How single Glasgow mum-of-three saves £1k a month despite only working 20 hours a week

A single mum-of-three from Glasgow saves £1k a month despite only working 20 hours a week by living in a two-bed flat - and uses the extra cash to go on 10 holidays a year.

Emma Smith, 34, only works just 20 hours a week, as the total cost of her mortgage and bills is just £557 - half of what she would have to pay for a four-bedroom house in her area.

This allows Emma to spend more quality time with her kids, and means she can take them on regular breaks to places like Rome, Copenhagen, and Brussels.

Emma, who works in finance said her three boys - three, four, and six - share one room, while she has the other bedroom. When her kids are old she said she will pick up more hours, and move to a bigger house, but for now, she is happy with the financial freedom she has.

She said: “I’m a single parent, so we’ve just got my income coming in, but because I save so much money by living in a small flat, my kids still have so many opportunities.

“If you count caravan weekends, we went away 10 times last year. I took the boys to Brussels, Rome and Copenhagen.

“I also only have to work 20 hours a week, and because my two youngest aren’t in school yet, I get to spend so much time with them. It saves me so much on childcare as well. I don’t need to stress about money, and I can spend more on fun things.

“The boys love sharing a room as they’re all so close in age, and all of their toys are shared. I’d like to stay here as long as we can, but when they’re older and want their own space, we will move to a bigger place.”

When Emma first purchased her small flat just outside of Glasgow, it just had one bedroom - but she converted the kitchen into a kitchen diner and transformed the living room into a second bedroom.

Living in the two-bedroom flat allows Emma to make huge savings, with her mortgage only coming to £322 a month, compared to the £1,000 a month she said it would cost her to live in a four-bedroom house in her area.

She also spends £130 a month on gas and electricity, which she said would jump to around £400 a month in a bigger house, and £105 on council tax, which would almost double to around £200, if she were to move to a larger property.

In total, this means that Emma saves a whopping £1,043 per month, by living in her small flat.

Emma uses the extra cash to pay for her kids to go to swimming lessons, Taekwondo, and gymnastics, and takes them away on 10 trips a year.

Another benefit of living in the small flat is that the family can afford to live in a great location, next to shops, restaurants, buses and train stations.

“We’d have to be much further out if we were in a house," she said.

The flat also has a huge communal garden attached to it, with swings and trampolines for the boys to play with.

“It’s huge, and if we lived in a house, we wouldn’t have a garden even half the size of that," she said.

Plus, living in a small space means there is less cleaning to do, allowing Emma to spend more time with the kids.

Emma shares her story on @3kids3andunder.