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?

I thought it seemed low too. But don’t cancel
it. If one of you got sick you won’t be able to apply for it again.
And yes I’d get better once you’re back on your feet. It’s not just for the mortgage. If someone happens to one person the other person can use it to fund something like a nanny etc and their loss of income.

A lot of millennials are in their 40s aren't they? I just had to Google, I'm 45 and a millennial.

This has happened to us twice, once about 10 years ago and again earlier this year. We were ok 10 years ago, we are ok now and it’s going to be ok going forward. We were surprised by how much we adjusted just from being forced to do so - extra curriculars that don’t add much to our lives were cut, frivolous little extra spends that mount up quickly like takeaways, meals out, magazines, clothes in with the supermarket shop or shopping deliveries etc were cut and everything was ok in the end.

Ten years ago, we made the mistake of DH holding out to get something with decent pay, rather than just taking a crappily paid job and continuing to apply for decent ones, which is what he had to do anyway but only after we’d chomped through the pay off. This time he’s taken a badly paid job and he’s applying for better ones and it just feels a lot better.

Best of luck, you’ll get through it.

We renewed our annual policy in March. So a moot point until next renewal really.

But travel insurance is the equivalent of £4.66 a month and breakdown cover £8 a month, that's cheaper than £18 a month for bank account (and no switching bonus as already with Nationwide).

Sadly not, just death and critical illness.

That's something I'll pop in the list with a timeframe next to it.

I've already had people suggesting we're financially irresponsible. I'm just waiting for someone to suggest DH is lying to me and really got the sack and I should LTB!

Someone mentioned using Tesco points for Disney+ but you can also use them for RAC membership - a consideration for the future.
I routinely think what points do I have from Boots/Waterstones to buy a nice gift but I would recommend stopping buying for adults (consider gifting time or looking at what to regift). A present drawer might work for the kids - buying 3 for 2 in e.g. Lego dependent on age for parties.
Summer uniform - long trousers can be made into shorts and hems let down on skirts/dresses.
Borrowbox app to access free books & magazines from the library.
Judging by level of spending, creating a buffer in future vs accruing savings for children/overplaying mortgage and pension payments might need to be put on hold for the time being.

As you said approx £1200 shortfall so each month of redunancy can cover approx 3 month of the shortfall so being frugal it could last 18months
if you can cut childcare biill in half it would free up approx £300 which would pay for swimming tutor, kids pocket money ad about 30 for christmas and 50 for clothing
try to shave 10% of food bill down to 540 then next month see if you can shave a bit more off hopefully enough to buy icecream etc occasionally, defintely change to ad version of netflix its £6 ok its only £13 a month cheaper but that would buy snacks for 2 trips to the park/ beach. moorland or whatever is your free green/ blue space nearby

if your loan is on 0% there is no point in paying it off just now but do set the 9K aside so you can pay it when the 0% rate ends
I would advise your DH spending a week or so organising himself and seeing what is what can he cook more from scratch what can be done for free near you in school holidays

I would be honest with your kids and just say Dad has lost his job we will be fine there is enough for us all to have the essentials but we are gong to have to do free and cheaper fun stuff and hobbies so unfortunately no more horse riding rock climbing etc for now. So you need to understand that we will have to say no to some requests, we can get everything we need but only a little of what we want

Once DH is back in work and you are debt free I would suggest staying frugal until you have 6 months living expenses as an emergency fund before more holidays etc, as even if DH gets new job if more redundancies he-ll only be getting a couple of weeks pay as it seems like he is in a vulnerable industry

Yes it is high. I, for one, thought it was a more modern one. So you have done a lot to improve things, but with beautiful high ceilings and character, that is what you are living with. It's always a choice when you are buying, either characterful or modern.

Part time covers a great many differences in hours. 33 hours a month on NMW makes the amount I was referring to.

Working out the very minimum you can get spending down to does not mean that you have to do so immediately and therefore live on porridge and tap water from tomorrow, but it does tell you what you can do if in a few months you decide to tighten your belts further.

I’d suggest listing costs from high to low and also from most necessary to least so as you go you can see what the next cut can be if needed.

And remember, there’s every chance that your husband is back working long before it comes to eating the family dog or selling a kidney.

40 hours on NMW after tax and NI ( no pension union student loans etc ) is £1880 a month, 35 hours is £1660, 30 hours £1498

Next year. Rescuemycar for breakdown cover £18 for the year. Ive used them or been in cars where someone else has used them 4 times and never waited more than 20mins for them! Outstanding service

Its not kosher but you can log on to all sorts (Channels I mean) using a VPN. I'd have thought suspending subscriptions would be a no brainer. I suspend when am on extended vacation. If he's still looking for work in a few months then you will probably have to ditch them.

