If I am reading this right, about 43% of families had either no money or less than £100 spare cash at the end of each month

[cakeorwine]

Nationwide Reaffirms Cost-Of-Living Support As Poll Shows Cumulative Impact Of Rising Bills On Typical British Family (nationwidemediacentre.co.uk)

I can't find the data tables to get the definitions - but families with children living at home were questioned.

The research found that more than one in five (22%) families had no more than £100 spare a month by the end of last year – almost double the percentage in 2021 (13%).

The percentage of families with no money left at all by the end of each month also increased nearly twofold, from 11 per cent in 2022 to 21 per cent in 2023.

Continued high costs have led to more than two thirds (69%) of family households feeling more worried about their finances in 2024 compared to a year ago, the poll shows. The average amount of discretionary money available to families each month has dropped from £328 in 2021 to £295 in 2022 and £237 at the end of 2023.

Almost 16 per cent say they will have to work more hours to earn more money, 16 per cent say they will need to use their credit card and 15 per cent will need to borrow money from family and friends to cover their bills. Almost half (46%) are reducing other outgoings to help cover energy bills this winter.

It would be better with the data tables and definitions - but 43% of families with £100 or less, of which many have £0 is not a good picture. It also ties in with other measures from Asda and their disposable income tracker.

What surprises me is that people are surprised by this.

It's not 'obscene' for mums to go to a caff with their kids @MayThe4th that's hyperbole. The poor have a right to their choices as much as the rich, and they bear the consequences. What is obscene is the staggering inequality and the costs (in healthcare, criminal justice etc) that deliberately keeping people down result in.

I have always bought reconditioned mobiles. I do not get swayed by society whatsoever.

I can well believe this tbh.
I think re 'luxuries', when life is hard and you have struggles, it's the little treats that make life bearable. It's awful that many people can't afford a hot chocolate when out, or to buy themselves a new top or some other little thing - this shouldn't be normalised!

I could fall into this category of having too much month left at the end of the money. I tend to buy things to cheer myself up or just to make life a bit nicer.

I would imagine though, that the report means people who run out of money after paying bills and food, not people who have investments and are putting away lots into savings.

To the poster upthread who is £400 into overdraft every month, when this was me I fixed it by opening a second bank account and having wages paid in to the new account. Then I gradually chopped away at the overdraft in the old account. It was much easier to do when it was separated from my monthly money for some reason.

We are struggling for the first time this month for various reasons.
Fingers crossed it looks like we might be ok but I’ve done some strict budgeting and cancelled what outgoings I can. Stopping drinking and smoking has made a huge difference (really obvious but totally in denial about the cost when addicted).

It’s been hard, I can’t see something and buy it because it’s not in the budget.

That is very sad, it isn't right to have a job and barely able to make ends meet. It feels very unfair

Depends what you class as spare. We had nothing really left yesterday, but had had spare money through the month which went on days out, meals, clothes etc. And didn't need to buy anything, as it had been bought.

This. There are so many threads on MN where people are called out for daring to suggest they're struggling on their incomes just because they're earning more than the average wage. As if you're only allowed to have money problems if your household income is under £45k. Real race to the bottom stuff.

I have no idea of how people cope after the so called necessities are paid for.

Shampoo and conditioner, soap, face products, body products, furniture and soft furnishings, clothing, shoes, sanitary products, contraception, gardening/plants. Never mind the odd day out, treat. Holidays too.

If we as a collective stop going to the high street for a coffee, or something we like to buy, then towns would look like war zones with the added problem of loss of business rates.

I’m sure you care about your pets very much, that’s not the issue. I just wanted to say that in my experience, pet insurance is so valuable. Vet bills are insane and I’d venture that if one didn’t have pet insurance then they’d need to have their pet put down.

Our cat got a cut on his leg which ended up needing surgery (with x rays first and anaesthetic). He then didn’t come round from the anaesthetic properly and it turned out he had a heart condition causing this. He needed overnight stays and monitoring in an animal hospital and will now have heart medicine and scans for the rest of his life. This leg incident happened six months ago and it’s already cost £10k total!

So I’m not saying people without pet insurance are bad pet owners; they’re not. The financial reality of not having pet insurance is far worse than having it though. If a pet gets hit by a car, that’s a five figure sum too!

