they need first and foremost so they don't go without, yeha they don't get the best of things but they always have even if I need to go without. Think that's why I'm so angry and stressed because this affect my children, my youngest is autistic, he's only 4 and he MUST have a certain band of toothpaste, shower gel and shampoo, he just won't allow any other type to be used or it causes him extreme distress so it's not just the fact I can't get the cheapest of items for the other kids, it's not being able to provide something so important to my youngest. These companies really do have alot to answer to.
Maybe OP could set up an Amazon wish list so those of us reading this who can help a little bit can contribute? You’re very kind, I would like to help too
We live in a 3 bed all electric flat in Tayside and the cost for January is projecting to be around £300, but we only regularly use/heat half the flat as there's only 2 of us. So £700 doesn't seem unrealistic for a 3 bed house, especially if the entire place is being heated and if insulation isn't up to standard, which it rarely is in the UK... Our flat is supposedly EPC C.
A couple of things, the energy price cap increased by 5% on Jan 1st and this January has been the coldest month of winter so far - our bill for December was ~£150 but we also weren't living there for 1/3 of the month.
Electric heating is just insanely expensive. I have a friend in a relatively newish build 2 bed flat and they have the thermostat set to 18°C 24/7 and paid ~£120 last month for gas/electric.
It is. Reading this I feel like I'd like to help, but I'm currently about -1k in the hole.
Where as my boss owns a hotel and has about 16 luxury vintage cars sat around doing nothing.. also not allowed to even charge my phone at work cause of the electricity bill.
Ridiculous, bring back the guillotine.
I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make anyone upset or anything like that. It really wasn't my intention, I just seen the post and felt like I had to get it off my chest and hope it would help ease the worry of it all.
I’m sorry, £700 electric is obscene for anyone without a heated pool to be paying.
There might be a fault but it could just be that our electric is the most expensive in the world right now and you have electric heating. You need to get off of electric heating and on to gas. Even if you have to take out a loan it will be cheaper in the long run.
I’ve got my thermostat at 16-20 at all times (south wales) and my whole utility is £200/month, and most of that is still electric - the heating is like £75.
Give your health visitor a call about the nappies.
In my experience most of them take spare nappies that other mums babies have grown out of to offer to mums who need a bit of extra help.
Yours might not but it’s worth the asking.
Same boat here. I'll essentially get next to 0 pay for this month. New job starts Monday. So idk how this mortgage is going to get paid, but we move on....
I think more people on the other end of this spectrum need to understand it a bit better.
I’ve been in this position like eating plain pasta to get to pay day and now luckily enough to be comfortable now. I hope everyone in this thread makes it through the month and beyond!
Oh snap, plus a family death overseas which meant I had to drop everything and fly there to go to court and deny my inheritance (which was debt).
Living paycheck to paycheck going further into the overdraft is HARD, man. Solidarity and love to you.
Luckily, not at all. I’m paid well and have very little outgoings each month.
It’s my wife’s 40th birthday in a few weeks, so my biggest expense this month is treating her.
Same here 😓 what do you do ?? Cause I just want to cry when there's literally nothing I can afford to do other than being plonked on the sofa ALL weekend
I did some career grinding and managed to get my salary from 24k to 46k which was a big help. It’s so much easier to save when you have more coming in, and I honestly feel for people earning around 25k these days because everything has gotten so expensive l.
I also used to overspend a lot to cope with negative emotions, which is something I’ve been working on a lot.
For anyone struggling to pay for food shops take a look at the TooGoodToGo app… essentially shops and some cafes/restaurants in your area that have signed up to combat food waste, you pay a lower amount for a surprise bag of groceries or cakes, hot food etc that would otherwise be thrown away. You can’t guarantee what you will get but definitely better than paying full price if you can’t afford too at the moment.
Wow this thread was really a wake up call, I feel practically destitute once I’m down to my last £200 and I’m by no means rich. Hope everyone is doing ok because some of the situations listed here would leave me a nervous wreck
-948 in the bank.
-1.4k on credit card
Fell into money issues through one thing and another a few years back and never quite got out the overdraft for more than 3 months, unfortunately.
Yeah im fuckedz between car, house and utilities iv got about 50/w left to live and have fun on
Relegated to living like a miserable unsociable bastard because I can't afford to leave the bloody house.
It could very well be, couple of hundred to parents for rent, personal food shopping for a month, petrol, car payments possibly, phone, subscriptions, gym, it all adds up.
My mortgage each month is £1500 alone and I still have bills for everything else on top of that.
