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Original poster

£412

241 replies

headaches80 · 25/05/2023 22:33

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?

OP posts:
Tallguy202 · 26/05/2023 05:58

I’m not sure which age group or discipline/subject you teach but a friend of mine gets £40-45 an hour doing online private tuition to rich families to help their children get the required grades to get into Uni. Baby sitting or possibly cleaning are options. Exam marking pays well over the summer break and there is clearly demand. But it sounds like you have a huge mortgage so any money extra you get in I suggest you pay it off the mortgage to get the monthly payments down rather than spend the income on day to day living. This will give you better ongoing cash flow but to be honest, I would really like to see a full breakdown of income and expenditure. Selling things for a fiver on eBay or Etsy isn’t going to solve the long term problem you have. As for downsizing your car to pay for Christmas, would you have been better using that money to pay off part of the mortgage?

openstop · 26/05/2023 06:02

Move house?
Get a better paid job?

I had to move jobs as it was getting silly.

Exasperatednow · 26/05/2023 06:03

Truestorypeeps · 25/05/2023 22:50

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!?)

Yes

openstop · 26/05/2023 06:04

isthewashingdryyet · 26/05/2023 05:57

Struggling to see how you have so little left.
income - approx £4000 from two teachers at about 30k salary each
direct debits for council tax and utilities-£1000
annual insurances for cars and house etc -£500 a month
so being generous about £1800 a month on essential bills.
Mortgage - is this really £1600 or more a month to give you just £412 left over for food and petrol ?

you both need a second job if this is the case.

I imagine life insurance costs a bit too but yes curious to the mortgage payments. I know mine shot up at the end of fixed rate

SeasonFinale · 26/05/2023 06:05

Tutoring or exam marking are the obvious ones if you are a teacher.

You would need to register as self employed and pay tax if you do cleaning and have insurance too so no different to tutoring but you would be able to earn between £25/45 an hour tutoring.

Original poster
headaches80 · 26/05/2023 06:06

There are some fabulous suggestions here, thank you so much.

I have done a full and proper breakdown for income and expenditure- I’ve done it every month since September last year. I’ve not accounted for problems such as possible car repairs/ boiler break down etc. the insurances are all due in November. That’ll be about £5-£600 and I’ll need to start saving for that. I make sure to go down to £0 every month but haven’t gone overdrawn yet. I do have an overdraft I can use for ‘emergencies’. My parents always taught me never to have debt so I’m programmed not to!

My petrol costs were an estimate. I can get this down slightly by not using the car at weekends (although I only really use it to do the Aldi shop). There are also a couple of colleagues that live fairly close by so I am thinking of suggesting car sharing a couple of days a week.

I’m definitely going to get my daughter on the case with me. She would really enjoy some charity/ boot sale shopping and then selling on (possibly upcycling etc). It’s half term next week so it’s a good time to get started. This will also solve the problem of no money to occupy her over the Summer holiday.

Yes, I’m DBS checked. I think some babysitting in the evening might be the quickest way to get some extra funds. I’m usually too exhausted to do anything in the evenings but I’ll put a post on my local Facebook page advertising myself for Saturday night as a start at least.

When I said no debt, I forgot about our student loans. We loose a couple of hundred to this each month, this comes straight out of our wages.

Regarding food, I’ve been doing the lunch duty at school. Although this is unpaid, it does get me a free school meal that I don’t have to then pay for. This in Monday-Friday term time but is a good meal. I just have toast then at home.

I’m lucky that my children really like toast, noodles, eggs, pasta etc and don’t eat an awful lot!

OP posts:
ThankmelaterOkay · 26/05/2023 06:07

So you both went to university 20 years ago? Aka no/low fees. You are late 40s, early 50s?

I don’t see how you don’t both earn £40k+. Unless you are paying insane pension contributions, your take home would be like £4000-5000.

A crazy drip feed is not going to go well here OP.

isthewashingdryyet · 26/05/2023 06:08

Teachers pension gives life cover - a massive lump sum if you die in service. Don’t need both.
And if not contributing to teachers pension then take home pay would be over £4k a month, and would be the difference down to £4k a month

TallerThanAverage · 26/05/2023 06:08

Downsizing your car to pay for Christmas is utterly ridiculous. You could have saved that money straight away. Presumably it was for more than a couple of hundred pounds. At 13 and 17 I would have spoken to my children and explained the situation.

Lwoj · 26/05/2023 06:09

If I the only debt you have is your mortgage alone that needs to be refinanced. I would speak to a mortgage broker who can look at this for you and most are free. They could increase the term and some fixed rates are getting more affordable. Alternatively Depending on who your mortgage provider is they will have a financial difficulty area who, if you are prepared to go through an income and expenditure could offer you a temporary lower payment to help. Remember they don’t want you defaulting either.

sunsunsunsunx · 26/05/2023 06:09

This thread has actually made me really sad. How can 2 adults working full time be living like this. It's no life.

openstop · 26/05/2023 06:09

AliceMcK · 25/05/2023 23:48

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.

