To wonder how people are coping?

Is the £170k before or after taxes?

@PassportPringle most of what you list is completely optional. And people need to pay childcare at all incomes.
buying a bigger house, nicer car, car each, private school, clothes, beauty, gym membership, insurances are choices. But Childcare/commuting costs often not much you can do about that if you work.

Your mortgage must be huge! I think this post is tone deaf. Surely you know you’re overspending if you can’t manage on that income?

However it does signal that there is something fairly fundamental going on here in regards to living standards.

Good point, I said on another thread how we are on the decline now. Costs will only increase as will taxes.

If ever a post illustrated how clueless people can be, this is it!

I'm on 23k

Struggling with your £170k annual income?? FFS read the room OP.

Yes, buying a bigger house, nicer car, car each, private school, clothes, beauty, gym membership, insurances are choices. But Childcare/commuting costs often not much you can do about that if you work.

Our household income is a lot higher than when we bought 3 years ago but we're probably going to stay in our little terrace rather than upsize. If we upsize to a semi our mortgage and council tax will be around £2.5k plus it will be a house that needs £40- £60k spending on it despite not doing any extensions courtesy of SE labour costs & costs of items (again a choice to do this). If I stay in my nearly renovated terrace i'm around grand up every month (I need to remortgage soon....)

I do have some sympathy with OP. If you told me 20 years ago what my household income would be I would assume detached house, BMW & nice holidays (were a little over 6 figures).

Apparently according to Mumsnet pensioners are the equivalent of benefit scroungers so good job you don't have Disney, you would be slaughtered on here!😂

Realistically the economy is bad and the country is broke so don't expect the government to fix it.

We wont have the luxuries prior generations had but thats life.

We have a 6 fig income, no school fees but I am feeling the pinch with food costs.

Only if you choose that. There’s no real need for them to rise in tandem.

I get Disney free through Lloyds Bank where it's £5 a month of you sign up to their club Lloyds account, but they waive the fee if you have a certain income going in. My income is around 37k untaxed because of DLA for dd and LCWAW for me. We were doing okay until I decided to learn to drive at 40£h and that's been eating at a lot of my income, but once that passes things should be easier again.

I don't eat meat though and I try to keep bills low. I obviously I get a council tax discount and a small discount on the water, which is currently negated by a dripping tap that I can't afford to have fixed. We have two small solar panels, the house is well insulated and I switch everything off at night and when not using it, apart from the fridge. My daughter is not in school as waiting for an EHCP but once she is and I can do some part time work, that would pay for a better holiday than Butlins, which I currently just look for offers or cheap weeks, as we can go in term time. Quite a chunk of my income goes on therapy for me and finding things which help her regulate and ordering take away as her meltdowns make it hard to keep on top of housework and food shopping. İf I didn't have those problems we would be feeling quite affluent and could maybe get some nice furniture and flooring. So I can't get my head around a 170k income not being enough.

Happy to post spending particulars if people are finding it hard to see where I'm coming from

That would be helpful @CobbleWobble

Yes if borrowing 4.5x that £170k income, now at 5% it might be £4.5k a month.

Ouch!

You need to join the frugal threads on MN @CobbleWobble they will help you .

Hit and run from the OP? Or a stealth brag?

If you're still reading, I'm baffled as to how you can be earning that much. Because you are clearly financially illiterate. I earn a fraction of that, consider myself fairly crap with money, yet still manage fine.

Also the higher you’re income,the higher the outgoings.

Removed kids from private school

at anything from £6/8k a term so £20k + x 2 kids so £40k now spare

and still struggling 🙄

many live off what you did spend on school

Not sure but at our state school we’re fighting to secure dc spaces on the ski trip. The year 10s go and there’s 200 of them but only 40 spaces. Far more than 40 want to go, including my twins, at £1300 per child. Dh and I earn significantly less than you - more like £110k but I’m not going to suggest we’re suffering or cutting back, but we’re fairly careful to start with.

I'm coping with a 25% of your income.
How, exactly how you are doing cutting off extras. No holidays is one of them. Aldi is my beloved supermarket. Etc, etc.

But that's the point, we have no idea what OP's mortgage is, or indeed any of her outgoings (and I wouldn't be so rude as to ask).

We are on about 80k a year combined,up north,we aren’t coping,mortgage has gone up,utilities are very high,food shop is ridiculous,2 years ago we would be able to save roughly £800 a month,now we run out before payday,it’s fucking shit!

I’m amazed anyone feels confident enough in their income to sign up for private school for two kids TBH.

£4-5k a month for 15 years on top of your other expenses… just… I’m not sure I’ll ever feel financially secure enough to make that investment alongside my not dis-similarly massive mortgage!

I think whatever your income, it doesn’t go as far as it used to. That kind of ‘upper middle class’ private schools, two nice cars, luxury holidays kind of lifestyle seems to demand rather a lot higher income than you’d expect now.

Things are very expensive now but I don't understand how you can't afford Disney plus or a holiday on 170k? School fees will save you tens of thousands.