Please can you help me with a financial makeover (warning- we are rich)

[ohIdoliketobebesidethe]

After all the threads on money recently I have finally pulled my head out the sand and gone through our finances. I have looked at everything we have spent in the last 12 months. The money has all gone. All £106,000.

When I return to work in Feb, our childcare costs will be increasing and also in Feb our mortgage discount period will be ending and we will have to pay an extra £4000 a year in interest.

I know this is a undignified thing to do in our culture- but as you don't know me-I'm going to tell you where all the money went.

Any advice about cutting down any of it will be gratefully received. (eg. our landline/broadband costs seem high seeing as we barely use the phone, has anyone got a cheaper deal?)

3000 living where we live
400 having a car
2750 childcare
520 supermarkets
66 house/baby stuff
250 holidays
310 work related expenses
175 cleaner
180 charity
120 computer stuff
50 books
160 council tax
40 water
75 electricity
35 phone/ broadband
162 life insurance
140 healthcare/dentist/opticians
45 mobiles
120 presents
100 eating out
100 clothes
120 travel
15 newpapers
20 kids outings.

Please don't be too offended at what we spend. And I genuinely would like advice about cutting down.

Hold on, the site has this page so I'm not sure. Would be worth phoning to ask.

Heated- thank you so much. Wondering if I should wait on the 580 to hit UK mkt. As with DAB radios, I will probably end up buying 3 of these little things.

Whatever else will they automate in domestic life; exciting times we live in.

I'm not so sure that a nanny would cost you less - it's not just nanny wages - with NI and tax to pay (and the link that was given was 3 years out-of-date), it's the extras - petrol/car insurance (cost us about £200 per month), playgroup/activity entrance fees, heating and power for the house during the day, and it's a rare nanny who will look after preschool children and also do 'housekeeper' type roles. You may get kids' washing done, and kids' meals made but you would still need a cleaner (in fact we needed a cleaner more than when we didn't have a nanny as we were aware that she was in the (dirty) house all day, when we used nursery we could live in our own filth

Can't be bothered to read all of the thread but are you claiming back your tax for those work related expenses?

I claim back tax on GMC, Royal College, MDU. Hoping that you passed your exams so you shouldn't have those again?? (guessing that they were membership exams, have you done all parts?).

Are you claiming back all that you can from your study leave budget? I know that this is a bugger as last year I had APLS (approx 500) and a few other courses that meant that I had to fund them myself even though they were highly appropriatre to my training/mandatory and in the previous year I hadn't made a single claim!

About to claim for around 500 for a conference, hope I get it all back and don't have to pay for anything else for a while...

Have read thread.

You are countering every single advice to cut back on certain items with arguments that boil down to little more than "bUT i WANT TO!"

You want expensive holidays, and eating out, and private healthcare, and expensive (VERY expensive) nursery. That's fine. If you have the income to afford this, then go for it.

But don't delude yourself that you CAN'T cut down. You clearly can. YOu just don't really want to.

We have about the same income, main difference is that our mortgage is about 2000 per month childcare is £650.

We have 5 in the household, 2 school age kids, 1 teenager, 2 adults. When the youngest 2 were pre-school age we had a nanny and we spent all we earnt, but it was with the acceptance that it was for a few short years. Now they are school age and we have about £1300 a month after paying mortgage, power, water and insurance bills, cars, travel to work, supermarket etc. We could spend this on holidays, books, presents etc, but in reality we have a budget and we think hard about how we spend money. childcare is £650.
As a result we are saving about £1000 per month in order to build up savings to live on the next time one of us is made redundant.

My other thought is that (if you are the grade of doc that I think you are and are working fulltime then your entire income is childcare).

In your position I'd cut down my expenses, work less and chill a bit more tbh but that's probably my own gripe after a run of nights and being told that I'll probabkly be expected to be resident on-call as a consultant...

Crap punctuation, sorry.

Too knackered to read all replies, so sorry if it's been said - Martin Lewis website - excellent (as long as you don't do what I do and register for all the discount vouchers on clothes )

In defence of OP, smart central London nurseries are approx 1200 to 1400 per month? Perhaps private school included in childcare. If so, we cannot second guess that decision.

Suggestion is to rank the importance of any discretionary items and then get rid of a couple of lower priority items.

Also, it occurred to me that you probably have to make allowance of 100 to 200 for contingencies as these tend to happen every month

BRAVO!

