Child Tax Credit - Do we tell them about this?

mildred1978

That £224 is based on your income alone. You also get £90 per month CB, £50 CTC, £290 JSA and £490 insurance payout. That's an extra £920 per month!

I'd get that mortgage onto a repayment ASAP. Use the CB if necessary - much better for your daughter to have a roof over her head than money in the bank at this stage.

lovinituk

mildred1978 wrote: »

That's an extra £920 per month

Billykeats - with figures like that what exactly are you concerned about? Even if you put your mortgage on repayment as recommended by mildred, you will still be very comfortable. I don't really understand what you're worrying about?

Mammato1

First of all no need to be making nasty comments and I feel so many people have a go at other people unneccessarily.

Yes, I agree that you have a comfortable situation and many would want to be in that position but the forum is to help not to put people down - well that's my opinion.

£400 groceries sounds a lot to me - as your wife is at home she could do some bargain hunting. I buy mostly reduced stuff and freeze as that's what I can afford. I spent around £30 a week or less.

I'd get rid of sky asap myself and search for cheaper options on other bills.

£224 is a lot of money to have 'left over' - I would save, save, save. If it's for clothes, going out and so on just cut the spending. Put it in children's savings - that's not taxed. You could probably easily put aside at least half of it - in a year that'd give you over £1200

I also hate putting things in the landfill and like the idea of passing things on. My daughter's 3,5 and I hardly bought her anything - yet she has good toys and clothes offered by freecyclers (and then I pass them on).

If I have to buy sth I use hotukdeals.com to search for the best price and bargains. I often buy things for presents at the fraction of prices and 'store' them for later.

Being at home your wife could explore these options.

Good luck

lovinituk

Mammato1 wrote: »

First of all no need to be making nasty comments and I feel so many people have a go at other people unneccessarily.

Yes, I agree that you have a comfortable situation and many would want to be in that position but the forum is to help not to put people down - well that's my opinion.

Who's putting who down? I don't see any nasty comments on this thread?

stforbes

ebay tesco outlet
DION DTR250SS10 DIGITAL TV TWIN TUNER RECORDER 250GB

Specifications


BrandDionColourBlackDigital UK approvedYesHard DriveYes 250gbScart Sockets2Electronic Progamme Guide7 daySeries LinkyesTuners2x digitalBuilt in FreeviewYesFeatures of Productapprox 160 hour recordingBuilt-in Freeview HDNoConditionRefurbished

£39.95

£39.95

£39.95

Horseunderwater

Get rid of Sky or combine TV broadband and phone into one deal. Sam knows is a site that will tell you what is available in your postal code.
Stop buying so much food - buy what you need - do the sums when you shop - I prob spend approx £200 on our food bill and we are 3 adult sized people. I go buy reduced and freeze things like meat etc and have been known to get high quality stuff at prices like £5 for a roasting joint that should have been £25. Cook large batches of things like mince and freeze some for another ready made home baked meal. A simple cheese sauce with a little ham in it makes an acceptable carbonara style sauce and added to pasta that cost approx 18p for a 500g packet is a very cheap meal. Stop buying expensive washing powders or Vanish stuff. It does not work. Buy Sainsbury basic powder or liquid, add some soda crystals to wash drawer and watch the stains lift out, even old undies come out cleaner than they've been in a while. You can use both to clean an oven and the sinks or bath and the shower. It will clean the floor too. Using cheap cola will clean baked on carbon in a saucepan or on a baking sheet. If I had your budget, I'd still be doing what I do. We run 2 cars with all associated costs. Your wife could go down the child care route and look after one or two other peoples kids as a way of boosting income. My next door neighbour does this. And you should get the mortgage onto repayment. Interest only is a big waste of time. Wish we'd done that from the start instead of after 5 years. We lost all the interest we paid some £30k or so and no the lender would not put that to the repayment mortgage. We had to start over. There are so many things you can do. Frances

Mammato1

Horseunderwater wrote: »

Get rid of Sky or combine TV broadband and phone into one deal. Sam knows is a site that will tell you what is available in your postal code.
Stop buying so much food - buy what you need - do the sums when you shop - I prob spend approx £200 on our food bill and we are 3 adult sized people. I go buy reduced and freeze things like meat etc and have been known to get high quality stuff at prices like £5 for a roasting joint that should have been £25. Cook large batches of things like mince and freeze some for another ready made home baked meal. A simple cheese sauce with a little ham in it makes an acceptable carbonara style sauce and added to pasta that cost approx 18p for a 500g packet is a very cheap meal. Stop buying expensive washing powders or Vanish stuff. It does not work. Buy Sainsbury basic powder or liquid, add some soda crystals to wash drawer and watch the stains lift out, even old undies come out cleaner than they've been in a while. You can use both to clean an oven and the sinks or bath and the shower. It will clean the floor too. Using cheap cola will clean baked on carbon in a saucepan or on a baking sheet. If I had your budget, I'd still be doing what I do. We run 2 cars with all associated costs. Your wife could go down the child care route and look after one or two other peoples kids as a way of boosting income. My next door neighbour does this. And you should get the mortgage onto repayment. Interest only is a big waste of time. Wish we'd done that from the start instead of after 5 years. We lost all the interest we paid some £30k or so and no the lender would not put that to the repayment mortgage. We had to start over. There are so many things you can do. Frances

Absolutely agree! The amount of things we really don't need is amazing. And with a little bit of thought and effort you can save a lot of money.
I would never put my mortgage on interest only. And my household income is around £11K and I also have full time childcare to pay. I still manage to repay my mortgage and if I really push myself even overpay a tiny bit as in fact this is my only debt.

Valli

billykeats wrote: »

So as I will be he sole earner in the household with a salary of £30K, we will not be entitled to nothing!

Story of our lives this is. Bought our first house had to pay stamp duty only for the government to scrap it for FTBs just 3 months after we complete. Buy a new car & they then bring the scrappage scheme which meant we could have got £1000 instead of the £200 we got for my old car. Our first child is born just after they scrap the £250 Child Trust Fund money. No this

We have both worked all our lives and asked for nothing yet when we look for a little bit of help we get shafted again and again and again! Yet SOME people who sit on their !!!!!! get given out handouts left right and centre

and some of us struggle on much like you

example

for at least 3 years I was entitled to free prescriptions (and had a card) My dentist was private anyway (on a Health Insurance scheme for that) so never used it.

This year I get prescribed meds at 2 x prescription charges (so £15 approx) every 3 months and I *just* fall ouside free prescription eligibilty and have to pay!

billykeats

Thank you very much for all your constructive comments and I will take them all on board. Somehow need to kerb my wife's spending. She has been so use to having her own money she is obviously struggling to work to a budget.

Eventually we would like to move closer to London where I work and my Mortgage Advisor said that as you no doubt will be moving in the future Interest Only mortgage at this time is best. So would going onto repayment be best kept for when we hope to move in the future?

My initial question is should we advise the HMRC about the Job Seekers claim and the insurance to which people have now answered and will advise HMRC accordingly. It was only through this forum did I then find out that from April 2012 CTC will stop for us. It is disappointing that this will happen but we will plod along as we have done so far without "sponging of the state"

mildred1978

billykeats wrote: »

Thank you very much for all your constructive comments and I will take them all on board. Somehow need to kerb my wife's spending. She has been so use to having her own money she is obviously struggling to work to a budget.

So there's the real problem

billykeats wrote: »

Eventually we would like to move closer to London where I work and my Mortgage Advisor said that as you no doubt will be moving in the future Interest Only mortgage at this time is best. So would going onto repayment be best kept for when we hope to move in the future?

Worst advice ever. You are basically no better off than renting.