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Original poster

Can´t survive on salary without benefits. Doesn´t seem right.

625 replies

Fashionesta · 27/04/2021 14:19

Just wondered if anyone else was in the same boat as feeling a bit miserable. Recently started new job, 31K a year, felt happy with that, potential to grow. Having done all my calculations and bills, if it were not for getting some money towards housing, I would be 300 pounds a month short :(

After pension I get around 1800 per month. Rent is 950 and I have one of the cheaper properties in my area so no ability to find anything cheaper - its me and DD in a 2 bed. No luxuries at all. Basic mobile phone on giff gaff 8 per month, no SKY etc, old car although paying off car loan of 150 month which bumps outgoings up. By the time I have paid all my bills, council tax, loan, after school club for DD and swimming lessons for her which I feel is essential, if it weren´t for the fact that I get some help towards rent, I would be -300 per month.

I generally feel like I earn a decent wage and panicking a bit about the situation. Not asking for a solution really as I think I am quite frugal, also sensible so pay for life insurance, car insurance, pet insurance and house insurance. Pay TV licence and so on. Shop at Tesco.

Anyone else don´t feel like they are getting by on what I actually consider a decent wage (although I realise in MN terms I am probably not earning much at all).'

Argh I just hate feeling poor all the time and I shouldn´t have to rely on benefits when on 31K surely!

OP posts:
doomonic · 27/04/2021 22:32

The answer is to force employers to pay proper money and contribute fairly to pensions. As long as big supermarkets advertise 16-hours per week jobs (just before the entitlement to sick pay, pension rights and UC kicks in) then the tax payer is not only paying tax on their salary, they are subsidising their cheapskate pay policies. Any employer paying less than a living wage is complicit. I have a cleaner, but she is paid £12.50 per hour -- for four hours a week. I am not her only customer. How Tesco etc. pay £9.something and rely on the state to make it up to a wage is beyond me.

Excellent post

doomonic · 27/04/2021 22:35

One thing about pensions as well that you have to pay more than you did in the past, personal contributions are higher.

XingMing · 27/04/2021 22:42

Not sure I agree with everything............ but it is horrifying that £31k, which is above the median wage, is insufficient to put an adequate roof over their child's head, feed a child properly, and pay for swimming lessons too. Five children, and I start to think you may have f*cked a bit too enthusiastically without considering contraceptive precautions.
@Enoughnow, I don't think you are right. It's not that MN hates people who are not wealthy. Frankly, it's because we can't believe anyone could make such daft choices. Having children is easy, most women can get pregnant, but bringing up a child is much easier with two parents, and some people, especially a LOT of men, just like fucking without thought to the consequences. Women, like it or not, live with the consequences a lot longer and with more responsibilities than men, so need to be far more prudent about reproduction.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General money
SuziQuatrosFatNan · 27/04/2021 22:44

Which again is a subsidy to employers. There were loads of them disappearing in miasmas of mergers, liquidations that weren't etc, taking the work pensions with them. The response? Introduce the national workplace pension requiring a higher % of employee contributions. Fucksakes.

doomonic · 27/04/2021 22:44

That they might have to manage on average money and claim benefits and have the whole world look down on them

One thing I found really odd over lockdown was how furlough claimants became the new scroungers & how some posters who lost income & now needed to claim benefits were incredulous that they were ineligible due to savings but didn't want to use their savings.

EnoughnowIthink · 27/04/2021 22:45

Women, like it or not, live with the consequences a lot longer and with more responsibilities than men, so need to be far more prudent about reproduction

Why should women be held to account for men’s poor choices? Why should I have to take responsibility for my ex’s piss poor behaviour? How about as a society we demand that men become better fathers, see their children regularly and support them financially?

Miasicarisatia · 27/04/2021 22:48

I blame the broken housing market or rather I blame the government for failing to regulate it properly or rather failing to regulate it for the benefit of the people who live in the country as opposed to wealthy property owners

Rachie1973 · 27/04/2021 23:01

OP I think you’re doing brilliantly and I agree with you wholeheartedly.

I have been where you are some years ago now.

Miasicarisatia · 27/04/2021 23:06

Women, like it or not, live with the consequences a lot longer and with more responsibilities than men, so need to be far more prudent about reproduction
women have to be more conscientious because men dont want the hassle of being decent upstanding people?
we have to smooth the way and do the boring low status stuff so they can look good and have their freedom?
It's a hard NOPE from me, hold them to account, if they want the credit they have to do the work!

raskolnikova · 27/04/2021 23:16

@EnoughnowIthink

Women, like it or not, live with the consequences a lot longer and with more responsibilities than men, so need to be far more prudent about reproduction

Why should women be held to account for men’s poor choices? Why should I have to take responsibility for my ex’s piss poor behaviour? How about as a society we demand that men become better fathers, see their children regularly and support them financially?

Well, this is a society that took a man who can't even say how many children he has and made him PM. Pretty sure there's at least one kid he has nothing to do with. What is it, at least 6 children by 3 different women?

But heaven forbid a working single mother with one kid owns a pet and has life insurance Shock

Butwasitherdriveway · 27/04/2021 23:24

can we stop with the comments about her pet. Let's not encourage people to get rid of their pets - she made a commitment.

SciFiScream · 27/04/2021 23:37

More power to your elbow @Fashionesta I think you are doing amazingly well.

The capitalist system that has led to the situation you describe is awful.

You're probably also suffering due to the systemic and structural sexism in our capitalist society.

