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

I think so much of this is down to housing costs and childcare costs all of which are so much higher than they used to be.

i am fortunate in that although I am disabled and medically retired I own my own home and my kids are well out of the childcare years.

in this situation the col increases are copable with.

I’m sorry to hear so many are struggling and I really hope things don’t get worse.

I completely agree. Taxing the shit out of anything you can point at (to ridiculous levels) has become Labour’s calling card. I’d like to know how the treasury plans to use the additional 20 million a day it’s coining from various oil/gas levies and taxes, due to the Iran war. Surely they should be looking to relieve the frankly overburdened and underpaid UK workforce? But they won’t, they’ll spank it on benefits claimants - to keep their core voters happy.

60% of income tax comes from the top 10% of earns. 30% comes from the top 1%. You might want to look up the Laffer Curve.

In the interest of balance. No I am doing fine. Never felt so well off. My secret to success is being born 60 years ago.
I really feel for young families. Something is very broken. We just don’t support hard working parents enough.

Or we could tax the super rich ….

If benefits were reduced, I wouldn't be able to afford to eat or pay my bills. It's a struggle enough as it is.

Thats not even something we have being on double the minimum wage, people’s expectations are sky high. In my experience if you’ve got children then it doesn’t really matter what you are on, seem to end up with a similar amount each month whether not working or on double the minimum wage as we are now (the extra just makes you ineligible for extra top ups) probably just end up having a bit more choice in life though and save a shed load of time in benefits admin at leat And better off in long run in terms of home ownership and pensions etc

Yep. We run our own business. Both work in it full time. 2 kids. Priced up a day out next week £55 to get in, plus petrol, packed lunch snacks etc. the kids are off for 2 weeks how is this sustainable. Paid £85 for 5 (2 adults 3 kids) to go to an event yesterday was there 2 hours and again had to pay petrol and parking!! Trip to the cinema £40 - we take our own snacks now otherwise that’s another £40.

£200 in a weekly shop, nothing major in there was about 5 bags of food ridiculous cost

New England kits £135 - no wonder people buying them off blag sites who can afford this?

Sorry. Genuinely not being snippy. Can you explain a bit more what you mean please? I thought we WERE talking about people who are working full time?

85% off their child care costs too.

Why? Because quite obviously we need people to work. Taxes on work and every other little thing Labour attempt to slip in need to come down dramatically and immediately, funded by reductions in benefits.

Why? Because if we look at the world, the majority of the population would envy just that? I'm happy to have a secure roof over my head. I'm happy not to worry about paying my bills. Many on this thread can't. My parents couldn't. I know that is a luxury.

Since when has having an expensive car, a pricey holiday, £150 hair & £40 nails or a ridiculously over priced coffee been the standard to aim for? It sounds like conspicuous consumption to me, AKA a waste of money. 1 or 2 on that list occasionally is great. But expecting a full-time job (unless you're a lawyer or a stockbroker) to pay for all that has more or less always been unrealistic.

Yep the “green levies” we’re all paying have made the billionaires MNetters are all sneering at!
And how are the green levy punishments going to pay down ££££trillions of debt I ask?

Your children are going to be paying that if someone doesn’t figure out a way to get out of this doomloop. The IMF beckons.

Educated adults , your children are going to be getting out of this country, they’re not going to accept this failed State a moment longer than they have to.

We need radical change.

A clearing out of the civil service so they do as they’re told.
And a Government with fiscal prudence to run the country, not the unelected back room boys sitting securely in their WFH offices dispensing socialist policies.

We have an average household income for where we live. We have a fairly comfortable life in terms of a nice home, and a good reliable car. However, we are at a life stage where I would have expected we would go on holiday every year and have savings. We don’t, which is disappointing (much of our disposable money is now taken up by the mortgage interest rate hikes and food price increases). We live frugally on what we have left. I do feel privileged in comparison to the situation many are in, but I also feel disappointed that our lifestyle and financial security isn’t better than it is.

I agree with so much on here.
Life is a drudge without any sparkle.

No money to eat out. No money for nails. No money for hair. No new clothes. No theatre. No concerts. No drinks out. No fancy ingredients (love cooking). No 'little luxuries' like nice handwash. No holidays. No treats. No takeaways.

No wonder so many people spend ££s trying to win the Lottery. It feels like the only way off the treadmill.

Absolutely this. Otherwise, why bother. There should be a huge difference in lifestyle between working a minimum wage job and not working. At least a holiday abroad once a year and not having to think about how to afford a meal out regularly. Not much to ask for giving up 40 years of your life to work.

Yup.

I think it’s completely unreasonable to expect that someone working full time should be happy just to afford the absolute basics of life.

I'd imagine it is because tax payers are paying for a proportion of their payroll - via working tax credits. Just a guess. Not paying inheritance tax. Spending their money on paying a tiny proportion of tax on the money generated for them by others. We are going back in time. The poor are staying poor and the middle are getting poorer in real terms. If you can't see what is being done to us, I give up.

Having been a single parent on benefits and now a higher earning income household, I do think I see it from both sides and where people miss the point is how comfortably off a family is depends very much on their individual circumstances rather than whether they are a UC claimant or higher earner. I have friends who have a low mortgage on a a lovely house, minimal commuting costs, family that give cash gifts towards holiday and home improvements. They are sensible and frugal with their money but manage a fairly modestly comfortable standard of living and afford a lot of things we can’t afford like holidays. I have another friend who has shared care of children but due to shift work cannot have 50/50 care and earns a good salary but after high rent on substandard housing near to children , child maintenance payments, high commuting costs is on a huge deficit each month and spiralling into debt despite doing deliveroo work after a full days work just to have enough money to try and
feed children when they are with him. We’re a higher income earning household but with being a blended family so needing a large house, child maintenance costs etc then we are just about managing, definitely had a higher disposable income as a single parent but then suppose didn’t have the long term investment of being home owners and did have to move at one point due to landlord wanting to move back into house. I worked hard as single parent but also work hard now. I’m glad we have a welfare state but people do massively overestimate how much better off people not on benefits are (my DH was shocked when he first me as expected I’d be really poor but had a more expensive car than him) but at the same time most people on benefits have lives just as hard as those who are working

Yeah its funny how people are still managing to afford that

What have billionaires done wrong? On the whole they’ve founded businesses that employ lots of people and pay all due taxes. Whats the issue? You want them to pay more than 45% of their income in taxes? That’s a decision the government could make but they have no doubt been advised by their economists that doing so is unlikely lead to a higher level of tax take due to people deciding to leave the country.

Take a deep breath and stop being so angry.

Also wanted to add. I might be doing OK now but my son is nearly a teen, I've been there paying the nursery bills.
I've been through some horrendous times financially where I would be crying in a heap on the kitchen floor with another bill I couldn't pay.
But people's lives change over time. You are never going yo have a lot of money with nursery bills. I see my parents feeling quite comfortable these days but I know they used to borrow tins of beans from family to feed the kids for the day.
Lives changes, sometimes your up, sometimes your down x

Absolutely, for the simple reason that you are being taxed extremely heavily to fund non working/low earning families.

You are angry at billionaires? Please explain in what way they are "making mugs of all of us". @Ilovemsrachel