# One Income Family looking to build savings



## LM26 (20 Jul 2015)

Age: 32
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 35

Annual gross income from employment or profession: 0 (Home Maker)
Annual gross income of spouse: 80,000

Monthly take-home pay: 4312

Type of employment: e.g. Employee PAYE

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or -  THIS ONE
(b) saving?


Rough estimate of value of home €490,000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: €400,000 APPROX
*What interest rate are you paying? 4.9%, we are fixed until Sept 2016*

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
Car Loan - borrowed €4764. Sixty repayments of €106.58 commenced March 2015. Interest rate 12.38%
Family Loan - borrowed €1800. Thirty Six Repayments €50 per month commenced March 2015. No interest.

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 

Savings and investments:
€5,500 savings

Do you have a pension scheme? 
Mine stopped when I gave up work a few years back
Husband gives approx €100 a month I think

Do you own any investment or other property? No


Ages of children: 3

Life insurance: Yes. Not sure of details but we pay €29 a month and €36 a month to Aviva Life and Irish life respectively.


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

We are building up credit card debt of around €300-€500 a month and therefore never saving meaning if anything big comes up, we need to use our existing savings which are diminishing as the months go by. 
We clear the credit card each month and the cycle begins again. Items such as car repair, specsavers, weddings etc keep cropping up. Any suggestions on how we can save money would be greatly appreciated.

Our monthly out goings are as follows:-
Car Loan €106
Family Loan €50
Mortgage incl home insurance €2100
Property Tax €42
Life Insurance €36
Cash Cover €29
Food & Alcohol €500
Petrol €220
Water Charges €22
Work Lunches, Coffees, cash in pocket €120
UPC €80
Netflix €9
Gas/Elec €115 (varies, this is elec bill this month)
Panda Bins €10
Leap Card €15
Toll Charges €40
Parking Charges €20
Lifestyle (takeaways, presents, socialising) €200
Savings €0
Credit Card Payments €500-€600 average last 4 months

*Hoping we can secure a better mortgage deal next September when fixed is up.*

*Thanks for reading.*


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## eamo15 (20 Jul 2015)

Cut out the alcohol or half it and put into savings..plus you dont really need the cash in pocket..
make sandwiches, drink tap water bring in a flask of tea or coffee
who cares what people say..
save as much as you can..

Do you not get child benefit how many children have you?? your husband earns good money i only earn about half of what he does and save 2 to 300 a month, pay morthgage etc..

4.9 percent interest rate  seems very high what provider are you with??

also reduce your upc subscription get free to air satelite keep the internet and phone some great deals going but wait until your contract is up to avoid a 200 euro fine..
I had to depart with my expensive tv subscription, i love watching snooker and was paying a fortune for eurosport 1 and 2..similar to yourself 80 a month now my upc bill is 45 a month and i subscribed to the eurosport player for 50 euro a year..can watch it on my laptop and hook up to the tv with hdmi cable..

what i am trying to say is with a serious look at your finances you can save here and there


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## Boyd (20 Jul 2015)

Cable:
UPC and netflix are very high when combined. You should get rid of the UPC cable and go broadband only, its E20 per month for 6 months and 40 per month there after: http://www.upc.ie/broadband/. This will immediately cut your UPC/Netflix bill in half. Watch TV on laptop, or stream it to your TV then. This results in E49 euro saving per month, or almost 600 quid per year.

Car Loan:
60 repayments of 106.58 = 6394.8. 6394.8 - 4764 = 1630.8 interest paid. (1630.8/4764)*100/1 is around 33%. This is crazy. Can you take some cash from your savings and pay this off early without penalty? Paying off a loan and trying to save at the same time is silly, as the load will eat up your saving interest, which is tiny anyway. General rule of thumb is to clear debts/loads aggressively ASAP, and then start saving.

Spending:
Food & Alcohol €500
+ Work Lunches, Coffees, cash in pocket €120
+ Lifestyle (takeaways, presents, socialising) €200
= 860.

I would be taking a serious look at this. If you are serious about cutting expenditure and starting saving, you should be making work lunches, and absolutely never buying take away coffees. If you spend 3 quid a day on coffee, that is 15 quid a week, 60 a month and around 700 quid a year!

