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.

This is so irrelevant.

Sounds like you have overstretched yourself. I don’t think you have a choice other than working extra .or getting a better job like most.

This is irrelevant to to the thread however in my defence I am perfectly capable of teaching my students to the level expected and receive excellent feedback year on year!

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

I'm not in education myself but know lots of academics. Several entered the profession with a first degree, and have studied for their PhDs whilst lecturing.

I'm sure the academics on here will shoot me down for this but those I know who have PhDs, the PhDs have been in such niche areas that it wouldn't necessarily equip them to teach a broad curriculum any more than someone with a first degree. Accept it might vary by subject.
Also a proven ability to research doesn't necessarily make you a good teacher.

So you have been lecturing without an Masters? Ie you have a BA only? The qualification you are teaching your student so achieve?

genuine question as I thought you would start lecturing after achieving your masters, and I was surprised by that!

I wonder if it’s that you can’t afford the lifestyle you want
rather than you can’t afford life as it is

its big difference in my opinion

I haven’t read the whole thread but when you got your house did you buy a much bigger house than you really needed so you have left yourself with no spare cash to suck up the extra cost of the cost of living

did you have another child without thinking of the extra cost of child care and loss of earnings and how that would affect you and for how long

You probably have more choices than people who are really really poor even though you think you don’t .

You both have a professional decent paying jobs

you have options on your mortgage to extend it or go interest only for a few years

you have family who most likely won’t see you start e or lose your home

You are in a better position than the majority of people who rent and won’t have the options you have to restructure your finances and have secure jobs

@kikiterrific so do I but usually at Post92s . Everyone I know who has snuck in as a tutor has had apply for a vacancy as a Lecturer and without a PhD has not met the bar. Existing academics would riot, particularly if such a person was appointed ahead of their Post Docs with PhD, respected research, etc. A tutor or technician is just that and doesn't have an academic contract and should not be delivering underpinning knowledge; they shoukd be delivering practical things like stage design, dance technique, lab techniques and at a push research methods.

I know people in their 50s who did it 20 years ago but not now. The op is 31 so cannot have had significant professional experience to bear if she started in the role between three and five years ago. So many folk I know would love to know her secret. She must have scored a minimum of 4.8 on module evaluation scores and have been feted in the NSS feedback. It's a quite extraordinary achievement.

@WhatsHoppening please hoppen over to the HE/Academics boards and tell us how you did it and talk us through your subject specialism.

You could move to a cheaper house and get rid of a chunk of your mortgage. Everybody is In The same boat

I think she meant £100 extra a month for working 1 extra day a week, and she made it clear she doesn’t have childcare to enable her to do that.

If hubby at the end of his ect probation can he ask for a pay increase during his teacher performance management this happens every year where i work

Apologies if this has already been suggested but could you put dcs in one room and take in a lodger for a year or two? Perhaps a mature student. We did this when our dcs were very small and we had no other way of stretching our income to keep afloat. We charged a low rent including all bills but that money made a huge difference to our income and was tax free as we were letting a room in our own home.

An unexpected bonus was we all behaved better. The dcs were more lovely in the way that dcs are often better behaved when with visitors and DH and I were more patient.We wanted out lodger to live in a calm household so were less inclined to lose our tempers. It was also lovely to have another adult to talk to sometimes and though our dcs are young adults now we are still friends with some of those tenants.

@RosesAndHellebores

the op has been lecturing “for years”
She doesn’t have Masters.

@3luckystars this just isn’t how mortgage applications work anymore we’re just going through it, banks aren’t interested unless you look good on paper with affordability.

Everybody is In The same boat well no, everyone isn't. Lots of people still driving incredibly expensive cars, for example. Some people are still fine and will barely notice the rise in energy prices. However, a few of us were warning a few years ago that people were overstretching themselves on mortgages and if interest rates rose, people would feel it. "Interest rates won't rise" said everyone. Along with death and taxes, the other thing that is inevitable is interest rate rises!

