# Will I make ends meets?



## NoMon,Nofun (18 Aug 2010)

Age: 40
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 39

Annual gross income from employment or profession: €40,000 - losing job
Annual gross income of spouse: €21,000 (part-time)

Type of employment: Private Sector, Spouse Public Sector

Breaking even at present

Rough estimate of value of home: €290,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: €230,000
What interest rate are you paying? Tracker IL & P, not sure of rate*. *Works out at €1150 / monthOther borrowings - none. No car loan, personal loans

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No, but never a huge balance
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? €500 - will be cleared soon

Savings and investments: €19k 

Do you have a pension scheme? No

Do you own any investment or other property? No

Ages of child: 4

Life insurance: €100

Other bills

Car - no loan, but have to tax & run it. Not used for work, so can minimise use. 

Mobile Phone - we both use pay as you go for text only  

VHI: €160 / month
TV UPC (Broadband / phone / basic TV package): €55 per month (intro rate)
TV Licence - paid until July 2011
Grocery Shopping : €400 per month - we could probably do a bit better
Travel: €60  - spouse / per month (train) 
Bord Gais Electricity: approx €40.00 per month
Gas: Used for heating & cooking, so €40.00 per month, rising in winter. We will be going onto the payment plan with Bord Gais for the big winter bills.

We have a fund for paying house & car insurance, as well as taxing the car for 6 months (approx €1200 in total). These due in September - October.



*What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?*

I am being laid off in September (2nd time in 18 months), our house hold income will drop by approx €800/month to €2350. MY wife is currently working part time in the public sector and, for various reasons, cannot go full time. Taking our current mortgage and bills out of it and feeding ourselves, we are left with very little, I reckon approx €250 / month. We will be seeing the bank about a moratorium / interest only on the mortgage, as well as trying to suspend our health insurance. We are reluctant to dig into savings as we see ourselves emigrating - the country is only going one way (in my field at least). This is without spending anything on clothes or personal items what so ever.

Would like to see others opinions about how / if we can sweat it out. Will be a miserable existence, but trying to stayed positive and focussed at the positives in life as well.


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## goingforgold (18 Aug 2010)

I think cancelling VHI is a good call. Must say there isn't a whole lot more you can do apart from maybe cancelling the UPC package and getting free to air TV. You don't need a landline and could get broadband (if required) with one of the mobile operators on a pay as you go basis. Bord gais bill is a little high. Would you not be better off using Bord Gais electricity for everything, especially during non winter months. Might be cheaper as you wouldn't have two separate standing charges. My electricity bills are 55 per month (2 adults, one child in a house) and I use oil for heating during winter months.

Good news in that you are not in negative equity and if you sell house (to emigrate) you will have funds in the bank to take with you (equity plus savings). Also good news is that your wife still has employment and as it is public sector she will always have (hopefully!). You have no non mortgage debt so you are right to try and stay positive.

Have you tried looking for partime work or tried to maybe to get trained in another area? This may not be necessary if you actually want to emigrate anyway but could be an option if you wanted to stay here.


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## Mpsox (18 Aug 2010)

Firstly, and this may sound strange, but you're in a better position then many in that at least you don't have a high level of personal debt (in fact, other then the mortgage, you have virtually none). At least, you won't have to worry about debt collectors coming to your door.

Secondly, I'm assuming in all of this that you've factored in childrens allowance and any social welfare you'll be entitled to

You should check and see if you will now be entitled to a medical card. If so, and unless you have any current ongoing illness issues in your family, you should definately consider scrapping the VHI. You should also review your tax situation to see if there are any grounds for a rebate (eg unclaimed medical expenses, bin charges etc).

I note your comment "in my field". Hate to say it but like for a lot of people, if that is the case, you need to look and see what you can do about retraining or how your skills can be used in other areas, and not try and pigeon hole yourself in one specialist field. Take advantage of the time off you now have to perhaps start again in something else. Also, and to keep the brain active, consider doing some volunteer work, it can be a good way of making contacts


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## Maynooth (18 Aug 2010)

Given that you have no idea how much longer you might be out of work I would,

Cancel VHI
Sell your house and hopefully take some money from that
Get every piece of social welfare you are due
Rent a decent house for cheap in an unfashionable location. Depending where you live you could find decent detached houses for €500-1000 per month.


