To be permanently skint, despite being on a good salary?

[cherriesandapplesandberries]

On paper, we have a good combined income of around £85,000, although it varies slightly and can even go up to around 90 on a good year.

But we seem to be permanently skint, and I don’t mean not much money, I mean absolutely nothing in the bank accounts, scrabbling round for loose change, stressing about how we will get to work, skint. This isn’t a begging thread by the way, I know sometimes people post on MN wanting others to offer them money and I don’t, I’m just trying to explain how it is.

We do have debts, loans and credit cards plus obviously the mortgage, childcare fees, cars which cost then obviously the needs of a growing family.

I know back when I was a young ‘un I’d have fallen about laughing at the idea my current salary isn’t enough to live on, but I just seem to be struggling all of the time!

YABU - we have a joint income of 30k per year and manage to save a few hundred per month. That's after mortgage, 2 car payments, all the usual bills, child related costs and pet costs.

Sorry!

Lljkk

I'll give examples but won't specify where I live.

Think berkhamsted, Guildford, sevenoaks etc. Posh commuter belt.

Sympathise OP, hard to feel you're working all hours and it's all going on basics/essentials/debt with nothing left to have wee treats for your efforts! Does kind of demoralise you a bit but good to know there's some relief in sight for some loans/cards coming to an end this year at least for you.

We have been making good use of sites like quidco OP, swopping TV, elec etc. Would also say simple things like swopping main bank account can help - we got £175 cashback from doing nothing but switching to eg natwest. With amount you're bringing in each month even if it all goes out again you'd qualify if even one of you switched accounts. We've got £800 this year from swopping things about and it's helped no end especially at Christmas!

I don’t think your comment is particularly identifying OP so I wouldn’t worry too much. And I can see why you would have no regrets about it.

We were in your position a very long time ago and have come through and are fine now. Things we did;

Consolidated all our loans and credit cards into one bank load at a reasonable interest rate, spread over a time period that the repayments were manageable. As it happened we paid it off early in the end.

Not a popular one on here, but I gave up work. We saved childcare costs, cleaner, running a second car, work clothes and shoes, work collections etc. Plus we saved on stuff like food and clothes and fun because I had time to cook and shop around. I picked up the domestic side and we had a brilliant quality of life. It hasn’t impacted at all on our prosperity (early fifties and comfortably retired).

DH got a much better paid job, which required a house move, but things worked out well.

You will get through this OP when your childcare costs fall and your loans are paid. I’m sure your lovely kids are well worth it.

How on Earth has it been insightful Pegasus? Loads of people have made the same useless suggestions - stop buying fucking takeaway coffee, shop at Aldi being the usual ones - with almost nothing that would actually help anyone. Aside from the posters who want OP to move house and / or take in a lodger. Or work more hours than full time which she probably does already as she is a teacher.

Well, Op says she’s not interested in anyone’s advice or help about her finances. She isn’t interested in knowing about people who might help her or about taking steps to feel more financially in control.

So this thread is just about a means to get attention and a response. I can see Op has had a difficult time and I’m glad she has her children now, but she clearly just wants people to beg her for every bit of information and not talk about the thread title at all. I’m not sure she knows what she wants from it herself apart from human interaction.

I came on to talk about managing debt and improving financial position - because SO much can be done if people want help and act on it. But Op isn’t interested.

So Op I hope you got the engagement you craved from this thread. I’m out.

No I don’t at all wombat

I’ve been polite. You’re the one who is being really rude.

@WombatChocolate - I suggested that the OP needed to track their expenditure in detail, so they could see where the money was going. This was the thing that helped dh and I most, with getting our finances under control.

Budget.

Detailed record keeping.

Look for savings - small and larger.

Meal plan and stick to it.

I know it is not easy - and I do empathise with the OP’s frustration about too much month left at the end of the money - I have been there. That is why I was trying to share the things that we did, which helped us get out of that position.

SO much can be done

Really? . I am in the definition of the squeezed middle group. There really is not SO much that can be done.

