I need help here are my stats.........(help please)

nutmegman

Hi,

I have been using this website for a considerable time now and have finally plucked up the courage to post my data, I find this very hard to do indeed. Some people may say I am fortunate as I earn a reasonable wage, however, with a large mortgage and two small children our level of debt is no joke. I would welcome any constructive comments you may have.

We live in a detached house, my wife and I with two young kids drive modest cars and live a modest lifestyle.

I feel we are running out of options have no savings and are unable to save monthly, (although we do save £50 per month to cover Christmas and our kids birthdays) I have used as many ideas on here as possible.

Here is what I paid out last month

BT Line Rental £11.00
Home insurance £40.35
Egg Loan £201.16
IF Credit Card £110.53
NPOWER GAS £57.00
NPOWER ELEC £32.00
PRIMUS TELECOM £1.19
WATER £52.06
Council Tax £119.00
TV LICENCE MBP £9.19
VIRGIN MEDIA PYMTS £18.00 (broadband only, we cannot get sky broadband)
YORKSHIRE B/SOC £642.18
My monthly allowance £320.00
Payment to wife £85.00 (£25 for xmas fund & £60 for shopping)

Total £1,698.66

Pay £1,713.00

I do get paid every four weeks so I guess I will gain when I get paid twice in two months, that is not until next September. I do get an extra £220 paid in childcare vouchers. My monthly allowance has to get me to work, insure & tax my car fund extras for the kids and if there is any left I may go out every couple of weeks.

My wife works three days per week, her salary only just covers the monthly shopping and extra childcare fees

Now for the bad bit debt….

Mortgage £115,000 outstanding, 27 year term currently fixed at 4.99% for the next 9 years
IF Credit Card £5500 at 3.9% for life of balance
Egg loan over 60 months currently at £9,200
Overdraft £3,500

Total debt ex mortgage = £18,200

As you can see I am managing to make payments on a monthly basis, the problem is there is nothing left……!!!

I have an option with my mortgage to take a payment holiday for six month, this may reduce some of my other debts but would add around £4600 to my mortgage over the life.

You help is very welcome indeed.

blackangeluk

Hi there and well done for posting :T

There doesn't seem to be a great deal to add to your SOA - only thing is could you move the IF Credit Card debt to a 0% one just to save on any interest - as every little helps?

Presumably you have shopped around for gas and electricity deals? Your water seems high, are you on a meter or just monthly plan - we made the move to a meter and our monthly DD has really dropped over the last 18 months.

You don't say how much your wife earns - could you include her earnings in your SOA so that it represents the whole financial picture, then maybe we can see whether the monthly food shop can be cut down? What are the extra childcare fees and is the £220 the busy bees type vouchers - do you mean they come direct from your salary?

I too have two children and know how things crop up and you seem to be constantly forking out money for the unexpected. Have you tried ebay - presumably with two children there are a lot of toys/clothes you could try and sell on (only when the kids have finished with them of course )

Re the mortgage break - it may seem a good idea now, but will you be comfortable with the increased payments in 6 months time -if you did do it you would have to be firm with yourself to use the mortgage money to pay off the debts.

Hmm, I'm waffling now, I was just *thinking out loud* that maybe it would be better to put both incomes down, and all outgoings on a monthly basis, inc food and how much you are allocating for insurance, tax, repairs etc.

Do I make any sense at all?

themaccas

Hi nutmegman
I don't think this is insurmountable, just a couple of things, your payments don't add up did you miss your mortgage payment off?
You also have a very good deal on your mortgage and your IF cc isalso at a good rate. What is the apr on your loan and how much is left outstanding?

It would also be good if you could break down the £320 you have as that's quite a bit of money going out there.

I also wouldn't rule out a mortgage break but lets see aht your other options could be.

nutmegman

Firstly thanks for your help….

My mortgage payment is £641 per month, after a six month break it would go to £657.
My egg loan is at 7.9%, it was for £10,000 and has £9,200 left on it.

The breakdown of my £320 per month is;

Train season ticket £1286 PA £107.17
Petrol monthy £40.00
Car tax £140 I buy stamps £12.00
Car insurance £250 I pay yearly but save monthly £20.00
MOT, service, not enough but a bit £10.00
The rest on living around £30 per week £130.00


The breakdown of my wifes details are;


Wifes Salary £1,100.00

Nursery fees £29 per day x 2 for 3 days a week £519.50
Mobile phone £30.00
food £250.00
Petrol monthy ( she drives a long way to work) £120.00
Car tax £140 I buy stamps £12.00
Car insurance £400 I pay yearly but save monthly £33.00
The rest on living around £30 per week £130.00

Then there is a £40 per month on tax credits and the family allowance which we always spend on the kids only and sometimes supplements our other spending.


We have tried to save money on food, however, I don’t think that £75 per week for a family of four is too excessive, don’t forget this cover all our food, toiletries (we get them from wilko) washing powder and cleaning items.

I do think my water bill is very high, however, I have checked at there is not much saving to be had with a meter when balanced on the risk of payments via a meter.

It just kills me to think struggle every month and end up having massive arguments about money in the house, when we have just under £3000 per month coming into the house. I know people will say we are lucky, however, it doesn’t feel like it when we are struggling to bring up a family……

nutmegman

gee whizz this board is busy, can anyone help me?

Shineyhappy

Have you looked at the Old Style board for tips on reducing your food bill?

