# Hard to live day to day



## chests (4 Sep 2010)

Hope I have posted in the right section

Age: 31
Spouse’s age: 31

Annual gross income from employment or profession: 28,000
Annual gross income of spouse: 47,000 incl bonses

Type of employment: private sector

In general are you: not a clue
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving? 

Rough estimate of value of home: 200,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 269,000 (Rented out for 800/mth) Pay 450 mth shortfall. Husband lost his job before and could not afford to live in it. Can not move back in – old family member renting it. No options here. 

*What interest rate are you paying? 3.9% Fixed 3 yrs*

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
Car loan: 5,150 left, 4.32% until 2012 (car value 3000) 200 a month
Loan: 4300 left, 9.59% until 2014,  100 a month
Loan: 8000 left, Pay 303 a month, 11 or 12%, 
Overdraft: 2500


Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No 
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 1700, ?% rate

Savings and investments: Yes
Shares: 4,000
E1000 in an A/c

Do you have a pension scheme? Yes (both provided by employer now)

Do you own any investment or other property? Above if you can call it that 

Ages of children: None - to worried 

Life insurance: With mortgage 25 a mth (decreasing cover)

Bills:
Airtricity: 35 mth
Renting apartment: 600 mth 
TV license: 160 yr
Cat food: 12 mth
Food: 60 a wk – aldi & Tesco, 
VHI: 900 a year (VHI just for spouse)
Petrol: 20 wk
Car insurance: 450 yr
Phone/ communication: mobiles (40 a mth), internet (35 a mth in a contract for 6 mths)
Cable: 80 Mth
NPPR: 200 yr
Car Tax ?


Misc: 60 a wk (We both smoke- only thing that keep us going)
*What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?*
*Short term; Can’t seem to save. Unexpected monthly bills. We renting and don’t want to be here for rest of lives. Be able to plan for the future – kids/ house. Any ideas? *


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## goingforgold (4 Sep 2010)

Ok, like lots of other posts advise you shouldn't really have savings when you have high interest loans to pay back so immediately you need to clear the credit card loan and the remainder should be knocked off the 4300 euro loan as it has very high interest payments (9.59%). That will free up some money for you on a monthly basis. You are definitely living well withing your means. Airtricity and grocery bills are very good. Maybe you could consider moving to tesco mobile. They double your credit each month. So if you both topped up by 10 euro you would actually get 20 euro credit. Also cable is very high. Can you not reduce that or go free to air? Does your spouse really need VHI?


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## hopalong (4 Sep 2010)

definetly loose the cable,for the same price you can buy free to air dish and receiver,which gives you 80 x 12 =960 savings per year.nearly 1000euro.


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## Complainer (4 Sep 2010)

You're paying €600 on rent for the apartment, and you're taking in €800 on rent for your house - so the shortfall is €200 a month.

You're spending €240-€300 a month on smokes. Which is more important to you - smoking or living in your own house? The 'old family member' renting may have to be addressed too.

You should also be able to reduce cable, mobiles  too. Perhaps VHI is a luxury that you might have to let go too?


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## chests (4 Sep 2010)

Thanks for the replies.
We cannot ask the relative to leave. She did us a favour by renting the place when we were in dire straits. We don't live in that area now. It would not be feasible - petrol, communte wise and wear & tear. 
We pay 450 extra a month on the mortgage and 600 a month in rent = E1050 on living costs a month. 

Will work on the smokes
I can't budge the other half on the cable (sports and setanta). Is going to cancel setanta and that brings it down to 64 a mth
The 8000 loan is at 11 or 12 % not to sure. 

We are both with a network provider - top up by 20 a mth and get free calls and texts to that network. Must look into tesco. 

VHI is important to the other half. It is 900 a year - got it wrong. It would pay for itself if something happened. He is the bread winner. I would not be able to afford the hospital bills or endure the waiting times to be seen from experience.

I think we should cash in the shares and use the money to pay off some of the loans. The other half is against this. What do you think? They are blue chip shares. We would have zero cash reserve if something went wrong. We receive money every year from these shares.

Airtricity: I go around turing off lights and appliances.
Internet: Stuck with it 

How much should we be living on a month i.e spending a month for us? 
How much extra should we pay off each loan a month or which loan?

The food side of things: I have cut it down to the bare basics. I freeze everthing except milk.


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## pudds (4 Sep 2010)

goingforgold said:


> Maybe you could consider moving to tesco mobile. They double your credit each month. So if you both topped up by 10 euro you would actually get 20 euro credit.




Is this on going or is it just a temporary promotion?


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## goingforgold (4 Sep 2010)

pudds said:


> Is this on going or is it just a temporary promotion?


Ongoing...I've been on it over a year. Top up by 10 euro get 10 free, 20 euro get 20 free, 30 euro get 30 free. 20c calls to landlines and mobiles and texts 9c...anytime of day. Free calls and texts to tesco customers when you top up by 20 eur0 or more.


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## niceoneted (4 Sep 2010)

your taking in 75k between you so you should not be struggling at all, for all the outgoings you have. You seriously need to start a spending diary. I am single and earning at least 20k less, have similar outgoings apart from the loans and save at least 1k a month. 
Write down every thing you buy be it something for .60c or 60 euro. 
Also Use the savings or some of them to clear some of the debts. The debts individually are small enough. 
The VHI payments are massive, 900 a month is crazy. Look into this further. Has your partner a specif illness or condition that he needs this?


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## steph1 (5 Sep 2010)

No the op said the vhi is 900 a year.


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## net64 (5 Sep 2010)

steph1 said:


> No the op said the vhi is 900 a year.


 
But in reply #5 she says it was 900 per month,that she got it wrong,but which is it?

Net64


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## niceoneted (5 Sep 2010)

Thats' exactly what I saw but it is now edited again.


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## bacchus (5 Sep 2010)

Common sense prevails....VHI highest cover for 2 is not €10.8k per year!


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## chests (5 Sep 2010)

VHi is 900 a year - typo


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## pudds (10 Sep 2010)

goingforgold said:


> Ongoing...I've been on it over a year. Top up by 10 euro get 10 free, 20 euro get 20 free, 30 euro get 30 free. 20c calls to landlines and mobiles and texts 9c...anytime of day. Free calls and texts to tesco customers when you top up by 20 eur0 or more.




cheers gfg must have another look at Tesco moby.


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