The problem is the debt. You have overspent in the past and are now paying for it. Which is fine, but you have got no money because of the ivf. You have got something fantastic out of being skint, you have basically spent your savings before you made them. You can't expect to save and do this.

I don't really get where your take home of 3900 comes from on 85k. Me and DP are on combined 80k, with 10% pension and post 2013 student loans and earn 4400 a month. There's 500 a month that's completely gone there, check that you are being taxed the right amount. And check your DP isn't actually hiding money from you.

Loads of people have made the same useless suggestions

What else do you think people could have said disorganised?

@pinyinchahua I’m not guessing but perhaps Student loan repayments are a lot more than I realise. And perhaps DH is also paying student loan. I’m not intending to be goady.

@cherriesandapplesandberries I think it’s a shame that you felt pressured into revealing why the debt is there. However I’m sure your DCs are worth the financial struggle and although you could foresee some lean years you can also see some light at the end of the tunnel.

I did feel pressured and I’m not comfortable with having it out there, and posters keep saying it,

i think the op has separate finances to her DH and doesn't actually know how much the mortgage and bills are. She's taking her dp's word that his income covers the bills, mortgage and his £200 share of the groceries.

Op, if I were you I'd want to look at his figures carefully. Income and outgoings. There may be some wriggle room there.

TBF OP, That does sound grim.
We earn nothing like what you earn, not even half.
Yet we are 100% debt free...zilch.
But if you saw us, my guess is you'd pigeon hole us and vice versa.

It just proves what they say
.
Believe nothing you see
And only half what you hear.

Hope it improves OP

Ps I have an actual useful idea

Given you pay for full childcare anyway, not term time only, can you explore the options for extra income during the holidays?

DSis, BiL and DM are all teachers and at various points when needing a bit extra income they have done:

• exam marking
• odd days during holidays doing revision day type courses paid at a generous daily rate by the LEA
• tutoring

Of course I know kate

Jesus Christ, this thread is just stupid now.

Yeah I do exam marking thanks ... don’t get paid for revision days

How far away are your dc from qualifying 4 the "free" 30 hours? It doesn't make childcare free but it does make a difference.

Are you using tax free childcare. I stupidly didn't know about this till the end of last yr.

How on Earth has it been insightful Pegasus?

@DisorganisedOrganiser

Shopping at Aldi is not in itself a useless suggestion unless you don’t really want to save money, you just want to know how you can afford a champagne lifestyle on a lager budget which seems to be your problem!

Stripping out pension contributions since the OP has already said that she makes significant pension contributions into the TPS. Haven't taken into account student loans so obviously these figures won't be correct.

£50K gross = £3100 net pcm (rounded down). OP nets £2500 therefore she pays a hefty 19% pension contribution.

£35k gross = £2300 net pcm (rounded up). OP's DH nets £1700 therefore he pays a hefty 25% pension contribution.

The OP is venting but I think that she is very well aware that she has consciously made a decision to prioritise savings into their pensions as opposed to paying off shorter term debt/loans.

Having a presumeably large mortgage PLUS heavy childcare costs PLUS on the face of it 22% of your net household monthly income into your pensions, no wonder you're strapped for cash! You won't get much sympathy though - that's a massive amount into your pensions.
It's a choice NOT to reduce them in the short term to say 10% AND elect to take loans.

I realise that the tax relief on pension contributions will be much more than the interest on your loans but REALLY? I wouldn't choose to do this.

Everyone is missing the point - their net household income is lower than everyone expects is because they choose to make pretty high pension contributions.

Of course I know kate

Jesus Christ, this thread is just stupid now.

The only stupid thing is the fact you started it then were only prepared to give half the figures and have contradicted most of those ever since

Like I said hours ago - I don’t get what you wanted from the thread

Don't do revision days if they are unpaid.

OP I feel for you but think this thread is a bit pointless. You don't want advice, just a moan.

Bearbehind
Nothing, I think people could have said nothing. It is very very difficult to get out of debt and, to me, involved sacrifices I can’t make. Perhaps they could have sympathised. It is shit and loads of people are in similar positions.

But cherries your figures don't really make sense so do you?