Struggling to know what to do next

newmum1

Clearly the OP wants to keep his son in private ed so it is not an option of taking the son out. but just reducing the other outgoings to enable him to have that little extra money left over.

beanielou

You are lucky in the fact that you currently have no debt.
Good luck with what you deceide.

Dalglish

There are measures I can take right away and already have to cut back on non essential expenditure but as has been pointed out, what really makes me nervous is the over-borrowing on the mortgage. We really have no reserveto pay for that unexpected crisis.
We are not embarrassed to admit that for the last two years we have subsidised our son's education by drawing down on the equity in the house ( as half the UK seems to have done given the buoyant market!)

My big interest now lies in looking into 1) re-mortgaging and 2) how to find out where in the South of UK the better state schools are.
Any pointers here welcomed.
Thanks

Mindy_2

Not sure if I saw it previously, but what age is your child? There are good state secondary schools around, but of course buying to get into catchment can be a problem. Where we live the best state school is Charters in Sunningdale, but to buy a house there would have been too high a price for us. Hence sending our son to private school.

Dalglish

Our son is 7 yrs old and is in a prep school until age 11.
Got a copy of the Good Shools Guide and spent last weekend in Cambridgehsire but the property in Cambridge is pricey - will be a long slog I guess!

bandraoi

What sort of rate is your mortgage at?
Is there any chance you could improve on it?

Vickicb

What about the Cambridge/Essex border, ie Safron Walden? Any cheaper?
St Albans? Some nice schools there
Sussex? Kent? Reading?

Just suggestions, I don't live in the south any more, just going by what I remember being nice areas when my family was spread across the south. We're mostly all Midlands now or abroad!

msmicawber

Hi Dalglish,

Well done for posting your SOA, which looks quite close to the bone. I can see a few reductions you could make such as reducing your grocery bill and switching gas/electric supplier would likely be cheaper. However, I don't think your SOA is complete as you have listed nothing for:
Water
Buildings & contents insurances
Clothes/shoes
Prescriptions/dental/optical charges
School trips
Christmas & birthdays, etc.

Also, you don't appear to have allowed a contingency for repairs to your house, or replacement of e.g. the washing machine when it dies.

Even if you ensure you are getting the best deals for your utilities, shopping, etc. once you've added in all the items you missed, I think you're still going to need more money just to cover the increase in the school fees.

I see you're investigating moving to an area with better state schools. If that doesn't prove feasible, then I think your best bet would be for your wife to work more.