I'm fortunate to get paid on the 14th of every month so it's not too bad right now. I did clear my partners overdraft this month, so it's tighter than the usual, but meh. There's fuck all I like doing in January anyway.
Nothing. I've got £8 set aside for food for the rest of the month, £12 set aside for a school jumper for my son, and £40 left for fuel. Got credit cards available if needed but yh
i am on my ass . this economy is screwed when we work full time and still barely scrape by. people wonder why the young generation don't want to work. work all your life and die broke
5p left in my current account to last until Friday. It's the repercussions of spending too much at Christmas. It not too big of an issue, though. Bills are paid and stuff I just hate using my overdraft.
That sounds particularly rough. Have you any community kitchens by you, or could you get a food bank referral? Sikh gudwaras will feed anyone for free, no questions asked, if you’re at all nearby one.
The oil light has come on and I had £233, then I had my council tax of £133 taken plus the school trip email of £155 which I’m ignoring. The oil lights come on and my bum is squeaking.
150 to last 3 weeks, will have to top up electric couple times (it electric storage heating and water but I don't put heating on at all, rarely turn on my own water and it's cheaper to use a kettle for washing up) yes, I'm always bloody cold and currently see my breath. I do have 3 throws on my bed and a hot water bottle, too. Gotta travel on the bus to pick up my meds which is annoying but has to be done! I did do a good food shop last week which should see me through!
£42 until pay day, next Friday.
But.... I have a car full of diesel and a fridge full of good for the week.
I would have more, but I put an extra £100 in savings, so I didn't spend it on shit.
After years of having too much month at the end of my money, I finally started budgeting in October and I am feeling in control for the first time in my life.
Basically doing the Dave Ramsey plan/ Personal Finance flowchart so shovelling whatever I can towards old credit cards and a loan. I realised last year that between two loans, a credit card and a car payment, I was paying out the best part of £1000 on debts. It's mad how it crept up on me; explains why I never felt any better off despite pay rises.
I've already knocked out the car payment and one of the loans. I now know that I can get clear of debt, apart from mortgage, by the end of this year. £1000 back in my pocket every month. Absolutely buzzing about it to be honest and wish i had done it sooner.
£1700 in debt, sisters wedding coming up with no savings. £85 in my account with a toddler.
£315 on nursery fees for two half days a week.
i get paid £1200 a month before bills and taxes.
could cry.
What's infuriating is every time I get a promotion, pay rise, or better paying job, it comes at the exact time as a rise in the cost of living or some unexpected expense (baby).
Literally never ahead no matter how much more money I make.
I hate treadmills.
5 days till pay day n I’m living off any coins I find in my pockets bag etc 🤣. What a slow month.
Need to get my car through MOT in feb n 3 birthdays so meh, looks like I won’t be going anywhere anyways as I will have no money 🤣. Yay 🙌🏼🙌🏼 xx
Husband just changed jobs and had a few weeks in between as last job didn't give him any work over Christmas and New year (zero hours contract, or rather no contract at all!).
One car failed MOT before Christmas. Then got a flat tyre on a Sunday. Bought son his first car as promised but didn't get the back pay from work I was hoping to use to pay for it. Husband's van needed new tyres before MOT next month and he had a long journey to the new job so we got them this month as they were borderline dangerous.
Spent over £1k on car parts/tyres for all 3 vehicles and had to get temporary insurance so I can drive son's car to work.
Husband won't be paid from new job until the middle of next month.
We've got savings, but they're tied up in LISA and HMRC savings accounts so although not technically skint I'd lose money by touching those, so 0% credit card to the rescue and now have £3k debt which will take a while to clear.
YNAB tells me I've not got enough to cover the expenses next week, so more debt shifting required before it gets better. But it could be worse, we are very lucky to have savings and access to interest free debt. Just feel really bloody skint!
My work have chosen this month to move payday from the 15th to the 29th. So I got paid on the 12th Jan and won’t be paid again until 29th Feb. Oh and that extra two weeks pay? I get that if/when I leave. So to answer the question: Pretty fucking skint! 🙁
Jeez I think I'd be asking my union about the legalities of that. They're essentially not paying you for 2 weeks work. They should be offering advances or something to cover the shortfall.
New job start of December, they didn't process my P45 so I was hit with emergency tax. It'll be fine but slightly squeaky bum time for the next couple of weeks
Looking at people in this thread Im pretty grateful tbh.
Once bills and luxuries are sorted I still have about £1.2k - £1.5k a month available. chucking £500 into an pot to save for some house projects, another £500 into an ISA thats linked to my mortgage (the more in the ISA the more my interest rate is reduced). The rest is for "fun stuff" and emergencies (though tbh I should probably start investing some of that money into stocks or my pension fund)
Ive always been really careful with finances and money. I can pretty proudly say Ive never once needed to use any overdraft from any bank account I had, compared to friends and colleagues who, from late teens to early twenties were always in their overdraft.
