I earn £60k and I can’t keep my family warm

[Theyarellthesame]

Exactly that and I’m so, so frightened.

im 31 and I’ve done everything ‘right’ - went to uni, got myself a job and in 8 years increased my wage from £16k to £60k. We waited 13 years to have a baby until we’d saved up £20k so I could afford maternity leave, had £6k-ish left over after mat leave.

I live rurally in one of the cheapest areas in the country in a 4 bed Victorian semi, it’s not grand in any way. Lovely, but a basic 4 bed, 3 storey family home. When we moved in I had the loft insulated but we can’t have a smart meter because of something to do with where the meter is located.

My DH is a SAHP so no childcare costs for my 18 month old and he’d only be able to earn minimum wage so his take home pay per hour would be less than the cost of childcare, hence why he’s a SAHP.

Yesterday I got an email from bulb putting my direct debit up again from £290
to £470. It was £120 2 years ago. On top of everything else going up I just categorically cannot afford to pay that. There isn’t enough money by £149 a month to cover the bills for the household.

I think my options are to cancel paying in to my pension to free up that money or stop paying my student loan? Can you do student loan holidays?

mortgage is on a 5 year fix with 2 years left at 1.99% so that’s as low as it can go, we don’t have Netflix, sky or Prime anymore, we just have a TV license. We do have a Spotify subscription. Both our phones are on £20 a month contracts, we don’t have any debt other than student loans and the mortgage. We do have a dog and his pet insurance is £60 a month but it’s none- negotiable that we keep that going.

We batch cook using the instant pot to avoid putting the oven on, we do use the washing machine a lot because we use reusable nappies. I drive a plug in hybrid so the electric is high because of that.

We have 1 or 2 U.K. holidays a year, usually a static caravan or holiday cottage for a few days. Total cost of holidays per year is around £1k so I’ve already knocked saving for those on the head.

No chance of my wage increasing again any time soon, I’ve pushed very hard for the last 8 years to climb a very greasy ladder and there’s no where else to go from here.

WTF do I do?! There’s news all the time how this is going to get worse again in January and the only advice coming out seems to be ‘go and get a better paid job’ but I HAVE a well paid job! we want another baby but I’m currently telling DH no because we can’t afford it and need to save like crazy.

Im very very frightened, how much worse is it likely to get from here?

I’ve read a lot of this thread but not all of it so apologies if someone has already mentioned this. I know you won’t get free childcare at the moment because of the age of your child and your income but bear in mind that nursery vouchers can reduce the cost right now and that your child will be eligible at 3. Yes, that second point is ‘jam tomorrow’ however, I can see you are anxious about money so knowing that you can get some help in the future may help you plan short term.

you sound like a lovely couple. Good on you for making your way in the world from such a difficult start and also for helping your sil out.

I think that's enough of mumsnet for me today 😂

TightDiamondShoes that's a really good point regarding pensions. It's fine for people to be saying 'Don't reduce your pension contributions ', but if your life's miserable now, when you're young, fit, healthy, with a young family, but your life in retirement will be OK, something's wrong. You shouldn't be sacrificing your youth so you'll be well off when you retire. There has to be a middle way.

Could DH get a weekend job. Even working one day would be a massive contribution and will help him get a job when your child turns 3. He will be below the tax threshold as well.
I think you need to reduce your power usage right down. We are spending a lot of time doing that just now. If he is at home with a small child then only one room needs to be heated for instance.
I think if the hybrid is expansive then it’s time to get rid, electric cars are heavier with the battery and use more energy as well. I’d get something small and reliable which uses little petrol.

Bulb do this too but for both Bulb and Octopus you need a smart meter which OP says isn't possible. We have switched and it is worth it for us as we run two fully electric vehicles on home charging, and we have got very disciplined about using timers and delayed start to run appliances (dishwasher, washing machine etc) and charge devices within the four-hour window. With a SAHP and baby using power during the day and a plug-in hybrid car it is unlikely to be worth it for OP even if she could have a smart meter.

That council tax makes my eyes water - just checked a few bandings of 4 bed victorian semi's in the town nearest us (which depending on the area range from 400k to over 1 mil) and they still only go up to F band which caps out at about 3k and two of those would have been VERY grand for a semi when the banding was done in 1991. Are you rural but very close to a city? Sounds like you picked a fab renovation project but ouch, that really is a lot. There's a 2 million quid 7 bedroom grade 2 listed georgian townhouse here thats still got cheaper council tax than you! Have you got that spread over 12 months or 10?

I haven't read all 30 pages

Everyone should be getting £60 automatic saving for their energy bill, each month from Oct to March as per the Government announcement

Yes, but as PP have explained: as a higher-rate tax payer she is unlikely to be any better off overall due to tax and lost Child Benefit.

Don't cut your pension. Sacrifice on food etc instead. You will thank yourself 1,000x over in 20-25 years.

The current market correction is the best time to invest. If anything, strive to increase.

I think your husband picking up a weekend job for the winter would be effective. Assuming he's around your age he should have stamina for it.

Dehumidifiers are horrifically expensive to run!

He needs to ensure that he factoring that in to his costa and it's tax deductible from his business expenses. He needs to look at dampproof wood storage instead.

The washing machine shouldn't be costing much - nappies only need washing at 40 degrees and ensure you have a full load.

An old crap electric oven and boiling the kettle full of water when not needed are super costly relative to what the do IYSWIM.

