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

wannabee_in_credit

I wish you lots of luck and hope you get things sorted out... you've had lots of good advice.
I wondered if you had considered Aldi for some of your shopping. I find their quality better than supermarket own brands, and my son was very happy in their nappies.
Halving of income is stressful, whatever the level. But you have a good attitude, and you obviously know what's important in life are family and friends.

danlovedough

natlie wrote: »

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?

What is WFTC?

We have spent too much, although i was in debt before earning this much from University.. Good news is i have paid off the student loan in full! (but yes too reckless)

It's so easy to look back now and say oh yes I should have saved / paid off debts etc, but this is not the 1st time work have cut payments with little warning. We were almost financially sorted a couple of years ago when they announced that a bonus i was due would be cancelled. This was about £10k and i've been struggling to bounce back from that ever since...

We haven't had a holiday abroad since then, there just always seems to be something that comes up, car insurance, parking tickets, boiler breaks down, fridge breaks, kettle needs replacing, run out of dishwasher tablets, friends in town for the weekend, etc. etc.

We don't need 2 cars, it's a luxury.. My wife likes to have a car so she can get around and visit friends / go shopping / takes kids to appointments etc. during the day. Now the weather's getting nicer i can bike to work so can lose 1 car and save petrol money as well.
I may also get a rebate on the insurance!

danlovedough

wannabee_in_credit wrote: »

I wish you lots of luck and hope you get things sorted out... you've had lots of good advice.
I wondered if you had considered Aldi for some of your shopping. I find their quality better than supermarket own brands, and my son was very happy in their nappies.
Halving of income is stressful, whatever the level. But you have a good attitude, and you obviously know what's important in life are family and friends.

Thanks very much.. I'll try the Aldi nappies, I go in there sometimes but usually just to buy sorbet or ice lollies!

Having this happen has been stressful but in a way it's a new challenge and has made me realize that family and friends are so very important and always will be the most important thing no matter how much money you make.

I'm lucky my wife has been so supportive and understanding. She doesn't want anything for herself as long as the children can eat and have a warm bath she will be happy.. I had no job when we got together and she would share her last meal with me x

RobertoMoir

danlovedough wrote: »

We haven't had a holiday abroad since then, there just always seems to be something that comes up, car insurance, parking tickets, boiler breaks down, fridge breaks, kettle needs replacing, run out of dishwasher tablets, friends in town for the weekend, etc. etc.

While I can totally see why you'd be gutted - I would be if I had a big chunk disappear out of my wages too - this sounds like you've been living somewhat hand to mouth despite what most people on this site would consider to be an astonishingly high wage (there are people here who would love to earn the £30k, with no chance of commission on top).

I don't mention that to chastise you, but to make the point that they manage - so you certainly can, even though it will be a shock to the system; and to also make the point that you probably had this sort of "crunch time" approaching sooner or later, and once you get over the shock you may end up finding that its taught you a lot about managing your money and done you a lot of good.

danlovedough wrote: »

We don't need 2 cars, it's a luxury.. My wife likes to have a car so she can get around and visit friends / go shopping / takes kids to appointments etc. during the day. Now the weather's getting nicer i can bike to work so can lose 1 car and save petrol money as well.
I may also get a rebate on the insurance!

What I would say, and please don't take this the wrong way, is that its no good you taking packed lunches to work on a pushbike and all that kind of stuff if your wife is still spending all day driving around friends, shopping, etc. with no change. If it helps you do a better job (or find a new and better job for that matter) then perhaps you should have the car - not saying you have to, just reading your comments here and they are all about what you are having to do about this situation...

Both of you will need to take on responsibility for dealing with this change, you will need to know your wife is supporting you in this, not just with words but by working as hard as you are to save money and change all your lifestyles to suit your new income.

oopsadaisydoddle

Just wanted to give another thumbs up for Aldi nappies! I so wish I'd discovered them years ago. I'd used huggies for years and found they were sagging and looked awful so tried Aldi and they're so much better. They're great overnight too.

Sainsbury's basics stuff I find good quality but I'm also a total Aldi convert from being a Sainsbury's girl! I can't believe the difference in my food bill since shopping there.

Good luck with it all.

missrlr

RobertoMoir wrote: »

What I would say, and please don't take this the wrong way, is that its no good you taking packed lunches to work on a pushbike and all that kind of stuff if your wife is still spending all day driving around friends, shopping, etc. with no change. If it helps you do a better job (or find a new and better job for that matter) then perhaps you should have the car - not saying you have to, just reading your comments here and they are all about what you are having to do about this situation...

Both of you will need to take on responsibility for dealing with this change, you will need to know your wife is supporting you in this, not just with words but by working as hard as you are to save money and change all your lifestyles to suit your new income.

Totally agree with this, you need to make sure she knows the score and can help, get rid of car use unless it is absolutely essential. You have to pull together. She can for instance evil bay all unused items from the house whilst child caring,

Good luck you can do this and you can do it together

hadahardyear

while i do agree your wife needs to be on board with this too,
i have to say that the way you talk about your family is lovely.
You can see just by reading how much you think of them and no measure of money can be put in place of the time spent with them

i have seen a lot of people through my work's accounts and its true that the more you earn, the more you seem to spend.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Good luck with everything, ill check in
Btw i can also vouch for ALdi;s, i was a food snob but now love the chocolate crunch cereal at £1.05 a box, has real chocolate in it
:j:j:j:j

YoungBaker

Can't offer much advice but just wanna say just ignore the first few idiots on this thread... You obviously earned a substantial amount and have been irresponsible with your cash and now will struggle because you have had your wages cut... but ultimately you had earned your position of that income and you were living to that means at the time.

It seems to be because you earned a high salary in the first place people resent the fact you still have debt (because maybe if they had such a high salary they woudn't have?) but in fact if you came on here saying your 30k salary had been cut to 15k they would be overboard with sympathy for you... The fact of it is you have had your salary cut which obviously is a serious issue and you have came here for support - these people shouldn't be looking at what exactly has been cut but focus on the issue you've had it halved at all.

ElmerFudd

Sorry to hear about this. Any chance you can switch to a 0% credit card deal? Those APR's for your present cards are appalling.
Your gas/electric usage seems fairly high. Any chance you can reduce this?
Water rates seem very high too. Perhaps you should consider a water meter if you don't have one already? You may see a reduction there too.

brummiedevil

As said previously give Aldi a go.

If you don't like anything you don't have to get it again but tinned tomatoes are just that wherever you get them from.

You could also try the local market - again cheaper than a supermarket.