How are you doing financially? (COVID19)

[DreamChaser23]

Is your job at risk? If you have lost your job how has job hunting been?

I honestly don't know. We have savings. I should get a backdated contract when the hiring freeze is lifted. Almost the only other jobs available are care work, so I haven't seriously considered them.

A lot better off.

We applied for the mortgage holiday and they were accepting everyone’s applications. Did that at the start as we didn’t know how much my asthma would restrict my husband’s ability to pick up shifts working in the hospital. And a lot was unknown back then.

Then we all got it anyway, I was fine, and his work was so busy he’s taken even more shifts than usual (which pay £500 per day).

I’m on mat leave so no change.

So, three months of mortgage payments in the savings account plus a monthly income that’s much higher than we had before. He works hard for it, twelve hour night shifts with covid patients and a&e, and I know what a ridiculously privileged and fortunate position we are in. Like it still surprises me we have been this lucky to get through this financially well.

Just wanted to share now for some people it’s actually been a financial boost.

Managing to save a bit rather than break even like we usually do.
DH is a key worker, wfh so his job is safe and I'm on mat leave. DS1 isn't going to nursery anymore and we're not doing activities/going swimming etc so we're spending less.
The savings will come in useful when mat leave runs out as I'm not sure whether I'll be able to go back to work or how long it'll take me to find something else.

We’re fine, thankfully. I work in public sector, which I’m massively grateful for at moment. Until a few years ago I was self employed and then private sector prior to that and would certainly have been in financial difficulties in those positions.

DH was furloughed but only for 3 weeks and was paid 100% pay. He’s now back to work and busy so hopefully all is ok there.

I realise we are very very fortunate at the moment where finances are concerned

Marginally better.

Purely in fact as a keyworker I've carried on working.

But I've wfh for periods and so saved petrol.

Saved on swimming competitions etc for DS. These add £££s to monthly budgets - especially because this is the time of year you do regional and national comps.

Plus petrol to training and comps.

Also saved on things like take out coffees but not a huge difference because we've treated ourselves to various take outs from local independent businesses instead to support them.

But all that I'd saved went on furniture and home stuff at the weekend as I've finally been able to afford to do stuff to the house I did t have some spare funds for before!

ChrystallineHamster - may I ask what your DH does in hospital for £500 per shift? I have had a mis-spent youth.

I run my own business (it's wedding and travel related) so i've had almost no income since March. As we are a limited company we don't get government support.

Life is cheaper than normal at the moment and we have savings so it's fine but it's a bit depressing to see your business you built from scratch be decimated.

About the same. We both WFH anyway and DD wasn't in childcare although was due to start. I did see a slight dip in work and also I had planned my work with the belief DD would be in nursery so had to adjust deadlines again, so I claimed the government grant for self-employed. I've had a decent amount of work now starting up again though.

Zoe that's the harsh reality for so many and it makes me feel guilt in some way that as public sector I've been safe. It's had its problems etc because of lag freezes and budget cuts for years.
But for once we are extremely lucky - and I do realise it.

Otterseatpuffinsdontthey

He’s a doctor, just doing locum work. Which means usually being on a crash team, so racing to emergencies around the hospital when patients in different wards have emergencies. He has been qualified as a doctor for around three years. He’s on a break from his usual nhs salary work as we’ve had a baby and he’ll never be able to spend much time at home again. He only planned to work a few shifts per month but has taken on loads more due to the pandemic.

Trust me he feels kinda grubby taking that kinda money. Lots of doctors only locum because of it, and it costs the nhs a bomb as a result, they can’t get them to agree to be employed by a trust. DH won’t be locum working past this first 6-12m of our baby’s life but it helps bring some cash in while being with baby a fair bit more than he’d have managed otherwise. If he hadn’t done this then he’d have seen him for the first two weeks and then barely at all. And it’s been a rough journey so I’ve been so glad of him home.

Honestly? It’s been a rollercoaster. Like @zoemum2006 DH has a ltd company that pays no business rates, which was effectively shut down from day 1 of lockdown. Fortunately, I have a full time public sector job. So we took all the payment holidays we could and claimed what we could and DH had to get another job. It’s been at times, hair raisingly tight but we’ve been ok. Now though, as payment holidays are coming to an end and the wolves at the door aren’t willing to be sympathetic much longer , with everything opening up again, it’s a worry but we have some sort of a plan and with a wing and a prayer we’ll get through I’m sure.

