AIBU to feel middle-class luxuries have become increasingly out of reach?

Fair enough!

Is it just me that thinks this is awful?! The school let her set up a small business on their property? She pocketed the money for herself? It wasn’t raised for charity?

That's a shame. I think you'd love one otherwise.

You can change the screen background colours, font, brightness etc.

That might help?

Yep! I earn a decent living and get a reasonable amount of child support from ExH but am still skint. TBF I do like to go away with my two teens a couple of times a year - a weekend skiing in France and a week's summer holiday in Europe somewhere - but these aren't really wild extravagances are they? I don't eat out loads or spend tons on hair and clothes (although I'd love to). It just seems like the general level of lifestyle maintenance - by which I mean fixing bits of the house as they inevitably break (there's always something (expensive) that needs doing), making sure the car is running and has an MOT, school uniforms etc etc - is outstripping very average earnings these days.

OP, what are your wages and what is your mortgage? Or major outgoing e.g school fees/nursery?

@3luckystars hi, can you say more about how there is no class system in Ireland? I'm always fascinated when people from other places say this. Surely there must be evidence and reactions to people's education, politics, wealth, culture, etc etc? I find it hard to believe nobody notices or cares about those things.

100%. I earn £80k and a few years ago I considered myself very comfortably off. Could buy most things (obv not luxury goods) without thinking. Now, I’m really feeling the cost of living issues. I spend very little outside of what’s needed.

I used to go out to eat non-stop. These days I’m just always shocked when I do go.

I didn't say the Middletons were upper class (although tbh if we were 200 years ago they probably would have been given a quick baronetcy before the marriage!).

Basically the whole class system is nonsense. For it to make any logical sense it would have to be split roughly into thirds. The middle would be exactly that - the middle third, covering the average (whether that's salary, income or overall lifestyle), then upper would be the third below, and working the third below that.

The situation we have now where upper class ONLY covers the 0.1% of people who have a title, working class is supposed to cover the lowest earning 10-20% while we all pretend to ignore the fact that the poorest levels of the population actually aren't working at all, and 'middle class' can cover, depending on who you ask, literally the other 80-90% of us, from the parents of the future queen to a single mother living in social housing and receiving UC, because despite earning less than £30k a year she works part time in what was traditionally a MC job like a solicitor, or went to private school or shops in M&S or whatever ridiculous definition people go by!

This screenshot shows nothing. Post the breakdown of what that universal credit entitlement is made up of because it will be more than two adults and two children.

Echoing what PP have said, it’s definitely not impossible to get that much UC with that income coming in but there will be other elements on there. PP have already posted proof you just can’t get that amount otherwise.

I love my kindle. I share my library with my son and DIL. We have over 1300 books! Imagine trying to house all those physically?

Me too (although I am only 60)

I’ve managed to get used to reading on a Kindle, despite being 72 and having two degrees. I still read dead tree books but not often.

I will admit to coffee and cake every fortnight or so but I tell myself I am supporting a nice independent cafe and the nice people who run it and therefore keeping the economy going. I make up for it by never buying new clothes if I can help it!

Why do you think I am not an academic and turn my nose up at those who are. Because I read kindle books and think those who say only hard copies "are beautiful" are pretentious? 😂

Sorry, misread then. I picked up on point about take home pay.

Sorry I don’t know what you mean by this? What’s not referring to people on benefits? I was replying to a post where someone was saying you can get universal credit if you earn £4800 a month with no housing or disabled costs and I gave them a calculation to show that the sum wasn’t true. How can that not be about benefits when their post was about benefits? I’m confused.

£49k for graduates in 40-49 age bracket

Totally agree with this.

My mum didn't buy 'treats' for herself. It was M&S for the middle classes. We didn't eat out. She certainly didn't get a cake or coffee whilst out.

My parents were both firmly middle class. My Dad part owned his own business or was a senior management at the company he worked at. My mum worked part time.

They scrimped and saved throughout my childhood. I was very aware of it. We had old second hand cars.

The lifestyle that people think is middle class is most definitely the upper end of middle class. It is not typical of middle class.

If your experience growing up was better than that to that, and you think you have hard now because you can't buy an £80 dress you seriously need to address your lack of awareness of the rest of the world and what is typical.

Did it.