Donna Roff has had to opt out of paying into her pension as she could no longer afford to contribute

In our How I Manage My Money series we aim to find out how people in the UK are spending, saving and investing money to meet their costs and achieve their goals.

This week we speak to Donna Roff, 46, who lives in Staffordshire with two of her three children, Arthur, 17, and Amelia, 15. Her other child is no longer at home. Donna sells Avon products as a direct seller while working part-time as a recruiter for a private care agency. Her income is topped up with universal credit. Donna stopped adding money to her work pension and is unsure how much money she’d need for a decent retirement.

Monthly budget

My monthly income: My recruitment job pays me £1,300 a month, and I work four days per week for six hours a day. The average income from my direct selling Avon work is £400 per month, but this is increasing. As a sales leader, I will receive an additional £110 in bonuses this month. I also receive £1,100 from universal credit a month and £200 in child benefit per month. 

My main household outgoings: Rent, £605; council tax, £126; groceries, £200; gas and electric, £96; water, £40; mobile phone bills, £160; broadband, £50; Netflix, £12.99; Disney+, £11.99; Amazon Prime, £8.99; car insurance, £35; pocket money for the children, £120; petrol for car; £120; car tax, £16; credit card repayment, £100; clothes, £200. I add £200 to a cash savings account each month. 

I grew up in Staffordshire, where my mum worked as a carer and my dad was a lorry driver. Financially, things were very tight as my parents had seven children. I went to study at Birmingham City University and became a primary school teacher.

After becoming a single mum, I worked part-time as a primary school teacher. I qualified in 2012, but quit teaching after three years working at the same school. I left my job because there was too much pressure and too many targets involved. The hours were very long and I often found myself working late into the night.

After a stint working in a friend’s cafe, I started my current job working in recruitment for a private care agency about a year ago. I recruit people to be caregivers.

Having first dipped my toe into selling Avon products in 2015, I started this again a few months ago in order to boost my income. Alongside my job in care recruitment, I’m now an independent direct seller with Avon, which is a member of the Direct Selling Association. My ambition is to start consistently making £1,000 from my Avon direct selling work.

The extra money I make from my direct selling work is very handy and I’ve been using it to help pay for family holidays. I am going to Turkey with my children this month and the income from my direct selling will help pay for meals out and trips while we’re away.

I opted out of my latest workplace pension scheme for my job within recruitment. I’m now not adding money to any pensions and I’m unsure how much I have in my pension pots. I opted out because I couldn’t afford the contributions that were coming from my salary at that time, and I haven’t restarted them since. I have amassed several pensions with different employers over the years.

I have no idea how much money I’d need for a comfortable retirement. It just isn’t something I’ve considered yet, but is on the to-do list.

On top of my direct selling business and recruitment job, I receive £1,000 per month from universal credit every month and £200 in child benefit. I don’t mind being on universal credit because it helps with extras that my children need, but when they turn 18 I won’t be on it. By then I will hopefully have built my Avon business up enough to not miss the extra income.

I add £200 to a cash savings account each month, which helps me keep money aside for Christmas and birthday presents, holidays or emergencies.

The cost of living is horrendous, particularly food shopping. We try to adopt a healthy diet, but fresh food is so expensive. Junk food is so cheap and, as a result, I sometimes buy more junk than I’d like to. I shop on Vinted and try to buy yellow sticker items in the supermarkets. I also use the Too Good To Go app.

I bought my first house with my partner aged 23, but the relationship broke down, so he bought me out. I then met my husband, and he bought a house for us in 2002, but I didn’t go on the mortgage because I still owned my own house and was selling it.

I rent now because I left my ex-husband 12 years ago and I couldn’t afford to keep the house as it was a large four-bedroom property and I couldn’t pay the mortgage and bills by myself. Being a single mum, I cannot afford to buy. I have a partner who owns his own house, so when both of our children have left home, then we may look at buying something together.

Money is a big motivator for me. I’m driven by the idea of success and, ultimately, I’d love to be financially comfortable enough to not have to worry about my children’s futures. I would like to be able to help them with deposits for a home when they are older. I’d also like to consistently earn £45,000 or more per year as this would enable me to take regular holidays and help my children more.

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