We very soon won’t be able to afford our life

[WhatsHoppening]

We have a high mortgage, high childcare costs which thankfully will reduce but still wraparound. With our mortgage term ending in December and the increase in gas and electric, food costs, petrol and the increase in mortgage when we remortgage on a higher rate we will not be able to afford to live. Our outgoings will outstrip our income. We are both professionals, I work part time (4 days) and there’s no hope of DC getting into after school club on my day off (and realistically after childcare I bring in less than £100 pcm per extra day worked after childcare). I feel sick. I keep getting told by my parents and grandparents we will get through it but how?! My grandparents were post war so it was hard but my gran could be a SAHM for 3 kids on a my grandads teacher salary. This is a pipe dream for us now and DH earns more than a NQ teacher. Just a rant- lots have it much worse. But I’m scared for the future.

Re mortgage, contact your current lender directly as well as using a broker. I was offered a rate product by my current lender that even the biggest broker (LandC) said they didn't even have access to and couldn't match with another lender.

It also was incredibly straightforward, a 45 minute chat about my circumstances (and they have changed quite a lot job & salary wise for the worst since I last remortgaged so I was expecting more of a grilling but they were fine with it). No arrangement/product fees, just emailed me the documents to sign and return via Docusign. Lock in now as I think most of us expect rates are only going to go up.

Also, sign up to the Debt Free Diaries on Money saving Expert forms. Lots of help there from people in the same boat needing to be frugal, or who have paid off heaps of debt and can offer their experiences. Some are very inspiring.

I’ve followed this post quite a bit, as feel for you as similar circumstances to what we have had at times with jobs, house, a pre-maternity mortgage, children, 4 days/nursery, no holidays or cars on finance etc with nothing left at end of the month even though we had good jobs - it’s a pinch point, a moment in time when children are small.

If you managed to balance it when taking on a second child and the extra childcare etc that comes with that then it will sort itself out, you’ve just got slightly harsher timing for your pinch point as it’s coming right as cost of living is changing but you are going to benefit from childcare changing as they go to school etc.

I would absolutely stick to your masters, and your 4 days if you can for the sake of sanity and family life whilst they are small. I don’t know how old you youngest is but going to full on for career before youngest is 3 yrs is tough going.

Also would try to stick with your house now, you bought it when prices were lower, unless you are going to default on your mortgage payments you will lose out in the long run if down size now as what you could get is going to cost more for less than it would have and you may never get back to the house you are at now or not at least without it costing you a lot more later on and a higher mortgage to do it. I would choose to eat beans on toast for dinner for the foreseeable than do that.

As lots of posters have said, the key will probably be if you can rejig things for a re-mortgage to help costs that way. If you can that may be enough to help you through this

Like you OP, we took on a large mortgage in better times and, while we can still afford the bills, we are definitely feeling the pinch. I've just looked for a position that's significantly better paid than my professional but decidedly-average-salaried FT WFH job. Yes, it's going to mean the whole family working a lot harder, but as prices keep going up, that's what we have to do. You are both trained professionals who work 4 days a week, you need to find ways more money. It's that simple.

I think mortgage interest rates have bene so low for so long that there has been a tendency to forget that this is not normal ! We had our mortgage from 2001 and paid it off around ten years ago and I don't think the rate was ever much below 5%.

Yes it has to change, it’s just mad that people can’t afford to work. Where I live full time childcare is £80 a month. And paid sick days when your children or we are ill. Free school dinners, and they are nice ones too.

I honestly don’t get the system in England, it’s like it’s working against your own society..

One further option is to figure out the cost of childcare over the next 7-10 years (until your kids finish primary) and take a loan over a longer time period to spread the cost. Given that childcare costs are higher when they are pre-school doing this should mean reducing the monthly outgoings. You could put it in a separate account and put the quarterly amount permitted into the tax-free childcare account every 3 months. Just a thought.

And childcare is free if the child is 3 or over if you are unemployed and need to look for a job, or on maternity leave (paid 18 months leave) with another child.

Going to uni is also free, in fact you get a couple of hundred pounds a month to go..

@Harrysutton the op has said she is a university lecturer. Thete is a world of difference between a Lecturer in FE on a partnered foundation course and a permanent lecturer with a recognised university.

Saturday working might be the answer - you mornings, partner afternoon. You'd probably make £400 a month that way. Retail or driving jobs, maybe.

Why doesn't the next government show us how to get the most out of solar panels and get schemes up and running? I'd thought there had once been potential to sell energy back to the grid. At the least, government has got to find a way to ensure free WiFi to every home, to keep people working . It might be a case of working from home being encouraged, going forward, if companies are going to find heating big buildings too expensive.

Contact bank who your mortage is with. The last thing they want is people not paying they will work with you. It could be a mortgage holiday or going interest only for a year.

@Hankunamatata i will contact them I’m with HSBC and they have a portal where you can check your current deal and remortgage option and it’s showing a fairly big ERPC (£1500 or so) and not brilliant remortgage options so I may ring them to talk it through!

@Blueberryella where do you live?! Sounds blissful.

You often don’t have to pay ERPC if you’re just changing products with the same lender 🤞🏼This might be the case for you

As would I actually

@Nancydrawn Sweden

Lovely!

@Bertieboo82 @RosesAndHellebores it would obviously be very outing to say exactly where I work and across which programmes but I’m in the north of England in a well respected institution and teach a lot of practical skills as well as the theory.

I can’t believe a “well respected” university would possibly employ a lecturer without a phd

Unless meets very narrow group @RosesAndHellebores lists

@Bertieboo82 fair enough you don’t have to believe me 🤷🏼‍♀️

They do in the arts. By the sounds of it the OP got in when they needed someone to help out, on a 'tutor' contract, and then stayed, so snuck in that way.

Would you have been happy to have been lectured by someone who didn’t have a PHD and in fact had only recently got their masters?

At a “well respected” institution spending tens of thousands of pounds on your degree?

I studied history

We were provided with the background of all our lecturers. All were at least PHD holders. A number professors. And referred to their publications and research etc.

Someone who got their masters last month would have stuck out like a sore thumb

At a lot of 'well respected' institutions, UG students are taught by PhD students. But maybe this is a discussion for the HE board. Makes for an interesting topic.

BTW I do agree that I would like to see lecturers with a PhD, but I know plenty of PhDs who work at UK institutions and have a terrible command of the English language, are a bit thick, and rather incompetent.