Anyone on here on an ‘average’ wage with an ‘average’ job living and ‘average’ life?

[Handcreamqueen]

Before I start, I want to say that I am not knocking anyone. I am just being nosey/inquisitive.

I’ve frequented MN since the birth of my ds, 18 years ago.

Back then I don’t recall people discussing their lifestyle and salaries etc (but maybe I was looking more on the baby topics to much!?).

So many threads these days start with ‘My husband earns over £100k+‘ or ‘We have a joint income of £160k+‘ and asking questions about luxury cars, private schools, exotic holidays etc.
It has me wondering if most Mumsnetters from high earning households these days?

I only work very part time, that’s mainly down to some health issues I suffer from and I also care for my mum who has dementia. DH works very hard as a road engineer and also covers the road gritting in the Winter to boost our income (he loves his job and has been doing it for over 30 years). We have an extended 4 bed semi (which dh built himself to save money), we both drive older (but paid for) cars, own a touring caravan so holiday in the U.K etc. All distinctly average.

Our 18 year old ds is training to be a bricklayer and 15 year old dd is still at school. Neither want or wanted to go to uni.

Before anyone jumps at me though, I’m not jealous or envious, I am happy with my lot and appreciate being a high earner is not all milk and honey (We have a few friends who earn ££££ and know how exhausted they are at times) but it often has me wondering, how many people on MN these days are regular, average earners living a regular life? The average household income is around the £35k mark which puts us just above but not by much. How many of us fall in that category?

Are many of you like us living an average life, not a super earner and have a ‘job’ as opposed to a ‘career’, with an ‘average’ car and ‘average’ house but are happy and content?

Hello to you if you are on here 😊

Oh dear I'm below average 😔 husband works ft I'm a sahm. Household income £22,500pa. Renting a 2 bed flat. No cars. I'm happy though so all's good 😊

I suspect you might have just been reading the same thread I've just been reading OP. 😉I think there are plenty of average earners on Mumsnet but we don't tend to join in with those kinds of conversations.

I'm below average, probably technically on the poverty line. Single parent of one, salary £22,800 plus universal credit. Living in a 2 bed flat. No car.

Isn't 35k average income not average household income?

Hello to you if you are on here

Hello 🖐

I've been on MN as long as you. There've always been show offs and fantasists. I know people do earn £100k+ but MN isn't an accurate reflection of real people's income.

Same with the majority who have £600k pension pots and multiple buy to lets!

And I think many who claim to have stressful careers have jobs like you and me.

I have an average salary job and live in an ex council house, which I'm grateful to own. DC about to go to university, but there's nothing unusual in that! I'm happy, so are my kids.
I can't understand what people actually spend big salaries on. I just don't want much, but that's probably coz I was brought up pretty skint.
A high-flying friend of mine once said she thought I was 'too easily pleased', which wasn't meant as a compliment, but I took it as one!

Your life sounds lovely. Own home, Cars, ability to use a caravan, kids with a purpose. If that is average, I’ll grab it!

Me! Single mum for 14 years. Job just above minimum wage. No private pension.

No, household income.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/theeffectsoftaxesandbenefitsonhouseholdincome/financialyearending2022#:~:text=In%20the%20financial%20year%20ending%20(FYE)%202022%2C%20median%20household,38%2C100%20after%20taxes%20and%20benefits.

Yes, I'm average, living an average life. But I feel rich with my family and friends! Cheesy but true.

Definitely average here. Three bed semi, earn just above nmw. No foreign holidays, fancy cars. Lots of family and friends around and feel pretty lucky. The only thing that annoys me on here is when people say something like:‘£150k will get you an average standard of living’ and loads of people will agree that in London it’s nothing, when the reality is that amount of money will always give you choices.

Our household income is about £55k but then we have two small children so obviously it doesn't stretch as it would if our household was only made up of two healthy working age adults. So despite the larger figure I'd still describe us as very much average. In fact we did a test thing online someone posted on MN awhile ago by an economics institute, ive forgotten it now, that tou put in your incomes and how many kids etc and it works out what decile you are of wealth and we were literally almost slap bang in the middle of that. So pretty much the definition of average. We are considering a third child and when we added a third that took us down to around the 30th centile, so poorer living standards than 2/3rds of the population then. Just to illustrate how much size of family really makes the difference here about incomes tbh.

And for example you have an extended 4 bed semi which to us is something completely unattainable! We have an ok sized 3 bed mid terrace with no drive/garage/garden.

