Found out we are nearly broke -

[Pollss]

I thought we were doing well but DH told me we are almost broke.

We are mid 40s & 2 kids in primary school.

Joint gross income is £68k.

We have £190k outstanding on the mortgage on a house worth £525k

We have about £15k in savings and DH has £10 company shares. The children have about £5k each in their ISAs.

i thought we were in a much better financial position. DH has always been a saver whilst I have been a spender. He handed me 6 months' credit card statements and there were just 100s of pointless transactions: coffee, pret, McDonald's, cinema trips costing £50 a piece.

DH doesn't talk to me about our finances because it usually ends in bickering. I was hoping to move to a larger house as our current one is too small but £525k gets you nothing in London.

what can i do to improve our finance situation

I would feel less rich. As would a lot of people.

I think the post is about the OP wants to move house but they are already spending all their money each month.

You can afford a dictionary. Look up the word broke.

@Pollss a good way to not spend is to actually give yourself a budget for misc spending / outings per month , put that in a separate account and keep track but once it’s gone it’s gone no topping it up . Or don’t take cards out , put some cash in your purse and then you literally cannot spend more than you have . Very simple but effective methods to avoid frittering money

You aren't broke but your earnings are below average for your age and for London. You can either move out of London and have the lifestyle you like or stay and have to be frugal, your mortgage is high for your wages. Obviously cutting out unnecessary spending will help but i cant see its enough to get a bigger property in London. You would need to earn significantly more.

This has to be a wind up??? Honestly get a grip if you think this is nearly broke!

I can sympathise op. I have 150k in savings and on the bones of my arse

Look into Debtors Anonymous

So essentially you thought you were doing well on 68k in London with kids? You ARE doing well with savings and a small mortgage:

however it is not your husbands fault that you spend with your eyes closed.

Who's putting cafe and cinema spends on credit card? I take it that is you? What are you actually asking here? Why you are so bad with money?
Start with general spending coming out of a current account and using credit cards for larger items so you can keep track of it.
Eat out less to save more, is pretty obvious to cut back on. That's what most sensible people are doing who feel the pinch.
This is your DH showing you in black and white that your spending is the reason you are not doing as well as you hoped. But in the grand scheme, you're not doing so bad.

Are the credit cards something that has built up a big debt? Or are they paid off each month and you're just shocked at how much goes through them?

If the latter then you're not broke or close to.
If you want to control your spending more and save then take this as a wake up call to watch your spending and not leave finances to your DH.

If you do have credit card debt then look at consolidating, transferring to a low rate card and stop spending on them. If you're struggling with minimum payments contact Stepchange (but if you have £15k savings...).

Do other people have more savings? Sure some do. But you have reasonable salaries, decent equity and some savings so stop with the drama.

They're not actually in debt (apart from mortgage) abd have savings.

Man I wish I was a broke as you.

I living in housing association property. I have £175 to last me 3 weeks. There is 1p in my savings account.

Thoughts and prayers, OP

OP has apologised – everyone needs to get off their high horses now.

Me too! 🤣 Bless.

Try unexpectedly redundant, no income, rent outstanding and only 2k in savings. I'd be breathing a sigh of relief at 15k in savings and a regular income. Calm down OP you're fine.

OMG!! Just because there are people worse off than the OP, doesn't mean her feelings are valued!!

People living on Foodbanks and have a home, are doing better than people in other countries, but people dont mention that.

Give over on the jealously.

This 😁
15 grand in your savings and five grand in each of your kids?
Yeah that's not broke lol

You probably should have saved more for each child by now on your income. You just need to agree a budget for extras like the ones you’ve described and decide how much to save.

Another idiot person who can't budget! I'll get my teeny, tiny violin out for you because my heart literally bleeds for your horrible situation 😞

Easy, it's called budgeting. I use iSavemoney app on my phone. It's brilliant.

Cut out useless spend.

This has got to be a wind up post?!

I'd love to be that 'broke' 😂

Ignoring the whole 'nearly broke' madness (and assuming you're not a troll)
obviously OP the solution is to completely rein in your spending on unnecessary shite. A gross joint income of £68 K in London isn't massively huge so I think you were unreasonable to think you'd be able to easily trade up to a bigger house in London.

Just start actually paying attention to what you spend and then make a budget. We have a larger household income than you and don't live in London and I still keep an eye on my spending on coffees etc. They're a treat, not an accepted daily expense.

Get a grip, you are not broke if you've got £15k in savings! Broke is when you can't pay bills or eat properly 🙄

If you were in debt you would be broke with no savings. Can you pay off your debt with your savings? Stop overspending. Can you work from home move further out of London. Release equity but have a better home?

Everyone has their comfort zone re finances; your DH obviously has surpassed his.
He's the saver, you're the spender and your petty daily expenditures have mounted up and he's not liking it.
You have money invested etc...but your DH is right, not enough to continue on in the life goals you hope to achieve.
It's expensive, ( and totally unnecessary) to spend on stuff like lattes, cinema-going, McDonalds? so expensive! restaurants, take out, not shopping the sales.
You can cut back a lot. Get a notebook and jot down everything you spend on.
Guarantee you'll be shocked at how quickly stuff you don't really need mounts up.
It does sound like this is a thing between you and DH, you can cut back, you won't be alone, don't worry, everyone I know has either always done that, or is learning fast to do it.