How do people afford nice things?

[Nocares]

Looking for advice or an explanation of some sort!

Me and my DP both earn a good wage and have no kids.

We both drive very old cars and just bought our forever house (doer upper) very cheaply due to the works.

I have 0 debt . We never get anything on credit/finance we just save up for everything.

Although our monthly outgoings are low and we have spare money to save and spend, I don't understand our quality of life compared to others.

So we need a new bathroom first in our renovations which will cost about 4K all inc. We would both like newish second hand cars too at some point. To get something reliable and decent your talking about 7k each.
A new kitchen would be 10K with discount including fitting.
That there alone is 28K

As we pay for everything in cash as we save, I just don't see how its possible to get those things in under a decade of us saving!

A lot of our friends drive nice cars (on finance), have new kitchens or other refurbs done on their house with average incomes.

Even if you were to put everything on credit, after your repayments on top of bills and mortgage you'd have no disposable income left for years until its paid off?

I would get that people did do that, but most people still go on holidays, take maternity leaves etc. So they must still also have disposable income after paying off new car finance, credit card, and doing home renovations?

I feel like maybe we're missing a trick?
I can't imagine every single person I know is in huge debt! Especially as a lot of people have recently bought new homes due to stamp duty. So must have good credit.

I just don't see how its possible for us to do what we want to do within a reasonable time frame without it taking us a decade whilst we also live frugally.

The everyday people we know also have average jobs and income so its not like were surrounded by wealthy people either!

Am I missing something?!

So you have £2700 left each month and you cannot save for things like a car and a new kitchen?

A df with lower income than us but lower mortgage and less dc recently did up bathroom and kitchen plus got a new car. I didn’t really give it any thought as I think I just assumed savings had paid but then a few weeks ago she mentioned her parents lent them the money for the car.

I recently paid off my student loan and mentioned it to a friend who said “how on earth have YOU done that on a band 4 nhs salary?!” - I’m senior management for a hospital so not on a band 4 salary so her assumption re my earnings was off considerably.

I may have missed something but OP, do you not have a mortgage? Did you spend all on buying that house? If you have a mortgage, why don't you do what lots of people do and switch to a interest-only mortgage. Some good deals and the equity in your house is bound to more than cover it. What's the point of having masses of savings when you can use some of that money now. I know other friends who are risk averse but it really isn't always the best way to be. Live now!

@Soontobeseller

£70 per month on fuel for two people? Do you ever leave the house OP?

To be fair, if 2x wfh for the last year, this is actually a more believable part of this tale.

I think we need to know how much your house was, what deposit you put down.

Also, get giffgaff £10 phone contracts once yours end (if they are fixed term). It’s plenty.

Most people’s mortgages are more than £1k

They really aren't. The people who don't believe the OPs mortgage is £300 pm need to look outside their bubble for once.

The prices in London, SE and other expensive cities are not normal or representative of the country as a whole.

@m0therofdragons

A df with lower income than us but lower mortgage and less dc recently did up bathroom and kitchen plus got a new car. I didn’t really give it any thought as I think I just assumed savings had paid but then a few weeks ago she mentioned her parents lent them the money for the car.

I recently paid off my student loan and mentioned it to a friend who said “how on earth have YOU done that on a band 4 nhs salary?!” - I’m senior management for a hospital so not on a band 4 salary so her assumption re my earnings was off considerably.

Why you pay off your student loan? Was almost done?

I try to do things on a budget - so I needed a new kitchen, but massively paired down my requirements to reduce the costs (ie not my ideal worktops but cheaper versions etc). It’s not my ultimate kitchen but I’m happy with it. Waited 4 years to do bathroom and same approach there - not the ultimate but a functional bathroom suite.

Also rarely go abroad (pre-covid) and only have one ‘debt’ at a time - eg car or sofa etc. Nothing else bought on credit until previous one paid off

@Whooptydooperbounce

No Sky? No broadband? No TV it appears as TV licence not factored in. No car tax, insurance, MOT, parking? Ye must be at it like rabbits all day long heh heh

Just pulling your leg OP.

I've an aunt and uncle like you. They seem content enough now - mid sixties

To be fair Sky and TV licence are linked really.

We don’t have a tv licence. Never watch live tv, or iplayer. Netflix is enough (endless K Dramas on that/Rakuten)

Our monthly outgoings, without mortgage, are about £2k because we have taken everything into account & I fear you may be missing quite a lot.of expenses.
Socialising, clothes, gifts, lunches, house maintenance costs to name but a few.

Anyway, £1k is a good amount to save and in your position I would be happy to get a short term loan / card to do major home improvements that was repaid at £3-400 pm.

Personally, I still prefer to save for cars and holidays as these are kind of optional - I'll have them if money is available kind of things, I wouldn't borrow for them.

Obviously if you have DC, your outgoings will rocket!

Good luck OP, sounds like you have your head screwed on.

@Holirem2

So you have £2700 left each month and you cannot save for things like a car and a new kitchen?

That’s I was thinking! That’s a really healthy income.

Cars mean nothing, most are bought on finance or are through a company, I would rather drive a rubbish car that I actually own than be a jerk with a perk!

We've been investing in the stock market for 30 years. That's yielded extra cash for new cars and projects around the house.

@Whooptydooperbounce

To be fair, I don't watch Sky or iplayer much either, but I still pay for the stupid thing lol. Like an idiot.

Yeah we realised a few years ago the only thing we wanted to watch was one of the David Attenborough series, in a whole year. It helps we don’t like watching sport I guess.

Realised the other day we haven’t had one in 3 years. £450. Absolute cashback.

Yes, I'd quite happily be a 'jerk with a perk' too 😄 - you don't need to buy the car in the first place, and you get to drive a nice car. I've never heard the phrase before, I don't quite understand the negative connotations.

I sense that you are fibbing a bit and this is your first house.

You seem far too clueless to be on your third house, your list of outgoings is naive and flimsy. The sort of list you write when you are planning to live away from home for the first time.

No idea why you would do this but hey, it’s the internet 🤷‍♀️

To answer some questions

1. Clothes, meals, hair etc come out of our 700 per month spends. During lockdown we've not even been really spends much as no place to go!

1. Our incomes are 34k (me) and 27k (dp). But I pay A LOT into my pension as its really good and also student loan so big deductions. DP also pays student loan. But DP does get bonuses every couple of months on top which brings income to around 5700 that month. But we've been saving those the past 2 years.

1. We live up north where house prices are dirt cheap compared to other parts of the country. Also like I've stated before, we had a very large deposit plus some previous equity so didn't need to borrow that much. If we hadn't our repayments would've been a lot bigger.

The amount of advice has been fab on this thread so thank you so much.

Debt!

Literally, debt is the difference.

Also if you're risk/debt averse you can miss out on opportunities to increase your wealth especially with property. Buying an undesirable property outright might not be as lucrative as mortgaging a desirable house that appreciates.

I haven't had less than 10k unsecured debt for 15 years and I have at least £5 of secured debt for every £1 of equity. We all live in perpetual debt and hope our house of cards doesn't fall down.

You are fortunate to such a degree you don't seem to get it.

You have £2.7K a month for savings and 'spends'.

If you can't budget and plan around that, words fail me.

Many people have nothing left each month.

When DH bought his first house he had to choose between putting petrol in his car or going out for a pint once a week (and yes I know you aren't a new graduate or in your first home, but you are still young.)