Are other full-time working families finding there is nothing left?

Well if you think that spending £1000 a year is necessary then do not complain you have no money!!!

I’m ok Mortgage paid and recently work part time. DH full time.
However: moved from SE to North years ago and bought a very small, cheap house. I couldn’t afford to live in my home town as a single person so got costed out. As a result, I was able to overpay on the mortgage.
I have a little left over at the end of the month but still live payday to payday. We have some good bargain shops here and can get cheaper food at the markets sometimes. Shop in charity shops or look for bargains generally. I’d say we have a good life. My old friends live in the SE as does my DH’s family. I think we’d be in a lot of debt by now.
The government doesn’t care about the middle. Or the poor.

£1300pm ( i think its just about to go down to £1200 as we have just renewed)
Property value £350kish
£180K left on mortgage

We extended our 3 bed to a 4 bed about 7 years ago which bumped up our payments.

We take home £6.5k a month between us. We’re two adults, DH pays maintenance for one child, his daughter is an adult and my son is also an adult who has left home. We certainly don’t feel loaded.

I sympathise with your position but when people say "those with the broadest shoulders" they don't mean you

Hi, is your mortgage high?

Our salaries increased a lot in ten years between late 20s - late 30s and we can afford a much higher mortgage that the one we have but we stayed in our two bed terrace in a less desirable area because I’d rather spend or save my money freely than wrapped up in the bank and bricks.
We go on multiple holidays a year and have one child.

DP has recently had a big pay increase and promotion but we’re staying in the two bed terrace so he can still step down or move careers if he wants to.

Yup! As a family earning more than we ever have, but skinter than we have ever been. It’s so demoralising

How has Sir Ian Wood exploited the masses? How has JK Rowling exploited the masses?

Give me the name of a billionaire that "has exploited the masses" @Suncatch

It is alot, of course it was one of these things that have evolved over time as the children have become better and started competing etc.

Didn’t mean to quote

Nope, stop taking so much from working people to give to non working people. It’s skewing the whole economic system and breaking the social contract. Not taking as much from someone is not giving them anything. If you gave me £20 one week and only £10 the next week, have I given you £10? Or have you given me £30? Think about it.

Agree with this. There are people in this country relying on food banks to feed their children. Our own children should be our priority as a country, not those in other countries. Foreign aid is madness when so many are struggling. I suppose it allows Kier to go on lots of foreign jollies though.

You only get 85% off if you work, are a carer or are disabled. An able bodied parent not working won't get it.

To be honest £300 a month in sports is a lot but given your earnings you should be able tk afford it and have days out etc. I quite believe you cant though due to taxes etc which is a problem as whats the point in working hard and earning well for little return

Sure, let’s just ignore the fact that many people who accept benefits are not getting enjoyment from being in that position. Let’s ignore the fact that, despite the lies spread by the haters, many in the position that they had to apply for benefits to survive do actually transition back to work as soon as able. And let’s ignore the fact that many with disabilities who have to source benefits as a safety net actually do not feel they are winning.

Yes everyone gets 30 free hours now from 9 months I believe which is good. But there is still fees to pay on top of that at most nurseries, it only covers just less than 3 days a week I believe, so those not able to claim benefits and work still have a nursery bill running into hundreds of pounds a month just for 1 child. Those on benefits/UC will get 85% off that bill and I think now there is only tax relief that non benefit claimers can get. Even if people aren't working they will still get 85% discount if they put their child into nursery, government sees it that they're getting an education being in nursery, which is fair enough. Ultimately they should be working when their child is in nursery though, morally, unless unable to do so due to long term illness or disability.

I think if both people are working full time they should be able to have luxuries. The goverment cannot carry on taxing the middle class. They will have nothing left to give.

Its madness to tax a country to its knees whilst spending billions on migrants and foreign aid. We need to cut all this spending out, stop taxing working people to the brink, ensure plenty of affordable housing, get as many people as possible back working (if they can)and get Britian back to being a good economy.

That may be true but then they also have more options. If the shit hits the fan they can downsize to a 2 bed mid terrace with their two adults, one child family to save money. They can give up their theatre trips and cleaner and daily coffees. Those already in the two bed terrace with no cleaner or daily coffees have nothing left to give up as they can only afford the essentials anyway (if they're lucky!) and will probably end up cold/hungry/homeless. It's just not comparable no matter how it's dressed up.

No free school meals here either.

There are plenty of shitty billionaires who avoid taxes but there are also some (JK Rowling for a start) who pay their fare share.

What is needed is tackling corruption and illegal activity across the board with prison sentence and full accountability in the public sector for stealing funds or wasting taxpayer's money. Including sackings and loss of pension.

Just increasing taxes so that those that play by the rules pay more isn't going to be enough.

I despise these threads, people turn into monsters on them.

Everyone hates "high earners" not even sure what thats classed as anymore but i can tell you as someone i assume would be classed as a high earning household ( £150K before tax) that we arent flinging money about the place but we arent destitute either.

I consider ourselves lucky we can afford to put food on the table (aldi) we can run our (old) car and manage our household bills.

Our 3 kids can do their competitve sports which is a huge outgoing of around £300 per month.

But we cant afford to eat out, family days out need to be planned more and everything is just much more of a thought.

My income is the bulk of the household at over £100k but i pay 45% tax on that.

Its a slog.

They are the ones who get to decide if I can feed my child and pay my bills. That feels scary too because if Reform get their way, I doubt I'd be able to feed my child and pay my bills.

Completely agree, OP.

My salary has at least gone up recently - but that was after basically staying still for ten years while prices went up and up.

It's so depressing that none of the major political parties seem to care / able to fix it.

That's why I'm voting Green at the next election. Not only do they care about the environment ( I'm very concerned about the state of the planet ) but also they're talking about taxing billionaires more - I think that's the fairest solution.

So take off the poorest to give to the richest ?