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## idkwatmi (18 Aug 2010)

Maynooth said:


> Given that you have no idea how much longer you might be out of work I would,
> 
> 
> Sell your house and hopefully take some money from that



That's seems a bit drastic at this stage. I think unless you are seriously considering emigrating I would first off see about going interest only etc. and see what the next few months hold


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## niceoneted (19 Aug 2010)

Op I think you are doing great. as others have said you have no outstanding debt other than the mortgage. I think you have your bills fairly fine tuned. I don't agree with goingforgold in relation to your gas/electric bill. You have you shopping tight and also have a fund for the big annual expenses along with nice bit of savings. 
I think you should explore, as others have said, all taxes, refunds, entitlements and max them out. 
I would approach the bank perhaps to see if you can go interest only and possibly pay small amount off the capital too (eg if interest only was €500 perhaps pay €700) this means you are still paying off some capital and you still have 100 a week extra. 
Look at the work you were doing note the skills that you had to use - write them down. then look at other jobs and see where do these skills fit in and transfer into that area. 
I wish you luck. I feel for the likes of yourselves who don't appear to have over exposed yourselves in any way but are suffering now also. 
Use the time to spend quality time together as a family.


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## mtk (19 Aug 2010)

idkwatmi said:


> That's seems a bit drastic at this stage. I think unless you are seriously considering emigrating I would first off see about going interest only etc. and see what the next few months hold


+1 too drastic as yet

have you allwoed for Unemploymnet benefit you will get ?
and you will get PAYE tax refund fro 2010 or your wife will pay les tax dependning on whether jointly assessed or not?


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## NoMon,Nofun (19 Aug 2010)

Thanks for the replies everyone. 

We have everything covered off in terms if bills, the UPC could go but I think we'll struggle with it. We only upgraded last month, so we might be penalised if we terminate with them now. Evening the gas bill out will avoid huge bills in early 2010 - our winter bill last years was €250, which we'd struggle on our new income. So would rather if this a higher bi-monthly evenly spread bill. We are signed up with Bord Gais Electricity, so getting the 14&% as well.

We have become accustomed to a very frugal life, which is going to get even more frugal! We have accounted for everything in terms of income, so it's going to be very tight, but we will try and stay positive. We already do loads of family things that involve little or no expense, and will have a few bob for the odd luxury (hopefully!) 

The selling of the house is not an option, if we emigrate it will be a for a year only to see how things work out for visas etc. Our first preference is Canada, the Skilled Worker Visa can take ages, so I am applying for jobs and hoping for a favourable Labour Market Opinion. I've accepted that my industry (I'm a chartered surveyor) is bunshed for at least the next 5 - 7 years, so the sooner we move on the sooner we can get back to enjoying life.


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## txirimiri (25 Aug 2010)

Hi there, I would echo Maynooth re going through with a fine tooth comb your entitlements from soc welfare - on 21k a year, I reckon you should be entitled to Back to School Allowance, Fuel Allowance, Family Income Supplement, Medical Card (or at the very least GP card) - you should also be due tax back from Revenue and I think PRSI/Health Levy contributions back from Social Welfare at the end of the year given that you will be unemployed in September. Check this out with Citizens Advice - they have a good website. 

I wouldn't give up UPC unless you are in dire straits - you need internet and TV if you are being frugal both for entertainment and to check out best buys and bargains. 

For bigger things like furniture, clothes, toys etc check out Jumbletown and Dublin Waste - they have great stuff being freecycled all the time.

Also would you be entitled to Unemployment Assitance or Benefit? Again, I would imagine that you would given how low your wife's income is. If you end up being unemployed for mpore than 12 months (hopefully not) you will be entitled to Back to Employment Allowance which would allow you to retrain in another profession or do further study in your own field.

On the positive side, you will hopefully benefit from spending more time with your little one when you are no longer working.

Best of luck with it all - let us know how you are getting on


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## so-crates (27 Aug 2010)

Honestly nomon,nofun - well done. I know you don't plan to dip into your  savings to support yourself in this (hopefully brief) period of  unemployment but you have them there if you need to. Plus you haven't  given yourself a headache of loans to repay so you can focus on what  needs to be done. 

Since you are planning to emigrate this does give you an opportunity to  focus on pursuing and organising that move. A definite date for a move  will make planning your remaining time/income here easier so perhaps  that should be your focus.


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## NoMon,Nofun (13 Sep 2010)

A quick update - had a last minute reprieve on the job front, I'm employed up to December. This will tie us over a busy period bill wise (house & car insurance, as well as road tax) and give us an opportunity to boost our short term savings for another rainy day. Thanks for the positive replies and suggestions, I will let you know how things pan out.


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## niceoneted (13 Sep 2010)

That's great news. You never know come December it might stretch out further. In the mean time keep up the great work with savings and also work on your CV and what areas you may be able to look for jobs in.


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## Vanilla (13 Sep 2010)

VHI bill is quite high- try ringing them and ask them what you can do to reduce the price. For eg they are advertising children free but unless you ring them up you may be on a plan that charges for children.


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