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??!!!

You can’t be skint on 100k it’s just ridiculous misuse of the word.

If you have a large mortgage, are paying childcare and have expensive cars on HP then you might not have loads left over and you may need to budget carefully in the short term.

But ‘skint’ oh please.

The OP isn't saying she's skint though. She's saying she acknowledges she has a good salary, used to have treats and not worry and now finds she has little spare money.

Out of interest, what's your housing situation and if you own, around when did you first buy?

It's irrelevant. I just object to the blanket statements that say you can't possibly live well in London on that salary because it doesn't take into account individual circumstances.

People can adapt to living without small treats. But when higher earners stop spending on coffee, hair, pastries and magazines, lower earners will suffer.

I am colouring my own hair at home instead of every 2 months at the salon. I fI could cut my own, I would. My hair salon looks very empty these days.

It's not irrelevant to the issue of whether you're privileged, which is the reason I asked. It's up to you whether you answer or not, of course, but in any discussion about living costs it matters and it matters a lot.

I'm very much of the view that it's daft to generalise about how much it costs to live in London given the wildly varying exposure to housing costs, fwiw. And have posted as much already, so we're in agreement on that.

I live in an ordinary house in an ordinary part of London. I'm probably privileged compared to a single mum on benefits in temp housing but not compared to someone on £400k a year living in Chelsea.

What I object to is being told I must live like some sort of Victorian pauper because our household income of over £80k a year just isn't enough in London... apparently

Some people don't have a clue how bad it is up in parts of the North of England at the moment. Streets of shops with nearly all closed down. It is pretty bad. If we didn't have some benefits we would be living on £22K a year as a family of four. We both work. I do think some are buying on the "never never" or pay monthly as people still have the latest clothes or trainers etc but I suppose life is shit enough as it is.

Op can you break it down, so £81k before tax is £53k,ish after tax. Or £4416 per month.

Do you get any child support or do you pay any child support?

How much is your mortgage ?
Childcare?
Student loans?
Loans?
Debt?
Council tax?
Car tax/insurance?
Petrol
Gas and electric
Insurance?
Phone bill?
Pension contributions?
Food shopping?
Any pets?
Any other out goings?

When it comes to privilege, the time at which you purchased is an essential part of the picture because you're also likely to be privileged in terms of your housing access in comparison to someone with the same income as you now but who wasn't old enough to get on the housing ladder when you did. There is generational privilege when it comes to housing access.

But as I say, I fully agree with you that of course people can live in London comfortably on modest incomes. People shouldn't conflate needing a lot of money to pay the worst of 2020s living costs in London with needing a lot of money to live there per se. Because they're not at all the same thing. There's a cohort of London residents who couldn't afford to live there if they had to privately rent/get on the ladder now.

@Jbrown76 why do you want a detailed breakdown of my finances!!

Does paying more tax mean you are a better person than those who don't? 🙄 Just getting that from a few posts.

No it means they earn more

Free accounting go for it 😁

I worked with a young guy in London who squatted in a shared empty warehouse. He said they had built walls and internal structures. It was the only way he could afford to live.

They want a breakdown so they can see if money could be saved elsewhere I guess

Most people have had to make cutbacks - everyone has been hit with food costs, energy & fuel costs then there’s the mortgage rates!

posting your salary on here usually causes a storm especially when in those figures.

I find it varies amongst our group of friends.

We live in south west London and rent and have 2 kinds in childcare, we have a combined annual salary of £100k and scrimp each month and have had to adjust drastically - we have had to, no choice. We'd prefer this to getting in debt.

Other friends live in the same area and don't have kids but still moan they are skint, but still go to the theatre, new clothes, nights out etc.

Other friends are getting themselves in to debt on credit cards to maintain their lifestyle.

I know you aren't really looking for budgeting tips, but I find the Monzo app really useful to see where money is going. I was frittering away too much in coffees, cake and little things that added up. Now I save that money for big treats that I actually remember, like an occasional trip to the theatre or dinner out.

I use a different budgeting app and it is good. It’s why I don’t spend on coffee anymore!

We invested in a Nespresso machine in the pandemic, and I prefer coffee at home now. Though of course sitting in a cafe is much nicer.

I am also rather enjoying rummaging through charity shops for my winter wardrobe. In fact, some far better stuff than the high street for winter, because they have pure wool. Needs must!

My situation will ease soon when DC graduate from uni and hopefully get jobs, though who knows if they will ever be able to leave home. I really feel for those of you with young DC in childcare.

Well I have news for you - the world doesn’t revolve around you. You have nothing to do with the op really. I’m not quite sure why it’s got to be all about you. Your circumstances are different. Try actually reading the op before going “it’s all about meeeeee.”

It is of course more than enough to live on. But not if you are in debt, have monthly mortgage payments that are more than 25% your monthly income, pay for childcare or pay loads commuting every day.

Everything else can be cut out including cars, private school fees, coffees every day, excessive shopping bills and eating out, holidays etc etc.

They are all choices. And you can, and should, live without them.

What do you mean ‘and should live without them’?

As long as they keep funding everyone else yeah?

*It is of course more than enough to live on. But not if you are in debt, have monthly mortgage payments that are more than 25% your monthly income, pay for childcare or pay loads commuting every day.

Everything else can be cut out including cars, private school fees, coffees every day, excessive shopping bills and eating out, holidays etc etc.

They are all choices. And you can, and should, live without them*

yes mum