Always broke!

first78

We owe £59,900 on our house (house is worth £76k). Even though my wife brings home £1600 a month and I bring home £1000 it feels like we are always struggling for money. I'm desperate to move house in a couple of years but have no idea how we will ever be able Tom afford the sort of home I'd like (ideally £220k), when we struggle on the tiny mortgage we have now.

Our biggest outgoing is childcare and I accept things will be a bit easier once our daughters are both at school, but I just don't understand why it always feels like we are struggling to manage.

Silence101

Best thing is to post a SOA, I think there's a link on the debt free board. Do you have any savings?

BoGoF

You might be better posting on the debt free wannabe board.

The first step is to actually write down what exactly you are spending your money on. After bills are paid how much money do you have left?

first78

Silence101 wrote: »

Best thing is to post a SOA, I think there's a link on the debt free board. Do you have any savings?

No savings at all.

tori.k

Dont lose heart we've all been there, or going to be a somepoint, as the others have said you need to do a statement of affairs ( a list of all your outgoings) and find out where all your income is going, and a spending diary to account for all the few quids here and there. then look at where you can cut back.
The debt free wannanbe board is a great place to start even if you don't have debt they will spot things in your outgoings that would help you create savings.

It takes a while it took us around 6months of rejigging the budget to account for everything now the £500 surplus I was showing a month I now have or I know where its gone

Its amazing the difference losing a childcare bill can be, but there should be small savings you can do from the off even £5 a week would probably knock a couple of thousand and a couple of years off your current mortgage, so always worth it no matter how small
Good luck

first78

Silence101 wrote: »

Best thing is to post a SOA, I think there's a link on the debt free board. Do you have any savings?

No savings at all.

edinburgher

Nothing to add to the advice re. SOA and budgeting, but I'll add a personal note on the "more expensive house".

We went from a £135k flat to a £220k house in a double whammy with my wife going p-t to assist with childcare requirements etc. and since we did it the money has been sucked from our wallets the moment we are paid

It's not just the sticker price you need to consider, but the litany of other costs that will likely increase. Our Council Tax doubled, our maintenance costs have gone up fourfold and I never had to garden before. Because we're in a nicer area, the only quotes you get are inflated vs. what we used to pay in the more down-to-earth locale and to be honest, it's !!!!ing exhausting.

Costs of having a child aside (because we love her and she's not too expensive by herself), moving to the more expensive house has been ruinous for our finances.

We used to have a fortune left spare each month, were overpaying at a rate of knots etc. Now we run to stand still!

Not meaning to scare you, but we can't really afford our house and we earn a little more than you, so think carefully about whether or not you can sustain this level of pressure for another 20-30 years.

Best of luck :coffee:

TBagpuss

As others have said, try posting a SOA on the debt free board, and people can take a look and make suggestions of how you might make savings. Do you and your wife both work full time? Have you looked into whether either or both of you might be able to request flexible working to work shorter hours some days and longer others, so that you could reduce the amount of paid child care you need as a family without reducing your income (for instance, if one of you was able to arrange to start work an hour earlier each day, or finish later 4 days a week, and finish at lunch time once a week, you could save half a day's child care)

Check out https://www.entitledto.co.uk to see whether you might be eligible for any help you are not already claiming.

first78

Thanks for all the messages, I truly appreciate it. May I ask what a SOA is please (sorry if it's a daft question!)

Silence101

Statement of affairs. There's a form where you fill in your current income and outgoings, and it makes it easier to see where you can cut back.

beanielou

edinburgher wrote: »

Nothing to add to the advice re. SOA and budgeting, but I'll add a personal note on the "more expensive house".

We went from a £135k flat to a £220k house in a double whammy with my wife going p-t to assist with childcare requirements etc. and since we did it the money has been sucked from our wallets the moment we are paid

It's not just the sticker price you need to consider, but the litany of other costs that will likely increase. Our Council Tax doubled, our maintenance costs have gone up fourfold and I never had to garden before. Because we're in a nicer area, the only quotes you get are inflated vs. what we used to pay in the more down-to-earth locale and to be honest, it's !!!!ing exhausting.

Costs of having a child aside (because we love her and she's not too expensive by herself), moving to the more expensive house has been ruinous for our finances.

We used to have a fortune left spare each month, were overpaying at a rate of knots etc. Now we run to stand still!

Not meaning to scare you, but we can't really afford our house and we earn a little more than you, so think carefully about whether or not you can sustain this level of pressure for another 20-30 years.

Best of luck :coffee:

Wise advice from ed.