Similarly, you should not be blowing money on getting take-aways (I fail to understand why anyone even thinks they are a treat, home cooked food is a million times nicer and better health-wise). I also dont know how you are constantly buying presents, in that its included in a monthly expenditure. Finally, the socialising needs to be limited if you are cutting spending. If alcohol is already accounted for in the Food/alcohol E500 bill, what is the socialising bill?!

Petrol costs seem very high. I don't know where you live etc but I would try to cut this down with public transport etc if possible. However, the fact that you have a Leap Card would indicate to me that you live in or near Dublin, so I even moreso think the E220 per month on petrol is high. I cycle into work, 20 mins each way.....is this an option? Similarly, this would then reduce your toll charges, which also seem high.

I think you could cut quite a bit from monthly outgoings with some changes and trimming. It wont be easy, but if you have to start somewhere.


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## Boyd (20 Jul 2015)

Also, you need to just say "No" to certain weddings. I recently said "No" two a second stag party abroad, even though its a good friend of mine. I have just returned from one in England, and thought a second one abroad in the space of two weeks is too much. You can't please everyone else all the time, gotta look after yourself.


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## Boyd (20 Jul 2015)

Also, I noticed this holiday from another thread, here: http://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/cala-dor-villa-house.194722/. Is this included in any of the figures above, or is it coming out of savings?


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## LM26 (20 Jul 2015)

Thanks very much for the replies. Will respond to each separately as follows:-
Eamo 15
'
_Cut out the alcohol or half it and put into savings..plus you dont really need the cash in pocket..
make sandwiches, drink tap water bring in a flask of tea or coffee
who cares what people say..
save as much as you can.._'
Alcohol relates to drinks at home at the weekends, amounts to €15 per weekend. I'm pregnant at the moment so normally works out at €10 a weekend for my husband to get a few beers, surplus gets spent on food.
We did try the making sandwiches approach and will look into doing that again. The cash in pocket came about as my husband is on a good salary and literally having no cash for the odd coffee etc was driving him mad psychologically. We both met in the boom times and it's still hard to adjust at times.

_'Do you not get child benefit how many children have you??'_
Yes I do get child benefit and for my 1 child and have not saved one cent of it since I got it, always goes against the credit card.
_
'4.9 percent interest rate seems very high what provider are you with??'_
With EBS, this was slightly higher than the variable at the time (2 years ago) and we wanted certainty so went fixed for 3 years, Due to finish next Sept 2016.

_'also reduce your upc subscription get free to air satelite keep the internet and phone some great deals going but wait until your contract is up to avoid a 200 euro fine.'_
Yes really want to reduce the UPC costs and get rid of netflix. UPC contract up in January so assume I will have to wait til then, wonder do they allow changes to the contract at all without the fine?

_'what i am trying to say is with a serious look at your finances you can save here and there'_
Thanks, the €120 a month for lunches etc is somewhere I will tackle first and look into UPC options also. Appreciate the feedback.


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## LM26 (20 Jul 2015)

Thanks username123 for your feedback, response as follows:-

_'UPC and netflix are very high when combined. You should get rid of the UPC cable and go broadband only, its E20 per month for 6 months and 40 per month there after:'_ I definitely want to do this. Contract up in Jan 2016 so need to explore any fines with them before proceeding.

_'60 repayments of 106.58 = 6394.8. 6394.8 - 4764 = 1630.8 interest paid. (1630.8/4764)*100/1 is around 33%. This is crazy. Can you take some cash from your savings and pay this off early without penalty?'_ I am pretty sure we can repay early and so will look into this. Should I look to reduce number of repayments if I do this and keep repayment amount the same?

'
_Food & Alcohol €500
+ Work Lunches, Coffees, cash in pocket €120
+ Lifestyle (takeaways, presents, socialising) €200
= 860.

I would be taking a serious look at this'_ Wow this really adds up. Yes need to start making lunches again and telling hubby to try avoid takeout coffees. This would be a great saving.
_'Similarly, you should not be blowing money on getting take-aways'_ - It's nice not to have to cook 1 night a week and we're healthy besides this, we enjoy them but I could look at alternatives. Maybe a frozen pizza instead of dominoes, easy cooking and lower cost.