Finance wise we are better off, no extortionate private nursery fees, no fuel costs, no eating out etc..my savings have rocketed.
We are fortunate in this sense that we are both still working I even still got my bonus this year.
However in all other aspects it has been terrible we are shielding my partner due to chronic illness with a four year old in tow and we all miss our family and friends terribly.
I worry constantly about the detriment to our child not being able to socialise properly not to mention how exhausting it is both of us working full time and entertaining our daughter effectively without relying on the TV too much. I hate it when we run out of things as we can’t just nip to the shop like everyone else etc...
So yes financially fine ..In all other aspects this is a complete shit show!

Started off pretty awful tbh. No income and living on credit cards.

Both me and DP are self employed in non key worker industries. I have a holiday let business which is obviously still closed and DP is sign maker.

Luckily DP has been able to get lots of work doing COVID and social distancing signs in the last month/six weeks. He was also able to get a £20k loan from the bank and paid off all the business debts and credit cards. No repayments for 12 months and a fab interest rate. We tried to get a similar loan last year and were turned down. He also has the self employed grant.

My business is registered for business rate relief so I got the £10k grant which has paid off the credit cards we were living on (family of 6) and has paid all my overheads for my business etc since March.

Obviously we've not been spending on going out, I got a few refunds for cancelled school trips and other things. We had a three month holiday on our mortgage. I'd say we are in a slightly better position now. As long as the tourism industry can get back up running in the next month or two we'll be fine.

Slightly better. Nursery hasn't charged to retain the place so we've saved the fees for 3 months. DH has been furloughed so we've saved on petrol. However his wages were curtailed at 80%.

Better off, been able to save loads. No wraparound care costs, no travel costs.

Not spending much but had to claim Job Seeker Allowance when we went into lockdown when I found myself between jobs. Was relying on getting temp work to tide me over but this seems worryingly unlikely in the foreseeable future. Not sure how I’m going to live on £76.00 per week when my savings have been used up. I’m an ex-teacher and no wolf at the door will persuade me back into a school.

Better off. DH still wfh so on full pay and not spending on petrol, train fares, meals out, hair cuts, visits to coffee shops. Not bothered with new clothes, shoes etc that I'd normally buy regularly and can't see a reason to go back to my days of over-indulgence.

Slightly better off, which I didn't expect at all. I'm a freelancer and very, very fortunately one client's business has grown massively in the past couple of months (online retail) and they have needed me much more. I'm also able to work from home all the time anyway so feeling very lucky. I'm technically still getting paid quite a low rate but feeling much more secure than I did at the start of lockdown.

DH lost his job in April so living off savings, praying he can find something before our mortgage is due to be paid again (took a holiday) but he’s found it very bleak.

I’m so jealous of people saying they are better off but hoping that means maybe the recession won’t be so painful.

Better off. Both of us have stable jobs and we can wfh. We know we are very fortunate.

We've done incredibly well. We've managed to save a lot. My dh has a job that went crackers during this. So he's been non stop. We're both in IT. So my job also went nuts. We aren't spending what we were. We didn't get a mortgage holiday either. As it has to be paid back. On top. With interest it seems. Not many were spreading the cost.

We had a lot in savings to begin with though. So it wouldn't of worried us unless it had been for years. But neither of us were furloughed.

DH's income is unchanged, he's wfh and saving a little on commute costs, but increased food costs (he used to get free lunches at work). He's in the private sector but his job is secure. I already wfh with my limited company but I've furloughed myself, and that's worked out fine, as I was already reducing my work anyway due to having DD. Saving money on toddler classes and entertainment, but I'm about to fork out for a few nursery sessions as it's the only way to allow DD to have social interaction right now. DS was already claiming UC and he's had an increase, which we're helping him put aside for savings (he doesn't need it as he lives at home).

My job hasn’t been affected (infact I’ve been able to work more) but dh has. He quickly found a new job to fill the gap which pays a lot less but keeps him busy. We are better off at the moment because we aren’t spending.
It’s made us realise how little we can live on and how much we can send to savings.

Slightly better off just now due to saving a bit as I've had nothing to spend it on and no child care. I'm a teacher so in the short term my job is fine and the school have actually just recruited several members of staff. However, I'm old for a teacher these days and therefore expensive and as the cuts really begin to bite I'm bracing myself that my job could be at risk.... that's for the future though, right now I'm fine and am caught in the spend it save dilemma.
Spending spree = better for the economy.
Saving = more long term security for me.

Poor but because I broke it off with my partner. I have a public sector school job - very low pay but safe.

I also own a 2nd property which I desperately need to sell but I can't because I can't give notice to the tenants.

Because of the property (I don't make any income - it was a situation that arose from getting divorced) I can't claim benefits. We don't have enough cash flow to eat properly so I am getting into debt. I wouldn't be if it weren't for Corona because I could sell my asset.