£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?

You are reluctant to answer how much your mortgage is. I am going to assume is massive so hopefully OP knows to look into that now

That sounds very tight and will be tough. I'm not sure what age you teach but could exam marking be an option? Tutoring in the evenings. It's tough if you are public sector, you can't just ask for a pay rise or move jobs easily to get more pay. Also try your union's hardship fund.

Food bank. I've had to go twice since new year when the month has been longer than my salary.
There's plenty of working folk having to turn to charity unfortunately

It's truly rubbish that those adults in professional jobs are struggling to make ends meet

But on the specific case. There must be a household income net of about £5k.

Two experienced teachers each earning about £40k

And teenagers so no childcare costs.

And no other debt

So unless the mortgage is utterly massive, and stupidly ridiculous massive. Then it doesn't make any sense

It’s made up.

If it was massive, how’d they afford it? How did they secure it at their ages? how do they still have student loans in their early 40s?

Maybe OP should get same job as the DS

As a teacher i'm sure you would be in demand for 11+ tutoring or even babysitting?

Look and see if there are any community fridges or shops in your area redistributing surplus food. If you’re at work you may have to send a teenager though.
earn more £1000 can be early on extras without involving tax man. Could you rent a room out either to a lodger or on an Airbnb basis through the summer? £7000 tax free right there.
any paid extra work will just be taxed at by your second employer so it’s straight forward. Hotel work on weekend mornings turning rooms around is a good one. Also throughout holidays.

I’m in my 40s and paying off student loans as is DH!

Say they make £80k. They got a £360k mortgage (4.5x) at 2%. They are about 40-45. 15 year term. £2300/month. After 5 years they’d have paid off a chunk, like £100k. So £260k over 10 years at 5%, £2800.

Even this doesn’t add up as they’d have take home of >£5000/month

£1k x3
Maintenance was what then? £3k x3? £4k in London?

£12k total debt? You can’t have much left surely?!

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

I think you may have your maths wrong.

I went to university 20 years ago and I'm 38

And had fees.

OP on the off-chance you're still here, make Moneysaving Expert your friend.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

Gives a systematic run through of your budget with ideas for increasing income and cutting expenses. Also ideas for getting bits and pieces of extra cash, eg by changing your bank account.

I don't think £200 pm grocery shopping is sustainable for a family of 4 with teens and it's way below what you'd be allowed on a debt management plan. I know you say you're not in debt, but I'm wondering if you've remortgaged to 'pay off' debt before? If it's a disproportionately large mortgage that's causing your low disposable income, you need to find a way to reduce it. Are you doing what you can to cut utility bills? I agree that what you say doesn't add up in terms of income vs outgoings and such a small amount leftover.

It sounds like you'll also come unstuck with annual and irregular expenses, because while you've tried to allocate some money for these, it's probably not enough when you're running cars and a homeowner, and you'll probably find you need to spend more on food than you've allowed for.

Can you do some informal childcare in the holidays? I know it's not ideal, but might be the most efficient way to increase your income.

Is all the family on board? What does your DH spend? On a very tight budget like what you have, you all need to be on the same page with tight budgeting. No-one can go off spending on themselves when there just isn't the money available.

Not sure £200 is enough for 4 people to live on for food. I spend more than that for Dd and I and she’s only 6 and we shop at Aldi.

Your mortgage must be monstrously large if two full time working adults are left with £400pm with no debts. Do you live in an 8 bed house?!

Depending on how long you have left to pay on your student loans you can alter your monthly payment to prevent overpayment. I have recently done this and have reduced the payments by approx £100 a month. It spreads the repayments over a few more months but means I have more disposable income each month in the short term. It might be worth looking into?

This doesn’t add up!
I’m a teacher on ups. Are you on an upper pay scale? If you’ve been teaching a while, then I would imagine so. The pay is still not amazing but I pay £400 a month childcare, my half of the mortgage and bills, my own bills (including some debts!), petrol and school dinners etc for my kids and have more than £400 a month left, just from my own income. My partner earns a similar amount.
I agree, your mortgage must be huge if you have no other debts!

Forgot to say that I agree that cancelling your TV licence is a good idea. I know it's not much, but a few small cuts in costs will add up to something more noticeable.

If you've been caught out by increased interest rates, second jobs is probably the way to go - this was completely normal in the early 1990s when interest rates increased then. Lots of people who could previously easily afford their mortgages had to work more just to pay the bills, so sadly lots of people are in the same position again.

There's lots of 'I' in your post with not a lot about what your DH is doing to help solve the problem. Is he a teacher too or something else? If he's in healthcare, can he do bank work, or if he has an office job, can he do a couple of shifts in another job in the evenings or at weekends?

I would do ironing and babysitting 2 nights a week. You will get £10-12 an hour which would be around £80 per week cash in hand.

Are there any holiday clubs in your area? I’ve seen some staff from my sons school working at the local holiday club in previous years. Could that be an option?

If a 6% rise would net you £60 p/m, then wouldn't that mean you are only taking home £1k per month? Which doesn't really add up.

I don't think that relying on your teen DD or DS to bring in money to contribute is a good or fair idea. By all means, let them earn their own spending money, but I would never expect them to contribute to household expenses when they are still at school/studying.

I still haven't paid off my student loan and I'm in my early 40s 🤷‍♀️

I agree. Otherwise it just doesn't make sense to have that much left on two incomes.

What’s your commute like? Can you cycle?

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

You can't do this - working a Saturday is about the limit when studying for A levels. If an evening shift somewhere is required for extra income, you or partner should look for one.

Given how much you have been screwed by the gov with no pay rise for years, in your position, I'd ask for cash in hand or direct bank transfers and not declare it. Just four one-hour sessions a week after school or on Saturday mornings could bring in £100 to £200pw.