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.

I read today that Britain is in danger of ending up where Greece were 10 or so years ago.☹️

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow except that unlike in Greece, people won't be able to move to the EU and get jobs elsewhere

lol at thinking this is a UK thing.

Check the US, Anglosphere and Eurozone to see how this mismanagement is not some uniquely British thing (as if we'd be so enterprising).

I swear, it's like Brexit deducted IQ points from everyone and made them unable to see literal riots in the US, Netherlands and France, gov't paralysis in Germany, mass corruption in Australia, Canada and New Zealand having the most hilariously large housing bubbles. Greece and Spain having high unemployment and debt, Italy being totally dependent on imported energy and having a barely functional legislature. The Swiss deciding to say fuck climate change, and just not invest in green energy.

But no. England is the biggest fuck up and only England (Scotland and Wales exempt because no gammons or something).

It's like reverse Anglo exceptionalism or something.

One tax cut that would really make a difference to working peoples' lives is to make commuting to work expenses entirely tax deductible. But that doesn't fit in with the green agenda extra taxes for the state pretending to be for the good of the environment

One tax cut that would really make a difference to working peoples' lives is to make commuting to work expenses entirely tax deductible. But that doesn't fit in with the green agenda extra taxes for the state pretending to be for the good of the environment

depends what transport was tax deductible, if you cycled and got a lower tax band would it increase the green agenda, save money on NHS, improve peoples health, cut toxic pollution. Even cycling the last 3 miles would be applicable so those that live far away would still be able to take advantage - and often the last 3 miles is the most congested by cars with one person inside and 4 empty seats

Hi
Sounds like things are difficult. What about getting in a boarder? English language schools pay quite well. We have had some lovely students in to help pay our mortgage.
Good luck

Sorry slight rant coming :
I’ve been looking up saving money hacks, etc it can be done …
when people hark on about childcare costs, it gets me - did everyone think it would be free ?!?!?
people like myself who work
in childcare can’t be putting up out fees every two minutes and we have to manage our outgoings….
It just really upsets me when ‘childcare’ costs are mentioned as if no one expected they would have to pay for someone (qualified) to look after their offspring …

I agree to some extent - it annoys me when people just didn't do the research and went ahead to have kids without thinking about how they would manage financially. People should live within their means.
However, I think most people complaining about the costs are right that the issue is that there should be higher subsidies and at the actual cost rather than paying peanuts so parents still have to pay on top of funding. For example, parents in Denmark pay a maximum of 30% of the cost. The UK has some of the highest costs in the world. The government wants children born and mums working but provides little help which doesn't make economic sense.

I think expectations are quite rightly high, in the age we live in. Childcare professionals must be qualified and the environment clean and safe. Go back to the 1960s, and families could survive on the dad's wage; mum put the toddler in a play pen for hours and got on with housework, and older family members, who probably weren't that sprightly, helped out, to the limited best of their ability.

We all conform to high standards and strive to be independent and productive, so central government has got to help out and act like Denmark.

We had a similar situation in the early to mid nineties.
House prices went crazy snd as it turned out , we bought at the peak Then the interest rates went crazy snd people were struggling to pay their mortgages as they went up and up. Our house was in then negative equity as the value fell.
it was a hard time.
we had to stop all the kids non essential extra curriculum stuff and cut out expensive days out to theme parks and also holidays. We had to cut back massively on buying clothes and more luxury food shopping.
We managed to get through it though, house prices picked up again and the recession ended. I’d suggest you cut back as much as you can and be inventive about socialising and having fun on a budget. Lots of people will be in the same boat.
This will pass eventually X

At the moment we're paying £1396 a month for a full time nursery place for a 1 year old (live in SE so that is average for the area, I've not stuck him in the most expensive place going). It's reduced to £1222 using tax-free childcare because we're over the cap (which hasn't risen since it was introduced 5 years ago), so we're not even getting the full 20% off. It's nearly 15k a year. I don't think they are partying it up and I don't think most take issue with the nursery, it's the fact we have some of the most expensive childcare in Europe and there is very little government help.

Our son was absolutely budgeted for and we can afford him, but we're part of the so called 'squeezed middle' and do have to be careful. I would much rather work part time and actually spend more quality time with him whilst he's little, but I have to work full time to afford our tiny 2 bed house and not very extravagant lifestyle. We don't have holiday's etc, and we're very careful with spending (like I know many others are).

We have so many unfilled job vacancies in this country. The cost of childcare forcing women out of the job market in conjunction with a declining birth rate and ageing population isn't going to help this in the long term. I'm not saying it's the only reason, but I expect cost is a factor in the choice to have fewer children for some.

