Struggling to know what to do next

msmicawber

I don't think that's appropriate, Pobby. The OP posted for advice as to finances, not opinions on private education. As a parent, you do what you believe to be the best for your children - the rest is up to them.

Pobby

With all due respect msmacawber if the Op finances are pretty tight,clearly cutting back on expenditure is a requirement and imho this would be a way to do so.I am not saying private education is not a right of choice and of course one does the best for ones kids but the Op is asking for advice and if I was in the same position the cessation of private education would be a due consideration.

msmicawber

You may be right, Pobby, but unless he posts an SOA, it's hard to see where all he could cut back. The OP did say that giving up the private school wasn't an option, though.

Lazy_Line_Painter_Jane

I know that you said giving up private education isn't an option (and I looked into it for my two, but there's only one of me and an NHS wage doesn't stretch very far!) but what about grammar schools? My eldest daughter goes to a church school (my youngest starting in September) even though we're not religious there were no problems with applying. There are also two very good grammar schools near me with exam entry which I intend trying for when my eldest is old enough.

I agree schools have ridiculous selction policies and my Mum teaches in a rough school and she says it's a shame because out of the pupils, it's the majority who don't care who overshadow the ones who do. Plus the decent teachers get bad reputations, although the new head is (slowly) turning things around.

Sorry to go on, education is a bit of a bugbear for me! Welcome and good luck :beer:

Lazy Jane x

Dalglish

Well guys here goes.. our SoA

I've been totally honest and unless I have forgotten something obvious, this is our state of play:

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £2,600.00
Partners salary - £400
Benefits - £110

Total - £3,110

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £1,600.00
Council Tax - £170
Gas - £70
Electric - £60
TV Licence - £15
Broadband £15
Sky £30
Phone - landline - rental £10
Phone - landline - calls £10
Phone - mobile - £15
Food - £325
Car Insurance - £30
CAr tax - £15
Petrol - £30
Life Insurance £10
Travel to work - partner £25
Travel to work - me £0 - company car
Cancer research donation £2.00
Union membership £9.75
Education x 1 child - £500.00 (rising to £700 from Sept '07!)
Horse riding £52
Smoking nil
Alcohol nil
Drinks at work £60
Personal loans nil
Credit card outstanding debt nil
dining out nil
cinema nil


Total: £3,053.75

I agree this is amazingly sobering when written in black and white!
On the education side, some have suggested nicely giving this a push - as a way round this, we have started to investigate a house move to an area where state schools are better or where our mortgage would be less, so freeing up capital for staying in the private school, but one in a different town/ city.

Let me please have your initial thoughts - SouthernScousers sticky is v good - is there any point in speaking to the debt counsellors he lists or is this the place to get some top advice?
Many thanks

Steve

art_student

Here are my thoughts

Dalglish wrote: »

Well guys here goes.. our SoA

I've been totally honest and unless I have forgotten something obvious, this is our state of play:

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £2,600.00
Partners salary - £400
Benefits - £110

Total - £3,110

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £1,600.00
Council Tax - £170
Gas - £70 gas and electric seem high - see if you can switch to cheaper supplier
Electric - £60
TV Licence - £15
Broadband £15
Sky £30 do you need this or could you use freeview? if you must keep it (like me!:rotfl: ) then you can get free broadband but it does have adownload limit - see sky website
Phone - landline - rental £10
Phone - landline - calls £10 again, if keeping sky, investigate TV, broadband, phone package
Phone - mobile - £15
Food - £325 you can cut this alot - see Old Style board for meal planning ideas
Car Insurance - £30 again, make sure this is the cheapest deal you can get
CAr tax - £15
Petrol - £30
Life Insurance £10
Travel to work - partner £25
Travel to work - me £0 - company car
Cancer research donation £2.00
Union membership £9.75
Education x 1 child - £500.00 (rising to £700 from Sept '07!)
Horse riding £52
Smoking nil
Alcohol nil
Drinks at work £60 take a flask
Personal loans nil
Credit card outstanding debt nil
dining out nil
cinema nil


Total: £3,053.75

I agree this is amazingly sobering when written in black and white!
On the education side, some have suggested nicely giving this a push - as a way round this, we have started to investigate a house move to an area where state schools are better or where our mortgage would be less, so freeing up capital for staying in the private school, but one in a different town/ city.

Let me please have your initial thoughts - SouthernScousers sticky is v good - is there any point in speaking to the debt counsellors he lists or is this the place to get some top advice?
Many thanks

Steve

I think you'll be fine. have a look at the snowball calculator and enter your mortgage now and then what it would be if you were to extend it. This will tell you how much more you would pay overall.

art_student

Sorry, forgot to put

Snowball calculator http://www.whatsthecost.com/mortgage.aspx

Vickicb

Dalglish wrote: »

Well guys here goes.. our SoA

I've been totally honest and unless I have forgotten something obvious, this is our state of play:

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £2,600.00
Partners salary - £400 - any chance of your OH increasing this as son is at school full time?
Benefits - £110

Total - £3,110

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £1,600.00 more than 50% of your income - very, very high!
Council Tax - £170
Gas - £70 both gas and electric are pretty high, and I can't see anything for water?Electric - £60
TV Licence - £15
Broadband £15
Sky £30
Phone - landline - rental £10
Phone - landline - calls £10
Phone - mobile - £15
Food - £325 Is this for 3? You could cut this down a bit
Car Insurance - £30
CAr tax - £15
Petrol - £30
Life Insurance £10 Is this enough cover for that big mortgage? think about how much your OH would need if something happened to you and son was at crucial stage in education - would there be enough? What about critical illness or income protection?
Travel to work - partner £25
Travel to work - me £0 - company car
Cancer research donation £2.00
Union membership £9.75
Education x 1 child - £500.00 (rising to £700 from Sept '07!)
Horse riding £52 For who? could this go? It's 25% of the school fees increase.
Smoking nil
Alcohol nil
Drinks at work £60
Personal loans nil
Credit card outstanding debt nil
dining out nil
cinema nil


Total: £3,053.75

I agree this is amazingly sobering when written in black and white!
On the education side, some have suggested nicely giving this a push - as a way round this, we have started to investigate a house move to an area where state schools are better or where our mortgage would be less, so freeing up capital for staying in the private school, but one in a different town/ city.

I think you are really pushing things at the moment. On paper it might balance but what about Christmas, birthdays and Holidays? You must spend something extra for that and there is nothing in the budget. Also haircuts, opticians, dentists etc - it all adds up. I also think you must socialise sometimes - birthdays, christmas nights out? Even family dinner parties where you take a bottle of wine and flowers, or dinners you host yourself? School holiday outings with son? All these things are on top of the essentials you've listed above and they will soon end up on the credit cards and your essential outgoings then go up and up as you repay the debts. Something has to give.

Well done for looking for a solution before you get into debt - the house move is a good idea, or could your wife earn more?

hermanmunster_3

Hi I understand entirely why the OP wants to privately educate his child, but have you thought of the other options? there are excellent state grammar and other senior schools in other parts of the country where the house prices are lower too. Best of both worlds.... Question is Do you really have to stay in London?

LookingAhead

My initial thoughts were the food, drinks at work and the horse riding (possibly) could be cut back.

Moving to a place where the mortgage is cheaper would be excellent too so let us know how you fare on that.

There has to be sacrifices for us all, so, get cracking on the food & drinks at work for starters!