On £25k but 'poor'?! Misery thread...

[Mr Gearchange]

If you are painting walls that have been skimmed you need to do a washcoat first of half water half emulsion. It's fking messy.

[lewisf182]

C.A.R. said:

It's nice to see some people sticking up for me while I was away! I don't have much to add that won't just be regurgitating what has already been said.

Try not to dwell on the £3 thing; it was an exaggeration I made which seems to have stuck! I have the money, it just wasn't in the right account at the time but I fortunately realised before the payment was taken. I have one account for house bills and another for the day to day stuff, another tip I think I picked up on PH a while back.

We went into parenthood with the right idea - we knew it would be a big financial commitment and that it would be a struggle without the support we've had from friends and family - not the state (aside from child benefit, which I think everyone is entitled to until a point) were we naive? Yes, probably, but I think that even with all the hindsight in the world it would still be difficult trying to justify a child financially. Right now our daughter is trying to climb up my back while I type this, she is the greatest thing to have ever happened to me and I find it almost offensive for her to be referred to as a mistake.

I came on here trying to be sincere, to see how others managed and to share and gather opinions on my various money-saving schemes, not to be berated for having had a child at 24 years old.

Right with that out of the way...

I've convinced my wife that we need to get back on our feet before we consider a second child. Whilst she only works part-time her income makes a surprising difference to the amount the lenders will give us for a mortgage. My target is to save 1200/ month, clearing my debts in under 4 months. From here I gather we will need at least £8k for a deposit - we just have to be disciplined. It will be interesting to see how it goes; our move-out date is the 7th March (handy it's a Friday) but I've got lots to do before then. I've never hung wallpaper before and the spare room has bare walls! Wish me luck!

Well done man, seems like you've managed to get it all sorted and shown her the bigger picture so good luck and I sincerely mean that. I'm lucky in that I'm happy living at home, my GF has the same views as me regarding kids and marriage in early 30's so no real financial worries meaning I can save up for deposit's for houses etc.

Saving £1200 a month you must be on a fair packet at 24, what do you do? just interested as I'm 23.

[okgo]

LOL - Lewis are you being serious? Look at the title of the thread.

He will be able to save that amount as he is moving in with his parents, which the last 3 pages of this thread have been about

[Haggleburyfinius]

okgo said:

LOL - Lewis are you being serious? Look at the title of the thread.

[pacoryan]

C.A.R. said:

Cheers guys.

Problem with the spare room is that it's in various states of un-decoration depending on which wall you look at! The external wall with the window in is bare - not even skimmed, so I can't really paint over it can I?

The other wall is bare plaster skim - will take paint nicely. The other wall has been attacked - it was once plasterboard, with wallpaper over the top, however someone has been a bit over-ambitious at removing said wallpaper and now the plasterboard is a bit knackered. I'm not sure how to rescue it to be honest! At the end of the day it's my folks house too, so whatever they say goes.

Good man re. Mr E, you'll soon get the $$ coming in! Cue thread in 3 months' time "Should I go freelance as a CAD operator..."

Now that this has turned in to the decoration thread... what is the wall that is bare made from? Breeze block? Brick? Stone? If you can't paint it I wouldn't paper it either!!

Plasterboard repair isn't too tricky, assuming it's studding just cut the section out as a aquare and let a new section in, put a batten behind first if it needs support, skim over the gaps when done. Bet there's a vid on Youtube. Someone who isn't a bdoge artiste will no doubt come along with the proper solution shortly!!

I do have a slightly irrational/pathological aversion to wallpaper so please don't take offence!

[lewisf182]

Haggleburyfinius said:

okgo said:

LOL - Lewis are you being serious? Look at the title of the thread.

Haha my bad. How can you save £1200 a month on a £25k salary though? You must be living on like £300 a month? Fair play! I guess I would be the same If I didn't have to pay £150 rent and commute to work.

[okgo]

lewisf182 said:

Haha my bad. How can you save £1200 a month on a £25k salary though? You must be living on like £300 a month? Fair play! I guess I would be the same If I didn't have to pay £150 rent and commute to work.

He is moving home, i.e. no rent.

[Pulse]

If I lived at home, I could easily live off £300 a month!

[lewisf182]

Pulse said:

If I lived at home, I could easily live off £300 a month!

With a baby and a wife?


I know he's living at home. I do too but I have to pay £150 board/rent.

[Pulse]

lewisf182 said:

With a baby and a wife?


