HELP!!! I need advice urgently please

CLAPTON wrote:

there are a lot of uncertainties that need clarifying before one can see the best way forward

a. OH income : is that an average of his last year?
b. is this income net after allowing for tax and NI?

c. on the spending side there seem a lot of things missing ..with 4 children you have nothing down for clothes, kids activites/school costs/pocket money /presents and you have a car but nothing down for car tax/servicing/repairs/MOT etc

d. people have already comments on sky/tvrental/mobiles which could be cut... also stop contributing to the pension for a while might make sense

e. but you need to really find out what you really spend, so start a spending diary and write down every single thing you spend and also think about all the annual/one off type things and all the kids related spending.

f. only when you really know what your income and true spending totals are does it make sense to look at the options.... for example it may well be that once you work out the proper totals that you couldn't actually pay for a remortgage (even if you could get one ).

also what is the house worth?

To answer some of your questions:-

OH income: This is his projected monthly income based on the contract he's on at the moment and as hes a builder he's on the CIS scheme which means that the contractor pays tax for him. We do self assessment at the end of the year and inevitably end up with a tax rebate once all our expenses are taken off his earnings.

Our petrol is high at the moment because his mate - who he works with has broken his foot and he's the one with the van and he's having to use the family car which is an old 8 seater due to the fact that with 5 kids we quite often have to get 7 people in the car! - Petrol isn't always this high (I'm just looking on the black side!!!)

The mobile phone is a bit of a problem at the moment. OH uses this for work and its how he gets his contracts. He was put on a 2 yr contract by ClubMobile who said they were Orange which he disputed because that wasn't what he wanted. He complained to Orange who didn't want to know and basically said he had to put up with it. The contract comes to an end next month and we are already looking around for a new package.

Ditto the phone and internet - I'm trying to get onto a package where I can combine the two together which will save me about £20 a month

Sky subscription - this suggestion is noted and is something I'm going to look into - thanks

Life Insurance is high because we are both smokers but have made appointments with the Drs to help us give up - wish us luck!!

Regarding the shopping - I know this is an area that I can really reduce my outgoings. I already do the shopping on the internet which helps because I can see what I'm buying and how its adding up but I'm going to have to try and be a little less frivolous.

Regarding the kids activities - I am very lucky in the fact that my parents pay for most of the kids' activities together with clothes and shoes and at the moment I am thanking my lucky stars for their help and support with this.

The spending diary is a really good idea and I am going to start it today.

Downsizing although an immediate solution is not really an option for us. There is a shortage of rental properties in our area, likewise Council and HA housing and I don't really want to disrupt the kids by taking them out of their schools and away from their friends. My son is 14 and about to start his GCSE courses in September and my daughter will be starting secondary school in September

Thank you everyone for your comments. Apart from anything its nice to know that you're not alone. I had started to think that I was the only one going through this but now I've taken this first step I know that maybe there are things that I can do to make this better.