What a Right Pickle!

dancingfairy

O.k here's my thoughts:
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1800
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 180 2 months 'free' in Feb and March?
Electricity............................. 100
Gas..................................... 100 you said it was morelike 150 for 2? so that's 50 a month savedalready. Switch tariff if necessaryas well, claim back any overpayments and turn very eco and try and save even more.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 100 far too high - needs to be 50 or less (that's still 25 each). Try for say 15 each (a massive saving).
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40 easy saving here.
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 can you save anything at all here? batch cooking/menu planning etc etc?
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 300 get a cheaper to run car? share lifts? catch train to work? bus? walk?
Road tax................................ 38
Car Insurance........................... 60 hopefully this might come down a bit with a chepaer car?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 83
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 325
Other child related expenses............ 1800 so effectively only 1250 at the moment?so a saving of 450 here?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 47.5 get a prescription 'season' ticket if it will save you money, shop around for eye tests, glasses, etc etc.
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 30
Buildings insurance..................... 25
Contents insurance...................... 25 seems pretty good but maybe you could combine them for a cheaperdeal? Don't forgetto get cashback as well if you change!
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 65
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 200 Well this, entertainment, presents and haircuts is over 500 a month's worth of 'discrentionary' money. You could probably halve this orperhaps better?
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 6158.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 525000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 10000
Other assets............................ 5000
Total Assets............................ 540000

1) Pay 9k off the debts from sale of the car
2) can you release any of the 5k other assets at all?
3) anything to ebay? some people have madeseveral hundred pounds ebaying stuff.
4) can you get a mortgage holiday for a few months - even 2 months mortgage free will help you hugely.
5) any overtime atall?

6) o.k so there's probably what 6-700 pounds worth of 'savings' there, plus the 2 free council tax months , plus maybe a mortgage holiday. With the 200+ a month saved from having the car paid off and chucking that at the debt it's begining to look doable. Tight yes but potentially doable.
You can play around with your SOAwith the 'savings' and see just how close you are.
df

FinKite

I don't think you've replied to my, and several other people's question about downsizing your house?
If school is an absolute no, then this is your best other option.

redpete

nomoredebtplease wrote: »

We really are dead against taking our twins out of the school though. It would be an absolute last resort.

At the moment you have some time to take action when you want to, e.g. decide to leave them in school until the summer and then start a new school year in a state school; this will also free up money for when/if the mortgage costs increase. If you leave it much longer then the timing could be out of your hands; banks could cll in overdrafts, minimum payments get more difficult/impossible to maintain and lenders call in loans, credit rating trashed, choices limited and forced upon you.

At the moment the debts are presumably increasing (as you are short every month on repayments), what happens as school fees increase as they get older, maybe the bursary fund gets short and you don't get the full amount?

It could come down to deciding between the house and the education; pretty much all the advice here has been to put them into state school at least for the next few years.

haycorns

I can see you feel strongly about private school, but as the mother of twins i'd like to add a different view point. A class of 8 is very small to have both twins in , and it doesn't give them the best opportunities for making their own friends and developing as individuals. if they mix with other kids outside school - neighbours, rainbows/beavers etc its probabl not such a big deal.

This would be my best excuse for explaining to others why private school isn't right for them just now. its not an irrevesable decision, but aged 5 I don't think it would be them that was heartbroken - I would suggest it might be you for potential loss of face/ loss of the dream.
You say numbers inthe class have dropped too - what is happening further up the school? With only 8 kiddies going in at age 5 it will only get smaller I would imagine. private schools are going bust - the decision may be taken out of your hands one day anyway.

nomoredebtplease

haycorns wrote: »

I can see you feel strongly about private school, but as the mother of twins i'd like to add a different view point. A class of 8 is very small to have both twins in , and it doesn't give them the best opportunities for making their own friends and developing as individuals. if they mix with other kids outside school - neighbours, rainbows/beavers etc its probabl not such a big deal.

This would be my best excuse for explaining to others why private school isn't right for them just now. its not an irrevesable decision, but aged 5 I don't think it would be them that was heartbroken - I would suggest it might be you for potential loss of face/ loss of the dream.
You say numbers inthe class have dropped too - what is happening further up the school? With only 8 kiddies going in at age 5 it will only get smaller I would imagine. private schools are going bust - the decision may be taken out of your hands one day anyway.

