I worry about this too 
My OH works 39 hours a week but he's only contracted to 20 so we could be in big difficulty at any time. I'm a full-time student (literally full time, mon - fri, 09:00 til 16:30) and don't have/cant find any weekend only jobs, which i often need for studying anyway. I get £320 per month from my bursary and just under £200 from student finance, so altogether we get around £1400 a month together. (£16, 800K per annum).
We have
£525 rent a month
£90 council tax a month (keeps going up :/)
£30 water a month
£50 electric a month
£30 sofa finance a month
£20 contents insurance a month
£12 tv license a month
£20 Boradband only a month (incl line rental)
Car = £60 a month
Food = £50 a month
my phone bill = £27 a month
OH phones bill = £12 a month
Credit card = £50
Car finance (ends this month) = £90 a month
Income = £1400
Outgoing = 1040?
And im pretty sure iv missed something! I'm always in my overdraft
We are barely scraping by but i know we'd make it work if we had a LO now. We are planning for one next year and i worry we won't cope all the time but my OH is sure we will...hopefully ill get a job soon to make a nest egg and when im qualified and have a job we will be a lot better off - doubling our joint annual income minimum
We don't have treats or any savings but we manage with careful budgeting. Just budget a lot! and when you're ready for a LO consider getting everything secondhand or free..that's what i plan to do for most things such as clothes, which will be grown out of every month anyway!
Some tips i have that may benefit you if you want to try it;
1. I cook everything from scratch and put leftovers in the freezer (chilli, bolognese, pies ect etc). It's a lot cheaper than eating out or buying frozen. You name it, i can make it!
2. Buy supermarket own brand food. For example, own brand pasta 29p a bag, branded 2.50 a bag. Pasta is pasta at the end of the day! We get most of our stuff from lidls and just a few extras from morrisons.
3. Budget! enough said lol. Work out all you outgoings and what you earn and see what you can cut.
4. Compare everything (car insurance, utility suppliers, broadband etc)
5. extras - cut out extras like sky etc, it's not needed when there's freeview. Go for cheaper broadband, not fibre.
I'll add more if i can think of them! Hope it helps
My OH works 39 hours a week but he's only contracted to 20 so we could be in big difficulty at any time. I'm a full-time student (literally full time, mon - fri, 09:00 til 16:30) and don't have/cant find any weekend only jobs, which i often need for studying anyway. I get £320 per month from my bursary and just under £200 from student finance, so altogether we get around £1400 a month together. (£16, 800K per annum).We have
£525 rent a month
£90 council tax a month (keeps going up :/)
£30 water a month
£50 electric a month
£30 sofa finance a month
£20 contents insurance a month
£12 tv license a month
£20 Boradband only a month (incl line rental)
Car = £60 a month
Food = £50 a month
my phone bill = £27 a month
OH phones bill = £12 a month
Credit card = £50
Car finance (ends this month) = £90 a month
Income = £1400
Outgoing = 1040?
And im pretty sure iv missed something! I'm always in my overdraft
We are barely scraping by but i know we'd make it work if we had a LO now. We are planning for one next year and i worry we won't cope all the time but my OH is sure we will...hopefully ill get a job soon to make a nest egg and when im qualified and have a job we will be a lot better off - doubling our joint annual income minimum
We don't have treats or any savings but we manage with careful budgeting. Just budget a lot! and when you're ready for a LO consider getting everything secondhand or free..that's what i plan to do for most things such as clothes, which will be grown out of every month anyway!
Some tips i have that may benefit you if you want to try it;
1. I cook everything from scratch and put leftovers in the freezer (chilli, bolognese, pies ect etc). It's a lot cheaper than eating out or buying frozen. You name it, i can make it!
2. Buy supermarket own brand food. For example, own brand pasta 29p a bag, branded 2.50 a bag. Pasta is pasta at the end of the day! We get most of our stuff from lidls and just a few extras from morrisons.
3. Budget! enough said lol. Work out all you outgoings and what you earn and see what you can cut.
4. Compare everything (car insurance, utility suppliers, broadband etc)
5. extras - cut out extras like sky etc, it's not needed when there's freeview. Go for cheaper broadband, not fibre.
I'll add more if i can think of them! Hope it helps
