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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is my dh BU to think we cant live on £45 grand a year?

160 replies

Bellstar · 09/02/2012 12:56

Inspired by the other thread re household incomes.

A lot of people thought 45 thousand was a very good income and I agree. It is roughly our household income.

Dh thinks that it is impossible to live on this amount and i constantly moaning about it.

Is he BU?

OP posts:
tomverlaine · 09/02/2012 14:13

I agree with the posters who say you need to understand what your financial position is - then you can make a decision.

On whether the money is enough- I agree with everyone that says it depends-- a single inocme will incur more tax than two incomes for the same amount/

  • OP where are you? Location is a key factor - 800 wouldn't get a family home near us
MidnightWorry · 09/02/2012 14:15

Very easily! how can you not?

2500 income

800 rent
900 savings
gas and elec 80
water 12
debt 80
food 210
40 phone/tv/net

2122= money left over.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 09/02/2012 14:21

Midnight what about clothes, fuel, tv license, car insurance etc?

LingDiLong · 09/02/2012 14:23

And Council Tax, home insurance, car running costs???

MidnightWorry · 09/02/2012 14:24

clothes? you buy them as you need them. one pair of trousers develop a hole then you buy another pair. certainly not every month!
ok tv license 30, we dont pay for fuel or car insurance or road tax as my dp has a company car van.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 09/02/2012 14:24

Midnight... your take home isn't £2500 on a gross salary of £33k... it's more like £2000/month after tax

historyrepeats · 09/02/2012 14:25

Midnight that doesn't make sense Confused

FedUpOfTheBunfightsSeaCow · 09/02/2012 14:26

midnight your energy bill and water bill are very cheap, where do you live?

CogitoErgoSometimes · 09/02/2012 14:26

If you are taking home £2500/month your actual gross salary is nearer £40k.

MidnightWorry · 09/02/2012 14:26

we dont have home insurance as we could easily afford to replace anything stolen (im actually to lazy to arrange it).
actually our ct is a bitch at the mo, should cost 120 though :)

MidnightWorry · 09/02/2012 14:29

We use thames water (very cheap). our energy bills have got much cheaper since we moved in to a house with a meter.

our salery isnt always 2500 my dp gets paid in odds and ends due to being on call or an over time payment.
I work 9 months of the year, that is our salery together as a joint.

RealitySickOfSick · 09/02/2012 14:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RealitySickOfSick · 09/02/2012 14:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MidnightWorry · 09/02/2012 14:30

also I dont pay tax as I earn so little as part of our family unit

PenguinArmy · 09/02/2012 14:34

The issue seems to be that you are not involved at all with the finances

BellaVita · 09/02/2012 14:43

But she hasn't given us a breakdown of how much she spends on food bills, car loans etc - it may well be a bloody fortune.

Takeaways every week soon mount up in cost though.

IDoNotLIKEFun · 09/02/2012 14:58

Tell DH it could be worse and that he could be earning only £65K in 2008

There was once a thread which I can NEVER find, but it was a delightful whinge about having more than 150K coming in but how expensive life was after tithing and paying out for the essential expense of having fresh flowers in every room Grin

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 09/02/2012 15:16

IDoNot - I remember that one. They had some vast income, it was about £300k. She was moaning about how once they had paid 2 sets of school fees plus the mortgage and bills on their £1.5m pound house (which wasn't big but was all they could afford in Chelsea or wherever you understand) then she still couldn't go out and shop as much as she thought she ought to be able to.

I am fairly sure it was a wind up, no-one could be that far gone in their own bubble.

IDoNotLIKEFun · 09/02/2012 15:26

Oh I am glad that someone else does. I can't find it other than threads where I'm talking about it and the tithing and flowers Grin It was astonishing!

VickyandAlistair · 09/02/2012 15:29

Mine and dh's income is 38,000 .. yep, I'm a bit skint tis true, but we're doing alright for ourselves thanks. Biscuit.. 45 grand is a LOT imo.

pictish · 09/02/2012 15:30

He is BVU!

He's got over twice what we do. We manage.
Greedy sod.

Adversecamber · 09/02/2012 16:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PopcornBiscuit · 09/02/2012 16:40

It's possible to live on far less - plenty of people do.

pictish · 09/02/2012 17:00

Seriously...if your dh thinks 45k is 'living on the breadline' then he needs some educating and fast. He must be woefully ignorant to consider himself on the breadline.

This has made me feel quite angry. As I said before, we get by on less than half of that. We have three kids and I am a sahm. We rely on dh's wage alone.

I'm not going to claim that we have a high standard of living compared to some, but we are certainly not on the breadline either.

Your dh hasn't got a clue.

Where the hell is all the money going anyway?

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 09/02/2012 17:14

OP you should have about £2700 a month after tax, but deduct anything that your DH pays into his pension or any other benefits he buys through work (life insurance, healthcare etc etc)

Do you know how much your mortgage and other direct debits are?

I would be really concerned that his secretiveness means he his hiding more debt than you are aware of, or a gambling habit, or as adversecamber suggests he is splashing the cash with colleagues and getting through £££s in a month which it is pretty easy to do if you are in that kind of culture.