Are you worried about money right now?

[NevillesLeftNadger]

Obviously there's a lot of financial worry about, with rising rents and mortgage costs and the price of food and fuel and other commodities shooting up. Personally I'm scared that our savings are depleting to nothing and that the kids will just need more food/more expensive stuff etc as they get bigger. We don't take holidays, or get take aways or have day trips and I'm already scared about next winter's fuel costs and whether we'll be able to replace our old car when it does.

On the other hand we have a home we won't lose and it's insulated and (currently!) in good repair so that's a lot less to worry about.

But equally there must be lots of people insulated from all of the financial stress judging by how busy cafes and restaurants and theme parks and holiday cottages etc still presumably are.

So I'm just being nosy and wondering whether most mumsnetters are in a financial fret or feeling like they'll sail through it all. Are you worried about money currently?

No. We are good. We're not rolling in it but our income has increased beyond the increase in outgoings and so our finances aren't under any stress. If this had all happened five years ago we'd have been fubared.

We're not worried. We're mortgage free in London and high earners (finance and marketing).

We're both savers and frugal, so no fancy cars, no five-star all-inclusive holidays. We live a healthy lifestyle so we do most of our cooking at home, and eat out about once a month. Our biggest expense is DC's private school. We live a pretty simple life compared to a lot of people we know.

I appreciate we're lucky, but also lucky in the sense that DH and I have the same outlook on money and saving. We're sensible and don't care at all about keeping up with our neighbors. We probably look like we don't have a lot of money, but we choose to invest a lot of surplus in the stock markets for the long term over buying stuff. We could be big spenders, but we choose not to be.

Hmm. Yes and no. Certainly feeling that more money needs to be spent on everything, everything we buy is more expensive. But we have savings and lucky to have two holidays this year. Having said that we budget really hard to have the things we do and make very conscious decisions when spending money. We are remortgaging later this year and the inevitable increase there does worry me. Another year or so of top up fees at nursery and then we'll have a school aged child so possibly less expenditure there but with school uniform, lunches, trips who knows!

I'm not worried for my own household, but do feel worried about wider societal impacts.

Short term yes - we are now in about 12k debt after having DD with maternity leave, moving, nursery fees and just everything costing a fucking fortune. Talking to colleagues and friends, many have admitted they also went into debt in the early child years so I feel better about that.

Long term the 30 free hours start soon and next year DD is in school which will release 1400 a month back io disposable income which means we can clear debt and rebuild savings.

Ultimately we want to get out of the renting rat race - its too stressful being at the mercy of the landlords sky high rental increases.

No we’re not worried. We definitely have less disposable money than before, and have another baby on the way, but a combination of pay rises and our first DC getting free hours soon means we will still have over £1k disposable each month. We have decent savings and our mortgage is fixed for the next 5 years. We’re being a bit more careful than before but having cut spending that much.

Haven’t cut spending that much*

Yes somewhat. I have to take issue with the OP saying holiday cottages are still busy. Not true in my experience. I have a holiday lodge in a touristy part of the country and have had almost no bookings this year. For example it’s booked for 3 days in July and a week in August so far. This forms a lot of my income and is very worrying. It’s rented through an agent who set prices so I can’t reduce the price. Looking like making a thumping loss this year so yes worried.

Wow, really? I thought holiday stuff was all still oversubscribed, people wanting to make up for lost time.

Yeah kind of, though it's all relative. I have a mortgage that's not too huge and I can afford to eat and pay my bills, so that's great, but that eats up all of my income and there's nothing left for nice treats, holidays or emergencies. Almost gone through all my savings. No car and I don't drink or smoke but do live in London 😂
I'm definitely a lower middle earner but there's only my income and I'm kind of supporting one adult DC, so there's that.

How is everyone affording to go on holiday? 😂

I'm not a great saver so that might be the key.

I’d consider selling it to a local person, if you are making a loss.

Yes, I worry about it every day. We have little in savings and each month, the spending on necessities is more. There will soon be a point at which what goes out is more than what comes in.

Yes I am, I can't sleep at night because of the stress :(

Yes, specifically for the next 5 years whilst we're still paying extortionate childcare costs

@StormShadow I think that many people haven’t been abroad on holiday for several years due to Covid and the shitshow at the airports last year and are now doing that. Not even the good weather recently generated any bookings. We’ve been given every excuse by the agents like C of L crisis, the fact that we haven’t got a hot tub etc Depressing especially as thousands was spent in January refurbishing it.

@ThankmelaterOkay unfortunately I can’t do that as it’s on a holiday park ( a nice one!) and strictly not residential. It’s one of the main rules. I’m not depriving anyone of a home.

Yes and no. We have a secure rental but we’re a bit disappointed as we can’t buy right now and we were hoping to buy this year given we’ve saved a deposit. Refuse to strap ourselves into thousands of pounds of debt with rates as they are and possibly negative equity as we could only buy something small that we would need to move from. It’s just not worth it.

Incomes wise our jobs are good, and like I say our home is secure. I feel I’ve failed a bit by the fact we still rent but what can you do.

No mortgage
No debt
Substantial savings.
Both driving thirteen year old cars.
No takeaways
Rarely eat out
Do go to the theatre and the pub but only ever have two.

Final salary pension plus state we generally have few hundred to save at the end of the month.

We are very aware that we are very lucky, but for balance when we first bought interest rates were 15% and when I turned forty we could only afford to mark it, with a meal that was paid for by nectar vouchers because there was no wriggle room in the day to day food budget.

IMO your forties are the hardest financially, hold hard there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Sworntofun Could you ditch the agent and then set your own prices? I’d have thought even advertising on Facebook mentioning you have availability during the school holidays would attract people.

No I don't, but adult child is working, another child at school. No childcare as I'm self employed and work from home which is very flexible.

Mortgage is fixed for a good few years.

Another property is let out and mortgage Nearly paid off

I have been in financial strife years ago, and I've worked hard, saved hard, and don't spend money on things I really don't need. Have also lived through 2 recessions which does make you a bit more sensible with spending and over stretching yourself.

I do have a mix of friends... most are fine. A few who are on lower wages are struggling a bit, but don't have mortgages and live in assured tenancy's.

Holidays for myself my partner works overtime 😅

but I think a lot of people book it a year in advance and prioritise it and pay it off each month.

and there’s the good old credit card for some!

@Buyyouflowers

Overtime is a great way of doing it!
And yeah I guess people do use credit 😂

Yes, worried about money. But September my eldest will start school. And my youngest will get some funding for nursery in April & more in September 2024. So, yes, worried. But I realise over the next year or so, our out goings will be a lot less without the huge child care bills.

Mmm true could be that. I guess a lot of people who had UK holidays in 2022 had booked them in 2021 when they weren't sure whether there might be further travel restrictions. And I think some common holiday countries for British people had vaccine requirements well into 2022 didn't they? So that may have led some people to holiday abroad this year when they didn't last year.

People do seem to have got really into hot tubs as well!

Yes I'm constantly worried about money. I'm in my 70's, until recently my pensions covered everything I needed and DH was working part time with a view to retiring soon. Of course at our age mortgage is paid off, but DH is now back working full time just to afford the bills.
You just need something unexpected to arise (like expensive dental treatment or car repairs) and we struggle to afford them without dipping into our ever diminishing savings.
We cannot afford a holiday this year, I promised myself when I retired that I would get away at least once a year.