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Original poster

Can I rant about having no money?!

35 replies

Annoy · 23/07/2021 09:18

I know, I know that nothing can really be done atm and there are many many more in a worse state than me! But I’m just so fed up of working full time and still having no money!

Both DH and I work full time. DH was made redundant last yr from a job he’d been in for 25yrs, and has taken another job pretty quickly which was good, he loves it! Less stress compared to his last job but he’s earning a quarter of what he was before.

We have a high mortgage due to buying the house 7yrs ago on his other salary.

We have £3k debt, own our old cars and want for nothing. But the bloody cars have cost so much recently... £500 for my MOT/repairs, then yesterday the windscreen cracks on the way to work and Autoglass won’t be able to come for 2 weeks!!! So I have to pay for it outright and hope that the insurance company will pay me back... £240 😫

Dreading my DH’s MOT next month!!

Sorry, I’m just ranting 😫

OP posts:

Lemonmelonsun · 23/07/2021 10:54

Op things were extremely tight for us for about ten years, and what worked was an incredibly tight budget which includes starting savings pots for things like cars, holidays, bday, xmas, children's stuff broken down to school stuff and out of school stuff.
Now before you may think, we can't even afford that.. All those years ago these funds started in those un openable tins

And I saved £2 a week for some things and £10 a month ago for others.

It adds up and helps, every Xmas opening the Xmas tin, a "holiday" one year was one night in a b and b that cost 90.

Xmas was largely supplied by people doing toy clear outs on free cycle.
But the extra £ was amazing to help with any extras.

Things have eased a little now, in working, dh also made redundant is paid a little bit more.
We still manage our money the same way we just have more of it.
It was the only way I could afford anything. Each month dh puts are monthly spends into cash into envelopes, at the beginning we had 20 to spend on a weekend which wasn't too bad, we wouldn't afford to eat out anyway so that covered taking dd swimming and a snack or walk in woods and hot choclate.. Or ice skating etc. We used tesco vouchers for big trips out.
It was the only way we could afford to do anything and after one night at b and b.. I'm was able to save that bit more than for a sightly better holiday the next year.
You can do it but you need a spread sheet, all your out goings.. Then devide you what's left

Original poster

Annoy · 23/07/2021 11:37

Thank you @Lemonmelonsun this is great advice! I wasn’t expecting much from this thread as it was more ‘Woh is me‘ but thank you!!

We’ve always used CC as our emergency fund, which has never been an issue due to being able to pay it off within a matter of months. This is why we have no savings 🙄

I’m paying £100 a month to free the £3k... The 0% comes to an end in a few months so I’ve just transferred it to another card which has 0% for the next 27 months, so I can chip away at that slowly.

I’ll start saving small amounts too.... at the moment I use the ‘Save the Change’ function with my bank bit that normally just gets transferred over to paying off the CC bill. I think I’ll keep it as savings as it can amount to approx £50 a month without even noticing!

OP posts:

Original poster

Annoy · 23/07/2021 11:38

I’m tempted to sell the house! 🙈... We could get approx £100k equity out of it!

OP posts:

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 23/07/2021 11:41

I’d sell the house and downsize or move area to somewhere cheaper. No point struggling day to day when there are options.

Lots of friends see getting the maximum mortgage as being a goal and can’t foresee how a change of circumstances would mean they would struggle.

BobbinThreadbare123 · 23/07/2021 11:43

I've lived off very little and still keep many of the habits. Save the Change is great. Also, if you have a Nectar card or something similar, make sure you stash as many points as possible. I never have to pay for Xmas food/booze because I have enough on my points card to do it. Putting a tenner a week away is also handy; I used to cover my MOT and service and tyres that way. Get rid of anything you don't really need; is Sky necessary? Do you really use memberships and subscriptions to stuff?

Lemonmelonsun · 23/07/2021 11:44

Yes cc as I'm sure your aware is a bad habit to get into.
Much better to save in cash, take money out to spend in cash so each month draw out spends and have it in cash until your steadied.

