If you are middle class do you feel your lifestyle is eroding?

[ceramicwitch]

Now I know that as long as we can afford to heat your home, pay your mortgage / rent and afford to feed yourself and your family you can't complain too much. However I am interested if you feel you used to have a a middle class lifestyle, able to afford nicer bits or activities if you feel that is being eroded?

I think I am feeling it, we used to be quite free with putting nice things in the basket at waitrose (not where we go all the time but where we get treats and more premium things) and not we are holding back quite a bit more. We usually go to the Theatre a few times a year and the ballet, especially at Christmas but this year we are giving it a miss due to ever increasing costs. We've stopped going to cafes if not on holiday.

I have good friends who live in quite an expensive part of town, He is a Doctor and they seemed to be quite oblivious to cost of living the past few years but the other day I was talking to him and he was saying how he doesn't much enjoy eating out these days as the cost of it sticks in his throat, even cheap and cheerful is quite pricy now.

Anyone else feeling that quality of life even for the supposedly well insulated middle classes is in decline?

Well yes of course.
I'm pretty sure that one can say that about everyone no matter what their financial circumstances are.
Prices have gone up, value has gone down, this is everywhere there's no escape from it and it affects everyone.

So anyone who had a budget say, for food shopping, they're finding they're not able to buy many or most of the things they used to buy, or they have to make actual decisions regarding purchases that they never thought of having to do before.

If a wealthy person is used to spending a lot they are now finding they are having to cut back somewhere,because you can't spend it twice.
There is little insulation to protect anyone from that fact.
Money doesn't go as far as it once did, services, utilities, restaurants, entertainment, you name it, prices of everything has gone up, and that, overall affects everyone.

I think economic power is shifting away from the middle class and also political influence. I know it sounds simplistic, but it feels like everything is geared to serving 'global wealth' not national prosperity. The middle class used to get at least some 'trickle down' from national prosperity through investing and saving but even that is drying up or getting out of reach.

TBH, our main problem is DH's career instability, but I guess you could say that's another effect of the changing economic landscape. We're not feeling a squeeze yet but we will if he doesn't land something soon.

I agree with the shift to global wealth
I also think everyone's been affected by price rises.
I also think my children's generation are going to have a much worse economic future than my generation. It feels very gloomy.

Going against the grain seemingly, no, I don't feel this at all. I still spend within the same food budget that I upped four years ago after food prices rocketed with the pandemic/political events. I spend more money now at M&S than I did three years ago too.
We still eat out at least twice a month, and just overall no, I don't feel our lifestyle is eroding at all.

We have a good income and we’ve cut back enormously on ‘fun’ things. Mainly because like everyone else, our bills have risen, but I also find days out/meals out have reached the point they are so expensive they’re not enjoyable anymore. We can afford to go out and spend £200 on dinner for the 4 of us, but i just feel ripped off now so we don’t bother. I’d rather spend half the money and get good quality steak from the butchers and have it at home.

I’m also really concerned about job security, the economy and DC’s financial futures that I’m saving much more than I used to. Having a decent pot of savings and a healthy pension gives me more pleasure and sense of security than a £200 dinner out.

The shift is towards those who have assets rather than earn a wage. Many governments are inflating away debt and eroding the value of their currencies. If you are living off rapidly appreciating investments you are doing well. If you are living off a salary which is increasingly not going as far as it used to you will be struggling.

I feel that, despite agreeing with the comments above, I'm more wealthy than my parents and have a similarly frugal lifestyle to them so still feel like I have 'enough' money.

I can still appreciate that a family meal for 4 seems very expensive...

I worry more that my children will struggle, as they aspire to being 'rich' and I don't see it happening for them....

We eat out a lot, but we have noticed how expensive it’s become. Even a pub meal for 4 of us is easily £200.

Yes but don’t forget that apparently according to Keir Starmer, we have ‘the broadest shoulders’ … so we must pay for everyone else.

Hmmm, I will stick my working class ore in just incase anyone is interested in my opinion.
We too used to be able to afford treats, activities and the like. Nice home furnishings (some of them come from naice retailers, not all b&m stuff, shocking I know 😉) We even ate out regularly ish and had some holidays (not all abroad obviously, mustn't get above ourselves) but this lifestyle feels like it is a million miles away now.
I am cooking as many meals from scratch as possible whilst working a 40 hour week and running a house (whilst running around after two teenagers!) any activities have to be planned in advance and something has to give to make them possible.
I am sweating about Christmas as traditionally I provide a lot of good food for a lot of people. God only knows what I will get my kids this year.
Yes I am sure the middle class are struggling, we all are. Perhaps someone who isn't working class will be along soon to hand me my arse on a plate because they are using food banks and their kids won't get anything at Christmas.
I don't think I will be losing any sleep wondering how the middle class are coping.

I feel that the world is less stable and the economy is not going to get better AND government of all parties cannot fix the terminal decline. Therefore I need to spend less and save more for an uncertain future. This thread has made me realise that.

I look at what we have coming in, and remember that when I was a wee girl, I would have once been giddy. Thought I’d have two kids in private school, be able to go skiing every year, big trips every few years like a safari. It was why I worked hard.

but after all deduction, I pay my mortgage and bills and there isn’t really anything left over for these trappings. Yeah we save a bit of money and I don’t really have to penny pinch on the food shop- but even if I stopped savings and swapped to Aldi and buying in bulk, my life wouldn’t look like how I thought it would.

my kids benefit from my education, but their childhood is no different from mine in terms of activities, house size, parent availability, holidays and experiences, as someone growing up with two quite low-to-average earning parents.

I didn't ask you to be concerned about the middle classes.