_'I also dont know how you are constantly buying presents, in that its included in a monthly expenditure.' _Between mothers day, fathers day, communions, 12 birthday presents for parents, nieces, nephews there is something most months. Normally goes on credit card.

_'Finally, the socialising needs to be limited if you are cutting spending. If alcohol is already accounted for in the Food/alcohol E500 bill, what is the socialising bill?!' _Alcohol in the food bill is €60 a month, we are prob spending €40 a month at the moment as I'm not drinking. This is for at home drinking. There is not alot of socialising
but when we do it's expensive. We met friends for dinner, I drove and wasn't drinking but we still spent just under €100. (Meal €60, pre-dinner drinks €11, parking €5, after dinner drinks round €20ish).
_
'Petrol costs seem very high.'_ Cycling not an option unfortunately. Public transport is an option but not a great one, due to the location of station to work, it would mean hubby being out of the house about 40 mins earlier (up at 6:40am as it is) and then home guts of an hour later than normal, this would cut greatly into family time. He is currently looking out for new job opportunities on the DART line in city centre. It is however an option should things deteriorate greatly. Tolls are paid every week day and at some weekends visiting family, this is all in an effort to be home as quickly as possible from work.
_
'I think you could cut quite a bit from monthly outgoings with some changes and trimming. It wont be easy, but if you have to start somewhere.'_ - Yes you are right, there is scope there, appreciate you highlighting the areas.
_
'Also, you need to just say "No" to certain weddings.'_ Yes that is a good point too, we only got invited to 1 wedding this year luckily as they are very expensive.

_'Also, I noticed this holiday from another thread'_ - my husband gets a bonus each year and so that will pay for the accommodation and flights. Need to try and save for spending money or that will be coming from savings.

Appreciate your feedback. thanks for taking time to reply.


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## Boyd (20 Jul 2015)

LM26 said:


> _'60 repayments of 106.58 = 6394.8. 6394.8 - 4764 = 1630.8 interest paid. (1630.8/4764)*100/1 is around 33%. This is crazy. Can you take some cash from your savings and pay this off early without penalty?'_ I am pretty sure we can repay early and so will look into this. Should I look to reduce number of repayments if I do this and keep repayment amount the same?



I would pay it all off immediately in one lump sum if I could. If this is not possible, try to pay say 50% in one go, and then as much as you can afford each month. The key is to pay it off ASAP as paying interest on a loan will kill you when trying to save money elsewhere.



LM26 said:


> _'I also dont know how you are constantly buying presents, in that its included in a monthly expenditure.' _Between mothers day, fathers day, communions, 12 birthday presents for parents, nieces, nephews there is something most months. Normally goes on credit card.



I think you need to limit this to needs must. These days IMO people go way overboard on presents, especially for children. As you and husband are about same age as me, I'm guessing your parents are in their sixties. Surely they aren't expecting presents for mothers and fathers day over and above a card?



LM26 said:


> It's nice not to have to cook 1 night a week and we're healthy besides this, we enjoy them but I could look at alternatives. Maybe a frozen pizza instead of dominoes, easy cooking and lower cost.



As an alternative, how about getting your husband to cook one (or even two!) nights a week. Then you will not be getting take-aways and you will not be cooking. Also,  you can get recipes online to replicate basically any takeaway dish you like, including pizza. Despite having never met you, I can however safely say I would prefer absolutely anything you cooked over a frozen pizza 

I would recommend not taking money from savings to pay for a holiday, as once its over then you've nothing left but a hole in your savings account, and are back to square one. Rather than booking a private villa, which will require you to cook/buy food for 5+ people, have you considered all inclusive hotel so that you will eat and drink for free when you get there? Also, lots of hotels have kids clubs/activities so that you literally would need to spend zero once you have arrived.


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## thedaddyman (20 Jul 2015)

Start with your tax position, are you claiming for everything you can claim for, are there medical expenses that you could be entitled to get something back as an example. Full review of tax is needed

Get your husband to review his work pension arrangements, is he paying in too much/too little?. Get your husband to check his death in service benefits, it may mean you may not need additional life assurance?.

