£412

[headaches80]

Hello everyone.

I’m quite meticulous with budgeting.
mortgage rate has gone up again. I’ve just done my forward planning calculation.

After all bills/ direct debits/ standing orders (all essential stuff like mortgage, energy, c tax, TV licence, life insurance) I have calculated that we have £412 per month left.

This is for food, clothes, gifts, any school trips and unexpected bills. also to include petrol.

I’ve not included the insurance (car, home/contents) etc which I tend to get annually (I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it).

I spend around £30 a fortnight on petrol (getting to work). I downsized my car to pay for Christmas.

How are you splitting your £412 in my shoes? This is joint income, 2 adults and two teens. Both adults working full time.

I’m thinking

£200 shopping
£60 petrol
£40 unexpected/ school trips
£100 left over (will get eaten up no doubt)

its not a lot :(

I know I can sell stuff on Vinted. I don’t have loads of extra to sell and intend to save this option for use ahead of birthdays etc, I made £200 recently ahead of sons bday.

I’m thinking of ditching the TV usage (making licence fee not nec).

if Martin Lewis is correct, I’ll save 17% on energy bills. This will save me an extra £42.50

Any extra income streams or savings that I’ve not thought of?

The most logical solution is to increase your income.

What are your current income streams - can you ask for a raise at your work? If not can you apply for more well paid jobs. My friend was in your shoes and I convinced him to apply for a role at a company I knew and hes now £800 a month better off with very basic skills.

How old are the teenagers? Can they work.

Unfortunately I have no advice, I'm just in shock really that two FT workers have a budget which looks incredibly tight (is this what the UK has become!?)

Thanks for your message.

Teenager 1 is 17. He is studying for a’levels. He’s doing a Saturday job and that pays for his driving lessons and spends. I could ask him do do a weekday evening shift and contribute. I’d feel very guilty and worry about the impact on his studying. I’ll do this if necessary. Younger teen not old enough to work yet.

I’m going to post on local fb group and see if I can get some babysitting, cleaning, ironing or something to bump it up a little more.

We both have good jobs but in the public sector. This means we work hard for pretty mediocre salaries. We live in an expensive ish area in the Midlands. Moving is an option but it would cost so much in fees/ solicitors etc. It would be a big decision but definitely a long term consideration.

The COL crisis has crippled us. We used to muddle on by pretty well but are bills are up £5-600/m on this time 18m ago.

I think this will be tight with 2 teenagers.
I would be trying to extend the years on the mortgage or making it interest free for a few years. This could free up a considerable amount to use each month though it will extend the length of the mortgage.
Selling stuff is a good idea.
I'd get clothes and uniform secondhand.

I don't like debt but if you think this is a temporary blip and things will improve through pay rises, mortgage costs reducing etc then I would get a loan to tide us over.

We are not entitled to any benefits! I’ve checked that out already.

Could you apply for a better paid job within the public sector? When was your last salary rise?

I would have thought you'd spend the £412 on food alone! How are you doing it for £200?☹️

You or your husband need to take on a second job. Sounds dire. Have you debt?

how much do you both earn OP?

No debt except mortgage.

We are both graduates.

I’m a teacher … haven’t had a pay rise for years (but you’ve read the news)! If I get my 6% I might get another £60 a month!

If you’re a teacher is tutoring doable to increase your income? Locally to me (Scotland) tutors were charging £25-£40 an hour when my ds left school 3 years ago

Can you take a mortgage holiday? I did that for a few months once.

Yes, I’ve thought of this. I’d have to register as self employed and pay for public liability insurance. This might affect my tax payments- although I’m no expert. I’m not sure if cash in hand work cleaning/ babysitting would be more straightforward.

A friend has suggested I register with a supply agency for bank staff for private nurseries during the summer holiday so I’m going to do that.

My daughter (13) is keen to look into a little craft business and sell stuff on Etsy etc. this way she’ll be able to buy her own clothes like her brother does! She is currently looking into cheap options to start her up!

is your daughter into fashion? Etsy is very over saturated but I know of a few young people who make a decent living buying cheap clothing and reselling on vinted. One who's making over £100k and ships in vintage clothes in bulk from abroad.

Seriously, I can't see how you can do that.

I mean, if you put £30 of petrol in every fortnight, that is actually £67.50 pm, not £60, as there are 4.5 weeks a month. Seems pedantic, but it seems that is where you are.
I am 'tight' when it comes to shopping and am amazed at how much people spend on some of the threads on here, but I don't think I could feed 2 adults and 2 teens for £45 pw.
The insurances will come round too.
You can do without buying birthday presents, and even school trips for a while, but it seems like you aren't even hitting the basics.

