Partner just lost his job, need help with single-income SoA

sabrina_the_mid-20s_rich

Hi all, someone at work told me about this site and I'm hoping you can help.

My OH has just lost his job so we're down to just my income. From our SoA it looks like we're short £327 a month, but I need to make our £4k savings last as long as possible so grateful for any advice on how to improve the below!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1834.46
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1834.46
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 966
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 87 over 12 months
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 34 includes internet
Mobile phone............................ 72.28 2x iPhone4 still in contract
TV Licence.............................. 12.3
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 150 my overland & tube travel to work, plus any odd trips OH needs to make on public transport to interviews etc
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 0 my Mum pays this for us!
Contents insurance...................... 0 ditto above
Life assurance ......................... 5.91
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 40 I get my hair bleached, so this isn't really something I can do at home, but I will be hanging on for as long as poss before I get it re-done
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1822.49

Assets
Cash.................................... 4000
House value (Gross)..................... 189000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 193000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 144200...(966)......4.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 144200....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Home improvement loan..........9346......239.3.....14
Debt collection agenc..........6261......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........15607.....339.3.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,834.46
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,822.49
Available for debt repayments........... 11.97
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 339.3
Amount short for making debt repayments. -327.33
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 193,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -144,200
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,607
Net Assets.............................. 33,193

mildred1978

Can you downgrade your mobile contracts? Sell the handsets and put the sims in cheaper ones? Knock £50-100 off your food bill? Get your hair done every 8 weeks instead of 6 (for example)? Shop around for landline and Internet deals?

pmlindyloo

Won't your OH be entitled to contribution based JSA?

HappyMJ

Your husband should be able to claim contribution based Job Seekers Allowance.

You can ask your mortgage provider to go interest only for some time if you need some breathing space. The interest on your mortgage comes to £541 a month which will reduce your mortgage payment from £966 giving you an extra £425 to be able to attack the home improvement loan with. As you are £327 short you will only be able to add £98 to the payment.

Once the home improvement loan is cleared then up your mortgage payment to include the £239 payment and the £98 so the debt is cleared sooner.

Then once your OH does get another job add even more to repaying debts so the mortgage clears much quicker.

You can also drop your grocery spend from £300 to £200 for the time he is unemployed. As he is home he can create meals from scratch rather than relying on anything that is prepacked and branded.

19lottie82

Hi OP

I get regular highlights in my hair too.
You should be able to cut your hair down to every 8 weeks. OK, it won't look as good as you would like, but it won't look horrendous either.
Or try your local beauty college - nearly qualified students need models, you should be able to get it done for around £10.

Would you be able to ask your mortgage company if you could change to interest for a while? This should free up a bit of cash and help you breathe more easily.

Also you should be able to cut back on your grocery bill to £200 pcm for 2 people.

sabrina_the_mid-20s_rich

Thanks for the advice so far.

I will get OH to sort out the JSA. Internet package is still in contract but will shop around in Oct when it's up for renewal.

I'm wary of going interest only on the mortgage though - would this affect our credit rating? (the original default from the debt collection agency loan has dropped off so our rating is good atm). Is it worth paying off the home improvement loan early given that there is no reduction in interest for doing this? (checked loans t&c).

Is there somewhere on here I can look for reducing our shopping bills?

RAS

Hi

I see no point is paying the loan off early.

Get your OH on JSA contributions based urgently.

Cut down you food bill to £160 - that is doable.

The cost of travel to interviews may be reclaimable if he is on JSA - check this out.

With respect to your hair, can you get it re-dyed to close to your natural colour and let it grow out?

Try and reduce you mobile package and it not possible, when do they end?

You can get through the next 6 months with the JSA reducing your defiicit but after that things will get harder.

pmlindyloo

Contribution based JSA is £50.95 per week for under 25s and £64.30 per week for over 25s.

Have a look here for ideas for reducing shopping bills:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

In fact if you can spend time looking at all the different forums you should be able to cut down considerably on your outgoings.

It can become quite addictive!

Hope your OH finds a job soon.

elaine12022

Good luck to both of you, my OH lost his job last year and it's been tough, in fact the emotional toll has been hard on both of us. We are now in the midst of applying for funding so he can start a degree course in June!

It's hard to find what options are available to help - but your OH should hopefully get the contributions based JSA (£67.50 at the minute, it will go up in April) as others say. There may be local careers offices which could help with doing an updated CV, there could be courses which could help upskill/retrain your OH.

I recommend trying a local college as others have said for a cheap hair do. I just had my hair washed & straightened at our local one and I was really impressed.

And you need to be able to prioritise your debts - CAB or CAG (consumer action group) have information on that.

HappyMJ

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Contribution based JSA is £50.95 per week for under 25s and £64.30 per week for over 25s.

Have a look here for ideas for reducing shopping bills:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

In fact if you can spend time looking at all the different forums you should be able to cut down considerably on your outgoings.

It can become quite addictive!

Hope your OH finds a job soon.

I gather it's been a while since you have been on JSA. It's going up to £71.00 a week next week.

sabrina_the_mid-20s_rich wrote: »

Thanks for the advice so far.

I will get OH to sort out the JSA. Internet package is still in contract but will shop around in Oct when it's up for renewal.

I'm wary of going interest only on the mortgage though - would this affect our credit rating? (the original default from the debt collection agency loan has dropped off so our rating is good atm). Is it worth paying off the home improvement loan early given that there is no reduction in interest for doing this? (checked loans t&c).

Is there somewhere on here I can look for reducing our shopping bills?

Going interest only will not affect your credit rating. You must ask and if it is granted which it should be even if only for 6 months then it has no affect at all on your credit rating.

You should get a interest rebate by repaying early. Ring them and ask.

downsizer3

Don't worry about going interest free - if they'll let you its great short term. I did it and they didn't bat an eyelid - they may be a bit harder on it now but its still worth trying to tide you over.
Any chance you could take in a lodger for a while?
Also - ebay / gumtree off your old tat - its amazing what you can get.
Good luck.