I know he's living at home. I do too but I have to pay £150 board/rent.

Presumably receiving child benefit which actually covers quite a considerable amount. I have a partner, and she doesn't cost a lot to keep! What more is there after food and a few clothes now and again?

[crazy about cars]

So many outgoings saved by living at home with parents - mortgage, leccy, gas, food, internet, phone, insurance etc. It all adds up especially in winter time where utility bills are higher.

[LHRFlightman]

Pulse said:

lewisf182 said:

With a baby and a wife?


I know he's living at home. I do too but I have to pay £150 board/rent.

Presumably receiving child benefit which actually covers quite a considerable amount. I have a partner, and she doesn't cost a lot to keep! What more is there after food and a few clothes now and again?

£20.30 a week. Yep, a considerable amount.

Your "partner doesn't cost a lot to keep." I pity the poor woman.

[SystemParanoia]

LHRFlightman said:

Pulse said:

lewisf182 said:

With a baby and a wife?


I know he's living at home. I do too but I have to pay £150 board/rent.

Presumably receiving child benefit which actually covers quite a considerable amount. I have a partner, and she doesn't cost a lot to keep! What more is there after food and a few clothes now and again?

£20.30 a week. Yep, a considerable amount.

Your "partner doesn't cost a lot to keep." I pity the poor woman.

dont forget she doesnt work.. so +£63 per week JSA


if you cant run a kid on £80 per week.. you're doing it wrong lol

[Saleen836]

SystemParanoia said:

LHRFlightman said:

Pulse said:

lewisf182 said:

With a baby and a wife?


I know he's living at home. I do too but I have to pay £150 board/rent.

Presumably receiving child benefit which actually covers quite a considerable amount. I have a partner, and she doesn't cost a lot to keep! What more is there after food and a few clothes now and again?

£20.30 a week. Yep, a considerable amount.

Your "partner doesn't cost a lot to keep." I pity the poor woman.

dont forget she doesnt work.. so +£63 per week JSA


if you cant run a kid on £80 per week.. you're doing it wrong lol

Why would she be entitled to JSA if she is raising a baby?

[lewisf182]

Saleen836 said:

SystemParanoia said:

LHRFlightman said:

Pulse said:

lewisf182 said:

With a baby and a wife?


I know he's living at home. I do too but I have to pay £150 board/rent.

Presumably receiving child benefit which actually covers quite a considerable amount. I have a partner, and she doesn't cost a lot to keep! What more is there after food and a few clothes now and again?

£20.30 a week. Yep, a considerable amount.

Your "partner doesn't cost a lot to keep." I pity the poor woman.

dont forget she doesnt work.. so +£63 per week JSA


if you cant run a kid on £80 per week.. you're doing it wrong lol

Why would she be entitled to JSA if she is raising a baby?

Ah Jeeze I've opened up a whole can of worms here.

[Emeye]

LHRFlightman said:

£20.30 a week. Yep, a considerable amount.

After fags, booze, national lottery and a couple of trips to the bookies, their is usually not much left out of the Child Benefit.....

[firemunki]

Mr E said:

If you're serious about using your CAD skills to bring in some extra cash, I have a motherboard with a Core2Quad (Q6600) CPU and 8 gigs of RAM that is surplus to requirements. I may also have a 500W PSU and a graphics card to go with it. You'd need to find an OS, a HD, a screen/mouse/KB and a case to put it all in.

Yours if you want them.

And if you can cover postage I think I've got a sata 80Gb HDD floating about. Not big but enough to get an OS and CAD on.

[Kozy]

I'm thinking about starting a "On £48k but poor" thread.

Genuinely baffled as to why I can't afford anything with a household income of that level.

[MajorProblem]

Kozy said:

I'm thinking about starting a "On £48k but poor" thread.

Genuinely baffled as to why I can't afford anything with a household income of that level.

Say you've got zero debt and around 3k a month coming in. Now go get yourself balls deep in borrowing that makes your monthly payments 3k.

You'd be surprised what you can have.

Very few people will admit they have their whole lives on tick, or are drowning in debt, they just show you the good side.

[crazy about cars]

Kozy said:

I'm thinking about starting a "On £48k but poor" thread.

Genuinely baffled as to why I can't afford anything with a household income of that level.

Yeah, I know how you feel mate. Same with myself I feel as if I need to start a "on £100k but poor" thread. The tax is just insane at this level.