Is there any option of you getting part time work, in the evening for a few hours?


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## eamo15 (20 Jul 2015)

A big issue is that your mortgage is quite a big one monthly repayments of 2100 is nearly half your salary, i would switch next year and get a better deal how many years of a mortgage do you have?? you could get nother fixed deal at 3. something percent ..


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## AlbacoreA (20 Jul 2015)

Be careful renegotiating deals with UPC. They won't give you anything in writing and its very easy to find yourself in a 6 month half price 12 months at full price.  They generally won't give those lower prices to people renewing just new customers. Though they don't have a fixed price it seems to be whatever you can haggle. I would make more sense to go internet only with UPC (or whomever is cheapest), and get a Saorview/FreeSat system installed. 

The presents is a tough one. But as a previous poster I think present giving and parties has got out of hand. Time to come up with creative alternatives.


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## dem_syhp (20 Jul 2015)

Start writing down everything you spend, either with pen and paper or electronically.  You will be amazed when you review what is a need versus what is a want. 

Do up a budget, yearly and monthly - think about the other expenses you haven't included - home maintenance, health care (insurance if required and doctor/ dentist visits), clothes/shoes / hair cuts/ care insurance / car tax / TV license….  Following on from this each week / month you'll plan out what you're going to eat.  Many people speak highly about you need a budget and mint.com.  But I've no experience with them.  

Pay yourself first - put money in to savings at the start of the month.  Don't use these at the end of month, when you've ran out of month, do without.  The savings are for emergencies, or for something specific that you're saving for.  

Don't use your credit card unless it is for something that you had budgeted for - you refer to monthly bills recently of 500-600, this suggests there is extra spending you don't have documented.  

On the presents front, see if you can negotiate a Kriss Kindle for the nieces/nephews.   I would cut out most (all!) presents for adults, a home made card from children goes a long way, a home made cake, you get the jist.  

Hit google, there are lots of people with blogs on budgeting, etc... 

Your other option - is to earn more.  Mind children after school in your home, part time job in the evenings, etc...


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## Brendan Burgess (20 Jul 2015)

LM26 said:


> What interest rate are you paying? 4.9%, we are fixed until Sept 2016



You are currently at around 81% Loan to Value.  It's very important that you have the option to switch lenders next year, so make absolutely sure that you don't do anything which affects you ability to move. 

Don't miss a car loan repayment.
Don't miss a mortgage repayment.
Don't ask to reschedule your mortgage. 

It's bonkers stuff borrowing money at 12% to put on deposit at 0.5%. If you pay off your car loan, you will have the extra €106 per month. 

But then you must balance this against having no cash in the event of an emergency which might cause you to miss a loan repayment.

Brendan


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## LM26 (21 Jul 2015)

Thanks again for replies. Responses:-

_'As an alternative, how about getting your husband to cook one (or even two!) nights a week. Then you will not be getting take-aways and you will not be cooking. Also, you can get recipes online to replicate basically any takeaway dish you like, including pizza. Despite having never met you, I can however safely say I would prefer absolutely anything you cooked over a frozen pizza '  _Lol thanks for that vote of confidence. I will definitely implement changes here and stop the takeaways. Payday is this week so good time to start.
_
'I would recommend not taking money from savings to pay for a holiday, as once its over then you've nothing left but a hole in your savings account, and are back to square one. Rather than booking a private villa, which will require you to cook/buy food for 5+ people, have you considered all inclusive hotel so that you will eat and drink for free when you get there? Also, lots of hotels have kids clubs/activities so that you literally would need to spend zero once you have arrived._' Noted, holiday is booked though but maybe if I can do something about car loan I can free up money to save'

_
'Full review of tax is needed'_ - I looked at this earlier in the year and claimed medical expenses for previous 4 years. We also claimed tuition fees but for some reason when they did P21 balancing statements we ended up getting nothing, said they had been underpaid tax during those years. No idea how, wages always get dealt with through an accounts department in place of work.