(i wont give any money tips, im SHITE at money)

3000 living where we live YOU NEED TO ELABORATE
400 having a car TRADE THE CAR IN FOR A CHEAPO SECOND HAND MODEL
2750 childcare SOUNDS LIKE NURSERY OR NANNY, YOU WOULD PAY LESS FOR A CHILDMINDER
520 supermarkets FINE - YOU WONT HAVE TIME TO GO TREKKING AROUND A ZILLION SHOPS AND MARKETS
66 house/baby stuff FINE
250 holidays FINE
310 work related expenses TAKE LUNCH WITH YOU TO WORK, A STARBUCKS HABIT IS EXPENSIVE SO YOU MUST AVOID, CYCLE IN RATHER THAN USING THE TUBE
175 cleaner ESSENTIAL - SEE TIME FACTOR
180 charity WELL DONE
120 computer stuff HOW ON EARTH CAN YOUR ANNUAL BILL FOR COMPUTER STUFF BE AROUND 1500. THIS SHOULD BE ZERO
50 books ESSENTIAL
160 council tax ESSENTIAL
40 water ESSENTIAL
75 electricity ESSENTIAL BUT USE LONG LIFE BULBS
35 phone/ broadband DOESN'T SEEM TOO BAD
162 life insurance ESSENTIAL
140 healthcare/dentist/opticians OKAY
45 mobiles OKAY
120 presents RIDICULOUS
100 eating out ESSENTIAL BUT WHY NOT TREAT YOURSELF TO DELICIOUS NIGHTS IN?
100 clothes FINE
120 travel OKAYISH
15 newpapers CUT THIS OUT, YOU CAN READ THEM FREE ONLINE
20 kids outings. FINE

I AM PETURBED THAT THERE IS NOTHING IN THERE FOR A PENSION AND WHAT ABOUT SAVINGS? WHY AREN'T YOU SAVING? YIKES!!!

Work related expenses- could these be cut doesn or could you claim for them?

Cleaner- obviously!

Charity- could you cut down, pick a favourite or give quarterly instead of monthly? You can support them in other ways.

Books- join a library.

Computer stuff 120 a month??????????

Life insurance seems awfully high but am assuming this is tp do with the size of your mortgage. Even so, it does not seem relative when I consider what I am paying in relation to my mortgage. Maybe shop around?

Healthcare- do you NEED private healthcare??

The rest seems valid and par for the course( well the one you are on anyway before I offend anyone)

Work related expenses- could these be cut doesn or could you claim for them?

Cleaner- obviously!

Charity- could you cut down, pick a favourite or give quarterly instead of monthly? You can support them in other ways.

Books- join a library.

Computer stuff 120 a month??????????

Life insurance seems awfully high but am assuming this is tp do with the size of your mortgage. Even so, it does not seem relative when I consider what I am paying in relation to my mortgage. Maybe shop around?

Healthcare- do you NEED private healthcare??

The rest seems valid and par for the course( well the one you are on anyway before I offend anyone)

Have read the whole thread now and I am shocked to my frugal core. No savings? Sheesh.

This mortgage sounds like a lot of money. Here's my useful suggestion. Overpay the mortgage. Arrange a direct debit so that you have to repay £5k a month instead of £3k. You could afford that easily if you put your mind to it.

computer stuff - what computer stuff/???

50 on books - really now you need this.

charity - wtf. join amnesty £2 per month.

100 eating out - and your complaining - dont eat out.

120 on presents - per month - are you shitting me.

lost theplot - i have no truck with this fuck wittery and i am a hug e fuckwitt financially miself.

Also ISAs. You should save your ISA allowance every month. Both of you.

When I spoke to dh about the books last night once he'd finally finished working - he said they were mainly presents! LOL. We (well mostly he) are too generous.

Lalalonglegs - you are right about earning more when I go back to work. We have however spent more than we're bringing in while I've been off and I have issues about spending every penny that comes in. (Obv not when I'm actually IN the restaurants etc only when I do the sums )

Ecoli- HOW is your childcare £650 a month? HOW?

LaDiDaDi - I think I am at that level and yes I passed the exams this time (3rd time lucky -ouch). So when I land my dream job I have an all the associated expenses that go with that to look forward to too. I need to go back on a conference in March. It'll be £1000 and I think I'll only get £400 for it because my contract has only 6 months left to run on it.