I wish you pay rises and rent decreases. Or a small lottery win that gets you on the housing ladder.

Are you on a list for council housing or housing association properties? You might wait a few years but would save a little bit of money.

Good luck.

StormBaby · 27/04/2021 23:37

I’m only on £21k and don’t qualify for any housing help. I get tax credits and that’s it. Rent is the same as you. It sucks 😭

Justanotherlurker · 27/04/2021 23:48

You can thank Labour for this situation and all the people who think the 'slippery slope' argument is a right wing trope.

Brown and Labour had a choice of putting higher wages or more reliance on the state, despite a lot of back bench rebellion he decided the state should pick up the downfall, it then becomes even more murky with the neolib theory that is effectively a pyramid scheme to import cheaper wage slaves whilst also downgrading degrees.

The fact is, everyone wants something to be done until it hits them personally, houseprices is one that will get the always vote labour 'working class parents now earning 6 fugures' mn posters in a tailspin, the I'm alright jack attitude is not soley a tory issue.

It isn't going to fix itself for a long while until the anti tory/pro labour crowd do some self reflection, they wont though as it is based on class and they have lost touch, it will be the next 'boomer' put down as they say how their house price should not go down in value because they installed a new kitchen.

At this point, we need to go full on accelerationism and get it over and done with.

Babyroobs · 27/04/2021 23:54

@StormBaby

I’m only on £21k and don’t qualify for any housing help. I get tax credits and that’s it. Rent is the same as you. It sucks 😭
Maybe look at universal credit instead then as you would get a rent element and likely be much better off unless you have savings above the level for Uc.
CausingChaos2 · 28/04/2021 00:07

Yanbu. It’s appalling that you cannot manage on a decent salary like that. Ignore the posters who have tried to shame you for claiming the little help you get.

Benelovencd · 28/04/2021 00:07

I always wonder how did we get here? Most people realistically will never be part of the 1%. They will never have hundreds of millions of pounds let alone tens of millions or mere millions. So, we are all really a few bad decisions, unfortunate events, illnesses and coincidences away from destitution even if you own your own home and have £100k in savings. So how did we get here? Who the hell is voting for these policies and thinks they are a good idea and we should focus on benefit scroungers (when billions of pounds in benefits go unclaimed and we lose tens of billions in lost tax revenue from corporations), instead of the wealthy and politicians bleeding us dry and transferring wealth from the poor to the already wealthy (working poor should not be a phrase in modern day Britain)....

And then I come to MN and people are begrudging a woman working part time for having the audacity to sleep on a bed in her own room instead of a sofa and her child having swimming lessons and a pet...then it all makes sense why we are in the hole we are in.

Murdoch has really done a number on people.

Mycatisthebest · 28/04/2021 00:18

Yanbu.

CandyLeBonBon · 28/04/2021 00:22

@Fashionesta

The irony is I'd probably pay less on a mortgage but I will literally never be able to buy as a single earner and therefore pay crazy rentals every month.
Don't give up hope. I'm now 3 years into a shared ownership as a single parent of 3 on a similar salary. I am quite Confused at the comments here about claiming benefits at this wage level.

I was earning £35k 20 years ago when that was a decent wage. I'm now earning £30k after putting myself through 3 years of training and it's not comparable. I have a 4 bed home on shared ownership (yes, I need 4 beds. So don't start) and no way could I support my family without tax credits. It's a terrible state to be in.

So much misunderstanding on this thread

SofiaMichelle · 28/04/2021 00:27

Why do MNers go on about Murdoch so much?

Do you think anyone doesn't agree with your own view point must be brainwashed by the media?

It needs more reflection than 'Murdoch made 'em do it' to understand why so much of Labour's core (of which I was one a few years ago) has been driven into the arms of Johnson and co', even after all that's happened with his Brexit lies and what came next.

Susannahmoody · 28/04/2021 02:22

But how can the dad not pay anything? HOW? He doesn't get to pick? I don't understand

WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo · 28/04/2021 02:36

@Susannahmoody

But how can the dad not pay anything? HOW? He doesn't get to pick? I don't understand
Because the CMS isn't fit for purpose. They can't get NRPs living in this county to pay up. Let alone ones living abroad! They do get to pick. They shouldn't, but they do!
checkedcloth · 28/04/2021 04:04

Op - I just wanted to say I agree with you. It’s absolutely disgraceful.

You should like your doing a brilliant job, and the very best by your DD.

I really hope things change for the better for you and her.

To those of you suggesting the OP should sleep on sofa - do have a search as to where your moral compass is and some compassion for a fellow human being

Spinningaround21 · 28/04/2021 04:46

Wow some really missed the point of the OPs thread didn’t they. Also getting angry at the person and not the systems/governance in place that mean a full time worker need to claim top ups to live in the first place!

Mumsnet can be batshit. Recently read a thread where people were utterly disgusted children were to be banned from some cruises this year. Their poor children are missing out on something so important again due to covid. Somebody think of the children! (because cruises are vital to a child’s development and wellbeingHmm)
Yet it’s perfectly acceptable on the same site to suggest that @Fashionesta child misses out on basic swimming lessons and a pet growing up because the system is broken?

Talk about privilege of some that have no idea what it’s like to live out of their high earner bubbles.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 28/04/2021 05:34

@Susannahmoody

But how can the dad not pay anything? HOW? He doesn't get to pick? I don't understand
Because there is no one enforcing it.