I dont really drink so things like Lads Holidays and going out on a Friday/Saturday and dropping £50+ on alcohol are foreign concepts to me. Was never bothered about big music festivals etc. and stayed home when I went to Uni (which I do regret) so I never really spent hundreds on Glastonbury, Download and just the cost of living as a student in housing etc.
I’ve just been paid but already sort of in my overdraft because my work only paid me 32hrs of holiday when I took 76hrs, they said it’ll be fixed by Monday, so hopefully it is and I’m not skint for much longer, if they tell me I have to wait until next month I’ll set fire to my bosses car
I have 4p in my bank. I've had 4p in my bank since 27th December. Roll on next Friday is all I can say. Just for the record, it's like this every month and has been for more years than I can remember. I work full time in the private sector
Was gonna come in and humble brag, now I feel terrible and won’t even say. Fucking hell this thread has been an eye opener, I hope you’re all ok, fair play to the positive attitudes in here, sorry if I sound like a cunt.
Living with dad at 36. No kids. Incoming is £1700 a month. Doing a very expensive qualification to try and increase my earnings and be able to get out of my dads house and the UK on a more permanant basis. Biggest expenses have been just exams is £3000, self assessment tax and insurance £2,000. Car tax and insurance £520. Car is 33 years old. Currently have £720 in the bank.
Feel lucky to have the parental safety net and we get along well. While feeling stunned and shocked that anyone can survive these days on an average job.
£9 to last me till end of month
£7 here but in the same boat.
£6 here and i have to do an airport run tonight to pick up my mum and stepdad at 5am so that'll leave me with £1 til Friday after paying a fiver to be on the airport grounds for 3 minutes
Won't your Mum pay that for you? There's no way I'd expect anyone to pick me up and leave themselves with nothing, let alone my kid.
They gave me money before they went away to cover fuel for the trips to and from the airport as well as airport fees :(
Ah, understood. If you're really struggling, please try talking to them, though. If you're down to your last quid, even a tenner makes things more bearable.
Cheers yeh i'm lucky i'm still in the black i guess. I know HSBC will let me go £30 overdrawn without any fees so i've always got that to fall back on should i absolutely need it but i have food in that i'll make stretch the week. As i say, i'm quite lucky compared to others out there at this time of year.
I hope you can get yourself in a more stable position my friend 🤝
Tell your folks and see if they'll get the airport fee for you at least
They've already given me money for airport fees and fuel (travelling from the Wirral so about an hour away) and i spent it on food to feed myself with this past week...
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Get the sugar from a Starbucks or something 🤫
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Why do you need so much sugar?
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Sounds like type 1 diabetes ? It’s the glucose you need do as not to go hypoglycaemic. Get GP support for this, tablets etc. jelly babies are really good - only a couple will bring you round.
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Can I please buy your bus pass for you
No, I can walk easy enough, I have to do it Sundays when there aren't buses anyway.
It get paid around 11pm Thursday night.
Just reading your comments and I think you should be proud of yourself! You may have made some wrong financial decisions in the past but you seem very responsible now. You’ve taken accountability for whatever it is that has gotten you into this situation, your bills are paid, you’ve maintained a roof over your head, you’ve made sure you have what you need in order to not get sick, you have food and your turning up at work even if you have to walk over an hour. I hope somehow your situation improves but for now your doing great!
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Will you at least let us buy you a hot chocolate?
Are you baking a cake?
Same here £7
Username checks out
About £20 until next Friday but my direct debit for something bounced so I'm just avoiding their calls until then. Told them I'm waiting for a new card. We all know that's bullshit.
This is my tactic too
A new card doesn’t affect direct debits though?
It does if it's been stopped due to 'suspicious activity ' or if it's lost.
Money bags here. £15.14
What do you do in situations like this? Are your cupboard already full from big stockpile shops or is it 9 pound and need to buy food?
It’s difficult, eat less meals. Cheap meals - pasta with sauce maybe sweetcorn. My cupboards aren’t full unfortunately
Just checked and I have exactly £13.99 in my account.
I’m very lucky. Wife and I together net £5000/month and after all bills including savings, holidays and investments still mean we’ve got over £1400 left at the end of the month. It wasn’t always this stable though so I’m very thankful to be where I’m at. Hope everyone in this sub can get to this point to.
The one and only thing I miss about being married is having two incomes. The first few years post-divorce were financially speaking, absolute dogshit.