Ours has got better tbh, but then I came from a very low income background and have a more middle class lifestyle now, but I don't have the same expectations of the lifestyle I should have, compared to people who have grown up in the middle classes. We don't eat out much as I find it poor value and my dcs would rather do something active, and I almost never ate out as a child so it isn't something that I miss. But we splurge on theatre, concerts and Christmas experiences, education, and holidays, . We can afford it as our income is something we've worked hard to increase, and we've built up financial security with assets. The cost of living has jumped up but at the same time there have been opportunities to increase income and make lucrative investments too.

Everything is definitely more expensive - food, eating out, take aways. I would at we’ve not had to stop doing anything yet eg still have a weekly takeaway and nice food.
My hairdresser has put his prices up a few times recently as well.

I’m certainly thinking about being more frugal at Christmas and maybe challenging myself to batch cook more and only buy second hand clothes next year.

Yes. I have family who are earning less than me and really genuinely struggling to make ends meet and I also see a lot of vulnerable families through work. A SW told me recently that for the first time in decades they’re seeing children being voluntarily relinquished because of poverty and a nurse has told me that they’re having to medicate some people with conditions that could usually be managed with a change of diet because people actually can’t afford the change of diet needed. So I’m aware that any lifestyle changes I have are nothing compared to others struggles but they are an interesting barometer of how things are changing.

i’ve just spent the past hour complaining about how much are local pumpkin picking place has gone up. There’s no such thing as a cheap meal out anymore. Pre-covid we made sure the kids ate out at least once a month but all of the restaurants near us that did the 3 courses for a tenner type deals have closed down. Unless we went to Greggs or McDs we couldn’t eat out locally now for less than £100. And the cost of a day out to like a farm or something is astronomical. Im earning a wage now that a decade ago would’ve made me feel like I’d hit the big time but actually I could afford to do a lot more back then.

I feel the same.

Dh and I teachers of 25 years. He’s a son of immigrants, me born into poverty. We feel comfortable and are happy with our lot.

My life now is a million worlds away from what I was born into and out combined income isn’t even the six figures needed to be comfortable on here.

This is us. Going out, we take packed lunch a lot of the time as eating even at a chain restaurant is now about £100 and the low quality just makes the whole thing disappointing. Same with pub lunch (about £200) - we only really go for special occasions.

We'd normally do activities over the weekend (bowling, cinema etc) but now they seem far too expensive to do each week.

We are massively focusing on saving now, although I don't know how local businesses and the economy is going to improve if everyone else does the same.

Yes absolutely. I have virtually stopped eating out, I cannot justify £10 for a hot chocolate and 2 slices of sourdough toast I paid not long ago in a local cafe. I have cut right back on eating red meat too with the price of beef going up so sharply. Some things I simply refuse to buy which are ridiculously priced - crisps, chocolate etc but then they are bad for me so probably for the best. I walked around Sainsbury's local last week and saw a can of Heinz big soup for £2.75 and laughed, even if I could afford it there are many things that are just not worth it - I would rather keep my hard earned cash in my bank thanks.

Many are finding things much much harder regardless of class and I am not sure class really cuts it any more in terms of social categories/wealth. That said jobs and contracts in my sector are increasingly sparse due to underfunding, so I feel like we are getting hit on both sides and it's frightening. But I guess it is about expectations?

I realised recently that many of the nice things I thought I would have in later life simply won't happen. Can't afford to improve/replace kitchen and bathroom (both over 20 years old), which would really need doing to get good value on house were we to sell. It's increasingly shabby. Mortgage payments will only go up when we remortage, despite us owning 80% of the value of the house, I am not sure how we be able to afford it. But I worked out if we sell to downsize we won't make that much without a really significant change of location and lifestyle.

We can't afford to run a car and looks like we won't be able to have a family holiday next year. Can't afford to pay into a pension in a meaningful way. Already cut back on nicer food bits, take out, eating out and alcohol. Clothes purchases are only essentials. I got turned down by a pension advisor because we have too little for them to want us as clients! This is not bad management (maybe it is but we never had enough to invest), we just have not earned much and there was never any family wealth (think public sector, not teaching or medicine). I still think we have had a good life and so have the kids. I am just very worried for the future. My retirement will be very different from my parents'.

My daughter observed that people think we are "well posh" but we are really quite poor. (I don't think we we are poor or posh btw).

We are covering bills and have a tiny bit set aside for emergencies. There is no spare anywhere anymore. I also think there is rampent price gouging all around and that prices have gone up exponentially, from household fuel to cosmetics, food and many services.

All that said, we are okay and lucky, maybe the extras are actually luxuries and unnecessary and unreasonable expectations and this is a recalibration towards moderation? I wish I believed that more. DD just did food service on minimum wage for a birthday party where the budget must have been around £60k. So some middle class life-styles don't seem to be being eroded at all.

We used to go to theme parks a lot more than we do now! And I would love to take dc to the theatre but they are so expensive, plus train fare, I don't know who these people are who have £300 outings 😅

When dc were toddlers we would have a day out at a farm or wherever, buy lunch, not even think about it. And we had nursery fees to pay then! Now we would take a pack lunch for sure and the day out is a rare treat.

I think everyone at all income levels is probably noticing the increase in the cost of living.

I do a double-take every time I buy anything at the supermarket now.

Agreed with comments above re: eating out - we rarely do now, it’s just not worth when it seems impossible to do without spending £100+ for a relatively average meal.

I agree. We have a very good income and we used to love eating out! Now it’s £100 for ok food and shoddy service half the time. Just can’t be bothered.

I would have said I was lower middle class, but to be honest we sound the same so maybe it’s those with a bit more again. I was just looking at the thread about Toby Carvery and thinking how I used to be able to go there fairly regularly but now wouldn’t feel like I could afford it, except maybe very occasionally. Perhaps I should revise myself to working class.

yes it’s noticeable