Should I sell my house?

Kmac_Edin

Well done babysteps for coming here.. everyone is amazing!

Do your kids work? Might be worthwile trying to get them to do a part time job and manage their own money, and if the older one lives with you and works full time do they pay any form of "digs" money?
I know my mum made both my sister and I get part time jobs as soon as we were old enough and then when I worked full time she fleeced me £100 monthly for "rent" ( which was basically everything...food, bills etc but at the time I thought I wa sbeing robbed!!)

K xx

BabySteps

Just arranged council tax over the 12months, took a bit of persuading (they quoted Government regs etc) - they checked and apparently I had been getting single persons discount until Aug 08 so no hope of a rebate, it's just bloomin expensive. Council tax now £81 per month - YaY

Re: kids working, older one works part time (gives me sporadic amounts - but need to do a budget with them so they realise I need something regular I can depend on) - younger one looking for Saturday job at the mo. Fingers crossed. They had better look after me when I am old (if the stress doesn't kill me first LOL)

petrafyde

Well done you!

Have you totalled up how much you've saved today yet? I find it renews my vigour to do more hehe

Kmac_Edin

Thats good that they are both working ( or looking for work), gives you some time to relax as well when they are out the house

Well done on the council tax, you are making great progress here to reduce spending etc. Have you been to the old style board to see about meal planning, food shopping etc? Its a great place!! I get so many tips from there.

There is a thread somewhere with a woman feeding her family for a month on £20 I think.. and she managed... with just careful food planning and cooking management. xx

chevalier

My comments are in blue

BabySteps wrote: »

Monthly income after tax................ 1534
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 144
Other income............................ 400 what is this and can you increase it?
Total monthly income.................... 2078 can you get a second job, even a couple of evenings a week to add money to the pot. I notice that one of your children is 20, are they paying rent/ paying their share of the council tax etc? If they are working then they need to contribute. If they are in college, then make sure you have the students exemption for council tax.

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 722 is the interest only or repayment? Is it up to date? If so can you askl for a payment holiday so you can use the money to get the bank account under control? If repayment could you go interest only or extend the term temporarily to cut this figure?
Secured loan repayments................. 398 ditto with this can you extend the term to lower the amount out at the moment?
Council tax............................. 135 over 12 months or 10, if 10 then ask to change it to 12, spread the cost. And also see above about your older child contributing.
Electricity............................. 57 I know prices have shot up but even so have a sit down with your children and go through with them about switching things off at the wall and not leaving things on standby it DOES make a difference.
Gas..................................... 57 Try to keep the heating off as long as possible by putting on an extra jumper, watching tele snuggled in a duvet etc. Also if you have to add cold to your water when you wash up/ have a bath, then the water temp is too hot and can be turned down. I never have mine set above 50 degrees. Turning the thermostat down one degree for central heating saves about £70 a year. And check that you have adequate loft insulation - I think it should be 7 inches now. This will save you a lot if you can afford the initial outlay.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 57 you can go to the water board website for your area and do a usage check to see if it would be cheaper for you to have a meter fitted. If it is cheaper, you can have one fitted free for 12 months, and if it isn't cheaper you can go back onto water rates. Also on the website there will be somewhere to get water hippos for your toilet cisterns. They save a litre a flush, so it all adds up. Oh and 5 minute showers are the rule now too...:D
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 21
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 280 There are effectively 3 adults in your house, but even so this can be cut down a fair bit, by batch cooking, meal planning, trading down a brand, and shopping at different shops. Also don't forget your local veggie market. They can be significantly cheaper than Tesco or similar. Check out you local Lidl/ Aldi for cheap but still good quality food. Yes it means more traipsing around, but perhaps the children could help out.
Clothing................................ 50 can this go for a bit?
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 0 you need to be putting away for this and the insurance, maintenance below so that you don't have to put in on plastic when they come around.
Car Insurance........................... 0 if you have been with your current insurance company for more than say 3 years, you will almost certainly be paying too much. Go to www.moneysupermarket.com, or similar to check what the cheapest quote would be, then have a look at a cashback site like www.quidco.com, or www.topcashback.co.uk, to see if your new company offers cashback. If they do you may make significant savings on this.
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 18.64 These are really high, I onlypay £12 or so for both buildings and contents. Again check the comparison websites to see if can get both of these cheaper. And if you can, again check the cashback sites to see if you can get cashback on top.
Contents insurance...................... 19.36
Life assurance ......................... 15 Is this to pay off the mortgage, so your children still have somewhere to live? It can still be got cheaper than this I think
Other insurance......................... 91
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30 time to be creative and sort out presents for as little as possible. Have a look at the special occasions forum on here, for lots of lovely ideas for christmas presents.
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2113 So even before debt repaymens you are in the red. Hence my comments about your children needing to contribute in some way. Whether it is Saturday jobs for the younger one, to cover their treats, or the older one paying rent. Also see the up your income thread with regards to doing surveys (all 3 of you can do these), selling things on ebay, or amazon/greenmetropolis.com for books, play.com for dvds etc etc. Not only do you have to trim your outgoings but up your income too.

