Can we afford to do this?

EssexHebridean

OK - I'm going to take the same approach I would on this if someone was looking to get out of significant debt - as if you need to make this work until his pension kicks in fully it would be a good idea to belt-tighten rather a lot, I'd suggest.

fudgecat wrote: »

My husband moved to Norfolk to join me. His job is not working out and making him seriously ill. He is 63. I am retired but still supply teach, but not much (grandchild duties). The SOA is a worst case scenario IF he gives up work. All advice welcomed! If he's that ill then presumably there will be additional benefits he is claiming/would be eligible to claim?

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2 If only one of you was working 2 cars might be a luxury rather than an essential

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 844
Partners monthly income after tax....... 280 Don't forget to factor in that if he was not earning at all you should be able to claim the marriage tax allowance.
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 50
Total monthly income.................... 1174

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 139 Divide this over 12 months for ease of budgeting.
Electricity............................. 38
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 100 Can this be cut down at all do you think? A small spend on better insulation might reduce your need for heating over the longer term?
Water rates............................. 28 Is this metered? If not then consider if you might save by having one installed.
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 38.5
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 916.66 I'm not clear - have you lumped other stuff into the groceries as you couldn't think where to put them? If you're going to live off a single income then "extravagant" is a word you'd better forget about using for a while...
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 80 Remember to journey combine where you can to keep this low.
Road tax................................ 14.5 Do you actually pay this out monthly? If so, switch to annual as you get charged a premium to pay in monthly installments
Car Insurance........................... 30 Similarly with money in the bank you can save money by paying this an an annual lump sum.
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10 For two cars? Servicing, MoT, cleaning, tyres, wiper blades, washer fluid etc? I think not...
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 8 This totals £96 annually but you said you got this deal for £87? again, this is another one to pay in a lump sum not monthly though.
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 200 Bluntly, to make this work, you're going to have to really cut this back.
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 200
Total monthly expenses.................. 1910.66


Assets
Cash.................................... 100000
House value (Gross)..................... 300000
Shares and bonds........................ 500
Car(s).................................. 9000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 409500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
MBNA...........................3800......100.......0
Halifax........................3600......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........7400......200.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,174
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,910.66
Available for debt repayments........... -736.66
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 200
Amount short for making debt repayments. -936.66

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 409,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,400
Net Assets.............................. 402,100

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/font]

OK - with a more realistic figure in groceries, and some cutting back elsewhere, as well as some cannier spending on stuff like insurances, you can definitely make this work I'd suggest - but you are going to have to be careful. You're fortunate in that you have savings there as a safety net but obviously you don't want to raid those at this stage unless it's vital.

Good luck with things - I hope you can work things out as life is truly too short to be working at a job that is affecting your health.

zippygeorgeandben

Do your children know about the money issues? If so, I would suggest to them that you can no longer afford to look after grandchildren for the short term so you can be available for more supply cover. At the end of the day, they are using you for babysitting at zero cost and I know that childcare is expensive.

IAAM

I'm sure others are better with practical tips than me (I've only just started on the MF journey) but the one piece of advice I would give is to not feel overwhelmed with things but to at least do one thing to make a start.

If you're like me and get overwhelmed then the outcome is that you end up doing nothing!

Choose either a quick win (so that it feels like you're making progress) and then think of something else to tackle to carry on the momentum.

Good luck!