I have the kind of family that many people think shouldn't need extra help from the Government

[MogadoredMemoo]

I would like somebody to tell me how we can reduce our outgoings. We are the kind of family who people seem to think shouldn't need any financial help from the government. there seems to be an attitude that we just need to tighten our belts a bit. So I am really interested in how people think we will manage if out tax credits are cut.

Dh earns just under 25K. I really seriously cannot at the moment due to health problems.

We currently get £80 a week in TC and this helps us keep our head above water. But under the new system it looks like we wont get it any more.

So with DH salary and CB we have a monthly income £1772.00

Mortgage £700
Council tax £83
Car Insurance £58
Gas £60
Elec £80
Maintenance for DSD's £250
Petrol £200
Contents and Buildings ins 67.00
other bits ie TV licence, broad band phone, pet insurance £100
Nappies £20

That would then leave us just £154 each month to clothe and feed 3DC and to feed 2 dsd's.

How are we suppose to manage on that? I'm not saying that we should just be given hand outs but why can't the government do other things to help like keeping petrol cost lower. we just about managing at the moment but we are going to be in shit if these cuts go ahead. We will end up losing our home.

Even worse I suspect there are thousands of families like us out there. The ones trapped in the middle, not earning enough to survive but earning too much to get any help.

Your gas and electricity seem high.We line in a 2200sqft house and our utilities are significantly less than this.

I am sorry I am of the age of mortgage 3 x mans income 1 x womans.........and 24 years in.

and i also went through mortgage rates of 15% and no one helped us, tax credit was not even invented.

I am sorry but your bills your responsibility.

Your council tax is half mine but your house insurance seems huge check that out first.
[if you pay through your bank you are paying over the odds]

car insurance is dear......

gas and electric is way over mine.......have youlooked into suppliers for the three above?

Did you DP no think about this before he had 5 Dcs on a low/average wage?

If you are ill are you getting ESA/DLA. Also I think you should be getting more than £80 tax credits. The child maintenance also seems high.

Things you see as essential which we go without are: contents insurance, a capital repayment mortgage and pets.

you also dont need broadband and a landline.

I'm sure a flat (what we live in) would be cheaper then a house. And our combined gas/electric is only £80pcm- you need to switch things off and change provider.

Does your DP really need to run a car? My DP does with out one.

TBH if I had 5 kids I'd expect to be shit poor unless I had a vv top job.

No our tax credits are £80. We do manage atm. I'm talking about how we will be unable to manage once the cuts have been made.

It could be argued that you have no need for a car unless your DH would not otherwise be able to get to/from work without it owing to distance/working hours etc. I do admit to scratching my head at those who "need" a car merely because they have children/live in a village/whatever.

However, before anyone bites my head off, I don't think it is reasonable or possible for you to live on your DHs salary alone and would not be asking for you to do so.

WRT your mortgage, I don't think it excessive. I choose to rent and have done for many years as I hated being tied down to property but all those years back my mortgage wasn't too far off what you're paying now and my current rent is quite a bit in excess of your monthly mortgage.

I certainly don't feel you should be given a hard time for being in your position.

Your dh is a low earner, has 2 kids supporting already and then has gone on to have 3 more. Of course it is going to be hard.

Your house & contents insurance is ridiculously high.

You could lengthen the term of your mortgage to reduce the monthly payments or consider going interest only.

Darlene, when we had the DC I worked full time so we could managed it. We didn't know I would get ill.

We do need a landline and broadband as DH has to do work at home for which he needs both.

And yes he needs the car for work, he works miles away from home so couldn't manage without it

I think you should try for DLA and appeal the decision if it's rejected, for starters.

He didn't go on to have 3 more kids! I have an ex husband who buggered off and refused to pay maintenance for his child. DH did have one child together but like I have said I was earning a full time wage when we had her.

Maybe he would save money by getting a job he could cycle to and not need land line etc for as he's not earning enough to justify that amount of petrol etc.

I might actually try that expat, because I know how hard it is to get I just thought there wasn't much point in applying.

Hmm im confused or maybe not listening hard enough but they will cut your tc because your dh earns 25k a year? I thought the cuts were for household incomes of 40k or more? or did i get that wrong ??

If your DP is nearly at retirement age then why does he still have so much outstanding on a mortgage?

If any of your DCs are over 2 they dont need to be in nappies.

Even if you think you wont get DLA, go to CAB and get someone to do it for you. they have a 70% success rate at appeals.

If the car's for work trade in the 7 seater for a ka/micra/yaris etc.

How old are you? Did you not have a house/assets before you started having DCs?

is that 80 a week?

Are you sure your TC are going to be cut? - I cant really understand what the changes are going to be other than its going for those over 30K with 2 kids (think thats right!)

Is your mortgage on a fixed rate? Have you tried Aldi nappies - i used them and they were fab...and cheap!

Gas and elec seem high, have you shopped around recently? Also what exactly are "other bits" and how much do the pets cost (and could you rehome them?)

But you have to think ahead, not just live in the moment, we could afford 6 children and a £450k mortgage when DH was working for a company but would never have had them simply because things do change and not always for the better.

Move closer to his work then.

If you were working then why weren't you saving for a rainy day?

You sound like you should be getting ESA btw.

Could you answer my questions?

Have you shopped around for electric/gas/house insurance?

I think part of the problem is that as an nrp, your partner is financially supporting children for which you get no recognition by way of tax credits. So you're paying for 5 children, but only getting tax credits for 3. That's a blatantly unfair part of the system. The pwc will be getting tax credits in full for the 2 DSDs, ignoring totally the maintenance received as income

Ah right so you need to go after your ex husband, quick before the CSA start charging, that would help wouldn't it ?

Your gas and elec seem very high. We pay that for a reasonably large house.

Not any consolation but I think the problem is that families budgeted for mortgages taking into account benefits they were getting.

Having a mortgage of more than 1/3 of take home salary esp with maintenance payments should have rung big alarm bells - you have stretched yourself too much on your house and thats the crux of the problem.

Because everyone was prepared to borrow at these levels and banks prepared to lend house prices went higher and higher....

This also might sound a bit harsh and please don't flame me, I'm trying to be objective but maybe some of your outgoings are luxuries, like having a pet, running a car.

The cuts are for 40k or more at first and then those on 25k the year or so after.

Darlene, DH is not nearly at retirement age. I said we tried to extend the mortgage but they refused because it would take us over DH's retirement age

Your gas and electric seem extremely high - your gas is double what we pay on a monthly DD and your electric is 3 times higher than ours! Have you checked with an online comparison site to see if you can get the payments down? We used USwitch and they were very good.

Your insurance is also REALLY high - shop around and see if you can get a better deal. Use a site like confused.com to compare all of your insurance (car, house, pet, etc).