To think it’s crazy that National Minimum wage is £27k

Salary! No benefits except for Child Benefit. Believe it or not, we are both GPs - we have a child with significant SEN so both work part-time.

We earn £50k a year from employed income. We do have some erratic, unreliable self-employed income which we can't rely on and don't budget for - we save it as soon as it hits our bank account.

It’s housing, that’s the bottom line. Since 1999 my house has increased in value by 400%. Now looking at the exact level for our junior level jobs currently as it’s available to check online the pay has increased by 80.7%.

How are you getting 20k with 1 full time person? That’s below min wage

Is that salary or including benefits?

MyFairLady27impressive but how?

Some of the changes in expectation people like @HardFuckingBird report are probably the results of them travelling upward through the social hierarchy, although air travel is ridiculously cheap. Plenty do not have a car and plenty do not go abroad on holidays.

I think it is crazy that it is virtually impossible to live on it now.
I used to live alone in a flat on NMW, and was fine. But then back then, my quarterly electricity bill was about 75% of what it is monthly now. And then there is rent...

Agree @HardFuckingBird

Admittedly, the costs of energy and food have risen sharply in recent years and many people struggle with that, but I completely agree that expectations are often too high. We have become very spoilt over the past 30 years or so. When I was growing up, it was one second-hand car for the whole family, one holiday a year (and often UK holidays at that), hand-me-downs instead of new clothes. Going to a restaurant or even a cafe was a rare treat. The first time we had a takeaway I was 15 years old and I remember how exciting it was, how lucky I felt. We weren’t a poor family, my parents earnt fairly well, but we appreciated what we had. I don’t remember ever coveting what wealthier families had.

My first wage as a teacher was £25k a year (11 years ago) and I thought I was loaded. As in cocktails in The Savoy loaded. 🤑 😭

Well we get by nicely with kids,pets, new cars, holidays,no credit owed to anyone or anything. And get around £20k a year between us as I'm part time atm dh full..Takes good balancing and communication and we do fine and dandy

I think - I work full time demanding non stop mentally exhausting nhs job for not much more than minimum wage.
probably get more of if I didn’t bother and claimed benefits instead tbh .

It’s the increases in housing costs that’s done it. The inflation levels in housing since the 1990s are astronomical and the impact has never really been admitted by authority. They quadrupled in 3 years or so just after 2000 ffs while wages never moved, and have only increased since then (the so called drop in 2008 was minimal and meant little outside London).

Then there’s the increases in utility prices.

You are not wrong, it is crazy, we haven’t seen this level of inflation for hundreds of years, and all governments of whatever colour have just been covering up or ignoring that for the last few decades.

DH and I live off around £50k gross between us and we have a very comfortable lifestyle (we have two children in primary school). It's a perfectly reasonable household income in inexpensive areas (I realise it wouldn't go far in London or much of the south). In my area the problem is lifestyle creep. People's expectations are crazy compared to when we were children. When I was at school most families didn't have one foreign holiday a year, but now a lot of the families I know expect to be able to go away 3-4 times a year. Families often shared one old car - now most people I know have a luxury car per adult, often on PCP. Meals out used to be a rare treat - whereas now a lot of my colleagues feel entitled to coffees, lunches, takeaways and meals out every week.