_'Get your husband to review his work pension arrangements, is he paying in too much/too little?. Get your husband to check his death in service benefits, it may mean you may not need additional life assurance?._' Do you know what is a normal amount to pay, is it a % of income? I will check that. Husband is looking out for new job opportunities so assume different companies have different benefits so would be reluctant to cancel life assurance based on current job if appropriate.

_'Is there any option of you getting part time work, in the evening for a few hours?' _I definitely want to get back into the workforce again but I'm currently pregnant and have back pain etc. After baby arrives and we get into a routine, I will definitely look at childminding option_s_ after school as was suggested here.
_
'A big issue is that your mortgage is quite a big one monthly repayments of 2100 is nearly half your salary, i would switch next year and get a better deal how many years of a mortgage do you have?? you could get nother fixed deal at 3. something percent .'  _Yes the mortgage is a killer, if only fixed was up earlier in 2016. Will definitely look to get better deal. We took a 35 year mortgage so about 30 years left now. We have stretched ourselves very far here I am aware.
_
'Be careful renegotiating deals with UPC. They won't give you anything in writing and its very easy to find yourself in a 6 month half price 12 months at full price. They generally won't give those lower prices to people renewing just new customers.'_ Yes it's very annoying not getting anything in writing other than bills! I asked when my contract was up after negotiating a lower 4 month rate before higher charges kicked in and it took a few mins for them to find out on the phone. If I go broadband only and get rid of tv services I'm hoping there is a decent reduction there. I know what you are saying about the low rates for new customers and changes within the year, will report back how I get on. Would like to stay with them, their broadband up until recently has been very reliable. We have had a few issues in the last 2 weeks but seems to be sorted now.

_'The presents is a tough one. But as a previous poster I think present giving and parties has got out of hand. Time to come up with creative alternatives' - _Yes need to look at this. Might suggest xmas presents only for nieces/nephews and get rid of bday presents. With parents, could invite them over for meals in our house for mothers/fathers day etc instead of presents.
_
'Start writing down everything you spend, either with pen and paper or electronically. You will be amazed when you review what is a need versus what is a want.' _I am quite good at tracking what we are spending. There are certainly items that are wants i.e. takeaways and meals out being the main ones.

_'Do up a budget, yearly and monthly - think about the other expenses you haven't included - home maintenance, health care (insurance if required and doctor/ dentist visits), clothes/shoes / hair cuts/ care insurance / car tax / TV license…. Following on from this each week / month you'll plan out what you're going to eat.' _Will do this, thanks.
_
'Pay yourself first - put money in to savings at the start of the month. Don't use these at the end of month, when you've ran out of month, do without. The savings are for emergencies, or for something specific that you're saving for.' _ Clearing the credit card on each payday leaves that €200 a month for discretionary spending, I will put this into savings instead and try my hardest not to spend.

_'Don't use your credit card unless it is for something that you had budgeted for - you refer to monthly bills recently of 500-600, this suggests there is extra spending you don't have documented.' _Credit card spending has gone through the roof the last 4 months. Last month big items were tv licence @ €160, physio visits @ €110, car repairs €180. This month i will have car tax €145, hotel for wedding €150, physio €110 to clear. 
_
'

On the presents front, see if you can negotiate a Kriss Kindle for the nieces/nephews. I would cut out most (all!) presents for adults, a home made card from children goes a long way, a home made cake, you get the jist.
Your other option - is to earn more. Mind children after school in your home, part time job in the evenings, etc.' _Touched on these above thanks.
_

'
You are currently at around 81% Loan to Value. It's very important that you have the option to switch lenders next year, so make absolutely sure that you don't do anything which affects you ability to move.

Don't miss a car loan repayment.
Don't miss a mortgage repayment.
Don't ask to reschedule your mortgage.

It's bonkers stuff borrowing money at 12% to put on deposit at 0.5%. If you pay off your car loan, you will have the extra €106 per month.

But then you must balance this against having no cash in the event of an emergency which might cause you to miss a loan repayment.'
_
Thanks Brendan, yes if we can reduce mortgage it will help greatly, will ensure to not miss any payments or re-schedule mortgage as suggested. Will look at the car loan versus savings pot.