Show quote history
  1. No she can't go to a food bank unless she's struggling to buy food. It's not for people to help them stretch out their income - it's for people who cannot afford to eat. If at the end of the month OP can't afford it then fine.
  1. Really don't get involved in MLMs.
Overthebow · 26/05/2023 06:11

What is your household income and what are your main expenses? You must have a very large mortgage for the midlands if you’re only left with £400 per month. If you’re a full time teacher who’s been working a while and your DH also works full time you just have decent salaries, you have no childcare and no debts apart from not huge student loans.

openstop · 26/05/2023 06:11

headaches80 · 26/05/2023 06:06

There are some fabulous suggestions here, thank you so much.

I have done a full and proper breakdown for income and expenditure- I’ve done it every month since September last year. I’ve not accounted for problems such as possible car repairs/ boiler break down etc. the insurances are all due in November. That’ll be about £5-£600 and I’ll need to start saving for that. I make sure to go down to £0 every month but haven’t gone overdrawn yet. I do have an overdraft I can use for ‘emergencies’. My parents always taught me never to have debt so I’m programmed not to!

My petrol costs were an estimate. I can get this down slightly by not using the car at weekends (although I only really use it to do the Aldi shop). There are also a couple of colleagues that live fairly close by so I am thinking of suggesting car sharing a couple of days a week.

I’m definitely going to get my daughter on the case with me. She would really enjoy some charity/ boot sale shopping and then selling on (possibly upcycling etc). It’s half term next week so it’s a good time to get started. This will also solve the problem of no money to occupy her over the Summer holiday.

Yes, I’m DBS checked. I think some babysitting in the evening might be the quickest way to get some extra funds. I’m usually too exhausted to do anything in the evenings but I’ll put a post on my local Facebook page advertising myself for Saturday night as a start at least.

When I said no debt, I forgot about our student loans. We loose a couple of hundred to this each month, this comes straight out of our wages.

Regarding food, I’ve been doing the lunch duty at school. Although this is unpaid, it does get me a free school meal that I don’t have to then pay for. This in Monday-Friday term time but is a good meal. I just have toast then at home.

I’m lucky that my children really like toast, noodles, eggs, pasta etc and don’t eat an awful lot!

Hi OP - roughly how much is your mortgage a month?

ArdeteiMasazxu · 26/05/2023 06:11

Are you already signed up to spend your summer marking or moderating GCSE exams?

Are you physically able to cycle? - most public sector employers are part of the bike-to-work scheme and you could get a bike on salary sacrifice for a lot less than you currently spend on petrol and it's then free.

ThankmelaterOkay · 26/05/2023 06:12

How can you have student loan left?

How old are you? 38+!was £1k year fees.

User1529865 · 26/05/2023 06:13

Shame the full and proper breakdown of income and expenditure isn't shown on here. Just a thinly veiled teacher and public sector salary bashing thread.

openstop · 26/05/2023 06:15

When you say mortgage rate has gone up again are you on variable rate? Could you contact a broker and see if there's anything they can do?

Original poster
headaches80 · 26/05/2023 06:18

ThankmelaterOkay · 26/05/2023 06:07

So you both went to university 20 years ago? Aka no/low fees. You are late 40s, early 50s?

I don’t see how you don’t both earn £40k+. Unless you are paying insane pension contributions, your take home would be like £4000-5000.

A crazy drip feed is not going to go well here OP.

I do realise I’ve drip fed a bit here. Apologies for that. I’ve disclosed more information than I wanted to as there have actually been some incredibly helpful replies and the more information people have, the better the advice.

I have also changed/ altered some of the information slightly to avoid being recognised.

We are significantly younger than you are suggesting. I do wonder why you’d make an unpleasant reply? Just move on if the thread doesn’t interest you or you have nothing positive to contribute. Why kick someone when they are down?

OP posts:
PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 26/05/2023 06:18

@headaches80 how about exam marking? Depending on your subject they might still be recruiting? See if you can sign up?

Mirabai · 26/05/2023 06:19

What’s your mortgage OP, none of these sums add up.

Original poster
headaches80 · 26/05/2023 06:20

PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 26/05/2023 06:18

@headaches80 how about exam marking? Depending on your subject they might still be recruiting? See if you can sign up?

Thank you. I’ll do this.

OP posts:
User1529865 · 26/05/2023 06:23

However much must you have spent on Christmas to have to downsize the car.

Original poster
headaches80 · 26/05/2023 06:24

Thank you for the wonderfully helpful replies.

I feel well supported and have some wonderful ideas to get me started in both the short and longer term.

I’m going to leave the thread now and won’t comment further.

Sadly, a couple of (expected) unkind people, here to put me down and make me feel worse, have come on and I don’t need that at the moment.

Thank you to everyone who has helped with positive words or helpful advice.

OP posts:
Blablablanamechangagain · 26/05/2023 06:27

You are reluctant to answer how much your mortgage is.

Myself and my DH earn mid 60k between us a year. We have a child who we pay over 800 a month for in nursery fees for, DH pays nearly 500 a month to his ex and additional costs every week when he has his children, plus 2 x cars both on finance; with all our bills, food and expenses, we don't have anything left at the end of the month granted, but we scrape by, and nursery fees aren't permanent so will theoretically be much better off in a couple of years, so really struggling to understand where your money goes.