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 225000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 225000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 145000...(722)......5.95
Secured Debt.................. 40000....(398)......10.59 my sympathies that is a bad rate of interest.
Total secured debts........... 185000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Abbey Credit Card..............5097......213.......0
Barclays Overdraft.............4400......0.........0you are paying nothing in to this account is that why you are getting so many charges?
Barclays Loan..................4500......137.......0
Barclays Partner Fina..........3000......55........0
Virgin Money...................3842......10........0
Marks & Spencer Card...........9991......259.......0
LTSB Card......................3308......67........0
Egg Loan.......................10381.....212.......0
Egg Card.......................7539......154.......0
Total unsecured debts..........52058.....1107......-

If you have any late charges on the credit cards, then you can claim them back. They are not held up in court like bank charges are. it is also worth giving them a call and saying that you are thinking of taking your business elsewhere, and see if they will cut the rate of interest you are paying on the card. If you don't ask you don't get!!

With all of these you need to find out what the apr for them is. That way you can see which cards need paying more to than others. Have a look at www.whatsthecost.com for the snowball calculator. It will give you a debt free date.

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,078
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,113
Available for debt repayments........... -35
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,107
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -1,142

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 225,000
Total Secured debt...................... -185,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -52,058
Net Assets.............................. -12,058

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.[/font]

I would get wages and direct debits paid into a different current account, to stop the charges on the account you are using now. That way it becomes just another debt that you pay off at your pace. And provided you operate your new account without going over the limits that will remove one worry from you.

Also please check to see that you are getting all the benefits that you are entitled to.

My main worry about you selling the house would be that whether you are in negative equity yet? So it would definitely be worth getting a couple of estate agents round, so you know how much your house is currently worth.

Have you checked that you are in the correct council tax band? Many houses are not. There is an article on the main site about how to go about checking this. If you are in the wrong band then you can claim back the over payment for ALL the years you have lived there back to 1991 I think it is.

Good luck with all of this. I am sure if you all pull together you will get through this.
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tallyhoh

If your eldest is only working part time you may still be entitled to a rebate on your council tax. Its called second adult rebate & if for cases where the "2nd adult" in the house is on a low income.
Contact you local council to apply. You need to do this ASAP as they wont backdate it.

MissKJ

Pub work couple of evenings per week? Could be good for your social life?I have started meal planning and cooking ahead.Takes me couple of hours on a Sunday to start the week, I feed 4 people on £50 per week including 2 packed lunches. So fare everyone is enjoying it!?!

BabySteps

Thanks Tallyhoh, I didn't know about that - I will ask about second adult rebate tomorrow

BabySteps

I can't get an extra job in the week but maybe weekends....... will seriously consider it.

chevalier

Doh! I guess you have answered already these questions, that is what happens when you live in a different timezone. I hope my input is still useful. And absolutely sit down with your children and explain that they are going to have to contribute. No ifs or buts especially with the older one. Now is a great time to ensure that they learn the lessons of financial management as painlessly as possible.
regards
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