To think that life is too expensive?

Just wanted to say solidarity and good wishes OP. It’s very tough economically at the moment and I don’t foresee it getting better sadly. We have a higher household income than you and though we are by no means struggling, we have to keep to a budget and think about all non-essential spending. The fact this is the case for households on incomes of 80-100k should alarm us all. It’s not a race to the bottom and the consequences of prolonged mass purse string tightening by higher earners will be dire for many industries.

That figure includes earning and any support. I don't get food vouchers or school meals as I earn too much. I pay prescriptions and glasses etc and all my utilities the same as everyone else. I work full time, just on a low wage, and I'm a single parent.

She says she gets UC (Universal Credit).
Her £26 thousand includes that.

Price the same holiday in August. When 2 teachers are able to go on holiday.

Geez Louise!

You've got a tiny mortgage. I paid a similar one alone, whilst being a single parent to two DC, earning £17k a year. This was six years ago.

DC have left home now and I have £11k a year. My car is 16yrs old, mortgage cleared by downsizing. I also live in the SE.

Holidays, well, you can get the £9.50 breaks through The Sun newspaper. That's the only way I managed to take my DC away growing up. These days, I just don't go away.

Where on earth are you going wrong?

Definitely sit down, list every single outgoing and work out where you can cut back. Also address your credit card debt - how did that get so crazy?

Our CT is around £290 a month then gas and elec are £175 a month for both (no solar panels, 4 bed detached house 1980s build in the South East) so a total of £465.

But even at the higher price, that still would leave over £3000 a month spare so doesn't make any difference when it comes to questioning where the rest of the money is going.

When I started teaching in the mid 2000s it was about £18.5k a year, I only started earning a decent wage once I was on ups and had a tlr- I don’t know if you can get these working private but maybe dh can? I’d definitely do tutoring or exam marking rather than a holiday job. Also you are dbs-ed so babysitting is an option?

Maybe see if you can add your credit card debt to your mortgage and then cut up the card - I assume your ltv is good because 80k left on a house down south must be a small percentage. Or a 0% card is good - Martin money saver is probably most helpful for advice as it’s aimed at people in the uk.

Holidays are so expensive this year it’s unreal - maybe look at short city breaks or extreme day trips as your dc might enjoy the novelty.

Your son could get a job when he’s at uni to pay his way
If you cant live off 80k a year ask yourself wh, where’s the income going

I think that the wages in Scotland are a bit better, but you'd need to be in a management post to get anywhere near 70k.

I was getting above 40k in middle management at one point - about 8 yrs ago. I believe that my successor is getting 50+.

But do you get housing support? What about for utilities? Food vouchers? Do your children get school meal vouchers?

And her DH teaches at a state school.

Agree. It explains how we have 60% marginal tax rates.

You've not been teaching very long and so there should be plenty of of opportunity to improve both your salaries over time. Exam marking is very poorly paid - I’d go the private tutoring route instead.

Do you assume people have the same situation as you? Perhaps they live in a more expensive location for work purposes or have other costs which they cannot control.

Perhaps you have access to benefits and tax credits which they don't have?

80k isn't exactly millionaires, a 40k salary is pretty close to UK average.

Frightening how people perceive this to be high.

Living in the South East is monstrously expensive, I think 50-60k in the Midlands is equivalent to 100k in London.

Tax to high and poor public services

Politician taking public money like Jacob Rees-Mogg

I really feel like I live in an alternate universe sometimes when I read MN.

What were you both doing for work before Covid/teacher training? Is it worth one of you going back to that?

You at least have 2 incomes, £80,000! What kind of world do you live in that you don't realise how lucky you are

I'm having to take on a weekend job, just to be able to scrape by to afford to send DS to university next year.

I was able to send DS1 a small amount each month to boost his loan (might just have paid for his food). I work full time and have another child to look after and support (lone parent).
DS2 will have the same (whatever loan he gets and a small amount from me). I think this is what most parent do, don't they? Most graduates leave with a lot of debt.

This doesn't really add up. On a £85k mortgage you should be paying max £500-£600 a month capital repayment. You probably have a net income of at least £5000 pcm, even with credit card repayment of £8.5k I estimate you have £4000k a month for other bills and expenses. What am I missing?

Between my job and UC etc I have about £26K a year as my total household income. I support 2 children and supplement my adult child on this.

I am able to run a car, keep the bills paid and afford a basic holiday this year. I really struggle to understand how a household on £80K is struggling. To me this was would be a luxury amount of money. Definitely outgoings rather than income.

What did you both do before retraining as teachers? Does this help open any lucrative doors / career progression opportunities? I ask this because a teacher with a teenage son would usually have 15-25 years teaching experience and be on £48K+.

Hers at least sounds private so could take advantage of the much longer holidays they get

I'm on SLT - so assistant headteacher. Before that I was HoD for quite a while, which put me on £50k. It's true that you can't get higher than UPS3 without taking on something extra, and sometimes that will mean having to move schools.

I am really noticing this lately and it’s beginning to get me down a bit. (I know lots of people way worse off and am only comparing my own situation now with a few years ago). I can’t afford even halfway decent clothes, everything is horrible synthetic fabric and I’m hot all the time!
I’ve been cutting my own hair since covid. Switched to cheapest versions of all cosmetics etc and pared right back. Can’t get things fixed in the house or replace appliances/ furniture til they are completely necessary and urgent. We don’t even have a car. It’s shit.