BIG drop in income help!!!

immoral_angeluk

toria27 wrote: »

I have cut our shopping budget saving us £480 a year (which we can comfortably do making a few changes)
Also our clothing budget saving £240 a year (will get clothes for xmas & birthdays and just get what were desperate for.
Then if I make sure I do a few hours overtime a week (about 4 hours) which is always available at work instead of being just over £200 short a month we will have £8.50 left not a great amount but a much better situation to be in.

This however is still not taking into account any emergencies that may arise with the cars or the house but does include absolutley everything else. But if OH gets this job for example there is the quarterly bonus and overtime, also carboots and ebaying.

I am now keeping a diary of all spends for food (also anything for the house and toiletries) which comes out of the £160 per month budget and another diary for clothes.

I am feeling a lot better about things and am just waiting to hear how much we can save on the life insrance.

thanks again for all suggestions

:T :T :T :T :T
Well done on taking the first positive steps.

Spirit_2

Great stuff. Life is too short to spend it doing a job you dislike. Really well done on the realistic adjustments you have made.

Spirit

toria27

Well thought I would let you all know OH did get the job and starts the 2nd January. I easily managed to reduce grocery spend from £200 to £160 last month so am going to lower this to £130 from January, not December as want to allow for the obvious Christmas spending so need to be realistic. This will save us £840 per year. I am managing this as I have joined all of the tesco clubs and am getting regular money off vouchers and free offers through them, also have started buying milk from iceland and have been stocking freezer with reduced items. This should be made even easier when staff discount at tesco's kicks in.
Bad news is I underestimated our petrol budget we are actually spending £90 a month but that cannot be helped. I am still waiting for a reply from life insurance people but fingers crossed still that a good saving can be made there.
I have had some very sleepness nights over this drop in income (about £780 less per month) and have been very stressed but I know it will bring us closer together as we have to work hard as a family to get through the tough times. Thanks everyone for your support.

toria27

Hi dont know if anyone is still reading this but I will probably keep posting a problem shared and all that.

so anyway..............Arrrrrrrrrrgggghhhhhh Got a puncture on the way home from work last night (midnight) so didn't get in until 1.30am, bed at 2 after dinner then DD up until 3am then up properly at 7am, im so tired and have got work again in a few hours.

So now need to get new Tyres!!! great they cost £130 for 2 and I need 2 back ones. That is nearnly a whole months food maybe we should just not eat in January. I have only managed to do 1 overtime shift as no one to have DD, still Christmas tree is up and looks very pretty.

skint_spice

Hi toria,

Sorry about the tyres, it happened to me recently too. Has OH not still got old job at the mo though? if so better now than when the lower wages kick in. You seemed to be doing so well too so don't let this set back get you down too much.

kittiej

:rolleyes: Hi Toria.

I was just wondering what your OH is doing regarding your cut in income?

Perhaps its because it's only you that's posting on here, but it sounds as though you are doing everything by yourself!

I am just concerned that you are going to burn yourself out whilst your OH sits back and lets you.

It just seems that he has made a selfish decision especially as he didn't even have another job lined up before he gave his old one up.

I know I'm being horrible, and I'm not really, but I speak my mind and due to my own life experinces I can only offer what I know.

I would put a hold on the wedding until you are financially fit as its's just another burden.

Take care of yourself xx.

FunBrum

Hi Toria.

I've just skipped through your thread.

Check out the Money Saving Old Style on this site, also the freebies one.
they may be of help to you.
Also checkout the frugal sites. They have a host of ideas that maybe of use.

I too have more going out than in, but with cutting right back and making do, I manage quite well. Of course I have to juggle constantly, but I turn it into a challenge and a fun thing to do. This helps overcome the sleeplaess nights and depression!
Stay focused on why you are doing this...quality of life that cannot be replaced with no matter how much money. I'm not saying that money doesn't matter. Of course it does. But your view of it and making it work for you is what counts. Also finding solutions is a great achievement in itself.

Good luck sweetie, I'll be keeping an eye on your thread.;)

xxx

Shoey1610

Hi Toria

There is lots in your posts that made me want to reply, as I can really identify with alot of what you say. Three years ago we took a big drop in salary and moved halfway across the country. We went from about £50000 combined income to £35000. We did this because H really hated his job and it was really getting him down and affecting him and I fancied a change anyway. It was tough at first, we had to budget very tightly compared to what we had been doing and even though we had been on £50000 a year we had been reckless with our money and had debts to pay off which also took out a fair chunk of our income. Three years later and we are so much happier, OH worked his way up abit in his job and now earns more than he did in original crap job and I work part time (used to work fulltime)and look after DD (18 months) who also came along in the meantime, our debt free date witll be 26th July 2008 or possibly earlier if I keep working at it, and we still earn around £35,000 combined. So its tough but can be well worth it in the end. You are doing all the right things and looking for advice, so I guess I just wanted to let you know that it can be done.

I also wanted to say that you really should look at the "improving working lives" policy with the NHS. I'm a psychiatric nurse, so I completely understand where you are coming from on the hours and the shifts and what the NA's need to do in the morning etc, but I did want to suggest that you don't write it off completely if you did enjoy the work. Under the Improving working lives policy I currently work one night shift a week and two 7.5 hour shifts every other weekend, I don't use childcare at all. If you went on the bank (now NHS professionals) you might find twilight shifts available (usually 7pm-11pm) or little bits of cover here and there for observations at busy times etc when needed.

Good luck with everything!

PasturesNew

Well, you're doing the right thing by planning ahead.

The less money you have, the further you have to plan ahead so you stand a chance of ironing out the downtimes.

The one thing that stood out to me, that's not been covered is this bit:

toria27 wrote: »

mortgage £1000 (4.59% fixed until sept 08)

When your mortgage resets (it's only 9 months away), you will have to either pay the much higher SVR (currently probably 7-8%), or you will have to go for another fixed deal.

There are two immediate issues with a new fixed deal:
1) There might be a hefty mortgage arrangement fee on that
2) With your reduced income will you still get the mortgage you need

If they deem that your income is not large enough for your mortgage, then you will be forced onto the SVR (7-8%)

So, as another reason to look at the potential for downsizing, you should be looking at this mortgage reset date and planning (saving) towards it for scenarios [1] and [2]

But, whatever happens at that time, it is highly likely that you won't be getting the same low deal you're currently on, so you can bank on your mortgage increasing. Find out now how much a new fixed rate would be.

Good luck!

chevalier

ref the life insurance. you can have a look on the comparison websites for this too. Then check on quidco etc to see if they do cash back.
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