To wonder how people are coping?

Sorry closer to £60 (forgot weekends not included!)

I do really agree with this. It shocks me these days how much young people spend on coffee, clothes, ubers, holidays and then claim they can't save for a house!! I did jury service last week and you get a daily food allowance but I brought my own food and drinks. That will probably add up (75.00) to something we can do as a family. There is a lot of food waste too. I'm always shocked by what I can buy in Sainsbury's for 50.00 vs Aldi or Lidl, let alone M & S or Waitrose!

You can be careful without being stingy.

I‘ve been saying the same to my DH - I feel so bad for people who have lower income and more outgoings. It’s becoming unmanageable. Don't come for me anyone, but I do think Brexit has a lot to do with it.

@daisymoo2 You forgot the most important issue of all - the money pit house OP and her husband chose, that they’re paying £2.5k per month for.

Also, everyone should budget, and budget properly, regardless of income. It’s called living below your means. You can’t be bothered to do it, then you’ll find yourself screwed.

🎻

Disappointing to see the usual “tone deaf” comments. OP has a very good household income but doesn’t feel comfortable in the way she expected to with an income at that level. There are various issues here:

One, with husband earning around £125k he’s being clobbered by marginal tax of 60+% (70% in Scotland). So after tax earnings are much lower than one might expect.

Secondly, OP isn’t used to having to budget and feels she shouldn’t have to given her income (therefore it hasn’t been a priority before now). This is understandable but needs to change.

Thirdly, OP looks around and those with much less income (eg two £40k salaries) are on a net income of not that much less than OP due to much more favourable tax at that level, keeping child benefit, UC top up in some cases. OP should feel much better off than a family like this next door but she doesn’t. It doesn’t make sense to her that she can’t afford the much better house, better holidays, etc but in reality, her net income isn’t that much higher so she cannot afford this and adjusting is difficult and upsetting.

The lefties will say that the rich should be taxed more but herein lies the problem. They’re already being taxed to the hilt and now can’t pay for things like cleaners and school fees which previously would have stoked the economy. Hence the country is stuck in a dooms-driven downward spiral.

The country can’t tax its way to prosperity. Perhaps if this changes we’ll see an improvement but with Starmer and Reeves in charge I highly doubt it.

I don’t she is crying about it. But I understand why people have taken it that way.

Yeah I get you. Her situation isn’t relatable to a lot of people. I could see where she was coming from. And I could see why people got irked too.

We live in a 2 bed terrace! The water is a flat rate, and I think it’s actually £18. They’re installing meters down the street but we’re allowed to stay on the flat rate, although whoever moves in after us would have to use the meter, apparently! I’m sure it won’t last forever.

We're coping very nicely thanks. Our income is 2/3 of yours. We're just planning three separate weeks of European holidays for next year, and already have three breaks in the UK booked in. We recently bought a car and had a new bathroom fitted. We have Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+.

On the other hand we live in a less expensive part of the country (regional city, very pleasant, but outside the South East of England). Our mortgage is a fraction of yours. The car was second hand, bought from savings. We don't get many takeaways (food or coffee) and spend little on clothes and grooming.

In short, we try to make long term, sensible financial decisions, and live within our means, minimising the costs of servicing debts as far as we can. But also, we've been lucky.

Please don’t come on a thread like this where someone is already basically pleading poverty at £170k a year household income and then say you’re burning through £9k a month. You chose to have 5 children as well. I think this is completely tone deaf and I really don’t have much sympathy. I hear your points that you too are seeing how much impact the cost is, but it really isn’t the same as those who genuinely struggle.

Plenty of nice places that are affordable in this country.

Deserve better 🤣 for wasting money, managing it badly and buying the wrong house. Most people could live very well on that salary. We’re on a third of that and do.

Or you leave the country and move elsewhere?

Jeez this place is depressing. Can’t you see the issue with young people only being able to afford shit housing? I live in a beautiful, massive house but that’s because I bought it years and years ago. I’m alright.

But I sort of thing a young couple with the income this pair have, paying loads of tax, doing the right thing for our economy and public services deserve better than being told they’re getting above themselves wanting something better than the shit housing they’d be in if their mortgage was less.

We earn just a bit more than the op ( and in a 50/50 split so better for tax reasons) our mortgage is £3200 per month. We don’t have any childcare costs. I can’t just move to try and save a few quid, I’d end up somewhere too small for us all STILL paying over £2k a month.