For those who bemoan those who would like a little more help, remember that even if they removed the cap on tax-free childcare for instance, a full time worker is still paying far more in tax and NI than the small tax-free part would cover. Surely a little help for the short time that the financial burden is so high (our housing costs less than nursery) is better than no tax contributions through not working, or (worse financially for the govt) forcing people onto benefits? I'm sure that nurseries must also be paying tax on what they're earning too...

I swear, it's like Brexit deducted IQ points from everyone and made them unable to see literal riots in the US, Netherlands and France, gov't paralysis in Germany, mass corruption in Australia, Canada and New Zealand having the most hilariously large housing bubbles. Greece and Spain having high unemployment and debt, Italy being totally dependent on imported energy and having a barely functional legislature. The Swiss deciding to say fuck climate change, and just not invest in green energy.

The mumsnet echo chamber appears to be the only source of news for many posters.

There is a way out...it involves mass non-payment of energy bills. Coming to a place near you this autumn...

Mass non payment of utility bills means mass ccj

Mass non payment of utility bills means mass ccj

Thats what did for the pole tax and Thatcher

How so? If I recall, Greece got itself into the shit by a big chunk of their citizens not paying income tax, everything on the black market, starving the government of funding to run the country.

Britain is nowhere near that stage.

there does seem to be.a lot of scaremongering and not enough joined up thinking on these kind of threads.

It's probably quite hard for those in 30s and 40s because we have had it good for those years they have been learning to adjust to a lifestyle. When I first bought a house the mortgage interest rate was 10%.

I look around my community and see young families constantly at cafés eating out and think how are you managing to do this?

Aren't they different sort of bills though so can't really be compared. Poll Tax/council tax is a tax likewise a TV licence to the government and energy bills are a payment to a private company.

Obviously the families you see eating at cafes are not the same families who are struggling to pay bills obviously. Yes interest rates were high when you bought your first house but the key factor you are (possibly deliberately) ignoring is the relationship between your household income and the house price. House prices have risen far more then wages over the same period. The past is another country as they say, your experience back then is incomparable.

OP things are really shit at the moment, sorry you are going through this. I have been through some awful financial times myself so know the sickening feeling.

My suggestions are:
Can you go interest only on your mortgage for a couple of years?
Have you overpaid previously and would the bank let you have a couple of months of payments off?
Can you extend the mortgage term?
Can you get a lodger for a while, even if it's just 6 months - tax free income - maybe it means kids sharing a room for a while?
Can your parents help with childcare?

Do you know other parents who you can swap childcare with - you take their DC some days, they take yours some days?
Prioritise paying your mortgage and council tax as not paying those will cause the most detriment to you.
If it comes to it and your utility bills build up, gas and electricity companies have pots of money to cover some bill arrears of people in real need (we all pay towards this in our standing charge, it isn't even coming out of their profits, which I think it should... but I digress).

Another suggestion: Does your public sector pension plan give you the option to go onto 50/50 contributions for a while? You get the same death cover etc but for the 50/50 period you accrue half the pension you would normally.

You could do that for a couple of years and then after that, when things get better, opt back to 100% and make additional contributions to make up for it - and ask your DP to add to your pension later too to recompense you. Mayhe his pension can offer something similar, but I know public sector pensions often do.
Reducing pension contributions is very far from ideal but if you are youngish (30's/40's) you will have time to make it back up.

Really? Obviously there all totally different schemes but the NHS one has always been totally inflexible with how much you pay in

Im afraid id rather have less family time and take the extra days work as a quick fix forr now. Can your parents/his parents not share the childcare?

Just on the flights for peanuts: can I recommend HolidayPirates for incredibly cheap deals, largely last minute or off season. Also Skyscanner is you don’t mind where you’re travelling to. Also sign up to RyanAir for their flash sales. There’s no longer the £4.99 flights (or £3 flights to Budapest) we had just a few months back but, yet, there are still amazing deals

I did some shopping at The Food Warehouse on Tuesday so got 10% off as over 60, I'm planning on doing a shop there on Tuesday. I can't do a full shop there but they do have some good prices so I will stock up on things like tuna (DH loves it) and some flour/sugar/butter/pasta/rice and some snacks like crisps and biscuits. I'll also put £100 on my bonus card as they are doing an offer that if you put £100 on before 31st August you will get £15 credit in November or December plus the usual £1 for every £20 you put on, so that will be a free £20 and a cheap shop.

Having to plan to get the most out of every pound.