Wanting to Stay out of Debt. Advice required.

Jillybean

Hi,

If another forum is more suitable for this. Please move it.

We had a baby 3 months ago. We are now trying to decide how many days I can afford to drop from work without leaving us with next to nothing to live on. We are currently debt free but we have both been in bad debt before and we want to make sure this time out outgoings don't exceed our income.

Income

Husband after tax a month £1020.00
Me Before tax (2 days a week) £580.00
Me Before tax (3 days a week) £870.00

Can Anyone estimate how much I will get after tax. For this costing exercise, I will assume I will work 2 days and get £435 after tax.

Tax Credits £ 84.00 (Drops to £42 after April)
Child Benefits £ 68.00

Total Income £1607

Outgoings

Morgage fixed until March 2007 £472.81
Payment Protection on above £ 37.00
Household Insurance TSB £ 43.61
2 X Mobile phone bills. £ 45.00 - Use all the mins a month
Sky TV £ 19.50
BT Phone £ 17.00
Virgin Broadband. £ 25.00 - No problems, V Happy
TV Licence £ 10.49
Water £ 30.00
Powergen Gas and Electric £ 48.00
Council Tax £115.00

Illness / Life £100K £ 20.92
Heating Breakdown Cover £ 21.00
Plumbing Cover £ 2.00
Life Insurance - Husband £25K £ 8.00
Life Insurance - Me £25K £ 5.15
Child Trust Fund £ 5.00
Contact Lenses £15.00
Health Cover for cancer £ 4.00
Window Cleaner £3 a fortnight £ 6.00

Child care £31 a day £310.00 - Based On Worse case.

Total Outgoings £1260.48

That leaves us with approx £345 a month. We have managed to get our weekly shopping bill down from £90 to £60 a week by cost cutting.
So if I say in the average month it will leave £75 a month for running a car and other day by day expenses. If we consider we pay £35 a month car insurance. £11 a month car tax and approx £60 petrol we are already over by £31 a month!

We have been told we wont get any working tax credits regardless if I work 2 or 3 days, or even give up work totally as my husbands income is over the limit.

We dont have any savings, as we bought a new family car in cash before the baby was born as we didnot feel we could afford the debt. We need the car as my parents live 40 miles away with no public transport links.

Also can anyone say if anyone will provide further help, if I extend my materity leave?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Best regards

Jill

BWZN93

Hi Jill!

Im sorry I cant be of help here, I just wanted to welcome you to the site and the forum, and dont worry, loads of people will be along shortly to help you out, and they are full of good advice!

Im usually around on the oldstyle boards, we all have loads of tips that could cut your shopping budget further, so please feel free to drop by, have a read, and ask any manner of crazy questions you like! Also, there is an oldstyle baby thread on at the moment, very good tips to keep baby costs down!

Take care,

Jo xx

Willsnarf1983

the way i see it is that it all comes down to a quality of life that you want, prepare budgets for the differant outcomes, ie 2 days less work or 3 or even 5 and see which one provides you with the best outcome for yourself......also from what i understand you are the main bread winner, could/does your hubby wanna stay home and work part time coz then ur income may be slightly larger?


just my thoughts not my recommendations

Will

YorkshireBoy

Jillybean wrote:

Income

Husband after tax a month £1020.00
Me Before tax (2 days a week) £580.00
Me Before tax (3 days a week) £870.00

Can Anyone estimate how much I will get after tax. For this costing exercise, I will assume I will work 2 days and get £435 after tax.

For 2 days you'll draw £542.37, and for 3 days £736.92.

As to your other outgoings, the obvious things to look at are...

2 X Mobile phone bills. £ 45.00 - You can't afford 'em
Sky TV £ 19.50 - get rid!
Virgin Broadband. £ 25.00 - get rid! (appreciate BT will increase slightly)
Heating Breakdown Cover £ 21.00 - in 6 months you've saved £126 towards a repair.
Plumbing Cover £ 2.00 - ???
Life Insurance - Husband £25K £ 8.00 - doesn't employer provide?
Life Insurance - Me £25K £ 5.15 - ditto
Child care £31 a day £310.00 - Friends/family?


Hope this gives you something to think about.

Willsnarf1983

i should read posts more carefully lol, ur wages arn't more, they are nearly the same as ur hubbys


sorry

Will

YorkshireBoy

Willsnarf1983 wrote:

i should read posts more carefully lol, ur wages arn't more, they are nearly the same as ur hubbys


sorry

Will

Must admit, on my first read I thought she was paid £290 a day!!

nelly_2

YorkshireBoy wrote:

Must admit, on my first read I thought she was paid £290 a day!!

me too...

nelly_2

tbh your just treading water at the moment so to speak,not putting anything away for emergencies not that your not well insured its the 1st time ive seen a cancer specific insurance. I personally would carry on working but thats me.

You do seem to have 2 life insurances

Illness / Life £100K £ 20.92

Life Insurance - Husband £25K £ 8.00
Life Insurance - Me £25K £ 5.15

Xbigman

Sky goes up to £21 from next month but is reorganizing in september and splitting the £21 package into 6 sections. 2 sections will be £15 and 4 sections £18. If you can drop a few sections you can save money.
Regards



X

Mark7799

Jillybean wrote:

Hi,

outgoings

Morgage fixed until March 2007 £472.81
Payment Protection on above £ 37.00
Household Insurance TSB £ 43.61
2 X Mobile phone bills. £ 45.00 - Use all the mins a month
Sky TV £ 19.50
BT Phone £ 17.00
Virgin Broadband. £ 25.00 - No problems, V Happy
TV Licence £ 10.49
Water £ 30.00
Powergen Gas and Electric £ 48.00
Council Tax £115.00

Illness / Life £100K £ 20.92
Heating Breakdown Cover £ 21.00
Plumbing Cover £ 2.00
Life Insurance - Husband £25K £ 8.00
Life Insurance - Me £25K £ 5.15
Child Trust Fund £ 5.00
Contact Lenses £15.00
Health Cover for cancer £ 4.00
Window Cleaner £3 a fortnight £ 6.00

Child care £31 a day £310.00 - Based On Worse case.

Total Outgoings £1260.48



Jill

Try https://www.moneysupermarket.com - you may find mortgage protection for less than £37 per month.
What do you use the mobiles for? are they both necessary to that level?
Try https://www.uswitch.com to review your energy bills (or go through the link from this site)
Only a few ideas - also, if you're happy with Virgin broadband, use the time to research every item of expenditure to see if you can get better deals from other suppliers.

Good luck

Mark

meanmachine_2

Sometimes it's NOT good advice to tell people to "get rid" of this and "get rid of that!"

personally I live in an area of poor freeview reception, so that isn't an option. Also, if you cut down on going out, then you rely more on cheaper home entertainment.

Staying in more means you have greater use of broadband. ANd if you find a provider you like that's reliable and one that holds your email account, then "getting rid" isn't easy.

This isn't about someone with huge debts, this is someone who has been careful. What's the point of living like a monk, and foregoing all pleasures in life?

Someone who has ratcheted up big debts, then yes, you should make sacrifices. But remember, you're a long time dead.