We get some of our childcare costs back through Universal credit. I work part time and my husband is full time. Might be worth looking into? Or tax free childcare?

Yep, I do think people often forget the lifestyles that usually went with a single wage. We had grandparents, parents 2 kids and a dog plus my mum did some work outside the home in a care home one night a week. First went abroad when 21.

But to adjust to a 70s/early 80s life style would actually be too difficult for many. But I think I’ve definitely got skills/mindset from that period to make what’s coming not seem as daunting.

I would do the following:

1. what is the cost of necessities)not wants) things necessary to keep you alive? What is the minimum cost of these. Get a remortgage offer over the longest period you can. An offer now will prob last til Dec.
2. look to adjust food, eat less meat, use lentils/pulses etc. reduce portions, keep basic
3. learn to sew/basic DIY
4. research free activities.
5. batch cook
6. buy best quality clothes you can afford that aren’t really in fashion they will last longer. You don’t need that many clothes, look after them
7. cut out subscriptions
8. big shop once a week - otherwise stay out the supermarket
9. buy a tent at the end of the season for a couple of years cheap holidays.

Could you ask your morgage company ( or a new one) if you Couid go to interest only ?
Then once the recession ends and your need for childcare reduces, you Couid re mortgage and go back to repayments ?

Please don't think me unsympathetic, but mortgage interest rates have been astonishingly low for some time now and were bound to rise.

We paid the 15%+ rates in the 80s and early 90s and survived, albeit with simple food, no holidays or luxuries of any kind.

At that time I was a PT lecturer on contract and just had to take every job that was offered.
Childcare was expensive then in real terms, without the allowances you get today.
We also took in lodgers which kept us alive.
I agree that it does sound as though you've overstretched yourselves on the mortgage but moving wouldn't solve your problems, it's a very expensive exercise and you might not actually release any capital though you could have a smaller mortgage.

I would have thought your DH might be able to get a better job, assuming he has all his professional qualifications.
You'll just have to buckle up for a rocky ride.

Ahem, we do the following:

Heating ticks over at 15. When it's cold we throw on a jumper or a log.
Packed lunches.
Coffee flasks
Floods ago when DC were small we had bucket and spade holidays. DS didn't go abroad (to France) until he was 6/7.
Activities like patio painting - children's flower patch for the DC
Library time for an hour's breather, coffee and biscuits for 20p
Playgroup for a £1
More recently: I love a yellow sticker and bought a half price organic chicken today.
Have solar panels panels
Etc, etc, etc.

Are you claiming/able to claim for tax free childcare - if not it will definitely help a little towards your childcare costs.

It’s horribly difficult, and it makes me sad that you would even consider/ mention being “ worth more dead than alive” - not to your family you are not!! Children DO grow up , and whilst in no way minimising your struggle , they will remember hugs, plays in the park, being read to ( library books) etc which are all free. Only practical suggestion I have is to extend your mortgage over a longer period if possible? I think people who talk of post war hardships etc forget that many people were in the same boat then ( now there is a bigger divide between rich and poor) and that many “luxuries” are actually now essentials - you can’t book school meals/ do children’s homework etc without a gadget; people wash clothes more frequently and need washing machines etc.

Sounds like your materialistic life is more important to you than actual happiness. Down size, look for a full time job maybe??

Agree with @Bertieboo82

I think the lodger idea is a good one - or, better still, an au pair and do away with childcare costs.

I'm in Scotland and many lecturers don't have phds and not just because the standard degree in Scotland is a masters of arts anyway, but also because many enter into lecturing through part time contract lecturing first of all which then leads to a more permanent role. However, I'm not in the arts field and in my profession (law) it would be highly unusual to do a phd. But not unusual to do a master degree after starting as a lecturer. Or indeed not at all.

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.

Previous generations just don't get it and will inevitably say something beginning with "ah, but interest rates...". Part of the problem IMHO is adjusting to a lower standard of living than your parents' generation, who often don't help the matter by making you feel as if you're not working hard enough.