A fresh start

hypno06

You don't need to actually ring CCCS - you can do their debt remedy online. From your SOA, it does really seem to me as though this is a definite possible solution without OH working.

Have you investigating remortgaging as an alternative? As you have a reasonable income and a decent amount of equity, you might be able to consolidate? Not ideal but, again, a possibility for a "clean slate" and a more managable SOA.

The worry, though is that even without your debt repayments, you are only breaking even. I would show OH the SOA and ask what he is going to do to make up the difference, because this shouldn't all come down to you x

taxi73

I can't see the answer either without your DH getting a job.
As you say the OD gets bigger every month...but then it will run out.
I also think CCCS is worth looking at as you don't even have maneouvre for dentists,prescriptions or any extra fuel...

Karmacat

Hi Seaxwyn, well, I'm glad you have a bit more than that every month, but even so, it doesn't sound like the extras bring you up to breakeven. OH has to see these figures, he has to. I don't see how come you're taking full responsibility for everything financial within the family. How did it get to that point?

Otherwise, reading it through, these are the things that strike me:

- how well you've done on your water bill! Having gone through the whole meter thing, I always notice this now

- the mobile bill does seem high, at £30 a month. Is that for a couple of them?

- you've got all the car expenses, but you've still got just over £200 of "other travel expenses" - is that for the kids? Otherwise, its high.

- life assurance *looked* high to me at first, but its probably on you and OH isn't it? I'm not sure whether thats high or not....

Seaxwyn

thanks everyone. The mobiles is for an average of 3 people topping up per month. There are actually six of us with mobiles, though three of the children don't use theirs much

The £210.10 travel expenses is me commuting to London for work.

Life assurance is high and it struck me today that I should cancel OH's portion. It's high because he is 60 and it covers him for the next 16 years or so, the life of our mortgage. But I wouldn't be much worse off if he died, so probably I shouldn't pay out every month for life insurance.

Karmacat

It might help to do some calcs on that, Seaxwyn. Hope you can sleep well tonight, I'm signing off in a couple of mins.
xx

taxi73

hard one about the life insurance...if he did die then it will pay your debt off or mortggage etc...is it only life insurance or does it cover critical illness or terminal ilness etc...
Still worth looking about though.

Seaxwyn

I think it's only life insurance. If he dies, I can pay the mortgage off, but if he doesn't, it's £100 a month I'm paying for nothing. And in truth, in purely financial terms, if he died we wouldn't really be worse off. I think I will ring the broker and see if I can get some quotes for different scenarios.

DawnW

Seaxwyn wrote: »

I think it's only life insurance. If he dies, I can pay the mortgage off, but if he doesn't, it's £100 a month I'm paying for nothing. And in truth, in purely financial terms, if he died we wouldn't really be worse off. I think I will ring the broker and see if I can get some quotes for different scenarios.

£100 per month is an awful lot - I would check up to see exactly what type of insurance it is, and see if you need all the cover you have, and if you do, if you can get it cheaper elsewhere. Don't disregard brokers if your situation is a bit unusual, as the comparison sites tend to take a bit of a one size fits all approach (as I found recently when OH wanted to insure a slightly - but only slightly unusual vehicle, not the same obviously, but you get the idea).

OH and I have mortgage insurance only; that is, if eitehr of us dies, the mortgage gets paid off. We are in our mid 50s, owe 35k or so, and pay just under £27 a month. Of course, if you still have a young family, it is sensible to have more cover than that - our kids are grown up. However, like you, I am the main earner, and it is probably more valuable for OH to have me insured than the other way round if you see what I mean.

Of course, you never know what is round the corner. I was always really cautious when the kids were at home, but much more blase about it now.

Seaxwyn

Thanks Dawn! We did go through a broker (i was paying even more before) and they said this was the best deal. I think it's because OH is 60 and the mortgage term is another 16 or 17 years. But I guess I only need the cover for the next 10 years approx, as once the children are independent I plan to sell the darn house. I will talk to the broker again. £100/month is a huge amount to gamble on OH dying.

I also think we will get rid of the car. It's a lot of money when we don't use it that much and could really do without it. I will keep it for the next month or so as we have some trips planned for the holidays, but look into getting rid of it after that.

Doing my SOA has been really helpful. I have always kept detailed spending records so in theory I knew where the money was going, but this is the first time I have had a simple balance sheet printed out.

Karmacat

Isn't it staggering when you see it down in black and white? Tells us all over again, information is power.

Its a tough one with your OH, about life insurance; I can see what you mean when you say that you wouldn't really be worse off financially if he were to die, and why should you gamble on him dying.... though of course, chances of him (and me! I'm not far behind him, sadly) dying aren't minimal, to put it as delicately as possible...

But £100 a month is a **huge** amount, and having that to snowball would make a considerable difference. Its still a difficult decision tho, I don't envy you.