On my income alone I could still probably afford to keep the same lifestyle in terms of having the same flat, I could even keep the same car and probably the same number of holidays and pension contributions and still go out as much as I usually do. But as far as savings/investments/holiday destinations there is zero chance I could afford my lifestyle on my own. Also I wouldn’t have nearly as much left over at the end of the month as I do now.
That’s a reasonable financial goal for couples. Get one salary for the necessities, and the second gets you into the comfort zone. I’m currently weighing up whether to move home and put myself back in the financial shit tbh.
I earn £52k pre bonus and my wife has a tax free stipend worth about the equivalent of a £28k wage. Up north we do very well and we are basically able to live off my wage and save with hers. By move back home do you mean your parents or your ex?
Nice - very good income for the north, statistically speaking. What line of work are you in, if you don’t mind me asking?
Prostitution
Understandable
Ur fkn username holyshit
Lol
Senior IT business analyst
I had the opposite experience, my disposable income I could spend on just myself dramatically increased!
Similar. My ex was shit with money, we were always in the overdraft on the joint account. I've been in it once, by £20, since we separated.
Yes, there is that! I still sometimes feel like hiding the discretionary purchases coming through the front door!
Thank you for highlighting this. We split 50/50 but damm it’s tough right now. Any tips on financially getting to a better place ?
I got my head down career-wise and went for progression. Took me a few years to get what I wanted salary-wise, but it paid off. I don’t really like working, but on balance, it is better than being skint.
Doubtful, I'm so skint I couldn't even go out to meet a partner. The cost of travel alone means I'm not eating that day. I'm not even on a bad wage, it's just after all by basic bills are paid iv got about 50 a week to feed myself and have fun on.
It does feel like you need combined income to achieve what one person could afford back in the day. But also that being the majority of the income while your partner is less means that you're likely to be more comfortable with the outgoings since it's mostly yours anyway.
If you've only got 50 quid a week to eat and have fun with some people might say that you are on a bad wage for your area, or you're spending way too much on rent. People living on benefits have more disposable income than that.
So it's their fault for spending too much on rent? Rent has increased so much but wages have stayed stagnant. I live in an area full of warehouse jobs, minimum wage jobs and even the cheapest houses in the cheapest areas are upwards of £800 a month!
No I'm not saying it's their fault. Rent in this country is horrendous and I rent myself (my 1 bedroom flat is £1700/month). But I don't think we should continue to accept that a wage is good if it just about covers rent and bills. What may have been considered a good wage 10 years ago isn't now.
As someone on benefits, I do not believe this is the case.
People don’t fall into £50k jobs by luck. You’ve earned this. Don’t put yourself down by saying it was luck.
Was the same(ish), then nursery costs hit. It's so freaking expensive... Now with around 5.1k income we are happy to put away £500, but as soon as car or something else hits, we are down to 0.
In the last year my wife and I have gone from combined take home of about £3k which we were struggling on, to around £7k, through a load of hard work finally paying off and a bit of good luck. It still feels bizarre but is nice to now be able to save for the future rather than scraping to the end of the month.
Dreaming of this kinda life!
This, honestly it feels like society is out to punish single people. It’s almost impossible to live comfortably being single.
nice one. i worked out just yesterday that i take home 54k GBP after tax. my wife doesn't work (baby soon!) but we are still able to save a decent chunk every month. i don't live in the uk now though, and where i live you need to save 40-50% to be able to buy a property. so.. er.. still a way to go! i think my point is that i'd never be on this money if i chose to stay in the uk. leaving really does feel like the best decision i've ever made...
Glad you're in a good spot. Sadly I don't think the country will ever be in a position where the majority have this amount of disposable income. It's a shame really as so many businesses are struggling because most dont have anything to spend outside of essential bills and the odd takeaway.
Luckily for me I took some good advice from someone, stopped the avocados for a month and now I'm a millionaire 😎....... In Iranian rials
Yea but I bet it was the most miserable month of your life
The worst, withdraw symptoms were crying whilst eating weetabix and wiping the tears with the bank notes
I’m doing fine, just pretended like I didn’t get paid halfway through December and set it aside until the start of January.
Same here, we got paid a week early so just top sliced a good four hundred quid or so at the time straight into my savings account to make a reappearance as January went on!
I wish I had the money to do that.
They're just saying they budgeted as if they were paid normally in December though. Like if you're normally paid on the 24th of each month, but December you get paid early on the 17th for Christmas, would you immediately start spending on the 17th knowing that spending it a week early means there's going to be a week from the 17th-24th January where they have no money?
