How are you doing on one income???

[Kitt3n]

we buy in bulk, by going to the markets every week, and only buy boxes of whatever is the best value that week (and cook up a storm using it!).

[Ella]

yeah its hard isn't it, we do the markets each week ( when i can aford the petrol to get there) but i still seem to spend around $120 per fort night on groceries from the supermarket for things like washing powder and dog food. That's where we fall down, the rest is really cheap!

[Bathsheba]

Try to source bulk laundry powder. we only buy a 20kg bucket/bag of OMO every 5 months. it works out to be $2.40 a kilo. this is a major saving for us.

[titti]

Hi ladies...
I don't know about QLD but in NSW you could go to TAFE and have hair, manicure, pedicure, wax, facials etc done for free... You will need an appointment and you need to be understanding since the job is done by students but they are good and the teachers are always there to help.
We are tight in money but maybe not after reading your posts.
I have been back to work since my girls were babies, but I could do it from home and with a lot of flexibility! I would have LOVED to take time off to stay with them all the time, but this arrangement helped me heaps and I manage to work while the little one is asleep or when my partner comes back home. It was hard at the beginning, still recovering from the delivery and slepless nights, but we needed the money so I kept going...
There are heaps of jobs to do when the kids are asleep and hubby can take care of them (in case they wake up), like office cleaning, kitchen hands, etc.
Markets are good, especially if you go close to closing time... they try to get rid off fruit/vegies, so they are VERY cheap. There are also butcher that sell a lot cheaper than supermarkets... I guess though it depends where you live...
hope it helps,
xxx

[Nelle]

This time of year is tricky hey. For us it's trying to be content with living simply I guess. We (okay DH, I am not great with numbers) budget for everything, put a bit away each week for registration, bills, rates, saving, pocket money, health expenses, clothes, car expenses...we put a bit away each week for everything, and then whatever's left can go on groceries and things for the house. The reason we put aside for pocket money and clothes for ourselves, is because if we don't then I think 'oh I need new jeans' and spend whatever I like on them because I really did need them. But if I have pocket and clothes money, I think 'okay, here's what I like, it's 3 more weeks til I can afford those' - and I'm less likely to be spending money that's not for my personal use.
That's in theory - occasionally we'll borrow from our bills section and then pay the money back...this is where I get confused and DH seems to have a grip on it...

The aim is not to fall behind, because it's so hard to catch up once that happens! Although, this Christmas is tricky, because we've just moved, so a lot of that money in reserves has gone towards all those small things like a letterbox, towel rails...(okay, and some things we totally didn't need, we are not always models of self discipline )

We also have very generous families, and I don't for a second underestimate the difference they make in terms of free babysitting, shouting dinner when they come over, and buying things they know we need.

But I think for us, the putting away as much as we can spare each week makes a big difference. xo

[Ella]

Yeah I guess that's the problem for us. I'm really really really good at budgeting and going without for myself, but we are so far behind with everything that it doesn't matter if i budget a small amount ot put away for clothes and hair cuts etc, because we are busting just to pay what all the debtors are asking for each week.

I'd love to buy the big washing powder, but I can barely afford the little one each fortnight which is so frustrating because I know how much you save by buying in bulk!!!

Sorry just got off the phone with a company that just declined an application, so feeling a little frustrated and sad

[Pretty Butterfly]

Babe, I hear ya......

One of the biggest money savers I found was switching washing powders.
My son has excema, so I was buying exxy sensitive washing powder...... home -brand bi carb soda works just as well, and is $1.09 a packet!!!!

I haven't been to the hairdresser in 11 years.....
I cut and dye my own hair, and all the kids....

[Pretty Butterfly]

Sorry bout that, Harmony hit POST.....

We have overdue bills everyday.. I dont remember a time when we didn't, but paying a little off them each week at least keeps them off our back, and we dont get massively behind...

Christmas makes things so hard too..... We make sure the kids enjoy the few things we get them, but I always feel a little sad for us... we dont buy for each other or family, we just cant, and I'd love, just once, to but something nice for everyone, and have the big feast without scrimping.... decos everywhere, big turkeys, all the trimmings... *sigh*... at least, for now, the kids dont notice, and just love their little christmas, little darlin's...