For me it was very small payments that I knew I had signed up to but hadn't ever added it up. So 5 quid a month for a charity, 15 quid a month for a membership, 7 qid a month for a premium sub for a spelling game for the kids etc, in my head it was all tiny amall amounts not worth worrying about. I was indeed shocked when I added them together and it totalled 250 quid a month

Could he try working freelance? Even if just gets bits of work it could help and would still keep child benefit

The economy is actually quite good at the moment relative to historical levels. If he already has a job interview so soon this is a really good sign. I mean if he gets it this post is already redundant right? Don't do anything drastic like sell your house just wait it out until he gets another job which it sounds like he will. In the meantime just tighten your belt a bit.

I dont think paying off debt is ever silly @Tappings
I would get rid and then base my budget on whats left
Not ignore the debt and budget on the whole amount
Why are you talking about 3 months mortgage payments when the shortfall is 1200 ?

Depending on what happens if your DH can’t get a job and is desperate there are nightshift jobs to consider . DS did one for 18 months after leaving school while he waited to apply for a degree apprenticeship.
.

@AintNobodyHereButUsChickens there are jobs that are a bit grim to be had round here all the time. Pet food factory round here is the worst, apparently the smell is terrible.

Oh yeah I think there’s a dog food factory local to me actually. Not heard much about how it is to work there though!

The part of the chicken factory I work in isn’t too bad for smells to be honest, it’s the repetitiveness and the cold that gets to you 🥶

Thinking about this op, but you can scrape and scrimp on every penny but the stark reality is its the mortgage that's making this all unworkable

I know you are stuck with it for now but if there is scope to downsize your house or extend your mortgage term I would consider that for the future.

I always had the rule that we should be able to live and pay the mortgage on a single salary if we had to.

So last night we spent time making a plan, reading MSE and looking at our current financial situation.

We have just over £5k in savings in addition to the payout. Some of it is in a bond which doesn't mature for a while yet but we can get it out of we really need it. The rest is in stocks and shares ISAs and £1500 in a high interest savings account - penalities if we withdraw but nothing horrendous.

We then have the prefabricated pots of kids needs, Christmas savings and a few others like the car pot which we can dip in to if needed.

MSE seems to agree that leaving the credit card debt is sensible until DH gets a new job. So that's what we'll do but put the £8k separately and pay it off once we're more settled.

DH is away now for the weekend. He did think of canceling but he'd have been letting his friends down and he's already paid for it all and saved up spends separately to the above so we agreed him still going was ok.

We also have a holiday booked for August. It's camping and paid for. So we'll see nearer the time whether we have enough money for spends and petrol to go or not. We lose the money regardless.

We've decided on what things to cut immediately and agreed we'll give it his notice period for him to find an equivalent/ better job and then he'll look at other field related jobs over summer and then in September start looking for anything and everything. He will be treating applying for jobs as a full time job.

We've then put timeframes against the other stuff we'll cut and when. We've already dropped our expenditure significantly.

He spent yesterday speaking with recruiters and his network. His linked in and CV are already fully up to date and looking good. He's got there interview on Tuesday and a HR screening for another role later next week. So fingers crossed.

It's sensible to leave the credit card debt for now because there is always the possibility of switching it to another 0% credit card when this one needs to be paid. I'd start checking options out now since the MSE website usually has the opportunity to do that without it affecting your credit score. Also depends on how long your current 0% has to run - if it's just a few months you may be better off getting a new one now while he is still technically employed.

If you have investments with penalties on withdrawal look at whether an agreed overdraft with your bank would cost less than the penalties. I think you said you are with Nationwide and they often have an agreed overdraft available. You may already have one but not have used it.

Well done, OP! You sound like you’re being practical and pragmatic.

On heating - we have always lived in cold, draughty, expensive to heat houses, and have therefore never attempted to keep the whole house ‘warm’. Instead, focus on warming either the person, or the particular room in use., especially when there’s only one person in the house.

Bedroom - electric blanket to heat the bed
Sitting room - we have a log burner, coupled with blankets. Heated throw is another alternative
Study - small electric radiator (DeLonghi Dragon or similar)
Bathroom - heated towel rail (ours were linked to the hot water system, not the central heating; electric ones also available)
Kitchen - usually warm anyway from cooking

Keep all doors closed to keep heat into the individual rooms.

Also, obviously, warm clothing - dressing gowns, slippers, extra jumper etc.

Yes, the hall and landing are arctic, but actually we are never uncomfortably cold in any part of the house or any part of the day.