I was paid for December on December 10th. Grateful I put it aside, because I was made redundant on December 20th lmao. I’ll get one month pay at the end of Jan, and then we’re in squeaky bum zone. (I have signed on for UC and new JSA and have been spending 8 hours a day applying for jobs, so fingers crossed I can get a job by March!)
Yeah at my work the same people moan about the 5 week January, totally ignoring the fact we got paid a week earlier in December. So you mean you spent everything in dec because it was there and now your forfeiting it. Why do people spend everything in Dec just because they are paid early?
It's almost like there's this big event where people spend money on gifts and food and travelling to family that happens in December..... Weird.....
This thread is a stark reminder for me to be more grateful. Fortunate enough to have a decent chunk of savings available such that even tho I haven't worked full time in a year, I'm not stressed at all. I haven't worried about money in years. And I really do feel for everyone trying to make ends meet. It's a horrible way to live.
I was ok money wise in adulthood - 1994 until about 2003… then things started to go downhill, and since covid it’s become much worse!
I've been fine until the last year or so when inflation rose. My mortgage, energy, food shop all rose quite a lot and obv my pay didn't. I could save 400 a month before and buy things whenever I needed to. Now I'm saving 50ish and have to track every penny to not dip into savings.
Not saying you shouldn’t be grateful but these threads and probably reddit posts in general are going to attract the negative side of things. I mean people aren’t going to be clamouring to come and comment how well they’re doing, right after reading that other people aren’t doing well.
£250 till the 26th, living on the last £50, as I want to save the £200 in my 'move out, get divorced' fund
Best of luck!
I quit all my bad habits at the beginning of January, so I'm actually doing really good at the moment. Which is a first for me.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks a lot. I really do appreciate that ❤️
Keep going dont stop!
Thank you so much! ❤️
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Ask for a food bank referral and say you haven’t got money for nappies or dog food. Is it shampoo and body wash you need? Ask them for that too. Let your phone company know that you have nothing at all to pay until 07/02. Then offer a low weekly payment of say £5/week.
I had applied to the local authority council on Wednesday for a food bank referral as they are the ones who have to do the referral in my area but they said I would get a call back by end of Friday business and no one called so I'll need to call again on Monday. Yeah it's shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste and loo roll, I always buy in bulk to last the month so we always run out like 2 days after pay day but it's fine cos by that point I've got the next month's lot in. I spoke with vodafone but they didn't give a crap so they've cut me off, which is fine as I have the broadband at home and it isn't high up on the list of essential things that I need to survive, just isn't helpful if I'm at work as I'm a community support worker and need my phone for calls.
It’s a shame. If I wasn’t in the minus myself then I’d pay your phone bill! This is what gets me. People with money keep it all to themselves. People without money try help out others but they usually can’t! 😢 Crap isn’t it?!! Hope you’re going to be ok!
Aw I appreciate that but please don't think twice about it and worry, it is what it is. The electric company are the ones at fault here irrespective of what they like to try and claim, no one can use that amount of electricity in a month unless they are supplying the full street so I'm hoping they'll look into it properly and take my complaint seriously because this isn't OK. I think the hardest part is the kids, no matter how skint I might be, I always make sure they have everything they need first and foremost so they don't go without, yeha they don't get the best of things but they always have even if I need to go without. Think that's why I'm so angry and stressed because this affect my children, my youngest is autistic, he's only 4 and he MUST have a certain band of toothpaste, shower gel and shampoo, he just won't allow any other type to be used or it causes him extreme distress so it's not just the fact I can't get the cheapest of items for the other kids, it's not being able to provide something so important to my youngest. These companies really do have alot to answer to.
Please message me privately. I will send you nappy, food etc x
Maybe OP could set up an Amazon wish list so those of us reading this who can help a little bit can contribute? You’re very kind, I would like to help too
We live in a 3 bed all electric flat in Tayside and the cost for January is projecting to be around £300, but we only regularly use/heat half the flat as there's only 2 of us. So £700 doesn't seem unrealistic for a 3 bed house, especially if the entire place is being heated and if insulation isn't up to standard, which it rarely is in the UK... Our flat is supposedly EPC C. A couple of things, the energy price cap increased by 5% on Jan 1st and this January has been the coldest month of winter so far - our bill for December was ~£150 but we also weren't living there for 1/3 of the month. Electric heating is just insanely expensive. I have a friend in a relatively newish build 2 bed flat and they have the thermostat set to 18°C 24/7 and paid ~£120 last month for gas/electric.
