Husband made redundant and facing £1200 monthly shortfall, any advice?

[Tappings]

I'm probably going to get flamed in this thread judging by how others have gone.

DH has been made redundant, he was the main earner.

We're lucky that he'll get a decent payout, equivalent to 6 months take home salary.

I work 30 hours per week. I got a promotion in February and have a decent take home, above national average.

DH will be entitled to contributions based JSA and we'll get child benefit back, but even with those and cutting back our bills we'll be £1200 short per month. And that doesn't account for any personal spends, kids clothes/ uniform, adult clothes, birthdays etc.

Due to my recent promotion, me getting a better paying job is extremely unlikely, even if I went full time. I'm close to the ceiling of my profession. There's no option to go full time where I am either.

DH is (was) a well paid professional in a competitive field and was quite senior in that field. He's already looking for jobs, has sorted his CV, spoken with several recruiters and has an interview lined up for next week.

Any suggestions on what we can do? Advice/ support?

It may be useful to think of this in stages. You have, say, 12 months for DH to get a new job on a salary that is in the same ball park. He may or may not be able to earn a bit of cash while he's doing that, but the goal is for him to get a similar level job and for your income to get back to a reasonably similar level.

If that starts to look unlikely, you then consider what sort of life changes you'd prefer. Do you look for jobs that will allow you to maintain the home you have, though your life style may be a lot more limited? Do you consider moving somewhere you could get a full time job and/or a better paying one? Or to a less expensive area so you can maintain other trappings of your lifestyle but in a smaller/less ideal house?

You currently have plenty of money to get through the 12 months. I would cut the less noticeable expenses immediately and downgrade things like clothing, Christmas and Birthday presents, either not go on holiday this year or just do something much less expensive, make any family trips more affordable (picnic at the beach, hike through the woods, local free festival, day trip to London and free museums take your own lunch, etc.) but not stop all hobbies or your DC's tutoring. Keep the favourite TV package as you may be spending more time wanting quality entertainment. I would cut the kids savings, but put a lump sum in to make up if DH gets his income level back. So you cut expenses but not to the bone and start to develop a lifestyle that's fun but not as expensive. I would, however, rethink the horse riding. that's a super expensive hobby and your lack of savings suggests it may be a level of expense that's above what was sensible even at your old income level.

If DH doesn't get a similar job in time, then you may need to do the more drastic cuts and refactor your lifestyle completely to an lower income level. Maybe take a mortgage holiday so you can sell up and downsize before you run out of money and get into debt (which is expensive - make sure you factor in paying off that interest free credit card before the money runs out).

And once you've got things settled and know the income level your lifestyle has to sit within, prioritise savings a bit more so you don't feel the pinch and sense of panic quite so much. it's really hard with young children not to prioritise spending everything you have on them, but they need stability more than they need expensive hobbies or clothes.

Assuming he drives, he could possibly get a job as a taxi driver for a local taxi firm. I think It’s quite straightforward getting the licence. The company would help him sort it. I know someone who does this as a second job some evenings and weekends.

Apologies if this has been suggested but if you switch to Lloyds bank and have your salary paid in you can get Disney+ for free. The bank accounts fee is waved as long as you pay in at least £2k/ month.

First £30k will be tax free which may mean it's more than 6 months net pay, plus he won't be paying for travel and pension.

If he has 6months take home pay then how will you be £1200 a month short? Surely this just means he has 6 months to find an equivalent job, before you will be short?

If his payout is equal to 6 months pay surely you aren't £1200 short for another 6 months and it sounds like DH is being proactive in looking for an alternative

Also if say you earn £40k doing 30hrs, youd get nearly £50k picking up 1 extra day

The job market is terrible at the moment. My husband, has a great CV, great job history and references is struggling to find work where we are in the UK. He has some interviews lined up but its taken 3 months to get anything to bite. Im currently paying the mortgage myself but we have had to cut back severely to do this. We are barely getting by. If he doesnt get a job by the start of the summer holidays, we are going to have to sell up and downsize

Certainly worth calling your mortgage company and asking about payment holidays. It may not be possible, and of course in the long term it adds to your interest repayment, but even a 3 month pause would give you a short-term buffer.

At this stage, don't mention why to them. You're just checking your options. (Or check your mortgage offer paperwork if it's fairly recent).

I would imagine hubby was in a decent paying job? Especially if he was the main earner.

Savings?

If he's got 6 months pay making its way to him, that isn't to be sniffed at.

I would personally say you should consider stashing that money away.

In this job market, you can't be picky so while he interviews for his ideal job he needs to be open to doing anything else in order to maintain an income (does he have a driving licence? There are delivery driver roles aplenty out there and they don't care if you're not in it for the long haul. At least with a supermarket, you get treated better than if you were doing takeaway delivery).

At this point it is a case of seek income where you can and tighten your purse strings. We are entering summer hols now so no need to replace uniform until just before September and there are so many affordable family things to do.

First and foremost, you both need to take care of yourselves/ your mental health. Job loss is not an easy thing to deal with, nor is sustained unemployment. Everything will fall into place!

If you switch to Nationwide current account you can pay £18 a month for their flex plus, which gives you breakdown cover & travel insurance plus you get a switching bonus.

Going through this. You are in a great position, we aren’t im on statutory maternity pay in month 9 so about to go down to 0, DH only had 6 weeks pay, and 10k as a payout. So this will only cover us for 2-3 months or so. We are half way through month one and are having to live off the redundancy payout.
he has a second interview Monday and we are pinning hopes but it’s very very competitive

The job market is horrendous, especially in tech.

Let him have a week or two off of rest and enjoyment, because job hunting is stressful. It’s never been this bad.

Surely if @Tappings is cutting costs to the bone then travel insurance isn't needed for now?

Your gas and electric bill is huge! Do you know why? We are a family of 4 in q a large house and ours is under half of that per mth.

I’ve been a SAHM for 15yrs and I just walked into a job without an interview and zero experience. It’s not pretty but it’s about £2k a month, I work at the local chicken factory as a production operative. Have you got any factories or warehouses locally? They’re almost always looking for workers.

100% agree, but it was on her list of cost

Why would you get flamed? If your salaries cover just the outgoings and one loses a job and never finds one - ouch

Could you go d done evening or weekend work to make up the hours?