My DH does have a career, I just have jobs, we both work for the NHS, him clinical.

Me! Recently dropped to 20 hours in a very low pressure job. DH works a manual job. Between us we earn around £60k and it feels like we have plenty of money. We do have a small mortgage though and no other debt.

Household income of £50k pre tax.

Three children.

Rented house.

It's ony the last few months we've got up to 50k (own business) and we feel very grateful.

Also feel very average.

Hi 👋 I think we're pretty average. I work 4 days for mental health reasons, earning just above min wage and dh drives a tipper. He'd love to get into driving a gritter in the winter too!

Yes, I make 28k and dh 25k. Very modest house and small mortgage. One holiday per year, usually UK. We don't struggle.

Us. We earn about 45-50k between us. 1 child. We live in a nice 3 bed detached house which has a large garden but the house is on the smaller side. I work in public sector PT and DP works in a sort of clerical type role but fee earning for a private company. We rarely go on holiday and going abroad it would be to family so saves on cost. We drive older, smaller cars. I think we're very lucky to be honest. We live in a lovely place, have lots of outdoor space and animals which DD loves, lots of family time and a relaxed pace of life (doesn't always feel like it with a toddler but overall we do!). This has mainly been possible because we relocated, if we had stayed where we are from we would be drowning in increased costs especially mortgage rates, and have a much poorer quality of life. I'm happy as we are, we're comfortable and I feel we have a nice balance.

I am as average as they come. Average house, average income family, no mortgage though as I'm well old enough to have paid it off.

We’re average!
Dh is self employed. I work in a supermarket ( love my job ☺️)
3 kids, well, 2 are young adults and we still help them out a lot. One is working full time and the other is autistic, so we are trying to find him employment (not easy). 1 still at school.

We work hard, long hours. If we need something extra, or want a holiday, we work more to save for it.
We count ourselves extremely lucky to have jobs we like, and enough money to get by. So many people aren’t as fortunate.

Most people I know are average too!

Well according to the link below, our household income is about double the median...but I'd say we're pretty average in most things and I'm happy with life generally.

Late 30's, 3 dc. We privately rent. Household income is about £70k, pretty evenly split between us.

I work from home for the local Council, £35k salary, good security and decent pension and benefits. Not a specialist or highly skilled role, just a job that I worked my way up the pay grades in over 15 years, to lower management level.

Dh is a taxi driver, gross income about £35k but obviously highly insecure as self employed. And next to zero pension which is a worry.

Education wise, I have 3 middling A Levels, dh has nothing (not even one GCSE pass to his name, very rough childhood, lots of reasons for this).

We have a nice 4 bed house in a lovely area (but rented), no debt, about £10k in the bank savings, a 12 year old Vauxhall worth about a grand. We have a nice standard of living but no money to burn. Very little chance of us buying a house where we live...and we're unwilling to compromise on area as we want better for our dc than we both had, which was growing up in awful, rough, deprived areas (with parents on benefits). So we rent in a well to do area that's out of our price range to buy in. First World problems I suppose.

We are Mr and Mrs Average. We have a nice detached home ,needs TLC though,An old banger (Many neighbours have SUV/New vehicles ) and we go on UK holidays /Weekend Breaks mostly) As My Nan used to say"plenty worse!)

I'm a single parent earning 35k, work full time, small house with mortgage. Battered old car, old clothes and shoes for me. Struggling financially as always. Very average here!

I’d say I’m average I earn a little under 30k, single parent but ex is an involved dad which helps a lot . Get a bit of UC plus child benefit which makes the difference from poverty line to average.

Hello. Same here. I earn £18k term time only. Husband £28k in retail. We have a lovely life and manage fine.

Small mortgage on a 3 bed semi in a lovely area. 2 DD both who are academic but neither want to go to uni. Both want to go into apprenticeships.

We manage to pay all the bills, go on 2 UK holidays a year and 1 holiday abroad. A little amount of disposable each month as well. No debts apart from mortgage.

oh also a dog and cat. I am more than happy with my lot!

Me! I work part time earning about £25k, my partner earns about 40k. We both have old cars but paid for, we live in a 3 bed semi, shop in Asda. We have enough for a small rainy day pot, one big day out a month and a take away but I buy all my clothes on vinted and always looking for bargains etc. We are honestly very happy with what we have and our kids are happy too. The people I know with the most money are the unhappiest, I really stick by that.