I live in a large town in the north. It doesn't really have much going for it but weirdly house prices are pretty high here. Maybe as it's close to a popular city but generally it's not an expensive place to live.
We are a family of 5, 2 are teens and one in primary school. We have a small house with a mortgage of £500/m.
After tax, etc mine and my partners combined income is £3900/m. Its looks like a great figure but every month we always find ourselves scrimping as we don't have enough money.
The thing is, we already budget, we cook from scratch, we don't have any other debt, we don't spend much on clothes, restaurants etc much and buy only what we need. Yes, we do have the odd takeaway, day trip, treat etc but they aren't a regular thing. We don't holiday abroad and can only afford a week away in the UK.
I'm just confused. Where am I going wrong? Is it that the cost of living has crept up on us or is it that, that income is just low.