In a pickle!

jolo_2

Hi, I wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction!
My income is going to go down dramatically over the next few years and I really need some advice as to how I can reduce my outgoings and just basically cope. At the moment I can cope but we have to be careful about spreading the cost of any extras like home improvements.
In June 2013 I will lose £250 a month in maintenance when my elder daughter finishes Uni (her course is NHS funded thank God and she gets a bursary due to my low income), plus £108 a month child benefit as the younger one will turn 18 then. I will also lose benefits then too but I have no idea if you still get some benefits after your children are 18 or not - does anyone know or will I lose the £71 WFTC i get every week altogether then? If the younger daughter does not go to university I will lose the remaining £250 a month maintenance but at the moment she has plans to go. If she does I will continue to get £250 a month until she finishes in June 2016.
I can work an extra day at work, this will earn me approx £50 a week after tax and I am quite prepared to do that. I am wondering if I should add my personal loan (which was taken out for a new oil central heating system last year before my long term partner left and the household income was considerably more!) to my mortgage? I am fixed with Northern Rock until June 2013, at a rate of 5.29%. If I change now I will incur £1374 early repayment fees. I am overpaying on my mortgage by £35 a month as £19K is on endowment and the policy will make approx £8000. I have currently overpaid £2413. I am also wondering if I should be moving all or part of that onto repayment, but the payments will go up.
As far as the other bills go, I have done as much swapping to better rates as I can etc, I have considered whether I should sell my house and buy something smaller, but the monthly bills would not really change much. The house is really the only asset I have in the world, and has been our family home for 20 years so I would be very sad if I had to do this. Also I would be unlikely to be able to find anything much cheaper in my village. I have guessed at the value of the house, its a three bed semi in a very rural village. I am just worrying constantly about how I will cope in the future and would feel happier if I could make some plans now about dealing with it.
Any advice gratefully received


Jo


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1053
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 415
Other income............................ 500
Total monthly income.................... 1968

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 213
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 98
Electricity............................. 48
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 110
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 40
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 280
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 10
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 13
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 28
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Mortgage overpayment.................... 35
Total monthly expenses.................. 1007


Assets
Cash.................................... 3000
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 205500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 29354....(213)......5.29
Total secured & HP debts...... 29354.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................8900......125.......8
Total unsecured debts..........8900......125.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,968
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,007
Available for debt repayments........... 961
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 125
Amount left after debt repayments....... 836

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 205,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -29,354
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,900
Net Assets.............................. 167,246

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

RAS

I strongly advise you go over to the benefts forum to check the rules under which you can continue to claim WTC - I think it will be 30 hours a week.

How many years left on the loan?

Do not add your personal loan to your mortgage. Go to www.whatsthecost.com and play with the snowball. if your mortgage lasts longer then your loan, you will pay more interest over time even if the APR is less.

And do you really have that much a month left over?

jolo_2

Hi, no i dont! I dont know what Ive missed off though. I generally have about £60 a week left after Ive paid all my bills etc.
There are 7 years left on the loan.
Ive actually just had a thought - if i remortgage now or in the future I will have to take the whole amount as repayment, so what if I cancelled the endowment policy which at the minute will earn me about £8500, and use that to pay off the loan. I would then have no worries about what happens at the end of the mortgage, and I think it would only cost me approx £100 more a month on the mortgage, but I wouldnt have the loan, the mortgage overpayments or the endowment policy to pay which total about £187 a month.....

Just rolling ideas around in my head.

NorthernLas

You have nothing down for car tax for a start, or holidays, or entertainment, or clothes, or travel apart from petrol for the car ...

The good thing is that you have money left over.

