In thinking 40k income really isn't a fortune??

[mummymacbeth]

Yes, a thread about a thread kind of. And I am fairly sure it has been done before but still!

I really don't think a forty grand gross income is a fortune. Our income with two kids is currently a bit less than that, though has been that in the fairly recent past. It is - and was - a bit of a struggle. We are not in the south east, we do not have a huge mortgage, expensive cars, kids are at state school and we don't manage to get abroad every year. We are living from month to month. A "fortune" it ain't!! (ref the post about someone wondering whether to have a fourth child)

Mine used to be 32/32 - I've almost got him back into a 34. Trying to maintain our three stone differential but I digress. Although perhaps we should cut the wine food budget.

Thanks for the breakdown. But say a person earned quite a lot more then they wouldn't be that much better off. Because they wouldn't get the tax credits. It's difficult.

I am looking at going back to work at the moment, tax credits is something I have to take into serious consdieration. we will however be entitled to help with childcare so not too bad, I am looking forward to having a bit of spare cash.

We get 1666 wages 44 a week childcare and cb.

Dita, we are considering it, Dh is from up north and his family think we are mad to be paying that amount on a mortgage for a 2 bed terrace!

Not a fourtune but you are hardly living on the bread line

Their are four of us and two cats and one car we live on 24k we are not poor

Viviennemary
You are completely right. I trained as a teacher and could not find many hours. I left in the end as it was costing me more to work than I got at home.

Dita, we too are in the North, and atm its not raining, yeh!

It's all relative. Where we live we most certainly aren't in the top bracket. In the country as a whole we are. We feel comfortable and relatively humble in comparison to many; we do not feel wealthy.

We are on combined about £55k and struggle month to month due to past debt and medical costs.

To us it isn't.
Dh and I are on approx 35k between us.
Our modest three bed semi in the South East (Surrey) cost us £900 a month mortgage.
We have a car loan on a modest family car (car essential for work)
Our annual holiday is 5 days on the continent visiting my mum.
With food, bills, council tax, saving up for birthdays and Christmas we run out of money every month.
Clothing is hand-me-downs, charity shop, supermarket brands.
No expensive hobbies.
We don't go out.
Cinema once a year, theatre once a year.
No weekends away.
We barely drink. Don't smoke.
Things are tight. We are ok, but there is no spare.
And that is with careful budgeting, believe me.

nail on head married its very relative.

Thank you, dita. (Your total income is nearer £20K, isn't it? Just my council tax, water, and electricity come in at nearer £400.That's before RAC, TV licence, tax for cars, phone line & internet, etc. All little things which add up.

I think £300 pm means you can afford Christmas and birthday presents, but means you can't save for the next car, or kitchen, or bathroom.

People don't seem to factor life insurance into their expenses. Maybe not necessary if you would otherwise starve, but I find it hard to sleep at night knowing if DH died, without life insurance we would be stuffed.

BlingBubbles.
Our £280 pm mortgage bought us a 4 bed Edwardian semi, in a lovely part of town. v. central and within easy commute to Manchester.
I know its dear "down Sowth". We used to live in East Anglia and whilst not south that was dear too. The money you could save by boxing clever and relocating in the north must be tempting. We moved when our older 2 were y1 and y5, we didn't have dd then. My dh was self emplyed and it was quite hair raising at first but we soon settled. All our family are up here and the dcs were missing out on so much, it was worth it for us and we haven't looked back.

Your paying a lot for utilities lynette.Also aa, tax,tv licence, internet and phone can be relatively cheap if you shop around.

£300 pm means you can definitely save for a car - it might take 6 months, but that's life. Most people make do with the kitchen or bathroom they have, or save for years to replace them, having a new kitchen or bathroom is by no means essential.

I hate these threads but feel like i want to add something today.

Yes it is all relative-our location is just North of London but no option to move right now. Our house costs us quite abit in mortgage and rent (Shared ownership/affordable housing), and my dh's petrol bill alone is almost as much the mortgage, due to the location of his next 2 year contract. (No way we can move as the contracts only last 12-24months all over the country).

I have lots of friends around this area who think we must have a fortune, but what they are forgetting is we had to pay for our boiler to be replaced, then save for our new kitchen facelift, bathroom tiles, new flooring and do it bit by bit on what little salary was left-whereas their's gets replaced by the council!

We don't go without but we do always get stuck towards the end of the month.

Sometimes i wonder why i laid down my family roots in this part of the country but at the time we bought to be close to both families.

I often 'dream' of escaping abroad for a few years but wouldn't be able to sub-let our home and certainly couldn't afford to buy outright here.

Apparently I ^am6 paying a lot for my council tax, (almost double everybody else on here!) and water, and yes electicity/gas - which maybe I cut cut down on if we become slightly obsessed (DH already is IMO).

Everything else has been shopped around for, believe me.

Things like TV licence are pretty standard.

I think petrol (£200 per month), childcare, and a bigish mortgage are the things other people don't have to pay out for, but we do. Not forever though.

I think its down to life style choice tbh.

For example. When starting out as a grown up you choose where to live. Some go to the city, others stay close to home. We choose what occupation we want, what type of house we want, standard of living etc.

Had I chosen a £900 mortgage on a house in Surrey, maybe private education for dcs, expensive car, private health care, loans, credit cards, child care and other things 40K would not sound nearly enough.

However, when you actually look at what exactly you need to survive and possibly an odd luxury the figures are quite low imo.

lynette it is those things your right, when we first had dd1 dh was on 11,000 and we were spending £100 per month on petrol, there wasnt a penny spare but I could do the food shopping on £25 per week, now it is more like £75 per week for the 4 of us but we save on petrol as dh got a new job he can walk to. we have never paid childcare, but its all swings and roundabouts, I have no career prospects and no pension.

I think living in the south east and london especially twists everyones perspections of what you can lve on.

Yeah we have cheap electric and gas but as my waters extortionate.We had a bigger mortgage and did find it harder but on low interest rates its been good.We have 130 petrol but dont have to worry about childcare.I think childcare should be subsidised for all.

I'm beginning to think I just have higher expectations than a lot of people.

Saving £300 for six months , if you have £300 spare would mean no birthday parties, Christmas presents, days out. And result in £1800. If you sell your old car for £1800, that gives you a grand total of £3600. Maybe I'm a spoiled brat, to think you can't get much car for that. And if you need two new cars...it means constantly having no treats or extras just to keep going.

I'm glad other people can be happy living like that. Sadly, I can't. I genuinely wish I could be.

Our mortgage and utilities are more than your total outgoings dita, and we do not have a huge mortgage in comparison with most of our friends. Our council tax is £170 per month.

Lynette I completely agree.

Know that feeling LynetteScarvo

Petrol here last month was me £120 and DH £730 :-(

You can get some really good cars for 3500 I think if you shop around.