NEAR TEARS
I’m an NHS mum-of-2 & hubby works too but we barely scrape by – I’ve got £35 for a weekly food shop, it’s embarrassing
Mercedes admitted she can't even afford to buy Easter eggs for her kids
A MUM-OF-TWO has been left near tears after she was forced to do her weekly food shop on a £35 budget.
Mercedes, who works full-time for the NHS, said that despite her salary, and the fact her husband also works full-time, they barely have enough to "scrape by".
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So when it comes to hitting the supermarket, she's had to take a calculator round with her in an attempt to stay within her allocated budget - this week having just £35.
In a video on her TikTok page, Mercedes struggled to hold back tears as she admitted the situation makes her "want to cry".
She filmed the clip on the 1st April, after being paid on 25th March, and said she's now "completely overdrawn".
"So I've just been walking around Aldi with my phone calculator out, calculating how much everything cost, just to feed my family, because I only have £35," Mercedes sighed.
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"That was completely soul-destroying and exhausting, and all I want to do now is burst into tears."
She insisted it "really shouldn't be this hard" to feed your family as a "full-time working mum".
"We are a full-time, two parent working household and we are still barely scraping by," she continued.
"Why is it that working parents can be working full-time, doing our f**king best, and we still don't have enough."
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Mercedes added that she's now looking into side hustles so that she can bring in some extra income, as she said "I just can't live like this anymore".
And it's not as if she's spending her wages on holidays or luxuries either.
I wanted a panelled room but wasn't going to spend loads so risked it & bought £36 strips from Temu - I saved a fortune
"I just need extra money to live, to feed my family," she added.
Concluding her video, Mercedes promised she'd be sharing her side hustle attempts on her social media pages, as she finished: "We all deserve a better life than this".
"Just spent 30 minutes in Aldi with £35 & my calculator....this isn't about living beyond our means, it's about surviving!" she captioned her video.
"For the mums silently struggling, I see you!
"I'm working out how to make money online because we shouldn't have to live like this!"
And people in the comments section were quick to agree with Mercedes, as they shared their own financial struggles in the current climate.
How to effectively manage your money
Kara Gammell, finance expert at MoneySuperMarket, gives tips on how to get a handle on your finances so you have more left for saving,
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If you want to have a deep dive into your spending habits, go through your bank statement at the end of each month and give every purchase a rating of one, two or three.
Mark with a ‘one’ any purchases that didn’t make you feel good; give a ‘two’ rating to things that felt ‘sort of good but indifferent’; and mark with ‘three’ any purchases that you would make all over again in a heartbeat.
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- Monitor your credit report
From overdrafts to loans, credit cards, mobile phones and mortgages, it can be hard to keep track of your finances, and it can be all too simple to find yourself in the dark about how much debt you have in total.
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I use MoneySuperMarket’s Credit Score tool, which is a free credit report tool that lets me see all my account balances in one place.
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"I’ve got £100 to last me until the 26th April I’ve still got Easter to do for my kids," one wrote.
"Soul destroying isn't it! No idea how I will afford Easter eggs," Mercedes replied.
"My bills came out today," another commented.
"I work full time and I'm a single mum.
The cost of living is just ridiculous
TikTok commenter
"I have £400 left to cover,food, petrol, school dinners and clothing for an entire month.
"It shouldn't be this hard."
"I always say if I had kids no idea how I'd afford that!!" a third admitted.
"Just not practical at all these days."
"Some people say we did it to ourselves by buying a house and having a big mortgage but why shouldn't we be able to do that!" Mercedes replied.
"It’s awful, do you have anyone to lean on?" someone else asked.
To which Mercedes responded: "No... we are a joint house income but it's just not enough."
"Go to a food bank, that is what they are for, plus there should be a fresh food one nearby, there's no shame in it," another suggested.
"I work for a charity that supports people who are facing poverty," someone else wrote.
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"The majority of those people work full time.
"The cost of living is ridiculous."
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