to cash in my childrens savings plans?

[kaz33]

We are in debt, for several years since the boys were born (8,6) we have been struggling with debt. I gave up my lucrative job and we bought a house we could not afford (only three beds but nice area)

DH just got a £20K bonus, and have just paid off over £10k. We are roughly £30k in debt but finally we are earning enough to maintain our comfortable but not totally extravagant lifestyle.

The boys have got about £7.5k in their savings plan I want to cash them in and pay off some more of our debt.

Is this totally immoral ? What would you do?

I'm not scared of harsh words

It is a lot.

I have no sympathy.

They have had fun spending money that isn't theirs and now they want to take the money saved for the kids to pay it back.

If London is so expensive, move.

Can you move to a suburb outside of London? You both have cars and are driving to work anyway and (presumably) paying congestion charge. Would it be possible to move a bit further out? The increased petrol costs and possibly childcare would surely not be more than you'd be saving on your massive mortgage.

I know moving costs a lot, and the DC would need to change schools but, frankly, it sounds very much as though you can't afford your house. If it was 40% of your income before you dropped from £70k to £19k then....

Ah, just seen it was 40% of your income after you gave up your job.

Still far too much money to be spending on a house. What were you thinking?

They were thinking they wanted to keep up with the Jones'.

Sorry, that was quite accusatory, I sort of meant - what was it about? To be near good schools, nice are, low crime rate etc. Or was it just, this is what I feel I should do.

Moving costs a bomb though with stamp duty etc. What's done is done. My guess is though that it's easy to look ahead without factoring in maternity leave and dropping to part time etc. So easy to forget that incomes go down as well as up.

I think spreadsheets need to be put together and costs looked at and things cut back on. Even with 40% of monthly income going on mortgage, that still leaves 60% of £70K salary for everything else.

Really you should be able to put away a few hundred a month.

(I thought 40% was about normal - it is round here anyway )

40% is very high - should be about 25% of income to be spent on mortgage - def no more than 333%

can you downsize to a 2bed house why prices are still highish (pay off debt) try and get some savings and maybe in 5 years time buy a 3bed again?

33% even

Ah bless you - I don't really have a choice. I refuse to go bankrupt - we borrowed the money so we are damn well going to pay it back unless we are about to become homeless. We still use credit cards but as part of our budget - i.e we buy all the fuel on them then pay off the full balance every month so don't use them as loans anymore. It is good to use credit cards as it keeps your credit rating high as long as you pay them off every time you get a bill and don't just pay the minimum payment. You earn a lot of money between you tbh - our joint salary is 31500. Unless your mortage is about 2k a month (in which case downsize) I think you are not budgeting very well if at all. That debt could be gone in 2 years max if you try.

We can now easily afford our lifestyle. It is just the debt stops us from planning ahead.

Our house is just a three bed 1930's semi in a good area, good schools etc..

Standing orders including mortgage is about £2200, debt repayments about £800. Income is £5100 pcm so we have just over £2K to clothe, feed us etc... A very decent income I admit.

kaz33 "We can now easily afford our lifestyle. It is just the debt stops us from planning ahead."

Clearly you can't if you are still carrying 30k in debt. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

I totally understand the new toys with my DH it is cars, computers and golf clubs. I really do think that we have turned a corner though and really want to make this work.

fuck a duck

you have £2k a month for food/clothes etc LEFTOVER

so £24K a year roughly

surely you can manage to save £18K and have £500 a month for that

in 2 years you would be paid off

Yeah, you can afford to live day to day but not pay off a debt. The debt is part of your life now.

How old is your DH? He sounds about 18, you can't have new toys when you have a large debt, a big mortgage and a couple of kids.

Well you can, but you will never get away from it and all it will take is one thing changing and the whole house of cards will come down around you.

Good lord, I wish I had that sort of money to play with. I also with I had a 'just 3 bedroom' house.

Some people don't know they're born.

Stop spending so much on stuff you don't actually need and pay off your debt.

Very, very, simple.

Kaz33, sorry I'm going to again now.
You have £2k a month leftover and you want to take money ou of your DC's savings???
Even if you just spent half that, you'd pay off £12k in a year and if your DH got another bonus, almost all of it.
Is this a DM journo wind up thread because from where I'm sitting I can't see your problem at all.
Your DH needs to stop spending money he can't afford and grow up.

If you can't manage on this income then frNkly you never will - this is a ridiculous thread. See a financial adviser.

Work out everything you pay out - even if it's 'just' £10, £20, £30 , if it can be cut, cut it. It all adds up. Contract phones, SKY, downsize internet speed, days out that are costing £100+ that you probably don't think about, downsizing a car if's it's sore on petrol. It'll be abit crap if you are used to lving very freely for a while, but when it's paid off just think - the 7.5 of the kids will be there, £800 a month of debt repayment will be freed up and you can spend that guilt free (or save so big purchases aren't put back on credit cards). You need some self discipline, leave their money alone and think how good it will be knowing you and DH did it yourself. A few years you will have it great, write it out on a calendar so you can see the exact date you will be debt free. Mark out every 5k less, you will feel such achievement and hopefully then when you have more money again DH and yourself will learn to 'respect' it more. DO you want to give us a monthly breakdown? Can you go intrest only for a while? (very last thing I'd do though) or a payment holiday even for a month or so will pay a chunk. YOu are not talking having it rough for 5 + years, just about 2. Think back 2 years to now - ie/ if you did it then you would be fine now. You can do this

Ok I shall give you the benefit of the doubt here as I was a bit at £2k spare. Does that include food, fuel, clothes, going out? Have you included all bills in the £2200 standing orders (car tax, insurance etc?). Considering food could be £500 a month (although you can drop that down if you shop sensibly) and fuel on two cars could be £350 a month then it is not as bad as it sounds but even so you could easily put £500 away each month if not more. You sound like you need to make the decision to change your lifestyle to pay off this debt and stick with it. Difficult if your hubby is not complying though...

No that does not include car insurance/tax, childcare after school + holidays, school meals, petrol,

And actually it is more than that, just checked my figures it is £2465 on standing orders and £800 debt repayments. So about £1700

Anyway I should step away and this wasn't really why I came.

Why did you then?

Consensus is no don;t raid the children's savings, which is what you came for.

We live in a 3 bed in London too so am guessing your council tax bills etc can't be miles off the mark - what on earth are you spending all your money on? I'm on mat leave and DH earns less than half your DH, our mortgage is probably 40% so the proportion going on bills each month for us will be higher, yet we are saving every month and shop at twatrose .

WTF is going on? Clearly your DH should not be going out spending £££ on digital cameras gadgets golf clubs what have you, but still you seem to have a lot of very expensive regular payments. Expensive gym memberships? Top end sky package? Have you actually looked into your bills car insurance etc to check you are getting the best deals?

I am flabergasted.

Exacty herbie, exactly.

This thread is ridiculous.