To wonder how people are coping?

If your net monthly income is £7000 and you earn 20% of that, that’s £1400. So if childcare is £950 a month… you are effectively working for £450 net a month. Less when you consider the extra you are probably spending on other things because you have two working parents (cleaner, commute, maybe ready meals etc). Is there a way you can up your earnings?

Or conversely, can you reduce your hours so you can cut costs elsewhere… For example can you use unpaid parental leave for some of the holidays so you don’t need to use holiday club, as that’s expensive and might actually outweigh your earnings.

Why are your utilities so high? That's about two or three times average usage.

You could also halve your broadband costs and it would still be sufficient for video calls. You just need to chase the deals.

Your home insurance is very expensive too. Do you shop around?

As already suggested by a PP make sure you offset the cost of your professional subscriptions against tax.

On pip ( yes long term Parkinson’s), don’t like Disney, too young for pension at 63.

Agree.

These sort of threads make me weep. You literally have no idea of the real world do you??!!

Gosh I’m surprised on those wages your monthly net income is only 2 grand a month more than ours, and we have two standard jobs plus universal credit. Not sure if that says more about the current tax legislation or universal credit!

i think you're paying a high cost for an unfortunate house building/ repair problem. But you must have chosen to put yourselves in this situation. Perhaps you could move somewhere cheaper?

@Winederlust 20k plus must be going into pensions.

@CobbleWobble your combined salaries should have a net closer to £9k, with you taking home £2k and your husband taking home £6700. I know you mentioned student loan, but something is amiss by nearly £2k.

🤣

£7k pm take home seems low even taking into account one of you being in the highest tax band. Is there a reason fir that?

I find it weird on Mns how so many are aghast that anyone on 6 figs could find finances tight but then you go on the holiday thread & 10k plus seems normal for holiday budgets. We can't afford that! 😆

£170k, private school etc and you are considering cancelling Disney +?

This makes no sense.

You probably have a big mortgage

£7.95 in Aldi today!!!!

I am talking about the qualifying UC threshold, not the amount of UC received. The qualifying income is less than a quarter of £170k. It is closer to a tenth of that income. Top ups don't cover everything. Eg Local Housing Allowance in my area is realistically 50% of the cost of a private rent. Doesn't meet 100% the cost of a Housing Association either.

@CobbleWobble yes you have less money than you used to as the mortgage interest rates are ridiculous and if you had to remortgage, but you are able to afford your house, all your bills - hot water, electric, extras like Disney etc. wrap around care, you have a car, you have food on the table AND you still have £900 extra a month for day to day spends and some savings, plus you are both putting into your pensions. Seriously, there are children in the UK who are going to school hungry, there are more kids worldwide who live in rubbish pits and are begging on the streets and don’t have a safe place to sleep. I get times are hard, but I think a bit of perspective will do you good. You will be absolutely fine, it’s sad your children have had to leave private school but they will be absolutely fine also. x

🤣 genuinely not sure if this is a bragging post or not.. 170k a year is well off..but you know that don't you 😉
Anyway... I'm not sure why you'd have to be cutting out disney and UK holidays when you have that money? We are on a lot less than that and are paying for disney, netlix, PlayStation us, all the extras, we are getting by just fine. Where are living if you don't mind me asking, is it London? Are you living beyond your means house wise? Are we talking 5 bed detached with acres of land? Or 3 bed semi ? Maybe you need to downsize?

Tax and pensions, if won't be anywhere near that

The OP has said that the split is about 80/20 so her DH is on £128k so about the worst possible amount to earn as 25k of that will be taxed at 62%

So we have a similar income and very comfortable. It's only got so high in the last few years though so we live in a normal house we bought 6 years ago so mortgage is manageable. One child, no childcare except occasional after school club which averages around £15 a week, she does quite a few activities though. Two pretty modern cars but not ferraris or anything like that. No private school but would consider it for secondary.

Honesty if you're not managing on that something is very wrong

OP - we're on a bit less, maybe £140k, but yes, it feels similar.

Mortgage about £1700, child at university, lots of wraparound/holiday care needed for younger children/

We work full-time and long hours in professional jobs, have only one car, and struggle to afford a cheap holiday each year. We've delayed things like replacing worn-out carpets.

Food and fuel going up has been tough. Mortgage payments and fuel for the house have increased by about 50% for us since buying the house.