x-post - Salary cut in half overnight - Need help!

redpete

Cut groceries by half, £25 each off the gas and electric, cancel gym, cut out premium Sky channels, sell a car and use to pay off maybe half of the CC & overdraft debt.

Should get you maybe £750 a month.

rhoda

Sorry to hear what's happened.

With your lower salary will you be entitled to any tax credits?

RAS

Thanls for this rfta

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

mmmm won't let me quote your SOA for some reason ..... here goes:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2463
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 100
Other income............................ 100
Total monthly income.................... 2663

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 625
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 550
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 100 You all need to learn to switch everyhting offf except the fridge and freezer and wear jumpers indoors
Gas..................................... 100 Ditto - right now I have no heating on
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50 Can you get a meter?
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 80 try to reduce the packages and then cancel when they end
TV Licence.............................. 15 Should be £12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 80 When does this end - ring up and tell them tyour income is halved and you have to cancel - they may offer a very low deal or just let you reduce the package until you can cancal
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 800 This is massive. For a start send the missu over to the Money Saving Oldstyle forum and do a store cupbaord challenge this month
Clothing................................ 100 Actually go for £30 - you will all have very decent clothing that can last. Sell the kids old stuff to buy anything new other than knickers and shoes.
Petrol/diesel........................... 200 All essential journeys?
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 100 Check comparison sites
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20 Not high enough for 2 cars
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5 Needs to be at least £10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 0 Need something in here - £10
Entertainment........................... 0 Need something in here - £20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0 Essential to put something in here to cover appliances breaking down etc - £50
Total monthly expenses.................. 3055


Assets
Cash.................................... 100
House value (Gross)..................... 132000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 15000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 147100

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 145000...(625)......4.5
Secured Debt.................. 15000....(500)......7.9
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 500......(50).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 160500....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Capital One ...................1300......50........34
Virgin Mastercard..............4800......120.......34
Barclaycard....................3750......110...... .34
Overdraft......................1500......0........ .30
Total unsecured debts..........11350.....280.......-

These rates tell me the lenders already think you are high risk

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,663
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,055
Available for debt repayments........... -392
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 280
Amount short for making debt repayments. -672 - this is achieveable

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 147,100
Total HP & Secured debt................. -160,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,350
Net Assets.............................. -24,750

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

get the HP agreements out and work out when you can return the cars with no further payments.

Get the wife to get a part-time job - every penny is income against your paying 40% tax at the mo plus NI.

rising_from_the_ashes

RAS wrote: »

Thanls for this rfta

:rotfl:Glad to be of help!

CKhalvashi

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Sorry things are tough ... classic situation of living to what you earn rather than what you need .....

At the same time, if my earnings were to halve (which they probably will next year as I’m not standing for re-election on one council) then we’d severely struggle, and this is without having a mortgage/any debt to worry about.

OP hasn’t come for judgement, but to get genuine help.

CK

rising_from_the_ashes

CKhalvashi wrote: »

At the same time, if my earnings were to halve (which they probably will next year as I’m not standing for re-election on one council) then we’d severely struggle, and this is without having a mortgage/any debt to worry about.

OP hasn’t come for judgement, but to get genuine help.

CK

It was not a judgement - it's a fact ...... and it is a fact that practically everyone lives to the salary they earn - me incl.

If my salary was to drop by £100 I'd struggle .....

How nice of you to part-quote someone who is trying to help which must become apparent when the whole post is read:

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Sorry things are tough ... classic situation of living to what you earn rather than what you need ..... I do think you should have notice of a change but it would appear you've not got a signed contract in place?

How did this come about because you should've received something when your T&Cs changed last year ....

Rather than someone who is being extremely unhelpful and downright insulting:

warwicktiger wrote: »

Lordy thats hard, how will you manage on £30,000?
£26000 loans for cars and lord knows what else.
-10% Equity but only paying the interest on the mortgage.
Wife not working, no real savings.

How do the rest of the world manage? I wonder. Has the coffee brewed now? Can you smell it?

Well start with a statement of affairs so you know where you stand, but in the meantime a few points to ponder:

2 i phones, £80 pm, my mobile is £15.00 pm, I send/receive texts and make and receive calls but don't need an expensive phone.

Sky TV £80 pm, must be HD+, sports and film I guess. Get rid.

Gym membership £80 pm, why? why not just run, cycle, dig garden, would you believe it they are all free forms of exercise!

Look £2700 pa gone already!

Sorry, but 90% of the population cannot imagine having to struggle by on your income.

cod3

Is this correct?

Buildings insurance..................... 0

danlovedough

cod3 wrote: »

Is this correct?

included in the mortgage payment!

natlie

Hiya
I am on £30k per year my partner is unemployed due to sickness, my kids are 7 months, 6 and 11 - this is do-able

your wife can work with baby even if part time -I have done 2 jobs with 3 kids

you will be eligible for WFTC and CTC

You have spent recklessly you didnt need loans on those wages really or credit

I think other posters are right get rid of your non-essential spending - do you need 2 cars if your wife doesnt work?

danlovedough

RAS wrote: »

Thanls for this rfta



get the HP agreements out and work out when you can return the cars with no further payments.

Get the wife to get a part-time job - every penny is income against your paying 40% tax at the mo plus NI.

Thanks everyone who has responded so far, very useful to have so much input into this..
I think I will get the small car either sold or returned asap.. Although i noticed some scratches on the door the other day which may lower the value.. The car is probably worth £3k-£4k and the outstanding loan is about £4k so this would help to at least reduce monthly payments by £170.

The bigger car is more of a problem, I had a small bump in it but haven't claimed through insurance, however the door is dented which will drop the value of the car, probably to below the outstanding loan balance as we got the car in September last year and it's a 4 year loan.. We also need a new Tyre for it.

It's a ford S-max and it's very practical for the kids so i would like to keep it if we can rather than having to shop around for a cheaper, possibly less reliable 7-seater.

I have another meeting with work tomorrow, the situation still feels fragile there so not sure even if my job is safe at all. We will see.
On a positive note, i do have an opportunity to earn commission on top of my basic wage which i will be focusing on, at the same time as trying to reduce spending and monthly bills.

I'm sure we can reduce the food shopping, we usually shop on Ocado or Waitrose / Sainsbury's, so dropping down to more sainsbury basics / or going somewhere like morrisons instead will be ok for us. I already bought some sainsbury's basic nappies, which are £3 cheaper than pampers for 20 nappies, but leak if he has one on all night.

I'll have a look at the food challenge recommended in this thread.

The situation feels hard as I've always been responsible for the money in the household since we got married 5 years ago and we've generally been pretty comfortable, although clearly too leveraged up.. I also feel guilty for letting down my wife and lovely children and not being able to fully provide for them the way i could. I'm sure the situation will improve soon though

On the + side we do have a lovely home, and very lovely happy healthy children who i intend to make sure i spend more time with from now on. I've been extremely focused on work over the last year, always the last person in the office every day, and realize now that i may have been able to achieve similar results by leaving a bit earlier and making sure i see my son most days before he goes to sleep, which I will be doing from now on.

It does make sense for my wife to get a p/t job, although not sure what work she would want to do.. She is a fantastic mother and it's been great that she has been able to focus on that for the last 4 years.