Quatro-
3000 living where we live -YOU NEED TO ELABORATE = mortgage + service charge inc gas. We are on a 20yr repayment at the moment.
400 having a car TRADE THE CAR IN FOR A CHEAPO SECOND HAND MODEL - it is 8 yrs old. This includes petrol and garage costs. We should cut out the garage.
2750 childcare SOUNDS LIKE NURSERY OR NANNY, YOU WOULD PAY LESS FOR A CHILDMINDER - Would we find a childminder that would take 3 preschoolers?
520 supermarkets FINE - YOU WONT HAVE TIME TO GO TREKKING AROUND A ZILLION SHOPS AND MARKETS
66 house/baby stuff FINE
250 holidays FINE
310 work related expenses TAKE LUNCH WITH YOU TO WORK, A STARBUCKS HABIT IS EXPENSIVE SO YOU MUST AVOID, CYCLE IN RATHER THAN USING THE TUBE - sadly this doesn't include lunch or travel - conferences, GMC etc
175 cleaner ESSENTIAL - SEE TIME FACTOR
180 charity WELL DONE
120 computer stuff HOW ON EARTH CAN YOUR ANNUAL BILL FOR COMPUTER STUFF BE AROUND 1500. THIS SHOULD BE ZERO - got new computer last year for Christmas. Dh bought gizmos for it since. We made a plan for the year ahead and allowed £300 in case it breaks.
50 books ESSENTIAL
160 council tax ESSENTIAL
40 water ESSENTIAL
75 electricity ESSENTIAL BUT USE LONG LIFE BULBS
35 phone/ broadband DOESN'T SEEM TOO BAD
162 life insurance ESSENTIAL
140 healthcare/dentist/opticians OKAY
45 mobiles OKAY
120 presents RIDICULOUS - You're right. We need to be more mean.
100 eating out ESSENTIAL BUT WHY NOT TREAT YOURSELF TO DELICIOUS NIGHTS IN?
100 clothes FINE
120 travel OKAYISH = public transport - not much we can do about this one. Dh runs in/back 1-2 times a week.
15 newpapers CUT THIS OUT, YOU CAN READ THEM FREE ONLINE -we are going to cut this out.
20 kids outings. FINE

I AM PETURBED THAT THERE IS NOTHING IN THERE FOR A PENSION AND WHAT ABOUT SAVINGS? WHY AREN'T YOU SAVING? YIKES!!!
Yikes indeed. We have always done our ISAs. Last year only did one and this year none. I agree this is a problem. We have been saying we'll accept these years are expensive and save later - but probably not a good plan - many years may yet be expensive in the future.

Charity - We give £15 a month to amnesty. We each have direct debits to a charity account but this year have ended up sponsoring loads of people separately through justgiving-it has really added up. We also give to church - but are hoping for a free primary school education out of that one - so perhaps that should go under a different heading -Two faced, Hypocritical, middle class, bribary.

I am thinking seriously about the nanny thing. So much so that I can't sleep. I'm a bit worried by Millarkies comments tbh.

Having slept on this - or rather failed to sleep and thought about it all night - here is my plan.

We get a live in nanny. I was upset with this idea at first because dd1 has been at that nursery ft since she was 6 months and she and I have formed some very close attachments. The babies she started with are still in her class with her 3 yrs on. So as a compromise I will keep her at nursery 2 days a week. I can reclaim the govt money on this and our childcare vouchers.

Having accepted this idea I have realised how much less stress we will have. No having to get 3 kids fed and dressed and out the house in the morning. No rushing to do 3 drop offs at 2 sites. No panicking about leaving work on time or having to get in for early morning meetings. No more worry about dd1 starting school and dealing with settling in weeks and school hols. I'll be able to get home at 5.30pm and spend quality time with them instead of rushing to pick them up and struggling home for 6.15pm. By no longer doing the nursery run I can also save on petrol, parking and the garage (which we have so I'm not struggling with three kids trying to get to wherever the car ended up being parked the night before) so our car costs will drop to £167/mo. I will be forced to cook propery because oven ready meals are always for 2. It really is a fine solution.

I know it was also a bleeding obvious one but I have a huge emotional attachment to the nursery and an unwillingness to trust one person on their own to care for my kids.

I'm going to start my nanny hunt now.

We have a very modest income & 4 dc, I realised if I went back to work by far the best stress & financial would be to employ a nanny. I know many nannies some are very very good a few are a bit splapstick & I wouldn't trust them with my children. It's exactly the same with CM & nurseries though - the standard & quality varies tremendously.

A fascinating thread! Well done to the OP and commentators for moderation and helpful discussion.

My own suggestion is re holidays. We house swap.

We have been all over Europe. We swap with people who have children so there are lots of toys and games to play with when we arrive. Much more relaxing to be in an entire house, fully equipped, than a hotel or a holiday cottage.

People are always keen to house swap to London.

We pay fifty pounds a year to belong to Intervac and then all we need to do is pay for our travel expenses.

We were in Sweden last summer, will be in France next year and are spending new year in Edinburgh.

Try it - you will never go back to paying loads for a holiday.

WEll done!
Think nanny is by far the best option for you and potentially less stressful as you have summised.

Just don't rush in to hiring the first ones you see. You will find the right one for you I'm sure.
Nursery is a good idea too as well to 'socialise' and if kids are used to it then too much of a change for them doing otherwise.

GOOD LUCK.
x

Libra - that sounds fantastic. I am going to look them up now.