Sorry if I have read this wrong but did you mean you have £900 disposable income each month?

OP, I’ve been thinking about this, you’ve mentioned how much you’ve been worried and stressing over money, cutting out everything you can, reducing the cleaner, cutting subscriptions etc. taken the children out of school. how much of an active part has your husband had to play in these conversations?

If you have complete and full financial transparency and you were doing the budget together you would know immediately how much he contributes a month to his pension, and how much better off you would be if he reduced his contributions, particularly as you’ve had to remove your children from their school.

I’m a bit confused how you afforded the fees which must have been apprx 3.5k a month- how did you have the budget for it when your mortgage has only gone up 1200 a month and you’re really struggling now? I wonder if he’s playing his full part in all of this or just letting you do all the worrying

I'm living on a basic pension OP, yet I feel like I have more disposable income than you. Your mortgage and childcare costs just seem enormous to me, and I'm so sorry you had to take your children out of their school, I hope they've settled down okay in the new ones. What I have found though is:- Most own brand food these days is as good as it better than branded; cheap British holidays are often more fun than foreign ones, and less worrying; Christmas doesn't have to be TOO expensive, choose one day out each rather than try to do it all, perhaps do a Secret Santa with the wider family instead of buying for everyone, and if you want some good tips watch the Christmas episode of The Good Life! Sorry, I've banged on a lot there, but I'm just trying to say that cheap and cheerful is better than expensive and worrying about the credit card debt, and I wish you and your family all the best

This is us on 120k, what is your take home figure?

Me 3100
DP 4100
CB 280
Total 7480

Housing
Mortgage: 1900.
Insurances(life, house): 150
Total Housing: 2050
Utilities
Electricity 150
Waste collection: 30
Broadband & TV: 70
Mobile phones x3: 60
Total Utilities: 310
Food & Groceries
Groceries & household food: 500
Dining out / takeaways: 200
Total Food: 700
Transportation
Fuel: 250
Car insurance & tax: 150
Maintenance & NCT: 100
Public transport / Parking: 20
Total Transport: 520
Education & Kids
School books, uniforms, fees: 50
Activities, sports, clubs: 50
Pocket money/treats: 60
Total Kids & Education: 160
Entertainment & Lifestyle
Family outings, hobbies, gifts: 200
Subscriptions, books, etc.: 60
Miscellaneous expenses (haircuts,nails): 60
Personal spends: 200 x 2 = 400
Total Entertainment: 730
Savings & Miscellaneous
Emergency fund / Savings: 2,000
Holidays (monthly allocation): 500
Clothing: 200
Miscellaneous buffer: 300
Total Savings & Misc.: 3,000
TOTAL MONTHLY SPENDING: 7,480

What are your expenses? We earn the same and save quite a bit!

I pay £44 month for water. 2 bed terrace, no dishwasher, outside tap or bath. Could prob reduce a bit with fewer showers but not 1/2 it!

I don't support Liz Truss, she's incompetent.

Liz Truss may have altered the timeframe for increased base rate slightly but the increased base rate was only ever a return to historic norms. Ultralow base rate was an historic anomaly designed to stimulate the economy post-2008. We've never seen the like before and hopefully won't again (given the economic circumstances needed for that to happen).

We're actually running a base rate hugely lower now than the base rate from 1960 to 2000.

Our council tax is £ 200
water £60
Electricity £60
Heatimg £ 80 average
Rent £ 1800
Broadband£40
Professional subscriptions £ 130
Public transport £ 200

everything is up

I still think your utilities is high despite the water heating issue. Our bill is 220-320 ish a month depending on the time of year and that includes broadband and 4 mobile sims with unlimited data. 4 bed house.

How old are your children? My youngest is year 5 and we’ve worked around school pickups for years (waiting list for wraparound was a year so gave up waiting!). I know you said you can’t but there are jobs where this is possible. We do a lot of shared lifts with other parents so don’t necessarily need to go out and the kids watch tv or whatever until we clock off. Oldest gets the bus so no involvement for us. That bit will ease as your kids grow, op.

Wow your housing bills are tiny! Do you live in a flat? I didn’t know it was possible to use £20 water a month given the daily charge too! Our council tax is over £300 a month..

We are on 120 K single income household. We live in a modest 2 bed rented flat. DS moved from a private primary to a secondary grammar but we still struggle . Our rents have gone up by 500 pounds since COVID, food prices are up . Can’t even think about holidays. Still 170 k should be manageable, I think