Thanks again for all replies.
_






_


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## Boyd (21 Jul 2015)

One tactic with UPC is to switch the bill payer. UPC absolutely only deal with the bill payer so its sort of playing them at their own game. If its currently in your name, then let it lapse and get it in your husbands name (or vice versa) - it shouldn't matter that the address is the same as far as I know. In that way the person who is on the bill after the initial contract lapsing will be considered a new customer. If its already in both of your names then you are goosed.


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## LM26 (21 Jul 2015)

We are goosed, in both our names!! But appreciate the suggestion. Just cancelled netflix...small steps but in the right direction.


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## terrysgirl33 (21 Jul 2015)

It's very easy when both of you are working and have no kids to get into the habit of giving good presents for birthdays and Christmas and everything else, but the crunch comes when your own kids arrive and money gets tight!  No real advice except to say what you are going through is normal.


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## LM26 (21 Jul 2015)

Thanks terrysgirl, nice to hear that. Yes when both working and in boom times, we got into luxurious habits. Things have definitely been cut back since then but need to try and do more now and live within our current means better. If we can get through ok to next september by making some cutbacks as suggested here and then change mortgage lenders (assuming interest rates stay where they are), we should be in a much better position.


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## terrysgirl33 (21 Jul 2015)

I find that apart from the arrival of kids, we're inclined to slowly start spending more money and every now and again we have to step back, look at what's going on and take control of the money.  It seems to be an ongoing thing!!


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## LM26 (21 Jul 2015)

terrysgirl33 said:


> I find that apart from the arrival of kids, we're inclined to slowly start spending more money and every now and again we have to step back, look at what's going on and take control of the money.  It seems to be an ongoing thing!!



Very true. We made some changes a good few months back and were doing much better for a few months but now it's gone pear shaped again. I am very determined again to try and improve things and be more conscious of spending money i.e. need v want. Thanks.


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## 44brendan (21 Jul 2015)

You have made out a good list of monthly expenditure on your opening post. You have included credit card payments of 500/600 monthly in that list. Credit card is not an expense item!! You seem to clear the amount each month and still end up with a similar payment the following month. I.e. You are using the CC to supplement expenses that are not included in your budget.
I have assumed a sort of unofficial status amongst friends/family in advising them on how to control expenditure. One constant issue that arises in all cases is CC usage. Invariably the CC is not regarded as "cash" and used as a supplementary fund to cover "unallocated expenses". When you make out a budget you need to include and control all expenditure. This should also incorporate allocation for "emergency spend" such as car/appliance breakdown etc.
It is very difficult to control your monthly spend when a CC is used on a regular basis. I would tend to put the CC aside for 5/6 months and use cash to cover all supplementary expenditure. I.e. Take out a set cash amount each week in accordance with budgeted expenses (other than standard bills). When the cash is spent you are then in overspend territory. Your options are then to take out more cash (which means that your budget for the week is shot) or re-visit the budget. The biggest mistake you will find early on is that items are excluded from the budget. Its' not easy to implement a strict control system but will get easier as you progress. Much better to control when you can see the remaining cash after each spend. Good luck


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## LM26 (21 Jul 2015)

44brendan said:


> You have made out a good list of monthly expenditure on your opening post. You have included credit card payments of 500/600 monthly in that list. Credit card is not an expense item!! You seem to clear the amount each month and still end up with a similar payment the following month. I.e. You are using the CC to supplement expenses that are not included in your budget.
> I have assumed a sort of unofficial status amongst friends/family in advising them on how to control expenditure. One constant issue that arises in all cases is CC usage. Invariably the CC is not regarded as "cash" and used as a supplementary fund to cover "unallocated expenses". When you make out a budget you need to include and control all expenditure. This should also incorporate allocation for "emergency spend" such as car/appliance breakdown etc.
> It is very difficult to control your monthly spend when a CC is used on a regular basis. I would tend to put the CC aside for 5/6 months and use cash to cover all supplementary expenditure. I.e. Take out a set cash amount each week in accordance with budgeted expenses (other than standard bills). When the cash is spent you are then in overspend territory. Your options are then to take out more cash (which means that your budget for the week is shot) or re-visit the budget. The biggest mistake you will find early on is that items are excluded from the budget. Its' not easy to implement a strict control system but will get easier as you progress. Much better to control when you can see the remaining cash after each spend. Good luck



Hi, thanks for reply. You have hit the nail on the head, the cc usage has gotten way out of hand. We are starting the month paying it off and therefore have no cash to cover the supplementary expenditure that you refer to. If I can try and get this under control this pay month, then we can start afresh and budget plan more seriously as you suggest. I am going to try really hard to avoid using cc and starting following month in a healthier position.

