Soa

thriftylass

petsitter2000 wrote: »

I did receive a lump sum of £43k I am going to pay this toward my mortgage then it will only be £100k.

I would clear the CC and the loan first with that if possible and throw the rest at the mortgage. Saves you 334 in regular payments a month, plus a reduction in mortgage payments. Keep going to Aldi and you can easily achieve the reduction in outgoing you need. The CC is at 0% (but not guaranteed for the next deal in 2.5 years since you're retired) and I'm sure the loan has a higher interest rate than the mortgage. I'd always pay the highest interest loan first.

thriftylass

My two penny's worth.......

petsitter2000 wrote: »

Hi, I'm new to this forum. My income has gone down quite a lot due to retirement and I need help to live within my means.

Thanks in advance.


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,416.67
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53.50
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.33
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524.00
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333.67 as you just discovered Aldi is your new best friend
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86.67 same as above plus maybe drink a bit less

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88.96 mentioned before this will reduce automatically as pre-retirement number
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00 clear with the 43 k lumb sum
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134.00 as above
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149.00 has been discussed enough I think

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 should have a little sth here for emergencies

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

I guess for the above section entertainment a spending diary would be ideal as this will be quite different and unplannable as you just retired and won't know what it'll be like

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 here a gents cut is only 6 quid, once a month
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.17
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 ??? what is that
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 you definitely don't need 50 quids of new clothe s a month, do a wardrobe inventory


Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46.67 are these hire purchases, could you clear them with the 43k?
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 Maybe start a wee savings pot for presents etc



Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,416.67


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,955.42

UrbanDanceSquad

petsitter2000 wrote: »

My total cc debt is 14k

That's priority number one. CC debt slowly but surely sucks the financial spending power out of you. A CC debt is an open ended debt with no fixed term and no end in sight. Cut back on everything to get rid of your CCs.

enthusiasticsaver

I would agree with thriftylass and say you should use the lump sum you received to pay off the highest charging debt first whether that is credit cards, loans, hp or mortgage. Keep £1k back as an emergency fund as you have a house and a car and get rid of the credit cards.

edwink

This would only be a small saving per month but are you getting single persons occupancy on your council tax??

Again only a small saving but could you cut down on your Electric and gas costs? Move to a cheaper tariff perhaps? Batch cook now you are retired and freeze meal portions for another day.

Glad you found Aldi good. We did too. Saves us quite a bit every week. Do you buy newspapers? If so could you go without those?

How about money for prescriptions if you need them?

Are you on a water meter? If you are in your house alone don't flush the loo every time you use it.

I know the above suggestions won't help you pay off you debts. But, if you make these little changes now it will make life easier for you financially when your debts are all paid off.

How about getting a Monday to Friday lodger? they turn up on a Monday to stay all week after work and go to work on a Friday morning and you won't see them again until the following Monday night. That way at least you will have 3 nights at home to your self. As a rule they don't actually move in as such because they just live out of a suitcase or hang a few items up for the working week ahead and take them home at the weekends. All they need is a shower, a TV in their room maybe and somewhere to make a cuppa. Most lodgers that need this type of arrangement are business men that work away from home during the week. They have most of their meals in work time for business or eat out in the evening often to do with work. The rent money will certainly come in handy. Just a thought instead of a fulltime lodger that will actually move in with you.

Hope that is some help to you.

Good luck with everything. Hope it all goes to plan for you x

Brightspark87

Hi

So glad you had a successful Aldi trip I love it.

Right, so you currently cannot claim state pension etc although they must be coming? How long have you got to wait? That gives you a time in, during which you need increased income.

petsitter2000

Edwink
Yes I am getting sing occupancy re council tax. Have just switched gas and electricity.
I intend to batch cook and freeze. Made a huge pan of chicken curry yesterday and froze 5 portions!
I don't buy newspapers or magazines. I read online for free.
Luckily I don't have any prescriptions.
Yes I'm on a water meter.
I am looking into getting a lodger and I must say that a Monday to Friday one sounds very good.
Brightspark87
I am an Aldi convert now and have just signed up for the December Grocery Challenge. Starting with £30 per week. (or at least I think I've signed up)
I am 55 so think I have another 10yrs until I can claim state pension.
I will pay off my credit cards and loan from my lump sum. That will leave me £25k to bring my mortgage down to about £450 per month.
Money will still be tight so will probably need a part time job at some point.
Can i ask if anyone makes money out of doing the surveys and matched betting on here?
I have tons of clothes and junk so am slowly putting it on Ebay. Anything extra I make will go towards a second hand car fund. I may buy one in 3yrs and keep it for as long as possible.
Are there any other income ideas that I could do from home?
Once again thanks for all the suggestions and support.
Ps.

Mojisola

petsitter2000 wrote: »

I am 55 so think I have another 10yrs until I can claim state pension.

Won't your pension age be at least 66?

MoneyWorry

Your SPA should be at least 66. I was 55 this week and mine is 66 and 8 months.

Goldiegirl

Regarding state pension - make sure you get a state pension forecast, as you may get a shock when you reach 66 and not get the £155 that you might expect.

You'll need to have made 35 years of non contracted out NI payments to get the full single tier pension.

As the amount of your private pension is very good, I suspect you may have contracted out of the second state pension, so your state pension will be nothing like £155 per month.

I'm also 55, and spent 18 months before retirement getting my finances ready for early retirement.

I know it's too late to ask why this didn't occur to you, but don't expect miracles overnight, it takes time to put new measures in place. For example it'd be difficult to go from spending over £300 per month on food, to £100 - it may take several months to reduce to £100

I think you'd be advised to find at least a part time job to tide you over until you clear your debts and save some money for an emergency fund and a second hand car, and prepare a budget that is realistic with your new income. A new leased car every three years is no longer realistic I'm afraid.