Is this the best option!! All comments welcome

Miss_Moneypenny_6

Hi all,

First post to the site, so hope I’m doing it right & putting it in the right place. I'm looking for some advice, these are the circumstances:

Outgoings

Petrol £365.00 (have already found the cheapest place for fuel)
Car Tax/Service/Ins £130.00 (2 cars - essential)
Food £280.00 (trying to reduce)
Furniture £54.20 (0% interest) last payment is Dec 06
Child Minder £169.00 (18 mths so 2 years before school starts)
School Dinner/Fund £48.00 (nursery – lunches not optional)
Rates £78.73 (paid over 10 months)
Nationwide Loan £142.30 (took out £6K 14 months ago)
Xmas Savings £50.00
Cancer Research £2.00
TV Licence-Quarterly £34.12
Sky £18.00
NIE £38.00 (trying to use less)
Tiscalli (phone & BB) £35.46
Capital One £96.60 (0% interest balance £3100)
Insurance £13.45 (mortgage protection)
B&C Insurance £18.20 (paid over 10 months)
Mortgage £410.00 (20 yrs left reducing in dec to approx £335)
A,S & Unemployment £21.42
Life Insurance Me £15.28 (until 65)
Life Insurance OH £28.27 (until 65)
NSPCC £3.00

TOTAL £2,051.03

OH Wages £1,243.12
MY Wages £361.17
Child Benefit £116.60
Tax Credits £135.96

TOTAL £1,856.85

So we are £194.18 short a month. I would like to know if there is a better way to deal with this. I have been looking and would like some advice as to any better deals/options I would have.

Initially I had been thinking about consolidating my loans into the mortgage, but after reading some great advice given to others I realise this is a VERY bad idea.

I have come up with the following, I was thinking of taking out a loan for £13,000 over 5 years and using it to pay off my current Nationwide loan, the capital one balance and leaving me with £5k to cover the debts over the next 2 years (after this time my youngest will be at school & not need a child minder, the elder will be at primary school & able to take pack lunches). I can only take on extra work if it can be done from home (have been looking into options) as I want to be with the kids as much as possible, once the youngest starts school in 2 years I hope to almost double my working hours and therefore increase my salary, my OH is applying for higher paid jobs, so hopefully something will happen there. We knew that reducing my hours would obviously affect us financially and therefore want to sort out things now, before they get any worse by sorting out the debt from the last year and planning for the next 2 years.

Can anyone let me know of there is any better solution.

Thanks

Miss Moneypenny (trying to save a penny)

leni

Miss_Moneypenny wrote:

Hi all,

First post to the site, so hope I’m doing it right & putting it in the right place. I'm looking for some advice, these are the circumstances:

Outgoings

Petrol £365.00 (have already found the cheapest place for fuel) can the car use not be reduced? if using the cars for work do you get any travel expences back?
Car Tax/Service/Ins £130.00 (2 cars - essential)
Food £280.00 (trying to reduce) have you been on the money saving old stle board for tips on reducing this?
Furniture £54.20 (0% interest) last payment is Dec 06
Child Minder £169.00 (18 mths so 2 years before school starts) look into whether you qualify for childcar vouchers!
School Dinner/Fund £48.00 (nursery – lunches not optional)
Rates £78.73 (paid over 10 months)
Nationwide Loan £142.30 (took out £6K 14 months ago)
Xmas Savings £50.00
Cancer Research £2.00 is this essential, although a good gesture - can you afford it?
TV Licence-Quarterly £34.12
Sky £18.00 this isn't essential, is freeview a better option?
NIE £38.00 (trying to use less)
Tiscalli (phone & BB) £35.46
Capital One £96.60 (0% interest balance £3100)
Insurance £13.45 (mortgage protection)
B&C Insurance £18.20 (paid over 10 months)
Mortgage £410.00 (20 yrs left reducing in dec to approx £335)
A,S & Unemployment £21.42
Life Insurance Me £15.28 (until 65)
Life Insurance OH £28.27 (until 65) You might get a better deal if you look at getting this all together as a Mortgage Protection Plan!)
NSPCC £3.00 is this essential, although a good gesture - can you afford it?

TOTAL £2,051.03

OH Wages £1,243.12
MY Wages £361.17
Child Benefit £116.60
Tax Credits £135.96

TOTAL £1,856.85

So we are £194.18 short a month.

In terms of increasing your earnings, how about AVON, Betterware, Virgin Vie parties (these can be done on a night when kids are in bed) or Usbourne Books that you can sell to friends, family, schools, nursary etc etc

calleyw

Hello

Petrol £365.00 :eek: how much. You need to cut this right back. Get jobs closer to home

Food £280.00 reckon you can get this down to about £200 with out to muhc trouble. Pop on over to old style forum loads of good ideas for cutting back

Tiscalli (phone & BB) £35.46 need to be cut. I pay £26.50 a month for telephone and Broad band. Ring them up tell them you are going to move so need to cut it back to the bone.

Sky £18.00 - got to go can't afford it get a freeview box

NSPCC £3.00/Cancer Research £2.00 - I know that for a lot of people what it means to give to charity. But you really can't afford it at the moment.

Xmas Savings £50.00 -£600 a year on christmas that is a lot even if you have two children. You need to cut this right back to say £25 a month.

The savings above would amount to £138 leaving you to find another £60 which I am sure you could find somehow by looking in to cheaper insurances of all type.

Please don't take out any more debt you can do this. If you get rid a lot of the fuel bill you would be quids.


All the best.