H is being annoying, BBL......

[Kazmar]

We're on 1 income, I choose to stay home with the girls fulltime. It's going to be like this until the girls are in school. So I figure the sooner I can make it work the better off Ill be.
Savings I believe is a MUST. We didn't have any for a long time. We did find it hard to build up as we needed every penny for wk to wk. My dad left me money when he passed so we are lucky 'in way ' as if we need it we borrow it, then replace it with paychecks
I would try my hardest to put away 100 a fortnight even 50! Its amazing how it can build. The trick would be not to give into temtation.

Also haircuts for me are a yearly thing a) the money b) the time!

[Ella]

Oh I know what you guys are talking about. I had my hair permed just after DS was born and now I have very long half permed half straight hair, it looks ridiculous! I was thinking about just getting it cut, but I have wanted to get it this long for so long and it looked so beautiful permed... sigh

Yeah Xmas is sad for me this year too, we labyed lots for DS in July and I've made sure to get DF some things, but he always forgets to buy for me, so I'm not expecting much, hence I bought some chocolates for myself so I don't feel bad when the boys are opening theirs.

My one bra that is comfortable had just broken and I'm getting stabbed with underwire hourly lol so that's great.

I'm going to start trying to do the savings thing after xmas, even if I can just put away $10 here and there, it will add up over time.

Ha ha I feel like chucking a little kid tanty. I want I want I want.

Thanks for chatting ladies its definitely making me feel like I'm on the mainland and not some tiny island all by myself!

[Unimum]

I met DH when I was in uni and fell pregnant towards the end of my degree, so we have never had 2 incomes and are therefore pretty good at living on 1 wage.

I read all of your comments and I start to feel a lot better - that there are other people out there and we aren't alone. My husband comes from a very fortunate family and therefore our circles or friends are all high income (old money) earners.

We (for instance) we given our house and 2 cars from his family - that said I still have to budget VERY hard to get through the pay fortnight. Even without a mortgage or car repayments, I have to watch every dollar in order to stay on top of the bills that flow in weekly. I feel like we are always behind and our savings have taken such a hit this year that they are pretty much non-existant, I don't understand how 1 income families are meant to be able to rent, eat decent food, drive a safe car and keep a clean decent house on any wage that is less than $50k. (and that's above avaergae!!) Rent in Perth is absolutely rediuculous, 3x1 in semi decent suburbs are $350+ a week. That's half an average wage? Where is the room for food and petrol? Let alone clothes, bills and savings?

I knew a family who moved to a victorian town so they could afford a house to raise their boys in?

Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to say that there is obviously something wrong with our economy if single income households can't survive, even on basics.

P.S. to earn extra money to do mystery shopping... you get $20-30 a report and all you need is the internet and an ABN. I only do 2-3 shops a week, but that extra $80 REALLY comes in handy and I don't earn too much to effect family assistance payments! AND I CAN TAKE BABIES!

xxx

[Mummato2]

We are a single income family as well. My husband runs his own business - it does pretty well, though we struggle with cash flow mainly because we can go without money coming in for a month at a time and then all of a sudden get $15k in one week - but at that point we have a fair chunk of that going back out in payments!

- We made sacrifices on "wants" until we had a buffer in our account at all times of one months worth of bills so that direct debits don't get bounced (causing dishonour fees) and so that the phone calls get become an issue if we're late. Essentially the income for the current month is for the next month's outgoings (if that makes sense)

- If an unexpected bill falls and we aren't able to pay by the due date we ALWAYS give the creditors the heads up so that we can arrange an alternative date and avoid the fees

- The only credit card we have has a $2k limit and this card is only ever used to pay for Trade Accounts (husbands business), rego or anything else unexpected but we always pay it back within the 55 days to prevent interest accruing

- We pay quarterly bills like the rates, water, electricity etc in monthly allotments so that when the quarterly bill falls, it's always just a little one or we are in credit

- We never pay for something on finance. If the extra cash isn't in the account and above our minimum balance - we don't buy it. The exception is my DH's work ute, his dirt bike, mortgage and our credit card. These are the only things we have that are financed.

That's how we manage cash flow, but spending is a bit of a different story.