It was the only way as I hated being out and worrying if we could have that ice cream or hot chocolate, if we could afford it by pinning down evry singles penny it showed us what we could afford for spend so I can enjoy that treat knowing its not robbing any other area!
Unlike some far richer people who seem to panic over a treat

Original poster

Annoy · 23/07/2021 11:49

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

I’d sell the house and downsize or move area to somewhere cheaper. No point struggling day to day when there are options.

Lots of friends see getting the maximum mortgage as being a goal and can’t foresee how a change of circumstances would mean they would struggle.

I’m just looking and there’s so little on the market near me!.... Rural!

It wasn’t a maximum mortgage for us even a yr ago.

OP posts:

Original poster

Annoy · 23/07/2021 11:51

@BobbinThreadbare123

Thanks! We’ve never had sky. Only ever Netflix, which I’ve kept for the kids... £14 a month. Got rid of Amazon Prime and NT membership... now the kids are older we don’t ever use it except for parking now and then.

OP posts:

Original poster

Annoy · 23/07/2021 11:52

@Lemonmelonsun

Yes cc as I'm sure your aware is a bad habit to get into. Much better to save in cash, take money out to spend in cash so each month draw out spends and have it in cash until your steadied.

This is good advice about taking cash out. Thank you.

OP posts:

impatientwatcher · 23/07/2021 12:07

Is your debt going up or down? If its going up, and you have no real prospect of increased income in the next year or so, it sounds like you need to move house and reduce your mortgage. You could look at remortgaging though if the bank would let you borrow enough again, increasing the term back to 30/35 years would reduce your mortgage payments a bit in the short term if you are not on a fixed rate.

Get rid of Netflix if you can't afford it, sell anything sellable the kids have grown out of, make a budget, check all your utilities are the cheapest. Do anything you need to to get the debt down.

GlutenFreeGingerCake · 23/07/2021 12:14

If downsizing the house or moving to a cheaper area is a possibility I would certainly look into that.

Polmuggle · 23/07/2021 12:16

If your DH is earning 1/4 of before, he must have been on a massive salary?!

Original poster

Annoy · 23/07/2021 13:26

@Polmuggle yes, we have a mortgage that was within our means of that original salary with plenty of spending left over. Whereas now we have approx £300 left over each month once bills have been paid... This doesn’t inc food/fuel.

OP posts:

Original poster

Annoy · 23/07/2021 13:28

£300 doesn’t go far with a family of 4 to feed, 20 miles away from nearest actual supermarket (tesco express and co op 2 miles away) and 2 commutes in opposite directions so need 2 cars!

OP posts:

Original poster

Annoy · 23/07/2021 13:28

Sorry, I’m ranting again!!

Thanks for the advice 👍

OP posts:

GlutenFreeGingerCake · 23/07/2021 13:34

I mean the problem is that you have had a massive drop in your joint income and unless you have any way of getting back to what you were on in the reasonably near future you do need to think about more drastic measures such as moving house.

Original poster

Annoy · 23/07/2021 13:48

Yes, I think that os our only option!

OP posts:

Lemonmelonsun · 23/07/2021 14:27

You have 300 to feed family and need fuel?

Tinpotspectator · 23/07/2021 14:37

Could you rent out a room in your house? I did that once, and it was worthwhile.

LizziesTwin · 23/07/2021 14:42

You can drop your Netflix to a lower number of screens, how often do you all watch different things at the same time?

Lemonmelonsun · 23/07/2021 14:50

Op I assume you've combed over all utilities, seen where you can get cheaper, eg octopus etc.

Original poster

Annoy · 23/07/2021 18:08

@Lemonmelonsun

You have 300 to feed family and need fuel?

Yes

OP posts:

MrsMoastyToasty · 23/07/2021 18:18

Can you have a word with your mortgage provider and see about a mortgage holiday/extending the term?

bloodywhitecat · 23/07/2021 18:57

I've been where you are now and it is truly shit when you are in the throes of it but it does get better with careful planning. It is often one step forward and two steps back and it is soul destroying when you are in the midst of it but there is life on the other side

BarbaraofSeville · 23/07/2021 19:56

Can you move to walking distance to schools, one of your jobs and cheaper supermarkets so you can manage with one car?

Any chance of either of you getting better paid work any time soon?

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