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

YANBU.
Know we earn enough for day to day.

But im sat at work, my kids are home in front of screens. Dad asleep cos he works nights.

And I see loads of activities and holiday days out on for kids via HAF. Which we are not eligible for.

How on earth to people think that those on benefits are not stretched! DP lost his job through no fault of his own and is struggling to find another one in his 60s
A single person on UC gets £400 pcm, local housing allowance does not even cover the rent which has to be topped up so he has less than £70 a week to cover all bills and food which is just not possible

I don't work. Husband earns about 75 k/y. Two teenagers, one autistic. At first I wanted to be a sahm until children started school. Then my DS1 had so many appointments during the day + Husband gone irregularly every week for work that it just wasn't possible. Now it is possible to work school hours (need to be home for DS1 morning- afternoon) so I looked at what was available. TA 700 £/ month. Before tax. And dh wouldn't help at home because work long hours. So I would get home tired and have to deal with everything needs to be doing myself (cleaning, laundry, food prep, homework ds2) + deal with DS1s outbursts and regulate him.
No, I prefer not working.and go to the gym/ for walks. Clean/laundry/food prep during the day so that I can spend quality tume with my dc and be well rested.
I appreciate that it's different for those with high earning potential that can outsource home stuff but for me it's not worth it.

Just out of interest, how do you think the benefit people are getting on?
I went from 80 K a year to £1400 a month with my mortgage being 663 of that
So I’m intrigued how you think the benefit people are winning here?

I'm in Ireland so possibly a bit different, but we are just shy of a six figure income (before tax). We take home about €5k per month after tax and pension contributions. We waited years to have kids until we were financially "stable"... which now seems anecdotal. We have a mortgage of just over €1k, we have 2 paid for cars (albeit older and we could certainly do with upgrading at least one). However our childcare costs are abiut to double in 2027, to about €1.8k a month. So that's 60% of our take home lay gone before I even consider buying groceries, bills liek gas and electricity, diesel or home heating oil, we generally don't buy clothes for ourselves but obviously kids outgrow things relatively quick. We also have debt of over €1k a month too unfortunately (medical / household upgrade necessities etc). I have one massage a year which is a birthday gift, I get my hair done 2-3 times a year etc... i.e. we don't flash the cash.

This year we took in an exchange student to try to build up a savings buffer knowing that when childcare costs increase, it'll be much harder to save. However, a sequence of white goods breaking down in the house and car repairs (given the age of the cars now) meant that we ended up having to dip into that fund already.

So yes, people might look at us and think ohhh figure salary but after tax, mortgage and childcare there's little left.

That's everything yes and no free school meals as kids to old and to young. Our mortgage is £600 a month, no childcare costs, no debt, no credit cards, 10 year old car,

They just buy really expensive things/have an expensive lifestyle.
However much people have, they want more.

No we just want them to stop whinging their poor when they have no idea what being poor is, its very hard to have sympathy for someone earning 150k a year saying they are struggling

£30k a year? Does that include child benefit? Anything else? 'Free' school meals?

I'm sure some people want those that have difficult, well paid, highly skilled roles to have no luxuries and to be happy to hand a huge proportion of their money to those that don't. All evens out that way. I'm sure this is what Labour seem to be aiming towards.

This. We are up north family of 6 and manage comfortably on under 30k a year

Yes, I’m stretched to the brink.

I don’t know what I’m going to do.

I agree and I am single no kids! But same boat here, bills are not able to be split anymore and even stuff like food shopping I haven’t noticed a big difference between single and when I was with my partner. Feel like I’m so isolated as I don’t have spare money to do things at the weekend to actually go and meet people. Not how I thought my life would be at this point. The thought of people asking what I’m doing at weekend or if I’m going away (single person supplement is a joke!) fills me with dread. It feels like such a kick in the teeth when your hear about proposals for helping low income with energy bills and your just struggling to make it to the end of the month. I’m on an ok salary around £40k but on your own it really doesn’t go far anymore

Seems like the majority on here struggling, live in London.
DS1 spent 15 years in London (University and after) had a great time, then "came home North". He now says the quantity of his life has massively improved.

Yes it absolutely depends where you live. A teacher earns the same in the north west of England as they do in the south east - where I live a not particularly nice 2-bed flat will set you back £400k, which I can't even afford after 20 years of teaching.

This I've always been poor so I'm great at it and wouldn't say I struggle we have food, heat and a roof. People need to write down what they are actually spending.

I agree.

We have no mortgage and childcare , education or university costs. I work 2 days a week, my DH is about to go down to 3 days a week as we're both getting on a bit! Neither of us are on particularly big salaries - I'm a teacher, he's a scientist for the civil service.

We have definitely noticed prices rising - who hasn't, but we are managing fine. Housing and childcare costs seems to be crazy and getting worse.

I don't understand people on six figures spending all their money.

It's not that hard to understand. They have higher out-goings. You aren't going to find many people earning six figures and living in a 2 bed terrace in a working town.

Yep I’m bloody sick of it! I have a really good job and live in an area where homes are reasonably priced, not one penny left at the end of the month. Yet people can still claim UC when they have potentially up to 16 grand saved in the bank! It’s disgusting, country is ran by a bunch of muppets.

Well according to pp you're doing great because you're on benefits

We're in London and I'm not seeing signs of everyone cutting back. People are walking around with shop-bought coffee cups, I'm constantly dodging Deliveroo drivers on pavements and the high street is busy on any sunny day. We still go to the theatre (we get vouchers) and that's often sold out. Lapland UK has sold out already. It's not the super rich spending all that money, although it's an affluent demographic. But it's not as binary as just the super rich and benefits claimants and everyone else has nothing left.

People working in the 80s lost their homes - it did affect more than you were aware of. It’s why governments have been so careful to avoid that

And the lack of jobs -25% unemployment rate in many areas especially in the north. It tore communities apart and many are just starting to show signs of recovery.

people on big bucks today are spending it on homes usually. Theirs and the nursery

people are struggling because of the rapid downward change.

It’s not just the increase in food costs etc. It’s because the tax thresholds have been frozen for years, so we are spending more and more of our incomes on tax. Other taxes are also rising faster than wages. Council tax for example, up around 5% this year, but not many people have had that much pay rise. It’s outrageous. They shouldn’t be allowed to raise council tax by more than the average wage.

I think this is surely down to childcare and housing costs.
We manage to live a nice enough life but have a mortgage of just £800 a month and no childcare costs. It must be really hard for those having to pay such high rents that we see now and childcare is still very expensive.
I wish something was done about housing costs. I don’t know how they can make it more affordable but it should be a government priority.

I feel the same as you. I'm in my late forties and expected to feel more relaxed about money by now. However, I don't. Instead, I'm worrying how I'm going to fund my teen through university this September when I'm just expected to find an extra £500 per month to support her. I work really hard full time. I'm exhausted and I have nothing to show for it. There are things that need repairing or replacing in my house and I have no savings to pay for any of it. Life seems very bleak.