Yours


Calley

LJD1_2

Hiya and welcome!
Others who are really good at this will come and help you more but what leaps out at me is sky, do you really need it, and that's a lot to save for christmas each month. Does one of you do a driving job for all that petrol? I'm sure you'll get more comprehensive answers soon.

BertieMeldrew

Are you on contract with Tiscali? If not then Sky Broadband is one obvious place to save some... or it also looks like you are on the Sky basic package (i.e. no movies/sports etc) so I reckon Freeview would be just as good... (obviously can't do both...)

Also... £365 seems a lot to me... if you can't buy fuel cheaper is there any way you can reduce the amount you travel (car sharing etc)?

nrsql

imho the reason for not adding debt to the mortgage is that it is paid over a long period and so accrues a lot of interest and that it tempts people to incur more short term debt (c cards) as it tends not to be considered and it is secured on the property.

Taking out a loan has the same problem with the credit cards and tends to be at a higher rate than the mortgage. The cheapest option would probably be to add it to the mortgage then make the same payments to the mortgage as you would to the loan. This though is probably the highest risk option.

Come the end of this year you have an extra £54.20 + £75 = £124.20
Looking at the soa I suspect you could prune it down so that te outgoings are less than income - sky, charity, phone+BB, xmas, ...

What happens to the mortgage in dec?
Is it moving from a bad fixed rate to variable? If so beware of rate rises.

Taking out a loan to cover you for the next 5 years on the assumption that you will be able to cope then sounds a lot of danger signals.

nellis10

hi Moneypenny. I'm here in Norn Iron too!! I also have a pre-schooler and I'm working part-time..and hubby and I have separated with still no maintenance paid...anyway enough about me...

I'm actually on the computer at the moment, uploading my stock onto Ebay....I opened a little shop at the end of April to help make a little bit of spare change. And it seems to be doing OK....enough that i ahve already recouped my initial investment in stock..only started with £50 worth and slowly over the weeks added a few more styles, widths etc until I saw what was selling well and then bought more of it...anyway....research research research into selling something on ebay and it might be the job for you!!

If you want any pointers just ask!

sanfrancisco

Miss_Moneypenny wrote:

I have come up with the following, I was thinking of taking out a loan for £13,000 over 5 years and using it to pay off my current Nationwide loan, the capital one balance and leaving me with £5k to cover the debts over the next 2 years (after this time my youngest will be at school & not need a child minder, the elder will be at primary school & able to take pack lunches). I can only take on extra work if it can be done from home (have been looking into options) as I want to be with the kids as much as possible, once the youngest starts school in 2 years I hope to almost double my working hours and therefore increase my salary, my OH is applying for higher paid jobs, so hopefully something will happen there. We knew that reducing my hours would obviously affect us financially and therefore want to sort out things now, before they get any worse by sorting out the debt from the last year and planning for the next 2 years.

/HARSH MODE ON/

Why are you getting a 13k loan when your debts are 8/9k? You have not had what we call round here your lightbulb moment. You should NEVER borrow more than you need. If you put your mind to it, you could make LOADS of savings (see below). PLEASE DO NOT GET THIS LOAN. You are just making excuses and putting off the inevitable (that it has to be paid back).

Petrol £365.00 (have already found the cheapest place for fuel) - move closer to work?
Car Tax/Service/Ins £130.00 (2 cars - essential) - why are they eesential. You could move closer to either job or playschool etc. Could you get the bus etc?
Food £280.00 (trying to reduce) - stop "trying" and get on it. No more biscuits/crap. Get over to oldstyle board for LOADS of tips.
Furniture £54.20 (0% interest) last payment is Dec 06
Child Minder £169.00 (18 mths so 2 years before school starts) - is this economical. I see you earn approx £350. Would it be better for you to be a stay at home mum and work evenings/weekends when hubby is at home. You would only need to earn £200 per month. (wage - childminder)
School Dinner/Fund £48.00 (nursery – lunches not optional)
Rates £78.73 (paid over 10 months)
Nationwide Loan £142.30 (took out £6K 14 months ago)
Xmas Savings £50.00 - reduce this. xmas this year will me a MSE xmas.
Cancer Research £2.00- Stop this
TV Licence-Quarterly £34.12
Sky £18.00 - cancel
NIE £38.00 (trying to use less) - what is this?
Tiscalli (phone & BB) £35.46 - i am not sure if this is cheapest. have you checked.
Capital One £96.60 (0% interest balance £3100) - well done on 0%.
Insurance £13.45 (mortgage protection) - could you risk stopping this for 6m/1year?
B&C Insurance £18.20 (paid over 10 months)
Mortgage £410.00 (20 yrs left reducing in dec to approx £335) - great. Loads of savings in Dec
A,S & Unemployment £21.42 - could you risk stopping this. I would.
Life Insurance Me £15.28 (until 65)
Life Insurance OH £28.27 (until 65)
NSPCC £3.00 - stop this

You need to spend less. Your debts are not unmanagable and you could pay them back in well under 5 years if you put your mind to it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NO GET THE LOAN. If you do not address this now, it will only get worse. Could you show hubby this thread?

/Harsh mode off/

Welcome to MSE!!! Please stick around, you will learn loads. Keep posting. I am only harsh because your situation seems like a car crash waiting to happen and we have all been there (consolidation, get a bit extra). Welcome!!!

Mrs_Arkwright

Have a look at Virgin for a joint life policy - me and Mr A have a joint policy for less than 20 quid a month.

janeawej

could you not get tax credits? these would also give some moeny towards costs of registered childcare

CLAPTON

there is no mention of gas and electric....
what is B&C insurance?
is water charge includes in rate in NI?