Thanks for feedback!


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## eamo15 (21 Jul 2015)

i know it sounds mad but would you not snap the credit card, it makes it two easy to overspend or even see can you go through a month without spending it as at the moment your spening to pay back on a monthly basis with a second child coming it will just be to easy to increase the spending on the card scary stuff i know.. I have number 2 coming in the next five weeks myself..we are never fully ready are we


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## LM26 (22 Jul 2015)

eamo15 said:


> i know it sounds mad but would you not snap the credit card, it makes it two easy to overspend or even see can you go through a month without spending it as at the moment your spening to pay back on a monthly basis with a second child coming it will just be to easy to increase the spending on the card scary stuff i know.. I have number 2 coming in the next five weeks myself..we are never fully ready are we



I'm not brave enough to quite go that far but I am determined to try not and use it this month. Have planned weekend ahead to make sure no takeaways or meals out. 
It is so easy to overspend as you say and effortless to hand a card over, you don't see the actual cash, very deceptive. Best of luck with number 2's arrival....no never ready, it is a crazy time of life...never a dull moment!


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## elcato (22 Jul 2015)

Put the credit card in a plastic container. Fill with water and stick into freezer. At least that will stop the local buying but probably won't stop internet or phone shopping.


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## Fella (22 Jul 2015)

Earning 80k a year and having to budget sounds like a pain I can see your husbands point of view , I always have money in my pocket not been able to buy a coffee when you want thats depressing stuff , if you earn 80k a year you don't want to be making lunches and watching every penny. My opinion is probably not going to be a popular one but I would sell the house downgrade to a cheaper house around 300k , that would leave you a fair bit of cash and a much cheaper mortgage. 
You could live like you are now and you wouldn't be overspending , go on holidays when you want and enjoy your life go to weddings etc you are invited to .


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## Sarenco (22 Jul 2015)

Agree wholeheartedly with Fella on this one.  

A mortgage of €400k, in my opinion, is simply too high for a household with an income of €80k.  The OP's core problem is "too much house" and trading down to a lower value house would have an infinitely bigger impact on the OP's financial position than pinching pennies on lunches, cable services, etc.

It probably goes without saying that the interest rate on the car loan is nuts.


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## LM26 (22 Jul 2015)

Fella said:


> Earning 80k a year and having to budget sounds like a pain I can see your husbands point of view , I always have money in my pocket not been able to buy a coffee when you want thats depressing stuff , if you earn 80k a year you don't want to be making lunches and watching every penny. My opinion is probably not going to be a popular one but I would sell the house downgrade to a cheaper house around 300k , that would leave you a fair bit of cash and a much cheaper mortgage.
> You could live like you are now and you wouldn't be overspending , go on holidays when you want and enjoy your life go to weddings etc you are invited to .



Yes that's exactly how my husband feels about it and I don't blame him, he's on a great wage and works hard, he shouldn't have to penny pinch. Moving to a cheaper house has been brought up myself quite recently and went down like a lead balloon, I suppose it would feel like a bit of a fail on our part if we had to do that. The upside of having more disposable income would be great though. Thanks for your feedback.


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## LM26 (22 Jul 2015)

Sarenco said:


> Agree wholeheartedly with Fella on this one.
> 
> A mortgage of €400k, in my opinion, is simply too high for a household with an income of €80k.  The OP's core problem is "too much house" and trading down to a lower value house would have an infinitely bigger impact on the OP's financial position than pinching pennies on lunches, cable services, etc.
> 
> It probably goes without saying that the interest rate on the car loan is nuts.



