How do people afford life?

[Sieveforapurse]

I'm constantly baffled by how people can afford to pay for things. I'm a nurse (B6), husband works in education. Our household income is ca £80k before taxes, two children, one still in nursery. Clothes come from Vinted, we eat out at Nando's once a quarter, etc. No big splurges or fancy tastes, I buy own brands and cook at home, mostly vegetarian. We don't run a car and have no debt, besides a mortgage of £1700/month (outer London, not great interest rate, purchased in past five years.) We have zero money from family and will have zero inheritance. I'm not complaining, I know we are so much better off than many others; we haven't any debt and have food on the table, and save a bit towards emergencies and househole maintenance each month. But I don't understand how people in similar situations can be buying new clothes (and from shops like Sezane at that!), or are flying to destination weddings, or sending extravagant birthday gifts to friends and family. Is it just a mix of family money/gifts, credit/Klarna, and higher salaries? Do people invest wisely and live off of the returns? I'm quite a budget conscious person and can't imagine where else I might cut corners to save, let alone buy clothes from Sezane or, really, any new clothes at all!

It's significant that you live in London. If you are comparing yourself with anyone who doesn't live in London (or posh London commuterland) they will almost certainly have much lower mortgage costs than you.

We have zero money from family and will have zero inheritance

This is quite a large part. It’s cumulative as well. Parents that can afford to hand their offspring 5K or 10k towards a mortgage (so 10K - 20K total if you have a partner in the same boat) are also probably in the position to house their offspring for longer while they save money to make that deposit bigger again. Taking on a mortgage in Greater London on average salaries only is a massive financial commitment, especially with childcare on top. We moved from the south coast to the northwest, largely for this reason.

They must just earn more tbh and have less outgoings. We bring in over 140k combined. No inheritance or family money. No childcare. Mortgage of 1900.

People saying your mortgage is high. Single mum of two here in the south east and my rent is £1700 a month and this is cheap for the area. This is nearly half of the entire total monthly income in our house. No luxuries here. Not sure I can sustain this ongoing. Zero savings.

I live in the north west with a mortgage of less than £100k. We have a combined income of not much more than you but probably less over heads. We have a very comfortable life.

Another factor may be people getting free childcare from grandparents. The difference between paying for full-time nursery and getting free childcare from Granny and Grandad is going to be huge. Even if the free childcare is only for one day a week, that's still going to make a significant difference.