Archived Forums

£600 sounds great if that isn't including rent/mortgage/bills/diesel/etc! Life can be cheap if you shop carefully and use secondhand shops. Both ASs very happy to hunt for bargains - would be difficult if they weren't.

Thats around 150 a week which does sound a lot. Depends how frugal you want/ can be and what bills you are excluding from that £600. What about petrol or bus fares, phone contract, TV/broadband packages. Yes you can live cheaply but it depends what sort of life you want . Remember there are things like swimming lessons and if they are older other social activities such as cubs etc, childrens shoes can cost over £30 a go. Do you have a budget for birthdays, Christmas, holidays etc, AUK subscription. I'm not reckessley extravagant but we have a reasonable lifestyle. As a singly for my own sanity I need my gym membership and a weekly trip to the coffee shop. What will keep you sane? If I tried very very hard I could get by on 600 a month but for us its more like £800. I have to say though that I do spend a lot on food mainly because I like to know what I'm eating and for some things such as meat I want good quality. Look at your current lifestyle, see what you are prepared to strip out, what can you live without, and then start adding on for children's expenses. Good luck

Many thanks for the comments, they're really helpful. The £600 is minus utilities, housing costs, regular bills. I'll be giving up the car :-( and making do and mending alot! For sanity I garden and read which should be sustainable activities. It's so hard to predict how much we'll need so any thoughts welcome!

I dont drive either so dont forget to budget for bus fares and the occasional taxi, 600 a month is doable if you are careful and watch every penny. Another 30 -50 a week would just make life a bit more comfortable and allow for some treats. Its difficult to get a balance between work and income. I'm working 4 hours a week more than I originally planned - and that gives me that extra £50 a week

Sorry, Serrakunda, I think I may just have replied to you direct instead of posting a message on here for GreenJoni - still getting to grips with this silly new board. If you find it could you please cut and paste it on the message board. In a nutshell it said we're a single parent family, and we manage fine! These stories that keep cropping up in the papers about kids costing so many hundreds of thousands to raise are just scaremongering.

Dont seem to have received a PM papergirl, but agree, yes its possible to manage fine as a single parent family. I manage OK, you just cut your cloth, Simba and I dont have a luxurious lifestyle but we dont go without either

Well, it's a mystery where my reply went, but I think I suggested charity shops for toys and books, supermarkets for clothes, and remembering libraries and parks are wonderful free resources - sometimes museums too. Tax credits may also get you free prescriptions, glasses and dental treatment, plus reduced admission for swimming sessions and sports lessons. Now is the time to stock up on toiletries, loo rolls, household cleaning products etc when you see them on offer. Not only does it mean you don't have to spend as much during the early months of placement, but you will be able to whizz round the supermarket much quicker.

I joke that I've committed financial suicide by adopting and am only very early on in being a mum, but what I hadn't accounted for was the amount I would spend during intros/early placement on petrol to / from fc house and the things that AD needed rather than wanted. Obviously age dependent but including school uniform, car seat, shoes that actually fit, petrol, her toiletries, bed linen (didn't have any of her own), cycle helmet (so the rusty bike that has laid dormant at fc is actually used), parking costs during intros, did I mention petrol (ha!) I should have budgeted an additional £200 or £300 for intros and early placement. All those little essentials add up. That said, my day to day costs are a little less because I'm cooking instead of eating out with friends / family , not doing grown up things like theatre trips and found the local leisure centre does a great deal for children which includes swimming, gymnastics, tennis for a sort of bundle price which is a fraction of the cost of a pay per go cost.

Larkascending, did you you get your mileage paid, and a settling in grant? I think the settling in grant is usually around £300 per child. Used mine to pay for new beds, bed linen, uniforms, shoes etc as my girls came with no bed linen, poorly fitted cheap shoes, tatty and stained clothes etc. Might be worth checking with SS...

No settling in here papergirl, more is the pity. But a financial package later on in placement so I can have longer off work. It's strange there isn't a standard system across the UK isn't it?

Yep, very strange it is not standardised. Still, a financial package later on will be useful. I get an adoption allowance which was supposed to be renewed annually, but I've not heard any more about it, so I reckon they've forgotten they pay it. A neighbouring authority pays an allowance only until a child reaches the age of seven. We also get Disability Living Allowance for the oldest, based on her behavioural and emotional needs which is a godsend as in fact both kids need so much more input and supervision than the average child, so I'd recommend any adopters whose child is challenging to apply for it.

Hi, I'm a single foster carer not adopter but I manage to get by on approx £140 fostering allowance per week plus about £60 income support per week. It's a struggle and I'm not looking forward to winter but it is do-able! I recommend weekly meal planners and shopping on-line! Food is too expensive to be throwing away half the fridge as I used to very waste fully do when I had a "real" job and a salary! (Edited to add that this money has to cover everything, including bills and mortgage, so I'd say £600 without those things should be fine)

I've never heard of adopters not being paid mileage! Definitely look into that.

I'm still trying to make head or tail of the benefit system. I rang MA (who didn't seem sure what Universal Credit was and had never heard of statutory adoption pay!), then tried the CAB, who told me they didn't really know what I could claim but they didn't think I'd be entitled to Working Tax Credits; then I spoke to HMRC, who've told me that I am entitled to Child Tax Credits, and Working Tax Credits for 39 weeks of adoption leave. Why is it so hard to get this information?! I'm going ahead anyway, and I'll just have to wait and see what happens. But none of the advisory bodies seem convinced that Universal Credit will actually come into effect next April, and they all seem flummoxed when you explain that you're adopting as a single parent so you're trying to plan ahead. If the government want to recruit more adopters they need to look at this aspect of the practicalities - I bet some people might have given up by now, faced with all this vague woolliness! :-( It doesn't seem right that we're saving the government so much (£50,000 per year per child in care?) to be left at the mercy of this system. I feel some campaigning coming on! Thanks for all your comments, they're very helpful and also keeping me sane at the moment! :-)

Fully agree with you. Nothing is transparent. How the 'benefit cheats' in certain tabloids manage to con the system defies belief. I can't even find how to get into the system. That said, the child benefit office were a pleasure to deal with and my £20.30 each week is much treasured. Let us know how you get on