is 20k a year

[star-dust]

8k a year you'd get housing help and working tax credits - assuming your OH is employed. My income was low after I split with my ex due to hours worked at the time so know abit about the entitlement of help with low income households. No way are you paying full rent unless you haven't bothered applying for assistance.

I do say in my quote that is with help we get some wtc but No HB or CT help, we were turned down for that coz we earn to much apparently,

edit to say:: can these decsiosns be appealed? or can i just reapply if its to late for an appeal, tbh Im clueless when it comes to the system!

 

[welshlass]

D

 

[polo_princess]

8k a year you'd get housing help and working tax credits - assuming your OH is employed. My income was low after I split with my ex due to hours worked at the time so know abit about the entitlement of help with low income households. No way are you paying full rent unless you haven't bothered applying for assistance.

I do say in my quote that is with help we get some wtc but No HB or CT help, we were turned down for that coz we earn to much apparently,

edit to say:: can these decsiosns be appealed? or can i just reapply if its to late for an appeal, tbh Im clueless when it comes to the system!

You were turned down for CTC because you earn too much @ 8K?

I thought the limit for CTC was 50k a year and the WTC limit is around 16k a year?

 

[Mervs Mum]

You were turned down for CTC because you earn too much @ 8K?

I thought the limit for CTC was 50k a year and the WTC limit is around 16k a year?

I think its a bit more than £50k even TBH

 

[polo_princess]

think it might be the other way around .... i get CTC but earn too much for WTC

 

[Mervs Mum]

I dont know which way they are but the one your get where it's to do with childcare costs etc I think is a bit over £50k now - could be wrong though

 

[polo_princess]

i also thought for normal benefeits anything 16k or under is classed as a low household income? it used to be that a few years ago dont know if its changed now

 

[star-dust]

You were turned down for CTC because you earn too much @ 8K?

I thought the limit for CTC was 50k a year and the WTC limit is around 16k a year?

CT as in council tax & housing benifit. we were told we were appliacable so applied but then promptly got turned down!
never found a actuall site that tells me what we are entitled to!

 

[claire-lou]

It depend how you live and you find you do live to your means, our bills and out goings between the 2 of us are 1478 a month that isn't including food, petrol nappies ect. As our wages have got better so have our out goings

 

[Seraphim]

There's a sticky thread on Tax Credits, and a calculator at www.entitledto.com

Helped me loads

 

[Serene123]

Me and Rich don't qualify for CTC and he earns 25k........ We're entitled to £10 WTC, that's all Oh and child benefit!

 

[kitty_kitty]

I used to work full time and my OH still does but now i work time and we have less money coming in.

The funny thing is we have not really noticed a difference as i think that is on me i am happier and spending less and i have more time to cook or go to the market for decent food etc.

We own our house but do not have a large mortgage as we were sensible when we bought this one and did not get anywhere near the amount of mortgage we could have.

We run one car as where we live is a nice small town which i can walk into and i get a bus or lift to and from work as by the time i went to work the carpark would be full and i would not want to park on a side street near my work besides i get bus from outside my house to outside my work.

We have a lot better standard of living now and are alot happier and argue less and since moving we live in a better area too.

So when it comes to coping on the money you earn i think there is a lot of external factors too.

I might live in Yorkshire but alas no whippets too bloody expensive i have lurchers!!!!

 

[Mimiso]

I agree that it really depends on your outgoings tbh. 20k is a lot if your outgoings are not a lot. My OH and I combined earn about 55k a year. When I go on maternity leave my salary which will include 4months half pay plus SMP will be (if calculated annually) about 22k - now I have to admit that that is not a bad sum to earn on maternity leave - however our outgoings really match our 55k salary so we will have to cut back considerably on a number of things. I am a bit worried about it tbh but I am sure that most of the things we pay for are not essential so it is a matter of weighing out what is essential and cutting back on the non-essentials until I go back to work

 

[danni2609]

we get wtc as we are a low income family under 16k a yr

 

[memartin]

Dont mean to be rude as I dont normally step into this section but fricking hell how can you think 20k whether for one or for 2 people is only doable!!

If hubby I were were on 20k we would be more then doing ok!!

we get by on 8k a yr and this will only go up to about 9k when babies here!!!

I dont think most posters in this topic are talking about US $$ and I am unsure of the conversion, but I will put in my opinion, based on US $$.

I think lifestyle has a lot to do with it. DH and I could never survive with our lifestyle on 20k a year. We pay 29K a year just for our mortgage alone, let alone car payments, insurance, utilities, food, gas, pleasure money, ect. On average our monthly amount going OUT to mortgage/cars/and everything else is about $5500 a month.. so 20K a year would not come near to cutting it for us! However 20k a year might be plenty for somebody who lived in a different area, or in an apartment, ect.

We live in one of the more expensive areas in the US though, so really lifestyle and the region you live in has ALOT to do when deciding if 20k a year is enough to live on.

Wow... big difference! I live in the US too, and my DH and I make about 65k a year, and barely make it... and thats with no kids! We only have one car, no credit cards, a house, and I still clip coupons and we only eat out one night a week!

We want kids more than anything right now, but its hard because I want to stay at home.. and with just his salary.. there wouldnt be anyway to pay all of our bills!

 

[IrishBaby1109]

good money to live on? Im just trying to work out if i will be earning enough when i start work and when baby is born.

Depends on where you are from... My OH and I wouldn't be able to live on 20K (USD) a year, but that's our lifestyle and our bills. We each have to make substancially more than that to survive, cause we have so much to pay for with our townhouse and such, but depends on your area and your bills/life. SO many people can make that work. It's all about making a budget and sticking to living within your means.

 

[Seraphim]

Exchange atm is roughly 1UKP(£) = 1.5USD($)

 

[leedsforever]

yes I think 20 grand is do-able

 

[embo216]

20K would be hard for us to live on, but then again I was a student once and lived on hardly anything!

I think you kind of spend what you have, when we first had Lily OH was on a lower wage and it was hard for us to live on but he got a lucky break with a job and we're on an amazing wage now.

He's classed as self employed and he gets paid every 2 weeks, usually about £4000 a month, but some months less, all depends on the work.

We have a great standard of living for now and I'm very lucky for having it. I'm very grateful everyday that I don't have to work and I can stay home with Lily.

I think the important thing is that I know that if we lost everything I'd still have my beautiful children and my OH

 

[mrscookie]

me and hub combined are on 34k, but that does not last at all, once everything is paid for we are not left with much, so 20k alone to me would be very hard to live off, do able but hard.
Once I go back to work part time my wages will drop alot, so I dont know how we will manage but we will have to.
xx