Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

Worried about our finances

43 replies

Bezzie81 · 17/02/2023 17:44

Hi everyone

I’m a bit stressed about our finances.

we’re in our early 40’s 2 kids and 2 cats! We have a decent income between us but I’m worried that our outgoings are very high. We have a fair amount of debt that we are reducing on top of the mortgage. I don’t want to share the exact amounts.

we take home £6600 per month between us our mortgage, bills, food, debt payments and literally every last thing comes to £4200. This will get better in 2 years when some of the debts end.

our mortgage is likely to increase by about £300 when our fixed rate ends in June.

i’m probably overthinking it but I feel stressed and worried that we are so over committed

OP posts:
OnlyFoolsnMothers · 17/02/2023 17:46

£2400 spare cash- reducing to £2100- you’ll be fine OP

isthewashingdryyet · 17/02/2023 17:48

You are overthinking this, you have plenty left over.

But you really need to get rid of all your debts, and then set up savings goals and pensions so you can have the same standard of living when you retire , and can afford to educate your kids through Uni.

Plexie · 17/02/2023 17:48

You have over £2k a month left over after all bills (including food) and that's stressing you?

corlan · 17/02/2023 17:48

You have more spare than a lot of us earn in wages every month. Why are you so stressed?

CantFindTheBeat · 17/02/2023 17:48

OP,

Have you got a list of everything you are spending each month (with online banking, it's easy to do if you haven't)?

What's your concern at the moment? Are you saving the money left over? Can you use it to pay down your debt more quickly?

Nowtsure · 17/02/2023 18:04

Not one to say this, but a bit tone deaf.

You can't possibly be worrying about having over £2000 left after every single expense. That's just about the salary, or slightly more for some households.
I don't get it, except I've missed something

Janedoe82 · 17/02/2023 18:09

Have you included food and petrol? If so you are being a bit silly

PinkFrogss · 17/02/2023 18:12

Not sure why you’re stressing when you have a £2k surplus.

Overpay the debt as much as possible to clear it quicker.

Caterina99 · 17/02/2023 18:14

Do you genuinely have over 2k left every month? Or is that what you should have, but it’s getting eaten up by random spending?

If you do have 2k left then put it into savings/pension/debt payments etc so you can’t easily spend it and look at how to cut down on unnecessary spending so you can increase the savings

Coffeellama · 17/02/2023 18:15

I don’t understand… over 2k left over OP! Do you have any savings? If so I’d be upping the debt repayments a bit to finish them off sooner. If not I’d be saving some.

Cuddlycheetah · 17/02/2023 18:18

Oh no OP.

What made you think that posting about your £2K "fun money" during a COL crisis was a smart idea?

And what job do you that pays so much for minimal smarts (I'm keen!) 😊

AlmostSummer21 · 17/02/2023 18:20

My heart bleeds.

you have £2000 per month AFTER debt & bills. How do you cope?!

Why are you not paying more off your debt with the excess?

AuroraForever · 17/02/2023 18:21

This makes no sense! Are you saying you have over £2k left and it’s not enough? Or are you saying you have over £2k left but then spend all that on other stuff? Either way you are in a better position than a hell of a lot of other people.

Iamclearlyamug · 17/02/2023 18:22

Christ, your surplus every month is my entire monthly wage.

I think you'll be fine 🙄

Paperplanesfly · 17/02/2023 18:25

You have more left after you have paid for everything than our entire take home income so I am not too worried about you not being able to cope.

Namechanger355 · 17/02/2023 18:29

Cuddlycheetah · 17/02/2023 18:18

Oh no OP.

What made you think that posting about your £2K "fun money" during a COL crisis was a smart idea?

And what job do you that pays so much for minimal smarts (I'm keen!) 😊

To be fair to op this is in money matters and not the cost of living forum

op mentions she has debt so perhaps that’s what’s worrying her or it could be she is saving up for something - house Reno, etc. so for whatever reason she is annoyed about only having £2k spare each month and is asking for advice

no need to be rude to op for a genuine question!

Coffeellama · 17/02/2023 18:31

Namechanger355 · 17/02/2023 18:29

To be fair to op this is in money matters and not the cost of living forum

op mentions she has debt so perhaps that’s what’s worrying her or it could be she is saving up for something - house Reno, etc. so for whatever reason she is annoyed about only having £2k spare each month and is asking for advice

no need to be rude to op for a genuine question!

Show quote history

What exactly was OPs question then?

IloveRickyGervaisAndHisTeeth · 17/02/2023 18:32

Iamclearlyamug · 17/02/2023 18:22

Christ, your surplus every month is my entire monthly wage.

I think you'll be fine 🙄

This

Ariela · 17/02/2023 18:33

Is it that you mean you only have £2k left to pay off the debts? Which are high debts and you're worrying about increasing interest rates etc?

Look at cutting every conceivable cost out, and paying off the highest interest rate debts first.

Reluctantadult · 17/02/2023 18:39

Look up debt snowball.
But yeah I agree with everyone else!

ElliF · 17/02/2023 19:15

So, you have £2400 spare cash in your budget after everything is taken off including food and fuel.

You realise that is more money than half of the people on MN earn in a month?
You realise you are one of the top 10% of all earning families in the UK, and in the top 2% of all families in the world?!

When the richest families in the UK are coming on MN asking for reassurance that they have enough free money each month, I have to wonder about what leads to such ignorance.

You didn’t need to post your wealth to be told the blatantly obvious, so I presume you’re just looking for sympathy and reassurances that the rich will not suffer as much as the poor.

Why you have debts with a £2400 surplus in your budget I can only assume is an enjoyment of paying too much for things that would be cheaper if you didn’t pay interest on them. That interest may be what you have to give up as the economy tanks.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 17/02/2023 19:16

Surely with 2k spare you could easily throw another 1k a month at your debt

HVPRN · 17/02/2023 19:43

Please don't worry, something tells me you'll be just fine 🙃 take care.

OutDamnedSpot · 17/02/2023 19:55

Wow.

fairgame84 · 17/02/2023 19:59

Interesting first post 🙄