Scared to go back to England

We are on approx £40k between us, before I returned to work part time we were in £29k and survived with no benefits apart from child benefit. Three young children and live in South east. We are fine. We have holidays in UK. We have treats.

In fairness, I do think we just drew bad luck weather wise in the 2 weeks that we went! We've been previously and it's been lovely. We still had a lovely time!

I moved back here a couple years ago and love it.

The equivalent of a 35k salary has never been comfortable to support a whole family on.

Depends. Where are you now and where will you be going? Are you moving like for like? (IE small town to small town?)

I'm a born and bred Londoner and whilst I love the city and am raising my DC here (and couldn't really imagine raising them anywhere else) it would be a huge culture shock for someone who isn't used to big city life to move here.

I'd have to do some serious, serious soul searching about moving back to England if I wasn't currently living here.

@Valleygirlaccent, if you are moving back to Wales then I’d say go for it without a doubt!
But I’d say no to London on that salary, city prices are just not so doable.

Well we have no idea if you will be able to live a nice life on £35k as no other info.

Is that to support one adult? Or two? Children? Childcare needs?

Rent or mortgage? Where? How big?

I live in a naice area in SE, fifty miles from London. A decent one bed flat here costs about £250k or £1400 a month rent.

If your current life includes private healthcare, schooling and a maid (which is often the case for expats- companies cover a lot and health/education is often routinely paid for in certain countries by necessity), then there will be a big adjustment moving back here.

We lived in Singapore for a while- the apartment complex had a hotel style pool, natural rock landscaping and palm trees, everyone else with DC had maids, and there was no free healthcare so we went private and billed the company. It was like a holiday for me- though DH worked long hard hours 😅.

Coming back here was still a relief.

What does Naice Area mean, OP?

£35k in London or Surrey and yeah you'll obviously struggle. Most other places you'll be ok. You might not be in the David Lloyd, Waitrose and dinner out every Friday night tax bracket but should be ok.

Hard to say without knowing what kind of lifestyle you're expecting or hoping for.

In the last few years my food bill has risen astronomically (£700 per month for 3 easily somehow) but everything else has been manageable.

The UK is not without its problems but I don’t recognise the ‘shithole’ description. We live a nice life where we are, in the North West.

This weekend we spent Friday after school in the sunshine in one well kept park 5 mins walk from our house. Saturday morning we visited another lovely park, 10 mins walk this time, then in the afternoon went to a kid friendly show at a small local theatre in a really pretty town 20 mins drive away, driving through lovely views and scenery to get there. In that town we were able to park (for free!) and walk past people sitting outside cafes and in beer gardens, having a nice time, through the weekly local producers market where live music was being performed and into the theatre. Admittedly the tickets for this weren’t particularly cheap - about £24 each - but manageable with a bit of planning.

Sunday a third beautiful park nearby was having a fun day, spent grand total of £3 - £1 to do the Easter trail, for which DD got a little prize at the end, and £2 for the bouncy castle. Other than that hours of fun just running round the park, meeting friends and watching a few performances from choirs and a dance group.

Now DD is off into her incredible school today, where the staff genuinely care and children seem really happy - my DD certainly is.

My brother in law has just had a heart operation in an NHS hospital and received excellent care - admittedly he had to wait far too long, I’m not claiming it’s utopia.

We manage on very average salaries - mine would be 40k ish but I’m part time so significantly leas than that, DH is around that. We managed fine too when I didn’t work for a year after DD. Our housing costs were/ are low though which makes a huge difference.

It’s been said often on the thread already and you seem reluctant to answer - but of course your experience is going to depend on family size, where exactly in the UK you’ll be, what the housing situation will be - rents are astronomical from what I can see.

But it’s ridiculous to say the whole of the UK is a shithole or that everyone here is miserable. There’s a lot of problems, but there’s an awful lot of good too. Some people don’t see how good they have it honestly.

Just stay away from weekly mumsnet threads about how terrible the uk is about everything compared to the rest of the world.

You will be fine on that wage! Don’t listen to the moaners! It’s beautiful where I am. On the edge of a national park. Very safe, very friendly. Very clean. Very pretty. Love it here. U.K. has so much good stuff going for it. We Brits love to complain.

I wouldn't live anywhere else in the world. I like the weather, hate it to be constantly hot it makes me lethargic. The odd hot day is great and the weather has been loveky and sunny for the last couple of weeks here now. I live in the outskirts of a big town, which is a suburb of a big English city but I'm situated in the last outpost really with beautiful country walks and every time I explore I find something new. My local train station can take me into real countryside with little pubs or number of Northern cities within an hour. I love going on holiday but I love living here.

Stay put.

This country is fast on its way to becoming a shithole. Low pay, shabby unkempt towns, litter everywhere, if you venture into inner cities even worse, poor facilities, worse housing.

Don’t bother coming back, unless you are planning on living on the taxpayer’s dime. Then it’s a paradise.

It's bad if you have health issues and waiting lists in your area are years long. Although I'm in Wales, maybe they are shorter in England?

Have you said which area you are moving to?

We moved back to the UK when my DC was 8.

We had a house in the UK (BTL which we sold and moved into a cheaper one).

Wages in the UK fluctuated between 50k to 100k between us.

What is your housing situation like in the UK?

That must have been disappointing for you. However the weather in Scotland in August/September is often glorious. Cold mornings and brilliant sunshine.
Any country will have it's issues. I wouldn't want up live in USA at the moment. I love Europe but climate change is making many parts too hot to live in for my cold, Scottish blood.

We have a very, very good quality of life here, but we live in a village close the sea which makes a difference when we have wall to wall sunshine for weeks and week on end 😎
I find there is much more to do with children for free. The culture and arts. Museums, libraries, ancient forest walks, extensive parks and places to go that are totally free, just take a picnic.
It’s perfectly possible to enjoy a very happy life here, and those that can’t are generally miserable everywhere and it’s a them thing. The moaners.

A close family, culture and heritage are more important to me than chasing a certain lifestyle. I find some countries quite one dimensional when i have lived there.

Crunch the numbers, have a proper plan and budget and use your time to plan how you will enjoy your time once home.

I love to travel, but wouldn’t actually live anywhere else. It’s not perfect, but neither is anywhere else.

It’s true that things have got more expensive over the last few years.
It’s also true that most Brits love to complain. So now there’s something to complain about I can imagine that outside of Britain it sounds much worse than it is.

35k is probably fine though too low for SE and London in my experience , especially if you have a family. but when we moved back to the UK it was the moving and travel costs that were painful and all the little bits and pieces you pay out for when you're in those days of physically moving to the UK, settling into the new house/flat. It's expensive, you need cash flow. Being back in the UK? Absolutely fine! Glad we made the move back

If it’s SE England then £35k isn’t a pot to piss in, unless you own your home or are able to get a council home. The East Midlands, and parts of the North East are much cheaper. Also factor in the cost of transport, days out, nights out, kids hobbies, your hobbies, bills, taxes, school expenses, and needing to save up a bit for a rainy day.

We returned from living abroad several years ago and I'm so glad we did. We live fairly rurally and love the countryside and forest that surrounds us. Spring is absolutely gorgeous here - birds singing, lambs skipping about, the trees and flowers coming into life.