Your home insurance seems quite high, have you shopped around for this?

I think you need to keep a spending diary and try and limit spends to as little as possible.

Could you go to an interest only mortgage for a while?

Have you looked into ways to increase your income ie Ebaying, mystery shopping, surveys, Quidco, Pigsback etc?

Make sure you read through all the boards and keep visiting the ones that are useful to you. The freebies board often has links to samples, even the odd t shirt or childrens book, there is also a great thread about Pigsback - from that I have made 50 pounds since I joined here (5 pounds from refering my OH) and that has paid for pizza hut and cinema vouchers for my brother and his girlfriends Xmas presents.

Shineyhappy

Ps myself and my OH spend 25-30 pounds on food/cleaning products and toileteries and I only use the ones that are not tested on animals and no animal ingrediants so they tend to be a bit pricey. I only buy free range eggs and organic milk - for moral reasons so compensate by buying smart price items - museli 58p for 2 weeks for me! tinfoil about 30p, 3 bottles of Asda coke for a pound extra and you do used to it!

I think you could manage to cut quite a bit off that if you use coupons and swop brand names for shops own, cut out any ready meals/takeaways and look out for reduced items.

peb

I think you and your wife need to see exactly where the £260 living allowance, tax credit and family allowance money is going, I do not know what family allowance is but I would anticipate that there is 4/500 here; nearly a mortgage payment. Perhaps a spending diary?

If you take a payment holiday that money must be diverted to pay off your overdraft (assuming that is higher interest that your credit card) ns you must be disciplined not to run up the debt again as you appear to have been living over your income. Things to consider:

(1) How much longer will you have to pay childcare
(2) Can your wife get a job closer to home or/and possibly do more hours? I know this is often a problem with tax credits and may not therefore be feasible
(3) The gas and electricity seem high - have you checked this out? Used Quidco? My last quartly gas bill was £29.00 for a 3 bed semi but I am carefull - some say mean!
(4) Do you have things to ebay - outgrown clothes/toys for the little ones?

Good luck and keep posting.

tattycath

(quote nutmeg man) We have tried to save money on food, however, I don’t think that £75 per week for a family of four is too excessive, don’t forget this cover all our food, toiletries (we get them from wilko) washing powder and cleaning items.

Hi there, may I suggest you look at money saving old style-grocery thread. I have a partner, 3 children & a cat and our grocery budget for this month is £200.00. You could also try Martins budget makeover. I've just saved £128 for shopping around for my car insurance, All the small savings add up!! Good luck and I hope you have found comments and suggestions helpful.

themaccas

Hi
I think there are a few things you could look at. Firstly, speaking from experience there is no quick fix to reducing you debt, it is hard work and you need to be committed and you and your wife both need to be onboard. We've been there!

You both have quite a bit of 'pocket money' £60 is a LOT week, you need to find out where this is going and the spending diary is an excellent idea. You and your OH need to write everything you spend money on and I mean everything from a 5p lollipop to your £75 weekly shop (which I don't think is too bad really, we have £70 weekly for 5 of us and have got that down from £120 a week). Becoming debt free means changing the way you think about everything you buy and challenging your purchases no matter how small, looking for better deals - shop around for house/car insurance and look at using quidco when you do change (www.quidco.co.uk). I recently renewed my car insurance with prudential £237 per year but am getting £95 cashback from going through quidco!

One of the first things I noticed when we embarked on our debt free journey nearly 2 years ago was the money arguements stopped as there was nothing to argue about. We knew the situation, how much money we had/didn't have, what needed paying and gradually we saw the debt go down, as it did so, we found that the frittering we had been so bad at, actually freed up a little bit of extra money each month to take the kids to the cinema, camping etc. However I wouldn't have been able to do it without this site and the support and ideas from here.

SO in short my advice would be:

Ensure your wife is on board and knows exactly what money is going in and coming out.

SHop around for cheaper deals on broadband/home/buildings insurance and use quidco!

Do look into having a water meter, I honestly believe that you could save a lot of money here

Start a spending diary and try and cut down your pocket money that is £240 a month for you both that is going somewhere?

Food - there is no shame in getting cheaper groceries, we used to shop at Sainsburys/waitrose, now it is mostly value from tesco and mostly it's just as good!

Also xmas presents - do you need to buy for anyone else - friends and family could you tell people that you will just be buying for your immediate family this year and although this will probably be unpopular, if your kids are little they will probably not need a lot spending on them this year.

Keep posting, it's tough when you sit down and the figures look so frightening at first but we've all been there and we can support you through this.

In_Search_Of_Me

JUst wanted to send a hug & say welcome really. It really is amazing what you can save on when you set your mind to it but as others have said it does take time to adjust. I started at my worst shopping at M&S/sains and now am a tesco/lidl girl with no major hardship. Just try a couple of the own named and see if you can taste the difference - some you can, some you cant! Ie I got sweetcorn (tesco own) & it was 1/2 the price of a named brand & in a taste test I really wouldnt be able to telll! Menu planning, batch cooking & not eating out (lunches etc) make a huge difference as do things like magasines, books, parking & presents. It does take a change in lifestyle (no more chuck it on the credit card for one!!) and time to do things like cooking but its worth it as you feel so much better not wasting! Th emost important thing is that you & OH are in this together. How does she feel about it all?
Just wanted to say welcome really & send a hug!!