I earn £81,000…

[Sueretiredawhileago]

And (although clearly I am not on the breadline and understand how lucky I am compared to others) I have very little spare money. I am a single (co) parent and I live in London so mortgage is a lot. I used to have loads spare and felt ‘well off’ but now I’ve had to cut down on all the little spending I once never gave a thought to. No quick coffees, pastries for breakfast, no brunches, no magazines, new lipsticks etc etc.

If I can’t afford these things I don’t understand how ‘they’ keep saying that consumer spending is still strong and driving inflation. Who the hell has the spare money??!!!

And what a fucking hero the op is. Most of people are full of shit as as soon as there is a increase to the minimum wage the higher earners are complaining about threats of inflation ect whilst ignoring those on lots smaller wage than them

@Againstmachine you don’t know me, my values or how I live my life, so there’s no need to intentionally be mean is there?

Where in London? You say you're in a 2 bed flat but London is HUGE and there are lots of flats you could have bought with a lesser mortgage. Everyone makes choices, if you choose to buy a nicer flat/in a posher area, yeah you're gonna struggle 💁🏽‍♀️

I'm single and rent a studio in zone 3, know another woman in a similar position to me (single and similar salary) that complains about her rent, because she only wants to live in a naice area and refuses to move out of it. So she has to pay the price.

My area isn't 'naice', but also isn't bad. You can make changes if you want, hard to muster sympathy

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139363499#/?channel=RES_LET

@BodegaSushi

This is what I could rent in London based on my current mortgage payments and needing a minimum of two beds, I earn more then the OP. Sorry but that is one massive shit pit.
I don’t know London and I’ve no idea where that is but it looks grim (sorry if this is your house and you’re the landlord but it’s super crappy)

*Where in London? You say you're in a 2 bed flat but London is HUGE and there are lots of flats you could have bought with a lesser mortgage. Everyone makes choices, if you choose to buy a nicer flat/in a posher area, yeah you're gonna struggle 💁🏽‍♀️

I'm single and rent a studio in zone 3, know another woman in a similar position to me (single and similar salary) that complains about her rent, because she only wants to live in a naice area and refuses to move out of it. So she has to pay the price.

My area isn't 'naice', but also isn't bad. You can make changes if you want, hard to muster sympathy*

Not sure I asked for sympathy if you re-read my posts but either way your post is nonsensical. How can I get a lesser mortgage? You need more cash for that? I’m in zone 3. Are you suggesting I live in a studio with children? I mean if I HAD to I’d survive obviously but I don’t. It’s not a race to the bottom. We should all be empowering and supporting each other not trying to put them down

What is that after tax

No of course I'm not suggesting move to a studio, I was showing my comparison to someone in a similar position to me who complains about high costs when they could literally just move to similar accommodation for a lot less.

I said there are lots of 2 bed flats that ‘could have’ been bought for cheaper than what you’ve paid, I’m aware you can’t just lessen your mortgage now. I know people who bought that chose a more basic area (London is not split into nice and awful) because they didn’t want to stretch themselves. We all make choices.

You may not have used the words ‘please have sympathy for me’ but you’ve created a post morning about how hard life is on £81K.

You may not have used the words ‘please have sympathy for me’ but you’ve created a post morning about how hard life is on £81K.

read again. I haven’t. And I even clarified that this wasn’t the purpose of the thread. I was asking a question about inflation/ cost of living and consumer purchasing

I don't think it's that bad for a grand a month. Brent Cross is North London famous for its eponymous shopping centre. It has a garden. I've seen a lot worse.

Is that house only for property guardians? I was thinking, the rent is very low.

This is the reason why doctors won't see people anymore or as often as they did. Their pay is over £100,000 but they are taxed heavily on what they earn. People used to see their GP for fun not anymore.

I know a few families who have left this country since Brexit. The Tories hate the benefits system they want everyone out to work. I don't know if any of you noticed but they have given their biggest voters a rise in their pensions but not benefits.

@WhisperingHi

if you buy second hand for the environment fair enough m, but if you are doing it for financial reasons then that tells me you are not thriving, you are just prioritising something else.