There are two reception classes, each with 8 children in. Each of our two is in a different class. But I do understand what you mean. It's a large school further up the years so I don't foresee there being a problem but you never know.

I think part of it would be loss of face / the dream etc. but it's mainly to do with wanting the best for them. It's been very interesting reading what others have written here about their views of what the best would be.

Gosh this is all so hard....

nomoredebtplease

FinKite wrote: »

I don't think you've replied to my, and several other people's question about downsizing your house?
If school is an absolute no, then this is your best other option.

That is clearly an option but we bought the house we're in just over a year ago as a development opportunity. It has massive potential to become a house worth significantly more with some development.

Our plan back then was to use some equity from the sale of our old house (which we sold for more than this one) and then also borrow some more once we'd been in for 6 months. Subsequently, the credit crunch meant mortgage lenders withdrawing more and more and we weren't able to borrow any more against the house. We also didn't intend to get a repayment mortgage at the time but the deals just weren't there at that LTV on IO. Additionally, the equity from the previous sale went on clearing other debt only to be replaced with... yep, you guessed it! More debt!

Crazy as it may sound to some, I would probably prefer to sell than change the school but it would mean missing out on developing this place. However, I know we're missing out on it anyway because we have no money to do it!

kiss_me_now9

nomoredebtplease wrote: »

There are two reception classes, each with 8 children in. Each of our two is in a different class. But I do understand what you mean. It's a large school further up the years so I don't foresee there being a problem but you never know.

I think part of it would be loss of face / the dream etc. but it's mainly to do with wanting the best for them. It's been very interesting reading what others have written here about their views of what the best would be.

Gosh this is all so hard....

Not really

You're spending over £2100 on childcare/schooling a month. That's pretty much your partners whole income. If she lost her job you'd have absolutely no choice but to take them out.

To me and most other people in this thread it's a no brainer really.

nomoredebtplease

dancingfairy wrote: »

1) Pay 9k off the debts from sale of the car
2) can you release any of the 5k other assets at all?
3) anything to ebay? some people have madeseveral hundred pounds ebaying stuff.
4) can you get a mortgage holiday for a few months - even 2 months mortgage free will help you hugely.
5) any overtime atall?

df

1 - Definitely. Although I think £1K for a car might be pushing it a bit
2 - Potentially.
3 - Regularly do eBay stuff
4 - I intend on phoning them tomorrow
5 - No

themull1

nomoredebtplease wrote: »

There are two reception classes, each with 8 children in. Each of our two is in a different class. But I do understand what you mean. It's a large school further up the years so I don't foresee there being a problem but you never know.

I think part of it would be loss of face / the dream etc. but it's mainly to do with wanting the best for them. It's been very interesting reading what others have written here about their views of what the best would be.

Gosh this is all so hard....

Everyone wants the best for their kids, i can't afford private school, but my kids are bright and are doing well. Your kids will do well at any school if they're clever, what would happen if they were at private school for years, and got bad exam results? hardly worth the money then.. Why not move house and move school at the same time?

bouncydog1

Mortgage lenders may be lending less, but you need to understand that your level of debt is such that you are in serious trouble unless you are proactive. Blow losing face - for goodness sake put your family first and forget about keeping up with other people - you can't afford it.

Most people would like to live the lives of other more wealthy people, but they cut their cloth accordingly and live life to the level of their income. It would surely be better to have a smaller home, happy children with lots of friends and spare cash to enable you to do things with your family without worrying about money. Your level of income will allow you to do all of these things if you will just listen to some of the advice that has been given.


Saving £50 here and there is not going to help - get rid of the biggest drain on your resources. Why do you think numbers in the school have gone down - fees at that level for 5 year olds are ridiculous. By the way my own child was in private school from the age of 4 to 16 and I am a supporter, but only if you can afford it. I have seen what happens when parents such as yourself are seen to be struggling - the kids end up ostracised and the other parents laugh behind your back at how pretentious you are!