I see lots of people on here saying their families get by comfortably on 40-50k per year. My question is HOW?! I have recently become a single Mum and am struggling on 75k! I know people will say that's a lot. I'm not looking for criticism but help. (This amount includes child support, I have 2 kids)
This equals around $2200 a fortnight.
So budget I've worked out. Per fortnight
Mortgage $900 (rent would be similar)
Bills $400
Petrol $100
Car payment $200
Groceries $300
Childcare $260 (for 1 child 2 days, yes I've looked around and that's standard for the area)
So that's my pay gone!
I get ftb $278 a fortnight. That still needs to cover home insurance, kinder fees. Saving for birthday/Christmas. Buying kids clothes. Let alone kids doing any activities.
Not here to sook, just genuinely wondering how people do it!
Budget
Budget
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Money
27 Replies
Are they monthly figures or weekly?
She said they were fortnightly.
Basically my bills are for 2 adults (as my son eats as much as an adult)1 large dog 3 cats. We are also home a lot because my son is unwell and so spend more on electricity etc than we would if I was at work.
Food $150 a week, pet food, our food, loads of fresh veggies, cleaning products
Rent currently $200 a week but have paid $300 a week on same income
Car bought for cash out of savings for $5000, insurance and roadside assistance is $30 per month. Will save for the next car. Rego is $599 a year.
Petrol $20 a week
I have a gym membership of $450 a year and pay a PT $70 a week I also swim for $60 a month.
Foxtel $49 a month
Internet and mobile phone $70 a month.
Gas $280 a quarter
Electricity $280 a quarter
Water $90 a quarter
I haven't included things like how much we would need to spend if an appliance broke down. But I pay cash for everything.
Total income is 50K as you can see if I paid more rent I would have to lower some expenses which would most likely be Foxtel, PT and probably drop my data use/mobile phone, swimming. But we so waste money in other areas that we could cut back on. I don't shop particularly smart, do all my food shopping in the one supermarket.
I put $60 a month a way for birthday presents for my son and other family members. I budget $70 per month for Xmas.
I colour my own hair and get it cut when needed not at the 6-8 week mark.
We only buy clothes and shoes when we have outgrown something or warn something out. We don't use shopping for entertainment.
My son is budgeted $60 a week for entertainment eg sport hobbies etc
We don't buy toys unless it's Christmas or birthdays and we have plenty!
Petrol 20 bucks a week, where do you live? I live in Cairns, my son goes to the local school, I work locally (all within 15 mins from home) and to fill my tank is 70 bucks and that lasts a week to a week and a half usually. Lucky you ?
Yep, it's a small efficient car in fact I probably spend less than $20 as I put $40 in three weeks ago and will need to fill up again this week, but I budget $20 a week.
It only costs around $40 to fill up.
We live in Adelaide but when I lived in Sydney my fuel costs were about the same because we bought small efficient cars.
Cost of petrol in Cairns is shocking, the joys of living in a regional area.
But you dont have to use it. If you want to spend less something has to give. I manage on $50 a fortnight on fuel and Im mindful about where Im driving. I also chose a car thats fuel efficient, even though I loved one that isnt, Im glad about it now because I just couldnt afford to pay more.
Love my little Getz so fuel efficient costs nothing to run and plenty of room for me and I can fit 2 car seats in, with room for the food shopping.
Your mortgage is high, $250 a fortnight more than my rent, and i dont have insurance. what are your bills to be that much every fortnight? Again, a lot more than mine I have elctricity and prepaid phone. I dont have a car payment, I saved and spent $8000 outright on my car.your childcare again is much more than mine, ive never heard of childcare that expensive after rebate.
The mortgage is killing you, it's a lot for one person. Your childcare is also a lot, when my son went most opened 6 or 6.30 in Cairns, I feel for you, that's tough.
I think your mortgage, car loan and childcare are the killers. Can u bring someone in to rent out a room in your house to help cover mortage? I personally think you've bitten off more than you can chew. Can u sell your car and downgrade so you won't have a car loan?
My family of 5 live off your wage, we have a mortgage (not as high as yours) and no other debt. Our money seems to stretch alot further than your's.
Here is a snippet of our budget.
