Newbies - spending more than we earn

Rache_2

And another update:

1) My husband is going to "come clean" with his parents. They are well off, and we are hoping they will offer us an interest free or low interest loan. It would mean we could concentrate our efforts on paying off debts to banks/ c c companies etc, while simultaneously reducing our outgoings and maximising our income; so that we'd then delay paying off his parents until all the expensive debts were paid. We'll let you know.

2) I have applied for a second job.

3) I am going to talk to my H about the car situation. We do need two cars, but I don't think we need two decent cars. As long as one is reliable/efficient for my work and safe for the baby, and the other gets H to the station and back, and the odd other journey, that should do us. We could sell up and have a lump sum to contribute to the debt. He isn't going to like this because the car he has at the moment (a "hot hatch" I believe it's called; I'm no expert on such things) was a replacement for the sports car/convertable that he had before the baby was born. He therefore considers that he has already made a significant sacrifice.

kingfisher1961

If you could convince him to downgrade his car you would then also save on his insurance costs.

I wish you the best of luck!!

lush_walrus

Just one little potential saving (depending on if its plausable or not) is on the travelcard (and that he has already made the saving on having a yearly ticket too). You say you live in the country therefore I imagine that you live outside of Zone 6 and your husbands travelcard incorporates over-land trains?

If so, one thing to check is whether your husbands travelcard includes underground or not and if it does include the underground does he really need it or can he walk from the overland train station to work?

My sister for years paid for the pleasure of the underground even though as she walked from Liverpool St to Barbican everyday she hardly used it. Eventually she realised that there was another option of not paying for the underground and saved about £800 per year. So its worth a thought, even if your husband occassionally has to use the underground he can get an Oyster card and it will prob still work out cheaper.

jcr16

i must say firstly well done , you have seen where you have made mistakes and are doing extremly well in changing things.

your house sounds very wonderful and what most families would dream off. however one concern i have and that is you said your mortgage based on husbands earnings as u hoped in lean months your wages would help. and that his income should increase in next couple years which would help you alot ,but what will happen if the intrest rates went up over night ? not saying they will but it something to think about .so maybe looking around for a better deal , but maybe fixed for 5 years or so . so u know where u are for the next 5 years and don't have to worried about paying any more towards mortgage unless u want to over pay when u have spare money
do u have any spare bedrooms u could maybe rent out ?
reguarding the cars , as long as they are realiable u don't need anything special. i have a 20 year old golf. it has never let me down. it is cheap to run , very reliable. nothing to say once u have sorted yourself out that you can't have a nice car again. but at the moment it isn't important.

HTH

Thefunkygibbons

Two further areas

Look at stuff to be sold

The premium baby stuff including clothes could be sold on ebay, every penny counts

Both of you need a spending diary in which every penny is logged, harsh I know, but it will help both of you keep each other honest

Also, work out a debt free debt and then work towards making it sooner

highguyuk

Again I echo previous posts: Good luck.

Selling things on ebay is definetly a good way of making money, although selling clothes just to "downgrade" them probably isnt financial wise, they will have to be replaced anyway. Just concentrate on buying new things cheaper :-) Could always buy them cheap off ebay.

Also, £15 a month for DVD hire? Check out http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1134152286,68176, for Martins way to do it for free.

All the best.

JAMIEDODGER

hi rache,just had a look at your grocery spend...£300 per month is quite high for 2 adults and a baby, why not check out the old style board, which can help with cutting this down, everything you can chuck at your debt is a good thing x

Rache_2

kingfisher1961 wrote:

If you could convince him to downgrade his car you would then also save on his insurance costs.

I wish you the best of luck!!

It'll be hard but I'll broach it tonight.

His insurance is high - he has claimed a cople of times; plus the car is in a high group.

We could save a lot this way; you're right.

Rache_2

lush_walrus wrote:

Just one little potential saving (depending on if its plausable or not) is on the travelcard (and that he has already made the saving on having a yearly ticket too). You say you live in the country therefore I imagine that you live outside of Zone 6 and your husbands travelcard incorporates over-land trains?

If so, one thing to check is whether your husbands travelcard includes underground or not and if it does include the underground does he really need it or can he walk from the overland train station to work?

My sister for years paid for the pleasure of the underground even though as she walked from Liverpool St to Barbican everyday she hardly used it. Eventually she realised that there was another option of not paying for the underground and saved about £800 per year. So its worth a thought, even if your husband occassionally has to use the underground he can get an Oyster card and it will prob still work out cheaper.

That is a really good point. I think it is walkable. He's a lazy so-and-so though. I think he usualy gets the bus. We will definitely look into this.

Rache_2

jcr16 wrote:

your house sounds very wonderful and what most families would dream off. however one concern i have and that is you said your mortgage based on husbands earnings as u hoped in lean months your wages would help. and that his income should increase in next couple years which would help you alot ,but what will happen if the intrest rates went up over night ? not saying they will but it something to think about .so maybe looking around for a better deal , but maybe fixed for 5 years or so . so u know where u are for the next 5 years and don't have to worried about paying any more towards mortgage unless u want to over pay when u have spare money
do u have any spare bedrooms u could maybe rent out ?
reguarding the cars , as long as they are realiable u don't need anything special. i have a 20 year old golf. it has never let me down. it is cheap to run , very reliable. nothing to say once u have sorted yourself out that you can't have a nice car again. but at the moment it isn't important.

HTH

I have wanted to switch to a fixed rate mortgage for a while for this very reason. It terrifies me. But as I say, his income isn't big enough at the moment; and as I am recently self employed I can't get a mortgage based on my earnings. I am hoping to switch either to salaried employment or a better paid self-employed situation in the next 6 months; which should help. Switching mortgages is very high on our priorities list but sadly we can't do it just yet.

Good way of looking at it re: the cars. If we sort ourselves out we will be able to save up for a fabulous car that much quicker when we can afford it.