- I used to put Cooper in Huggies for all his nappies, now it's Huggies at bedtime, if he has a nappy rash (rare) or if he has a tummy bug (rare)

- I now use the Aldi Mamia nappies on him throughout the day but change them a bit more often than I would a Huggies - this has saved us heaps! I am so not a good housewife - I hate housework and cleaning so cloth didn't appeal to me

- I buy baby wipes, washing powder, washing conditioner, shampoo/conditioner, liquid dishwashing, stain remover etc all from Aldi. This is the most expensive cost in our shopping so we've essentially halved it by going to Aldi.

- We shop for our groceries online - this has cut a LOT of impulse spending because I now plan our meals etc out a fortnight in advance, have a monthly budget on shopping and am strict within that budget. I only buy what I need for the menus (and some treats if I have money left over once I've bought what I need). The $9 delivery fee is worth it because we used to impulse shop around $400 per fortnight and I now do our shopping for around $250 per fortnight doing it this way.

- I use a pre-paid mobile and allow myself $30 credit each month. If I run out too bad! My DH has a post-paid because he needs it with work.

- We've consolidated our insurances to get a 10% loyalty discount and used the same company that we get our business insurance through - so this has resulted in a big saving over the year

- We've consolidated ADSL and home phone and taken it away from Telstra - that has halved that bill each month

- We run 2 cars, but I limit my use to take Cooper to playgroup, swimming, gymbaroo and make sure it's all local driving.

- I go to an aqua class and a gym session a couple of times per week, but buy a pre-paid book of 20 sessions and make those sessions stretch out for 3 months..... this way I can get out of the house weekly and feel human that I have "me time" - I also have a fabulous DH that understands that SAHM's need a break too!

- I get my hair done once every three months BUT I colour myself and go to Just Cuts.

- Any little bit of money that our expenses come under in our budget, goes into an envelope and this is how we afford the extras....we never use credit! (I can't stress that enough - credit for "wants" = disaster)

- I take one full day per month to go out alone! I usually get together with my best friend, we go to the shops and "wishful window shop", stop in at Borders books (has a Gloria Jeans cafe at the back) grab a magazine from the shop (it always goes back on the shelf) and have a coffee. This is cheap and is great for some relaxation.

I keep an excel spreadsheet with incoming, outgoings and ALL spending - and I mean ALL. If we spend something, the receipt needs to come in and I log it in excel. If we are under budget then I don't mind, but this was a good way of seeing where our spending was going when we were at the roughest point in our finances (at times we just couldn't account for chunks of money). Now it's just become habit to keep logging it and it helps me with DH's BAS and Taxes because I can see what expenses we can include in the business that I had missed in the past.

At our lowest point we almost lost our home (when I first stopped work and we dropped our income from almost $200k per year to half that) and it wasn't a choice for me to stop work - we had to. My DS didn't take to Day Care - to the point he was making himself sick on Day Care mornings.....so I just quit my job and figured we'd do it. My son is first priority.

We are now almost 2 years into being a single income and in that time we went from having around $60k in personal debt to $20k (not including the mortgage) and we did this by talking to ALL our creditors at the time, freezing the interest, making lump sum payments to pay off the entire balance at a reduced cost (so if a debt was $5k we'd offer $3.5k and they'd be happy with that as final payment).

Once we finish with the last couple of financed bills and are only left with the mortgage we will remain with just the mortgage for another 2 years save as much as we can and then we'll look to an investment property.

I think the thing in all of this is when we were at our worst, we always knew it wasn't forever then you just need to change old habits otherwise your situation just doesn't change. Once our situation became ok, we looked at what we did and just kept going. Now our situation has gone back to comfortable and we can afford the little extras and for that I do not feel guilt - we worked really hard for us to get to this point.

We just need to keep our eyes on the next couple of years, not let impulse buying and finance get the better of us and know that once we get the next house we will again be in a better position.

My plan is to be a SAHM until my youngest is in Year 2 and then go back to work. I used to be in Business - but once I had Cooper started my Teaching degree - so will go back to that.

Good luck Ella - I hope that in a few years time with some budgeting and hard work you'll also be looking at what you've achieved and just be so proud of yourself!!!