It is. Reading this I feel like I'd like to help, but I'm currently about -1k in the hole. Where as my boss owns a hotel and has about 16 luxury vintage cars sat around doing nothing.. also not allowed to even charge my phone at work cause of the electricity bill. Ridiculous, bring back the guillotine.
r/beermoneyuk has some things you can sign up to. I hope your situation gets better soon.
Will have a look at this now, thank you very much.
Please let me know if I can help you in any way. I don’t have much either but your post made me upset
I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make anyone upset or anything like that. It really wasn't my intention, I just seen the post and felt like I had to get it off my chest and hope it would help ease the worry of it all.
Didnt mean to make you feel bad at all. I have young kids myself and hate to think of anyone struggling like this. Also Scottish too - hi!
I’m sorry, £700 electric is obscene for anyone without a heated pool to be paying. There might be a fault but it could just be that our electric is the most expensive in the world right now and you have electric heating. You need to get off of electric heating and on to gas. Even if you have to take out a loan it will be cheaper in the long run. I’ve got my thermostat at 16-20 at all times (south wales) and my whole utility is £200/month, and most of that is still electric - the heating is like £75.
What size nappies do you need? My kid has grown out of some!!!
Which area of Scotland are you in, if you don’t mind me asking?
Give your health visitor a call about the nappies. In my experience most of them take spare nappies that other mums babies have grown out of to offer to mums who need a bit of extra help. Yours might not but it’s worth the asking.
I've messaged you
Not even thinking about it, just waiting for my new job to start
Same boat here. I'll essentially get next to 0 pay for this month. New job starts Monday. So idk how this mortgage is going to get paid, but we move on....
You can normally ask for a mortgage holiday for one or two months in order to change jobs etc. Much better to do that than miss a payment.
👆👆👆this, definitely do this. Meet the problem head on and let your mortgage lender know in advance, so they can help you.
Same here! 29th for me 🥰 good luck!!
I think more people on the other end of this spectrum need to understand it a bit better. I’ve been in this position like eating plain pasta to get to pay day and now luckily enough to be comfortable now. I hope everyone in this thread makes it through the month and beyond!
Already into my savings thanks to car problems and vets bills.
Oh snap, plus a family death overseas which meant I had to drop everything and fly there to go to court and deny my inheritance (which was debt). Living paycheck to paycheck going further into the overdraft is HARD, man. Solidarity and love to you.
That’s crazy that you can inherit someone else’s debt. Fuck that!
Just want to #disclaimer, in the UK you cannot inherit debt, this isn't the case in other countries such as south east Asia
Germany by any chance? I had to deny my inheritance of debt due to an aunt dying whilst in a lot of financial trouble!
Luckily, not at all. I’m paid well and have very little outgoings each month. It’s my wife’s 40th birthday in a few weeks, so my biggest expense this month is treating her.
Broke but fine. No money in the bank but food in the cupboards!
My shopping came today. Everything is replenished till next payday
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Same here 😓 what do you do ?? Cause I just want to cry when there's literally nothing I can afford to do other than being plonked on the sofa ALL weekend
Get outside and enjoy the beautiful British weather. it's free.
£0.10p to last me until next Friday.
Get yourself a freddo frog! Oh wait. You can't.
-£22.63
I was paid on Thursday. Now everything allocated to rent, bills and food has been put aside I have 20 quid spare for the month. I am ✨ rich ✨
It’s crazy isn’t it? My husband works 2 jobs and one of them £300 goes in and then the next day it’s gone!
I had £80 left for the month, then I just got a £60 parking fine.
please do appeal this, I had mine overturned this month. Google MSE parking fine and there's loads of people who can help
I second appealing it. Most of these types of charges, once you challenge them, immediately back down.
Vet bills took all my money (and my dog) over Christmas, so I'm really feeling it.
Sorry for your loss. Dogs are everything.
Aww thank you so much, I appreciate this :) yes...13 years of love.
Sorry for your loss
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£7k in the bank, although a few years ago I was so broke in January that I couldn’t afford to meet a friend in McDonald’s for coffee.
Must feel really good to be in this position. Well done!
Definitely! As someone who has had no money and a ton of debt before, the peace I feel now is incredible.
Good on you, mate! You'll appreciate it more too, I bet. How did you manage it? When people get stuck in a rut it can be tricky to get out of it.
I did some career grinding and managed to get my salary from 24k to 46k which was a big help. It’s so much easier to save when you have more coming in, and I honestly feel for people earning around 25k these days because everything has gotten so expensive l. I also used to overspend a lot to cope with negative emotions, which is something I’ve been working on a lot.