This is a similar tracker -

PowerPoint Presentation (scene7.com)

It's the Asda disposable income tracker -

Net income is calculated by deducting our tax estimate from our total household income estimate. •

Basic spend (cost of living) figures are updated using monthly consumer price data and the trend growth rate in the volume of essential goods and services purchased over the most recent ten-year period. A full list of items constituting basic (or ‘essential’) spending was created in collaboration between Asda and Cebr when the Income Tracker concept was originally formed in 2008. This list is available on request. •

The Asda Income Tracker is a measure of ‘discretionary income’, reflecting the amount remaining after the average UK household has had taxes subtracted from their income and bought essential items such as: groceries, electricity, gas, transport costs and mortgage interest payments or rent. The Income Tracker measures the amount left over to spend on discretionary purchases such as leisure and recreational goods and services

You can see that 20% of households have a negative weekly disccretionary income of £75 a week. 20% have a negative discretionary income of £6 a week.

If 20% of households have NEGATIVE discretionary spending power of £75 a week or less (from the Asda data) and 20% have a negative discretionary power of £6 a week, then that is a lot of people struggling - whilst there are also a lot of people who are "doing fine, thank you. "

The problem is that the UK economy is based on a consumer spending. Essential spending is classed as consumer.

The worrying thing is the way that this is accelerating, because all of our finances are connected. One person’s discretionary income is how others survive. An extra £300 on the mortgage each month may be manageable for a family if they tighten their belts, but if their new circumstances stop them drinking coffee or eating out, it impacts on the hospitality sector and those who work in it, via reduced hours, job loss…leading to a higher benefits bill, lower tax take…

Last time we went on holiday was 2011 when in laws paid for us to go somewhere with them as they had received an inheritance.

We don’t go anywhere, no weekends away. Its just how it is.

This kind of data is what should be being talked about in the media and by politicians.

It's quite shocking - and people won't know if they live in their own bubbles and echo chambers.

I am lucky - due to circumstances, to not be in this situation. But I know what it is like to have been there and I can see how it can happen. And I know the effects

It's hard to say how this actually relates to most people. Our food, energy and fuel costs are easily 25% less because we're careful, ie set a weekly food budget and stick to it, heating set at 18c, walk anywhere within a couple of miles and that includes for food shopping. Obviously some can't make cutbacks, ie they have to drive a distance to work or have a member of family with health condition, but many could cut back on the costs they're listing. On the other hand, some are paying high rents in some areas, which hard to do much about other than move away from work, family, friends, area you've grown up in which isn't an attractive proposition at all. Doesn't help we want so much more from life now, car, heating, technology, not so many of us live off the land.

it makes me feel angry and sad Thinking about all that anxiety and stress and going without caused by who? Not the people that are struggling that’s for sure.

All of this. All while the likes of Google and amazon pay no taxes. And we're too busy and ground down to do anything except get through the day

According to our Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, we have turned a corner and everything will be ok now.

@ifonly4 Nobody in this country is self sufficient.

But people spend up to their incomes whatever they earn. You only have to see the queues outside macdonald's drive through, when making a burger at home would be quicker, cheaper and healthier

McDonalds sells convenience. You're buying the ability to have a reasonably tasty meal for your kids without doing any shopping, tidying and washing up. It's particularly attractive for people struggling with executive function, low energy or MH issues.

Aside from the fact that a burger from scratch definitely costs more, this type of logic assumes that all financially struggling people have the time, equipment and mental capacities to spend time cooking at home. I quite like watching frugal cooking videos on Youtube but some of the "tips" are not exactly realistic. There's one creator who makes her own (marginally cheaper than store bought) pasta by mixing flour and water and then rolling every single piece of pasta out by hand. It would take about an hour just to have one bowl of food. They don't have kids and not sure what the day job is but she presumably has the free time and motivation to create cheap, healthy food from scratch. A full-time working single mum would never be able to find the time or energy to make single pieces of pasta by hand just to save a few pennies.

Agree! 100 leftover is nothing, all you'd need is one big unexpected bill and you'd be screwed. That seems so stressful to me.

I so so so agree and was about to say the same.

It certainly puts the multiple threads moaning about Labour and private schools into perspective.

Other than during lockdown I've never had £100 left at the end of the month. (And even during lockdown it was never more than that or thereabouts). I'm surprised that 57% do!

I'm normally really good with money, credit card paid off in full every month, no debt but there is just not enough money coming in to pay for all the bills that need to go out.
We have cut literally everything (except broadband because we're still in contract) but what's the point of walking to work (because it cost too much to drive) to come home to a cold house (can't afford to put the heating on) with barely any food in it. Life is so shit atm.