Weekly income $1200
Mortage $300
School fees $100
Kindy fees $50
Bills (rates, electricity, insurance) $130
Kids activities $80
Groceries $150
Petrol $50
Thats the basics. Obviously we may have other small expenses but not on a weekly basis.
2 bedroom house with 2 kids. So can't share. Purchased with a big deposit so I'm lucky mortgage isn't higher!
Car is new, purchased right before split. Locked in to a 5 year lease ??
Dam separation
That's the problem. It takes time to adjust to the new income, circumstances.
I've always been around the same income and a single parent so I've never had to backtrack, or try and decrease my cost of living.
They're doing it by living within their means. Being recently single it looks like you've just ended up with the household bills as they were with a reduced income. If you don't want to drown in debt there's stuff that will have to give. As mentioned, can you rent out a room (maybe a uni student, foreign student or young professional)? Especially handy if said renter was available to drop off child to daycare after 7am for reduced rent! Otherwise it may be prudent rent out your house while you go somewhere else or to sell the house for something cheaper. Rates, water, maintenence and insurance on top of 900 f/n would be killer! Then look at the bills for what can be cut or reduced. Reduce air-con use (ours just pushed our summer bill up by $200 and it was only used for a few weeks), make sure appliances are in good order, turn off lights when not in use - all the usual things. Shop around for cheaper insurance. Is your phone contract finished? Can you go onto a lower plan? Cut pay tv etc? Do you do a lot of driving or is your car a bit thirsty? Can you sell up and get a cheaper 4cyl? For groceries it looks like cheap bone in cuts, mince, sausages, beans, frz veg and pasta are going to be your friends for a little while. They're boring as hell but there's heaps you can do with these ingredients to make filling meals while you try to get sorted. Have a freezer to buy bulk meat when it's cheap, you'll save heaps. Everyone thinks $75K should be so much, until you realise that tax has to come out yet and everything you buy is full-price. Hang in there, a spending diary will be handy for a while to track your budget and catch any sneaky spends you've forgotten about.
This is a 350k mortgage on a 520k house. 2 bedroom 35 mins from city. It's as cheap as it gets around here ??
Damn, and stuck with the car too I see.
If you rented out the house would it fetch enough to cover the mortgage, rates, basic water, landlord insurance and a bit of maintenance? It may the best way to hold onto your asset without running yourself into debt further to do so.
If you did would the lower rent maybe an hour or so from the city compensate for a slightly higher fuel bill? I know here because we're in a small town, houses and land are much cheaper than in the city, yet we're 20 minutes from the outskirts of it and nowhere is more than an hour away so we still have most of the convenience (ok, not the junk food side of things but I tell myself that's not a bad thing). On the plus side you may come across somewhere with a great childcare centre that opens earlier due to popular demand. I think ours opens at 5am to cater to the working mums at the 2 local factories.
I can't move further! (Gee I know I'm sounding negative) The joys of being a shift worker mean that I need to stay near the ex and my mum to help out! If I don't do shift work my pay drops significantly. Rent here would be similar price. I'm hoping I've over estimated my bill costs!
Could you rent out your house and move back in with your parents short term? Smash out your car loan and save a bit of money?
I hope for you that you've over estimated the bills too. They may be one of the few ways you can reduce some costs to balance the budget.
Good luck.
I get $1700 a f/n which includes C/S for 3 kids. 2 with disabilities.
$700 rent
$125 electricity
$50 child care
$70 fuel
$100/$115 phone & internet/insurance alternate fortnights
$15 water
$300-$400 food
$30 kids f/n take away meal
$30 phone credit mobile (alternate between mine and my oldest sons)
What ever is left over is saved for appointments/car rego/car services/kids sports/activities. I don't always get Child suppprt though and when I do get it it's very helpful. My kids don't go without and I used to pay an additional $380 a f/n in car payments but thankfully I managed to pay it off a little while ago 5 months ahead of schedule because I was paying more than I had to each fortnight. I used to do all this on $1500 a f/n. You may need to look at your food costs, seeing if you can get a personal loan and pay off your car then downsize a personal loan repayment may also be less. I wish you good luck. I do know how hard it is to budget and keep on top of everything. It's not forever ie your car payments will disappear sooner or later which will leave you $200 a f/n better off but until then budget budget budget.