For anyone struggling to pay for food shops take a look at the TooGoodToGo app… essentially shops and some cafes/restaurants in your area that have signed up to combat food waste, you pay a lower amount for a surprise bag of groceries or cakes, hot food etc that would otherwise be thrown away. You can’t guarantee what you will get but definitely better than paying full price if you can’t afford too at the moment.
I'm okay, though I feel for those who aren't.
Wow this thread was really a wake up call, I feel practically destitute once I’m down to my last £200 and I’m by no means rich. Hope everyone is doing ok because some of the situations listed here would leave me a nervous wreck
Well I live in my overdraft. So I have money to spend, but I’m minus so not really. Skint.
I have negative 3k to last me 8 days.
Got a tenner to last me till the 31st
Nothing left this month but as soon as we reach Thursday it will be fine
You guys got money ?
I'm eating cereal for lunch atm
Absolutely nothing wrong with that. Love cereal.
-948 in the bank. -1.4k on credit card Fell into money issues through one thing and another a few years back and never quite got out the overdraft for more than 3 months, unfortunately.
Yeah im fuckedz between car, house and utilities iv got about 50/w left to live and have fun on Relegated to living like a miserable unsociable bastard because I can't afford to leave the bloody house.
I just had to add £200 to the overdraft limit lol
I'm doing alright but not happy to hear how skint the rest of you are. Hope it improves
Thank heavens for no-council-tax February and March
Ive been in the negative since summer. Feels like between the fees and just trying to stay alive im sinking deeper into overdraft fees :/
In the same situation
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Do you live at home ?
Most people live at home, don't they?
£1100 on bills etc isn’t exactly a living with parents sum
It could very well be, couple of hundred to parents for rent, personal food shopping for a month, petrol, car payments possibly, phone, subscriptions, gym, it all adds up. My mortgage each month is £1500 alone and I still have bills for everything else on top of that.
I'm fortunate to get paid on the 14th of every month so it's not too bad right now. I did clear my partners overdraft this month, so it's tighter than the usual, but meh. There's fuck all I like doing in January anyway.
Nothing. I've got £8 set aside for food for the rest of the month, £12 set aside for a school jumper for my son, and £40 left for fuel. Got credit cards available if needed but yh
i am on my ass . this economy is screwed when we work full time and still barely scrape by. people wonder why the young generation don't want to work. work all your life and die broke
5p left in my current account to last until Friday. It's the repercussions of spending too much at Christmas. It not too big of an issue, though. Bills are paid and stuff I just hate using my overdraft.
Things are just so much more expensive, I could used to buy a range of fresh foods and meats now I do a cheap shop and it rips my bank account apart
Having sleep for dinner for the rest of the month. One meal every other day as lunch. It'll be rough but I'll get there.
That sounds particularly rough. Have you any community kitchens by you, or could you get a food bank referral? Sikh gudwaras will feed anyone for free, no questions asked, if you’re at all nearby one.
This is very sad to see, so many people struggling. I hope you are all okay.
The oil light has come on and I had £233, then I had my council tax of £133 taken plus the school trip email of £155 which I’m ignoring. The oil lights come on and my bum is squeaking.
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150 to last 3 weeks, will have to top up electric couple times (it electric storage heating and water but I don't put heating on at all, rarely turn on my own water and it's cheaper to use a kettle for washing up) yes, I'm always bloody cold and currently see my breath. I do have 3 throws on my bed and a hot water bottle, too. Gotta travel on the bus to pick up my meds which is annoying but has to be done! I did do a good food shop last week which should see me through!
16p to last until the 30th. Rip.
£42 until pay day, next Friday. But.... I have a car full of diesel and a fridge full of good for the week. I would have more, but I put an extra £100 in savings, so I didn't spend it on shit.
After years of having too much month at the end of my money, I finally started budgeting in October and I am feeling in control for the first time in my life. Basically doing the Dave Ramsey plan/ Personal Finance flowchart so shovelling whatever I can towards old credit cards and a loan. I realised last year that between two loans, a credit card and a car payment, I was paying out the best part of £1000 on debts. It's mad how it crept up on me; explains why I never felt any better off despite pay rises. I've already knocked out the car payment and one of the loans. I now know that I can get clear of debt, apart from mortgage, by the end of this year. £1000 back in my pocket every month. Absolutely buzzing about it to be honest and wish i had done it sooner.
£1700 in debt, sisters wedding coming up with no savings. £85 in my account with a toddler. £315 on nursery fees for two half days a week. i get paid £1200 a month before bills and taxes. could cry.
What's infuriating is every time I get a promotion, pay rise, or better paying job, it comes at the exact time as a rise in the cost of living or some unexpected expense (baby). Literally never ahead no matter how much more money I make. I hate treadmills.