I would look at whether it's cheaper to beat the workshop than run the dehumidifier. Could the wood be stored in your office instead?

I'm still confused by the timelines and sums as well.

AIUI OP and DH were supported by PILs, along with DH's much younger sister until they went to university together (presumably at 18-20 from times)

They worked through college, OP started work on 16K. They had saved enough both for the deposit on a house and to cover the cost of renovations by the time they were in early/mid twenties.

They funded a house move, saved another 20k to fund future mat leave by the time the OP was latter twenties.

They also saved enough to buy a nearly new expensive plug in hybrid SUV outright from savings .

Then a couple of years ago the PiLs both died suddenly, without life insurance leaving under age daughter to live with the the OP.

The OP and DH inherited 17k of which 7k went straight to a long standing debt - (but the long standing debt presumably was there at the same time they had savings to buy a new car and fund mat leave?)

Mat leave came and went, during that time 6k was left over from mat leave and they had funds to refurbish parts of the home including a 5k workshop.

So AFAICS the only difference in circumstances is fuel bills and on 60k whilst saving 20k annually I'm struggling to see the actual problem (or the time).

As pp say - the title of the thread is ridiculous and a better title would be I earn £60k and I can't manage money"

Whilst I admire the desire to save for a pension, £750 per month during a cost of living crisis does not make sense when you have 35+ years left of working to contribute and are saying you can’t make ends meet. If you’re saying you actually contribute that, with tax savings you’re contributing close to a £1k (or have calculated it before tax which isn’t the same).

Also I live in an expensive part of the country in a 4 bed detached. My council tax band is F and is a little less than yours so either you have that wrong or you need to check it with the council.

Apols if I've missed this but you've still not said what your kwH usage is. Saying we paid £xxx per month last summer then £xxx in the autumn isn't the data you need. Ignore the monetary cost for now, find out what you've used in kwH over the last 12 months as a whole, calculate how much that will cost on your new rate, divide by 12, that's what your dd should be set at...

They don't sound miserable. Just a bit squeezed. The husband still has a great deal of earning capacity that currently is untapped, evenings and weekends. And the child will be in school reasonably soon. Plus the pet care costs are, sadly, only temporary.

This situation isn't dire enough to reduce the pension contributions.

I’m also astounded by the Council tax. We have a band G property and pay £314 per month - over 10 months.

Is your pension salary sacrifice, if so how much do you take home after pension deductions?

ThanksItHasPockets don't think the OP is in receipt of CB. It certainly seems the appointment with the IFA is sensible.

TBH, I'd still rather have enough money to enjoy my home and family while kids are young than be very well off in retirement having deprived the family of a bit of fun in younger years.

So a rather large update. I've just had an enlightening conversation with Bulb.

I'm £780 in bloody CREDIT. Last meter reading was submitted in August. They are still insisting I need to increase my DD to £410 minimum and that's including the discount from the government. I've said to cancel the direct debit and I'll pay for what I use and they've agreed my payments can come down to £367 via DD instead.. my usage last year at todays prices would be £310 and nothing has changed. I managed to get my meter readings from last year off them on the phone and had the spreadsheet set up to work this out.

It's still massive but much better than £470. I asked why they were suggesting putting them up when I'm so far in credit and just got 'it's an automated system that works it all out' response.

I'm still going to talk to an IFA though and look at where we can cut back elsewhere because from this thread, it looks like we're overspending in places and could be a lot more comfortable.

I'm with bulb (pre payment) and don't pay that much. I haven't put our heating on yet though. DD is always warm anyway so i wear extra layers. She gets too hot if I put it on before Winter.

FFS. Wonder how many others they’ve panicked with their stupid algorithm.

Good news though OP and at least it’s given you some other food for thought!

The way I am reading this is that between pension and rainy day you are saving £850 a month. Plus numerous insurances would be over £1k. Potentially it looks that you might be overpaying student loan too.

In the short term, reducing pension to minimum and student loan will give you breathing room, including a budget for birthdays/Christmas etc. By the time your little one is 3 in a year and a half, your husband will be able to work, at which time you can increase payments again.

Food bill is also ridiculously high. I meal plan, shop at Sainsbury's and cater all our meals as a family of 3 + 2 cats and don't pay more than £400 per month. We eat fresh, we have fish or other protein most days and also includes cleaning supplies and hygiene products.

I don't think £60k single salary is enough to be living a comfort lifestyle and saving £1k per month...

But my guess is dishwashing for me is less than 1/2 the cost of using a dishwasher. @GasPanic

Half the cost to hand wash but 5x the work.
I know which I would pick.

Good news on the energy discussion!

Honestly OP I'm not sure you need to speak to an IFA to reduce your outgoings more.

Many of the suggestions are easily implemented such as cutting down on shopping bill and going SIM only if you can for your phones. Also real focus on energy efficiency and cutting back any unnecessary usage where you can.

I'd focus on a couple of those for a month and see what difference it makes to the numbers.

Good luck OP - nothing to add except please don't take a previous poster's 'advice' to put your elderly, raw fed dog on Bakers dog food - that stuff is complete crap and will probably finish him off; it's the equivalent to feeding your toddler sugar sandwiches on plastic white bread 3 times a day.

Excellent. Honestly, the energy companies really aren't helping anyone with their ridiculous DD amounts.

Can you get a smart meter on garage workshop. I suspect that is burning through energy. Garages aren’t usually insulated properly. Is his sideline/hobby actually costing a lot. If he put it on hold could you rent the garage workshop out?