[Mummato2]

OMG - I've just looked at the size of my post. I am so sorry for the novella

[Nettie]

We're kind-of a single income household. I work full-time and DH has his own business - as a SAHD. However his business only earns a little bit (which he pretty much spends ) - so we live on my income.

We've worked very hard on not having a lot of debt and have one credit card with a limit of $1,000 (but is usually in our credit as I put $$ on it to spend). We live quite simply and don't have any expensive habits (except cloth nappies ).

I do have an excellent book which has recipes in it for everything from shampoo and face cream to dog & cat food. If anyone wants to try to cook their own cat or dog food - I can send you a recipe. We used to do the cat food a few years ago and the cats just LOVED it. I just got tired of bothering but it's an excellent recipe! And cheap ingredients too! Hair-wise, you can get something called castielle soap at Heath Food shops which you can use to shampoo your hair - then rinse with 1/4 cup full of apple cider vinegar diluted in about 500 mls water to 'condition' (don't rinse it out). My hair was always very shiny and soft when I did this. Can't remember now why I stopped doing it... !! Some people are put off by the vinegar smell, but it goes away when your hair dries. However, I wouldn't recommend this for permed or coloured hair - that needs more help!

Good luck to everyone. It can be a hard road sometimes

[AngelPants]

i have just read thru these posts and i must say its really awesome to know we arent the only ones cos sometimes it certainly feels like it!! when DF gets home from work he is going to read thru this thread!
previously we have been using MyBudget to manage our debts but have got to the point that their account keeping fees were one of the biggest expenses per month!! so as of next month we will be striking out on our own (eep).
our biggest issue is being left with only $170 p/wk to spend on food, clothes, petrol etc. unless DF does some overtime. with no account fees from My Budget this will be more but still not all that much. the worst bit for me i think is DF is working 2 jobs and i cant work (thanks hyperemesis!!) so i tend to feel a but useless about not being able to help and i am REALLY bad with numbers and money so i have to ask DF how much we have this week and how much we have spent etc. *sigh*
BUT when we (he) reviewed our budget & debt before scrapping MyBudget we realised almost everything is going to be paid off in the same 2 weeks of may just before our lil boy arrives! so there is a light at the end of the tunnel!!
but i must say i am thankful for our families who each shout us a dinner p/wk and have and are chipping in for a massive amount of baby stuff. really makes things easier!
anyway i have just realised how long this post is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry!

[Meggles]

We are now almost 2 years into being a single income and in that time we went from having around $60k in personal debt to $20k (not including the mortgage) and we did this by talking to ALL our creditors at the time, freezing the interest, making lump sum payments to pay off the entire balance at a reduced cost (so if a debt was $5k we'd offer $3.5k and they'd be happy with that as final payment).

I know this is over a month old now, but I'm hoping Mummato2 is subscribed.

I'm just wondering (if you don't mind sharing) what kind of debtors you had, that let you negotiate the final sum?

My personal loan is with a bank, and I can't imagine banks would accept a lesser amount??

Thanks for all of your other advice, some of it was invaluable and I've written things down!

[Neenee Jellybeanie]

I'm on parenting payment single and it is unbearable. I've had to wait for the baby bonus just to pay my utilities and I haven't bought DD1 any clothes whatsoever, my parents have bought everything. My rent is going to go up soon and I'm terrified I won't be able to afford my house. Even flats are expensive but how will I manage with a toddler and a baby in a flat?! So yes, I feel your pain in a huge way. I went to The Salvos for some help with groceries or bills, whatever they could do, and they refused to help me so I've not asked for any help from charities since then. It was humiliating enough going in there, travelling the long distance on public transport with a toddler while heavily preg just to get told to p!ss off. Actually I'm still really sore about it!

[Mummato2]

I went to The Salvos for some help with groceries or bills, whatever they could do, and they refused to help me so I've not asked for any help from charities since then. It was humiliating enough going in there, travelling the long distance on public transport with a toddler while heavily preg just to get told to p!ss off. Actually I'm still really sore about it!

They did what???????

Where abouts are you? Have you looked at moving to an alternative (cheaper area) I know easier said than done.

Goodness me I'm just shocked The Salvos turned you away!