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 😊

lapsedbookworm I do totally agree. I did, originally, start off on Netmums but felt the need to ‘upgrade’ to MN for the content is far more interesting and diverse, regardless of the fantasists.

Might be being a kn0b here but according to ONS our household income is in the top 5th but it doesn’t feel like it.
We have an end of terrace 3 converted to 4 bed house. A high mortgage as we’re in London. Our car is not new. We don’t have foreign holidays. My eldest does swimming club and a music instrument once a week but that’s it.
I guess most of our extra income is basically going on our house and the fact we’ve had 3 kids.

I would have thought things would feel easier on our income and we would be able to have luxuries but we do but not foreign holidays/ expensive clothes/ new car every few years.

I come from the north west, I’m 1 of 5 kids, neither parent went to university but did have relatively good and steady jobs, we had a static caravan at a site in wales and lots of fun. I’m not sure for all the extra income my quality of life is much better. The only benefit which seems to have come into its own is private healthcare. I don’t get how families on lower incomes do it or what my kids are going to do since we can’t really save up anything to give them except the house as inheritance!!

Yeah, I don't really care how much people earn/pretend to earn. I do get why you wanted a bit of a reality check after some of the threads though.

In my experience my mega wealthy friends are more likely to almost conceal their wealth than brag about it (on social media or otherwise)

You're right not everything is based on money. I'm rich in other things . Don't ever think you aren't doing enough you are content and that is what matters. 👍

Yes we do get UC top up but it's all just to rent

Also my kids school friends all seem to be in large semi detatched London Town houses that are about £900k and I literally can’t imagine what they must earn or what jobs they do to afford it! Is it inheritance, bank of mum and Dad? Mine and DH’s grandparents all in council houses, only our parents became first generation of owners, I guess that might not be the same for the people we mix with. Otherwise I don’t know how they’ve done it? They can’t all be execs!

I've got 1 child and do get a UC top up for rent

Your household income is actually nearly triple the average household income. As others have said, you're nowhere near average. Just very unaware.

No I don't know any teachers, council workers, etc. My friends and family are hairdressers, cleaners, childminders, pest controllers, shop assistants, delivery drivers and a couple of admin assistants.

Fairly normal standard jobs...

Agreed. Plus even rich people can think they don't have enough/arent enough unless they have more

SIL is like that . 3 kids, all in expensive private school . Long haul holidays every year. Riding lessons and skiing holidays etc. Two big SUVs. Massive house in a very expensive road. But she feels "ashamed" mixing with the wealthier parents at the school because they "all" have swimming pools and "staff" .

wealth is irrelevant in how I value people. I'm more interested in whether they are funny/kind /intelligent/interesting etc.

I'm sorry @SecretShambles your posts have really pissed me off!!!

You haven't got a clue have you!
You haven't any idea what it's like to not be able to put food on the table, fuel in your car or hear your home.
That's reality for a hell of a lot of people right now. Me included. I woke up this morning with £0.43 to my name.

£100k is nearly 3x the average household income. You may feel average but that's not what your income is. Perhaps try giving 50% of it away and even then your still way above.

You just haven't got an f-ing clue!

I'm very average. Earn 35k, partner doesn't work. Have one small DC at home and privately rent a 2 bed terrace. Get a UC top up.

I'm in bottom 50% according to the calculator

I was average.
But. Life.. life er er finds a way.. of fucking some of us over.
🤪

I'd say we're average.

Dh earns 54k, i have a very part time job, £60 a fortnight.

2 kids, 3rd on the way both public schools.

Live in a nice area of the North East, so cheapish mortgage on 3 bed detached house.

2 cars but both second hand, less than 5k spent on both combined, cheap to run etc.

Really happy although i wish we had a little pot of savings so we could decorate the house more!

Sorry but 🤣🤣🤣🤣

The uk is very large and diverse. The average across the whole is meaningless to an indidual.

Average in London, will be heaps more than average in Cornwall, or N Wales. Even average in Guildford will be significantly more than average in Prestwick.

A large number of those on 6 figures will have jobs in Central London/Canary Wharf. However to buy a small 3 bed terraced house, within 5 miles of work will be tough.

Those on £40k in Norfolk are likely to find such a house relatively affordable.

I think people hear the headline salaries and don’t adjust for geographical differences.

it is why national benefit levels and tax allowances are so divisive.

Feels average but it probably isn't. Average might be living in an average area. 3 bed semi or terrace. One car to share. And income 10k a year less

Everything is more expensive here tbf. I find food in the UK cheap for example.

But I see what you mean.

I am only now on a good salary (£57k) after 10 years of training and 3 years post qualification employment. As we had children before I qualified and I was on a low salary, we had £20k of unsecured debt. We're currently paying that off, that's where our extra money is going.

I always considered us to have an average income but that is because I thought £35k was the average salary per person, not total household income. Turns out we are on double the av income 🤐.

We have low outgoings due to making big overpayments to the mortgage. We have had old £5k cars for years, except for a couple of years when we leased a sporty little number and we were broken into twice for the cars so lesson learned. We don't go abroad regularly, I prefer shopping in all the low budget shops and we eat out maybe every 6 months. It's just how we live and we are not missing out on anything.

Earn 28k with 2 kids, dh is on a bit more than me. Small 2 bed bungalow in a very poor part of UK. My car is 7 years old, I need it for work as I work 2 cities away in emergency services. Dh has been doing up a really old classic car which he got for pittance.

Average life. I’ve never set foot in a Waitrose before, I really doubt there is even one in our city! Average lifestyle of staying home watching movies or going to park for a picnic or meeting friends at their house for a takeaway playing board games. Holidays are UK maybe for a weekend once a year if we can. Dh trying to do up an old van into a camper van so we can take that to save money to sleep in.

Single foster carer living on my skills allowance, I also claim DLA (care component only at the moment but that will change once he turns 3) as my little one has complex medical needs. No UC as I have a small amount of savings that DH left me that I want to put towards my old age if I can. Privately rent, own my car because DH bought it for me before he died. I am distinctly below average but I keep my head above water, I found some of the comments on a different thread towards those of us who claim DLA really sad.

These threads really kiss me off. I'm a 'high earner', over 100k, it's not fantasy. We need to educate our children about
How to earn more.

Op nothing wrong with your kid being a bricklayer. Some of the wealthiest people I know are in trades, and they can't be replaced with AI. My career probably can.

This is a really interesting thread. I had no idea the average household income was so low or that an average house had 4 beds! I think area, age, and external financial support have much more of an impact on this than just wage. If you don't have a mortgage or caring bills you can feel well off on a much lower wage.

I think a lot of people fib, tbh.