@Saltyswee I partly do it because I hate waste, both environmentally and ethically (having grown up in a low income family).

But I also buy secondhand so that I can save money. Not because I couldn't "thrive" by splashing my cash (what does that even mean?! A new table versus a second-hand one makes zero difference to functionality and happiness and certainly has no impact on feeling like I'm "thriving") but because I want to have savings for my children and we'd like a house extension in the near future.

I also spend a lot monthly on healthcare costs that aren't covered by the NHS.

I could afford the new table, the new clothes... I could also afford an extra holiday per year, I just don't want to. I don't value that as much as I value other things. Even the richest people prioritise where to spend their money.

Buying secondhand has zero to do with income for many people. Obviously for many others it is a because they can't buy new.

I could earn 4 times my salary and I'd still buy secondhand.

😂😂😂

What like saving and financial security so I can afford things that people who spend all their income can’t?

It’s not hard, you don’t have to upsize your life and spending to meet your income. The people who think you do start threads like this.

What I never understand with these threads about how you need sooooooooo much money to live in London, is where do the care workers, waiters, street sweepers, bar staff, or millions of others in minimum wage jobs live? Presumably the low paid have to manage or the whole of London would grind to a halt.

A very quick Google with throw up stats from credible sources.

'The estimated number of Londoners living in poverty for 2019/20–2021/22 was 2.2 million, or 25 per cent of the population.'

'London Councils' data [1] suggests there are now 166,000 homeless Londoners – equivalent to the entire population of a city such as Oxford – living in temporary accommodation arranged by their local borough. The homelessness total includes 81,000 children, meaning one in every 23 children in London is homeless [2].'

Exactly. You hear absolute nonsense on here with posters on here telling you that you can't possibly live a decent life in London unless you're on £200k a year. The only thing in London that is more expensive is housing costs and perhaps childcare. If these aren't an issue for you, you can live comfortably. We have a similar income to the op and aren't struggling at all. In fact we feel fairly well off.

It's because loads of Londoners aren't exposed to the full extent of the batshit housing costs.

The OP has a substantial mortgage and young ish DC, meaning she's likely to have bought fairly recently. She also won't qualify for any help with it.

What you actually need is to know how many of those low wage staff are in SH, getting substantial UC for housing costs, bought a long time ago. Or live in a home that's owned by someone in one of those categories who doesn't charge them market rent. And it stands to reason that people in this position disproportionately form part of the spiralling homelessness rates. Which should tell you something.

I’m on 60k, DP on 41k and we’re also skint.

Counting down the weeks until we get our 30 free hours of childcare.

Of course our fixed rate mortgage ends not long after that.

We live in the North too.

You’ve just highlighted a really good point there - unintentionally. Combined income of 101k you get your 30 hours. A sole earner would lose them and their personal allowance. A single parent or sole earner with children loses 10s of thousands as soon as they hit 100k. Someone earning the same as you on paper would be about 10k worse off per child and then personal allowance loss on top. They have to get a rough 50k pay rise to break even. For earning 1 penny over 100k it’s roughly 150k before they take home the same - if they have children.

Another example of why the country is absolutely fucked. No incentive to work more. Especially as a sole/higher earner.

I would think because you don’t have her childcare and housing costs. Check your privilege

I'm not especially privileged. I'm just trying to combat the ridiculous narrative that it's impossible to live any kind of decent life in London unless you earn megabucks. London is full of ordinary people on ordinary salaries who are coping fine

Our household income is similar to what you earn but as we live in the NW and have owned houses for 20yrs, our mortgage is low thanks to equity and super luckily fixing for 5 yrs at under 1%. It is under £498pm and 10% of our take home.
If we lived in London, we'd be scraping to get by I suspect.

How can you be skint on £100k? Unless you have multiple children in full time nursery?

Unfortunately housing and childcare are issues for many people.

Indeed but the blanket statements saying it's not enough to live comfortably in London actually offend me....I don't feel in the least bit poor. I'm not plunged into poverty simply because I live within the confines of the M25. Insinuating that we must be poverty stricken on £80k a year is wrong...