Call your power company and organise a payment plan same with your gas company if you have one.
Reduce your shopping budget. Meal plan. Buy bulk and freeze meat. I spend $150 maximum a week on 2 adults and 2 kids. Could easily do it for around $100 if I had no partner.
Could your parents look after the child for the two days instead of paying for childcare? Offer to pay for their services if they are able. Most would do it.
Go to the bank and ask if they can offer a better mortgage repayment. Some will drop their interest rates if they want you to remain their customer.
Bills... $400. What does this include?
If you have pay TV. Get rid of it. That's an extra $70+ a month.
Got a phone on a plan? Get prepaid.
Buy lunch/coffee/dinner? Don't! Make/buy/take your own.
Car- pay it off as soon as possible. If you can sell it, do it. Get a small, cheap fuel efficient one.
As for kids clothes, go to best n less and big w, as stock up on their sale items. You can get items for $3 off their clearance racks. (Don't buy expensive clothes. If youre paying more than $10 for an item, don't buy it.
As for kids activities, do FREE activities! Park/beach/bushwalking etc.
get rid of all the luxuries.
No getting hair done. No new clothes. No impulse buying.
Look up "frugal living".
Don't worry about saving for Christmas and birthdays. Save for paying off debt. Kids don't need a lot. Can easily buy a couple of gifts for two kids for $100.
Can you combine the car and house loan, so you're only paying one lot of loan repayments?
Your house is an asset so don't give that up!
Do you have a healthcare card? If so contact your gas/electricity supplier, your phone company and your council to reduce your rates etc. Haggle with them for the best price. Mortgage sounds about right - I'm in Melbourne and my mortgage is about $450pw for a 3 bedroom unit. I couldn't rent after having my own house. So next is groceries - that's where you might be able to save a bit. Try Aldi for non-perishables, fruit and veg shops, and rest from coles and woolies for whatever is on special.
I had a game I played with $5. Every time I have a $5 note in my wallet, I saved it and put it into a tin at home. You don't even think about it! Within a few months you'd be amazed how much you would have saved - more than enough for Xmas etc!!
And yes I work to those asking! I work very hard
Have you considered changing your mortgage to Interest only for a couple of years? Interest rates are low and it is still cheaper than renting, plus if prices go up you are building equity. Might just give you some breathing space.
Alternatively we rent our house and rent another, which entitles you to rental assistance.
Keep your house, it would be hard to break in again if things go up.I understand, people think $75000 is a lot but it really doesn't stretch that far because you get no discounts, I personally think it's the toughest income area to fall into.
Also if you have a HECS debt you can apply for financial hardship and they can defer your compulsory repayments.
possibly look into getting a uni student or hire a nanny that is on a working holiday visa - trade off babysitting duties (do the relevant checks of course) - if you are in a 2 bedroom house you could lease out one room and bunk in with the kids or if there is an office area or garage that could be utlized as a bedroom look at for say a term of 6mths - 12 mths to earn you extra cash.
with the childcare does that include your government rebates? could you pay your mum to look after child a bit more?
groceries could be cut down - menu planning growing vegies baking etc
bills break up your bills and make sure you are getting the correct deals ie electricity/phones/insurances make sure you are getting the best deal for your bucks. phone do you need home phone? do you need home internet could you use your phone data etc or use the home internet and reduce the data on your phone.
sell anything that you no longer use on ebay/gumtree/local online garage sales
look at money saving websites for ideas
possibly look into getting a uni student or hire a nanny that is on a working holiday visa - trade off babysitting duties (do the relevant checks of course) - if you are in a 2 bedroom house you could lease out one room and bunk in with the kids or if there is an office area or garage that could be utlized as a bedroom look at for say a term of 6mths - 12 mths to earn you extra cash.
with the childcare does that include your government rebates? could you pay your mum to look after child a bit more?
groceries could be cut down - menu planning growing vegies baking etc
bills break up your bills and make sure you are getting the correct deals ie electricity/phones/insurances make sure you are getting the best deal for your bucks. phone do you need home phone? do you need home internet could you use your phone data etc or use the home internet and reduce the data on your phone.
sell anything that you no longer use on ebay/gumtree/local online garage sales
look at money saving websites for ideas