Thanks for your feedback., makes sense.

Yes need to look at car loan as suggested above.


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## Sarenco (22 Jul 2015)

LM26 said:


> Thanks for your feedback., makes sense.
> 
> Yes need to look at car loan as suggested above.



Thanks for taking the comment in the spirit in which it was intended - I know people can react very negatively when their family home is mentioned in a financial context.

Best of luck (and get that car loan paid off ASAP - 12.39% is a criminal rate of interest).


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## kennyb3 (23 Jul 2015)

Sarenco said:


> Agree wholeheartedly with Fella on this one.
> 
> A mortgage of €400k, in my opinion, is simply too high for a household with an income of €80k.  The OP's core problem is "too much house" and trading down to a lower value house would have an infinitely bigger impact on the OP's financial position than pinching pennies on lunches, cable services, etc.
> 
> It probably goes without saying that the interest rate on the car loan is nuts.




I completely agree.

Sorry OP but you've a mortgage repayment that is nearly 50% of NDI income - yet still want to take holidays, have take aways, be generous with presents etc. time to cut your cloth to measure.

The car loan at 12.39% APR over 5 years shows a complete lack of financial awareness imho (and also taking fixed rate esp when rates were trending downwards ).

Also It's great that your husband earns 80k but at end of the day that's the same as two people earning less than €40k each (probably closer to €35k each given how the tax bands work). So with having a big mortgage it's obvious why you are struggling. (granted you've no childcare costs as a result of you being at home)

What's done is done mortgage wise but you need to get your head out of the clouds. At start you never mentioned bonus or child benefit. Where is this accounted for?

As others of said you need to draw up a true picture of income & spending habits and listen to some good advice given above.

I do think you need to realise that €80k income for household, regardless of who earns it, with jumbo mortgage (over €2k pm) is not a huge income.

So you've to chose what sarenco is advising - freeing up equity or facing your reality properly and making the necessary cuts.

I'd actually favour 2nd option as I'd fear you've blow the equity given your financial history.


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## LM26 (24 Jul 2015)

kennyb3 said:


> I completely agree.
> 
> Sorry OP but you've a mortgage repayment that is nearly 50% of NDI income - yet still want to take holidays, have take aways, be generous with presents etc. time to cut your cloth to measure.
> 
> ...



Quite a patronising post IMO. I have capacity to earn €60k+ in my trained profession, we have chosen for me to stay at home for a few years, this is a priority for us at the moment, we will struggle for a few years granted but our 'financial history' before our child came along was stress free and we are just trying to adjust with current arrangement. 

I will take all advice onboard and come back in a few months for an update.

Bye for now and thanks for all the feedback I've received here.


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## kennyb3 (24 Jul 2015)

LM26 said:


> Quite a patronising post IMO. I have capacity to earn €60k+ in my trained profession, we have chosen for me to stay at home for a few years, this is a priority for us at the moment, we will struggle for a few years granted but our 'financial history' before our child came along was stress free and we are just trying to adjust with current arrangement.
> 
> I will take all advice onboard and come back in a few months for an update.
> 
> Bye for now and thanks for all the feedback I've received here.



Sorry if it was patronising but you've €5.5k savings fund that is diminishing by all accounts. Surely you should have built this up further before having kids if the intention was for you to give up work? Seem very low as a rainy day fund, given size of mortgage. (covers only 2.5 months)

You've a 35yr mortgage (madness), €400k (madness on at nearly 50% of net disposable income).

You've taken a very small loan over 5 yrs at 12.39% APR (crazy) and is suggestive of a real struggle.

You're borrowing from family.

And you've another kid on the way.

My post is harsh yes - that was the intention, hopefully to provoke a reaction and make you realise the situation isn't good.

When you go back to work it's likely a huge portion of any income will be swallowed by full time childcare costs for 2 children.

I think it's your spending pattern that needs to be looked at and making better decisions (not fixing mortgage, not taking small loans with high APR over 5 years).

You need to fix something in order to increase your savings rather than chewing through them. I'd also be looking to start saving the child benefit immediately into a separate account to build up a college fund (or similar).


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