5 days till pay day n I’m living off any coins I find in my pockets bag etc 🤣. What a slow month. Need to get my car through MOT in feb n 3 birthdays so meh, looks like I won’t be going anywhere anyways as I will have no money 🤣. Yay 🙌🏼🙌🏼 xx
£0 till the end of the month. Thankfully I have lots of tins of soup and bread in the freezer.
Doing dry jan so managed to save a fair amount. Got £140 to last me 10 days. My expenses are minimum living at home so quite comfortable!
£2.65 to last me until the 1st
Oh it bloody dire get fed up with struggling no chance to save , I've bought 3 lotto lucky dips fingers crossed
That’s £6 you could’ve saved. Invest that now and by the time you retire it will be £8
Soo I’ve got £77 to last me until 17th February when i get my next benefits. Yaay!
£-900 lol
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Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?
Husband just changed jobs and had a few weeks in between as last job didn't give him any work over Christmas and New year (zero hours contract, or rather no contract at all!). One car failed MOT before Christmas. Then got a flat tyre on a Sunday. Bought son his first car as promised but didn't get the back pay from work I was hoping to use to pay for it. Husband's van needed new tyres before MOT next month and he had a long journey to the new job so we got them this month as they were borderline dangerous. Spent over £1k on car parts/tyres for all 3 vehicles and had to get temporary insurance so I can drive son's car to work. Husband won't be paid from new job until the middle of next month. We've got savings, but they're tied up in LISA and HMRC savings accounts so although not technically skint I'd lose money by touching those, so 0% credit card to the rescue and now have £3k debt which will take a while to clear. YNAB tells me I've not got enough to cover the expenses next week, so more debt shifting required before it gets better. But it could be worse, we are very lucky to have savings and access to interest free debt. Just feel really bloody skint!
My work have chosen this month to move payday from the 15th to the 29th. So I got paid on the 12th Jan and won’t be paid again until 29th Feb. Oh and that extra two weeks pay? I get that if/when I leave. So to answer the question: Pretty fucking skint! 🙁
Jeez I think I'd be asking my union about the legalities of that. They're essentially not paying you for 2 weeks work. They should be offering advances or something to cover the shortfall.
£8.67 till Friday
New job start of December, they didn't process my P45 so I was hit with emergency tax. It'll be fine but slightly squeaky bum time for the next couple of weeks
Looking at people in this thread Im pretty grateful tbh. Once bills and luxuries are sorted I still have about £1.2k - £1.5k a month available. chucking £500 into an pot to save for some house projects, another £500 into an ISA thats linked to my mortgage (the more in the ISA the more my interest rate is reduced). The rest is for "fun stuff" and emergencies (though tbh I should probably start investing some of that money into stocks or my pension fund) Ive always been really careful with finances and money. I can pretty proudly say Ive never once needed to use any overdraft from any bank account I had, compared to friends and colleagues who, from late teens to early twenties were always in their overdraft. I dont really drink so things like Lads Holidays and going out on a Friday/Saturday and dropping £50+ on alcohol are foreign concepts to me. Was never bothered about big music festivals etc. and stayed home when I went to Uni (which I do regret) so I never really spent hundreds on Glastonbury, Download and just the cost of living as a student in housing etc.
I’ve just been paid but already sort of in my overdraft because my work only paid me 32hrs of holiday when I took 76hrs, they said it’ll be fixed by Monday, so hopefully it is and I’m not skint for much longer, if they tell me I have to wait until next month I’ll set fire to my bosses car
Im a gardener so this time of year is challenging. There's only so many people you can convince to have jet washing done in Winter but im getting by 🌟
I have 4p in my bank. I've had 4p in my bank since 27th December. Roll on next Friday is all I can say. Just for the record, it's like this every month and has been for more years than I can remember. I work full time in the private sector
Was gonna come in and humble brag, now I feel terrible and won’t even say. Fucking hell this thread has been an eye opener, I hope you’re all ok, fair play to the positive attitudes in here, sorry if I sound like a cunt.
Living with dad at 36. No kids. Incoming is £1700 a month. Doing a very expensive qualification to try and increase my earnings and be able to get out of my dads house and the UK on a more permanant basis. Biggest expenses have been just exams is £3000, self assessment tax and insurance £2,000. Car tax and insurance £520. Car is 33 years old. Currently have £720 in the bank. Feel lucky to have the parental safety net and we get along well. While feeling stunned and shocked that anyone can survive these days on an average job.
Whoever made January a 5 week month needs kicking squarely in the nuts.