How good is your dd at face paint? We recently went to a fundraising event at a local fire station, someone was charging £5/child for a crappy glitter tattoo/sticker thing on the kids faces. There was a constant queue. We refused to pay it but I’d definitely pay for decent face painting at an event like that. She could sign up to summer fairs and events to make some cash. One of my DDs has asked me if she can do it.

As for your situation the only thing I can think of is food banks. We have a few around us, some official ones were you have to apply but several community based ones run by locals who don’t ask questions.

I also know it’s a big MN no no but you could look at something like body shop at home. There are a few school mums that do it, some have done pretty well through it. They also sell at summer and school fairs.

There is also a teacher at my DDs school who sells perfume dupes for extra cash.

I know a woman who trawls car boots and charity shops and sells on eBay & vinted. She’s very good and knows her brands. Her kids do it too as they are up on teenagers brands.

No debt except mortgage.

Then your mortgage must be absolutely enormous. Can it be refinanced? If it’s going up you’re on a variable rate, not fixed - why is that?

You must have either very low wages for 2x FT public servants, or very high expenses somehow.

What are all your incomings and outgoings? £400 left with no debt repayments is honestly the lowest I think I’ve seen ever on 2x FT wages and no debt. There are people on debt repayment plans with more leftover every month, AND they are saving for their insurance etc.

What about car repairs or maintenance? House repairs like boiler etc?

I’m sorry to hear this OP. Have you thought of scouring charity shops and selling on? One shop I know weekly receives brand new items from Zara, another from Next, another from Amazon, and a fourth has lots of silk scarves. The dealers don’t always get there before Joe Public.

I am 'tight' when it comes to shopping and am amazed at how much people spend on some of the threads on here, but I don't think I could feed 2 adults and 2 teens for £45 pw.

It can be done, may not be the most luxurious food but when your desperate needs must.

I did a donation shop today. We’ve had a tough 6 months but today I was in a position to buy some bits for a local food bank. I bought:

3 each the following items - boxs of cereal, jars of pasta sauce, spaghetti, sandwich paste, bags of penne pasta, shower gels, sanitary pads, hand washes, long life milk, large bags of rice, tins of beans, tins of spaghetti hoops, single serve pasta meals (e.g macaroni cheese), tins of rice pudding, tins of peaches, tins of carrots, packets of instant noodles, boxs of cup a soups

2 each of the following items - pack of 4 packs of biscuits, large bottles of cordial

i think 5/6 packs of baby pouches ( I just grabbed a handful)

The total cost of the shop was £44.75 but that included a bag of things for me (bag of fries, cream crackers, 2 packs of dog treats, cotton pads & buds, big bottle of pop for my DH, tin of rice pudding & beans, punnet of raspberries, 2 punnets of cherries, small snack punnet of grapes and a cucumber)

Of course the donated food isn’t fresh, no meat etc as I can’t donate that, but I managed to buy a lot of food for under £45 including some toiletries. I also paid for 5 shopping bags, but needed to grab 5 more when I got home to put everything in.

Hope you can make this work OP. Few options (all for which you’d have your hand snapped off for where I live);

• Babysitting - presumably your DBS checked - advertise as such and anything like first aid. Mention it to all your appropriate networks
• after school babysitter / nanny for child/children at your school 2/3 nights a week (the going rate is £15 for this around me) and could include informal tutoring. Give them colouring whilst you finish in the classroom and then take them back to their home.
• holiday nannying, particularly for families with pre-school children. Lots of clubs won’t accept them, but pre-schools are sometimes school hours and it makes that year before school starts super hard. Again, put feelers out to any parents you have a good relationship with

Is your mortgage very high? It might be worth breaking down your income and outgoings ?

I agree that your outgoings seem high with no other debt. Did you finance to the max on the mortgage? Long term I really think that you need to move if you are not in negative equity. If you are then refinancing has to be looked at. Dont forget that if you are earning too much for any sort of benefits then you will be expected to contribute a lot to your eldest when/if they go the uni in the next year or so.

Dont ringfence any savings you have as "untouchable" if you have any. Situations like this are exactly what savings are for.

Feel like there are some ignorant posters on here OP - sorry to see it. I think people on higher incomes simply don’t understand that if you work in the public sector even having 2 full time incomes just means nothing anymore. Can’t believe people suspect debts etc.

If you are secondary, could you apply for exam marking. I am sure there may be exam boards who still need examiners this season. It will give you about £1000 after tax.