Maybe a spending diary would be useful to get an idea of where the money goes.

cobblers_boy

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1053
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 415
Other income............................ 500
Total monthly income.................... 1968

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 213
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 98
Electricity............................. 48
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 110
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 40
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23
Internet Services....................... 0 assume this is included in your land line costs?
Groceries etc. ......................... 280
Clothing................................ 0 should there be something here (maybe even £10 a month)
Petrol/diesel........................... 10 this seems very low. £10 is 2 gallons or less than 100 miles a month
Road tax................................ 0 is your car in the tax free band. If not best to put the annual cost / 12 here
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 again presume you have some maintenance at some point
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 13
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 0 would advise you get this unless included in buildings insurance
Life assurance ......................... 0 again with the kids tis might be advisable.
Other insurance......................... 28
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 childrens birthday presents, christmas etc. Assume should be something here
Haircuts................................ 0 presume there should be something here as well
Entertainment........................... 0 if you go out at all then put some budget here
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Mortgage overpayment.................... 35
Total monthly expenses.................. 1007


Assets
Cash.................................... 3000
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 205500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 29354....(213)......5.29
Total secured & HP debts...... 29354.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................8900......125.......8
Total unsecured debts..........8900......125.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,968
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,007
Available for debt repayments........... 961
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 125
Amount left after debt repayments....... 836

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 205,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -29,354
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,900
Net Assets.............................. 167,246

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/QUOTE]

Hi


Am no expert but have added a few thoughts above as to where you might be spending more than you think. From some of the other comments I have read on here it is easy to miss items that are perhaps annual events but need to be budgeted monthly. If my experience is anything to go by one of these annual events seems to happen every month! (lol)

Good luck and hope you get it all sorted.

CB

consultant31

Hi,

I'm very fortunate in not having any debt but saving money is second nature to me as I have never had loads of spare whilst bringing up my 3 children on a very poor wage.

The first thing I would do is cancel Sky - the cost is horrendous and it's a luxury not a necessity IMO.

Scondly, £280 a month on groceries seems an awful lot for 2 people. There are 2 of us here now (with various offspring occasionally turning up to be fed) and I don't spend anything like that. Have a look on the oldstyle thread for tips on healthy, cheap meals and making ends meet http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

Don't know much about oil heating, but £110 a month seems very high, especially as you won't be using it during the summr surely? We've not had any heating on since about April - I wear a body warmer when I'm chilly in the evenings.

Hope some of this helps

sofababe

If u work over 30 hours a week and are on a low wage u can still qualify for Working Tax Credit. I was working 40 hours a week at £6 an hour and got about £40 a week after my son left college. I've changed jobs now but I do still qualify. Even a small amount is worth having as it also entitles u to free prescriptions, eye tests, dental etc., which can save u quite a bit over the year.

Also remember that if your daughters are no longer at home your grocery bill will be down to next to nothing, and utilities can often be cheaper. Don't forget single person council tax rebate. If they are at home and working then they must contribute to the household.

You have a while yet before any of this happens so plenty of time to work it all out but it probably won't be as bad as u think. Keep coming here for great money saving ideas and tips, and encouragement when u feel u need it. :grouphug:

jolo_2

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23
Internet Services....................... 0 assume this is included in your land line costs? - yes
Groceries etc. ......................... 280
Clothing................................ 0 should there be something here (maybe even £10 a month) - £20
Petrol/diesel........................... 10 this seems very low. £10 is 2 gallons or less than 100 miles a month - i live 10 mins drive from work but maybe it is slightly low
Road tax................................ 0 is your car in the tax free band. If not best to put the annual cost / 12 here - its £35 a year
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 again presume you have some maintenance at some point - £10 a month?
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 13
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 0 would advise you get this unless included in buildings insurance - its included
Life assurance ......................... 0 again with the kids tis might be advisable.
Other insurance......................... 28
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 childrens birthday presents, christmas etc. Assume should be something here - I save £25 a month towards this - missed it off
Haircuts................................ 0 presume there should be something here as well - £20
Entertainment........................... 0 if you go out at all then put some budget here - £40
Holiday................................. 0


the groceries amount is what i spend now, with three of us here, the eldest goes to uni this weekend so that will reduce a bit.
The oil figure is what I spent on oil and bottled gas last winter - we had four solid weeks of snow here so maybe that was just a high year.