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??!!!

I had the most disposable income in my 20s when I was single and renting

wages have stagnated since then & rents were usually cheaper so you may actually have had more money.

38k today is the equivalent to 22k in the mid 00s

As for the OP her 80k is equivalent to 48k in the mid 00s. salaries are crap for most unfortunately

How much is your mortgage?

I’m assuming it’s got to be over £50k a year if you’re skint.

Is it not possible to move to a cheaper area or having a cheaper home?

I can’t imagine anyone being skint on £80k

I’d love to live in London but I doubt I’ll ever earn £80k

I can't understand it either OP. I mean, if you're not buying lipstick in London any more how has the economy not collapsed completely?

I think anyone who's come to the end of a fixed rate on their mortgage or who lives in an expensive area will potentially be in the same boat as you op. Lots of people aren't though because not all fixed rates have ended, some people have owned properties for a long time so have much smaller mortgages, some people have two incomes etc. We live in a much cheaper area, bought 20 years ago when very young and never upgraded so are almost done with the mortgage at the same time as the kids no longer needing childcare which means we feel richer than ever but we were utterly skint for years.

You're living beyond your means, it's that simple.

Doesn't matter if you earned £80k or £800k, if you want to have a lifestyle you can't really afford then you'll find at the end of the month you'll have no money.

If you posted up your incomings and outgoings I am sure someone would help.

As an aside I do know a few people that thanks to mortgage rates were OK before but now are not. If you've borrowed to the max ie nearly £400k then going from a cheap mortgage to an expensive one could add nearly £1k onto it.
I suspect that £1k is the difference between having 'loads spare' and now feeling you have nothing.

I’m on £72k husband £40k in the south west and we’ve been feeling the squeeze recently. It’s mad I dread to think how those on much lower income are coping.

People who haven't overstretched themselves and taken on too much debt. There are plenty of people around with lots of disposable income.

I don't understand how someone on 80k can't afford lipstick and coffee. It just doesn't compute.

I'd take this to the Money forum. Things will get ugly.

We used to live in the South East, yes it was lovely ... but just so expensive, (never earned anything near £81K) we moved to a much cheaper area, can afford a nice 5 bed detached, own drive, double garage etc etc ... our standard of living is excellent .. can afford pastries for breakfast and lipsticks etc.

You've made the choice to live in London .. and yes, we had to move away from family and friends for a better lifestyle but that's the choice we made .. no regrets.

People in couples, who aren’t in London, and who don’t take on enormous mortgages.

I just cannot understand how anyone on 80k a year can claim to have no free money. How much is your mortgage? Childcare? We bring in about 45k a year between us both, we have 3 children, a 3 bed house & I can still buy a lipstick if I want to! Where the hell is your money going?!

I assume it's your mortgage mainly that's driving how skint you're feeling?

100% agree, OP. people think this (81k ) is a lot of money, it isn't in a single person earning household. Imagine the cost of children, childcare, travel costs. This county taxes the shit out of people and do not reward being improving their skills. I don't know why people havent rioted yet. It's also unfair to compare yourself to people not as best off... you don't need to feel like you should be grateful and therefore shut up. The taxing system is disgusting here and this country relies on it because it isn't smart enough to think of any other solutions. There is no future in the UK... most companies will go abroad in the end.

Sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear. My question wasn’t really about my income or why I can’t afford things, more about how they’re saying there’s no impact on consumer spending so far despite inflation and rent/ mortgage increases.

I can, of course afford a coffee if I really want one. I more mean that before I’d buy one every day, sometimes two. And then I’d pop into Oliver Bonas on the way home and get some earrings, maybe into MAC for a lipstick. Now I’d only make those latter purchases if I really needed them, not on a whim

it all depends on your commitments. I live in SE and earn £63k and have just done my budget as I am soon to become a single parent and I feel very comfortable and optimistic about my finances

but I don’t commute, have any debt apart from £1k per month mortgage or need to buy stuff to feel happy

I just stopped getting takeaways and going out for meals a long time ago. Of course I indulge occasionally but that is where the biggest waste of money is. It’s also unhealthy and bad value I think.

How awful that you can no longer afford luxury purchases on a whim, my heart bleeds for you.

We manage on a joint income of £3k per month (after tax). It’s tight at times but manage to eat out and go out now and again.

Ooh op you’ve made a mistake here. You’ll get lots of very jealous and economically illiterate people who can’t compute higher rate tax. Happy to say how awful you are whilst you support the system with your higher earnings.

This.

See I earn £45k ish but my mortgage is v small at £330/mth as I live in Lincolnshire.

Also a single parent, but living costs are key!

We earn 50k between us. God knows how we are surviving

Please can I ask what your take home is when you earn 81k?

In actual £s consumer spending has gone up but it"s not adjusted for inflation.
Volume of things bought has actually fallen.

I mean London is going to be slightly unique in the country and after a dismal August people are probably out making the most of some sun and heat.

We are not far from London and there are increasingly more empty retail premises, when they do open they are food/drink or hair/beauty more often.

Things are changing.

I mean you are going to get heavily weighted answers on here saying that we are spending the same no mortgage etc etc but the actual figures are showing overall something different.

Our household income has gone up. So we are not feeling the effect as much as we might. But we want a kick ass statement holiday next year so are cutting out a lot of frivolous spending. Which isn't such a bad thing.