# Repayments putting preasure on us.



## Default (12 Apr 2011)

Hi,
any advise greatly appreciated.We are struggling to keep our head above water at the moment.
Our Problem is 
House 1. Mortgage 197000, 165000 left to pay,19yrs left, Repayments are 1095 before increase, Rent is 700 per month.Value is Approx 145000,  
Was on Intrest only for couple of years.
House 2. Mortgage 195000, 163000 and 24yrs left,repayments are 798 before increase, Rent 600 per month. Value is approx 150000, Was main residence before we built. 

Our monthly outgoings can be covered just about However when you add in the shortfall on the 2 mortgages this is pushing us €478 a month in to the red every month.We are worried if we put the houses up for sale we might lose the tennents. We deffinitely can afford to take any hit on the 2 houses being sold at a loss. Is there anyway out for us????


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## niceoneted (12 Apr 2011)

i would suggest first off that you complete the basic info as found here - 			Basic information required for the "Money Makeover" forum

Also is there a third mortgage? What are your incomes. have you any other debts etc. By filling in the info in above format it means you will get better responses.


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## Default (12 Apr 2011)

Age: 31
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 27

Annual gross income from employment or profession: 15000 (If I am lucky)
Annual gross income of spouse: 44000( Net 2150 per month)

Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed 
Self employed
Public sector

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Spending more than we earn

Rough estimate of value of home 300k 

Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 287K approx
What interest rate are you paying? 2.1% tracker

Other borrowings – car loan 6600 & 11 months Left

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No 
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? €620

Savings and investments: 11000

Do you have a pension scheme? Yes( paying in 50 a month)

Do you own any investment or other property? yes

Ages of children: 1 child under 12 months.


Out Goings:
Mortgage 1180, Vhi 115, Car Loan 580, House Insurance 40,Running of Car 380, Phones 160, Utilities 140, Sky 60, Life Insurance 69, Personal Insurance 50, Food 520, Waste Disposal 22. 
Think that is everything Total is €*3316
*


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## niceoneted (12 Apr 2011)

Look into the VHI and see if there is a corporate plan that is cheaper that you can move too. 
Bills that can be cut back are:
1. utilities (turn down thermostat on head and don't leave stuff on standby. Switch to LED/CFL bulbs. Switch off what is not in use). 
2. Phones look for a better package you should be able to cut this by 100.
3.sky can be cut to the basic package of 25.
4. Food shopping can be cut to 400. Try out lidl and aldi. 

Use savings to clear car loan and credit card balance and cut up the credit card.


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## Default (12 Apr 2011)

Thanks niceoneted, We are looking into every aspect of our spending our big worry is the rising interest rates on the mortgages will eat up any savings we hope to make on our bills and we go back to square one.


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## taxedparent (13 Apr 2011)

You might also want to check your spouse's net income, seems a cpl hundred low a month for 44k. Does he/she have all your tax credits? Can pension contributions be reduced?

Use your savings to pay off the car loan, credit card and any arrears on the mortgage. Switch to UPC way cheaper plus they do deals on phone bundles. 160/month seems very high to be paying.

I notice you haven't included child benefit in your over view, that extra money a month pays for nearly all our food shopping 

You can cut that food bill significantly, for a 6 week period we were surviving on 35-40 euro a week on shopping, for 2 adults and 1 child. Shop in lidl and aldi, do not step foot into any other supermarket, do not go to local shop for anything. Buy food to cook, and not pre-made, plus its great fun trying out new recipes 

Even though we are out of our hard times, we still now only spend 35-40/week on food. You get used to it and the food is pretty much the exact same as the "other" supermarkets but at a fraction of the cost.

Would also advise bringing sandwiches to work, I was spending about 100 euro a month on work lunches/breakfasts. By making sandwiches and eating porridge I was able to reduce that to 25/month


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## Guest105 (13 Apr 2011)

Default said:


> Out Goings:
> Mortgage 1180, Vhi 115, Car Loan 580, House Insurance 40,Running of Car 380, Phones 160, Utilities 140, Sky 60, Life Insurance 69, Personal Insurance 50, Food 520, Waste Disposal 22.
> Think that is everything Total is €*3316*


 

Move down to a cheaper health insurance plan and if you are both healthy ask yourselves do you really need health insurance at this stage of your lives.

Phones 160???? far too high you both cound get a deal for €20 on your mobiles.

You spending far too much on groceries, your monthly budget on food could be cut in half.

keep a spending diary for a month and see exactly where you money is going and where you can make savings.

Ps get rid of sky you cant afford it at the moment


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## horusd (13 Apr 2011)

Couple of other observations:


Your house insurance seems a little expensive at 480.00. Review it, insuring only for your needs and rebuilding costs.
What is personal insurance? Do you need it?
Phones at 160 seems expensive. 1920 pa. Check plans for cheaper options. Does this incl. home phone & BB? If so, what does this cost? I have BB & home phone for 45 pm, and use pay as you go for roughly 20 pm. Total 780 pa.Even with another mobile, total costs would be 1020, a saving of 900pa.
Consider replacing SKY with free to air. One outlay of 200-300 & then free TV. Use online service for RTE1/2/TV3. Or switch to 25 pm SKY package.
380 car running costs seem excessive. How is this broken down? Is this pm?
Your CC balance is low. Pay it off, but if you can be disciplined and pay off in full each month, keep it, it can be handy used carefully. Alternatively use a Visa Debit.
Are you recycling everything you can? Do you compost ?
Set out a food budget of say 400.00pm. See how it goes, and make further cut-backs if you can. Use a shopping list. Recycle left-overs for sambos.
What is your savings invested in? Are you getting the best rates?
*Finally, make saving and cutting back fun. This is really important, make it a challenge you want to step up too rather than an impostion*. This will help you to keep it up, and enjoy it.


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## Brouhahaha (13 Apr 2011)

horusd said:


> Couple of other observations:
> 
> 
> Consider replacing SKY with free to air. One outlay of 200-300 & then free TV. Use online service for RTE1/2/TV3. Or switch to 25 pm SKY package.



If you already have a sky box you don't need to pay anything to revert to free to air, you just need to cancel sky and do some simple steps. I haven't done it but I believe taking out the sky card is the main step.


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## Bronte (13 Apr 2011)

Can you go back on the rental incomes again and state exactly how much you have to subsidise them.  It is not just a straight mortgage amount less rent.


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## horusd (13 Apr 2011)

Brouhahaha said:


> If you already have a sky box you don't need to pay anything to revert to free to air, you just need to cancel sky and do some simple steps. I haven't done it but I believe taking out the sky card is the main step.


 

Your right, you can remove SKY Card and get some Free to Air. Do a search on AAM & boards.ie you can program in satellite codes for various stations into the TV.


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