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)

I think it might depend on your rent/mortgage.

I don't think £40K pa is a fortune.

To pay all our bills we need something close to £40kpa. (Yes, it's all worked out on a spread sheet, and we're pretty savvy and don't go for luxuries such as Sky, but does include swimming and music lessons - the mortgage isn't massive) Which would leave nothing to save for the next car, money to redecorate when necessary, buy new washing machine etc if we earned £40K.

That's for two adults and two children.

If someone considers themselves comfortable on £20K, I can only guess the never expect to have foreign holidays, nights out, weekends away or a new car, and have a very low rent/mortgage.

Some may consider "comfortable" to mean no holes in their shoes and a full stomach.

I was "comfortable" 15 years ago when I earned £20K and payed no rent or bills. I am comfortable when we earn £20K more than we need for bills.

We have around £35K a year, in London - huge rent, 1 DC, no tax credits etc. We manage, but it's tight by the end of the month.

I definitely would expect nights out, holidays, clubs, sky, internet etc on around 20k.They are basics imo.

Spammertime. That £11000 off £85000 you still have looooads of money. You seriously are wasting huge amounts if you can't go afford to go in holiday. Even if the rest of you outgoing we're 20k which they won't be you still have 50k disposable income.

What a crass thread. There are people on here who survive on benefits and facing eviction. Here, have a

I agree. We have a joint income of £38k ish and we both work our socks off for that ! With travel costs to and from work, child care and a budget shop of say £60 a week, there goes £700 before we've even started ....

Spuddy Itotally agree that house maintenance type stuff eats up a lot of the disposable income, which is not that high in the first place once fixed costs and essentials are accounted for

We're on about £65k (two full time professional salaries), mortgage is roughly £900.

We eat cheaply - veggie, bulk cooking; haven't had a holiday abroad in ten years; drive a second hand van in addition to dh's company car; do the whole ebay, freecycle, charity shops, skip-diving thing.

Still less disposable income than when I earned half as much ten years ago. Kids soak it up somehow...

Ravenak, private school?

It doesn't make you Rockefeller but it makes you a lot better off than most.
Of course it's all relative but to a certain extent you can choose your lifestyle and if it's not going as far as it should maybe you should have another look at what you can afford.

Not saying this applies to you OP, because I've got no idea what you spend your money on, but some people spend ridiculous amounts on maintaining a standard of living they think should have but clearly can't afford.

as others have said - it's all relative. We could not survive on £40k

Mind you I'm amazed at how much people spend on clothing etc for their dc, I suppose out of necessity most of their clothes and stuff is 2nd hand, we don't spend loads at Christmas on them etc. We choose to spend money on the house rather than holidays as we can't afford to do both. We could reduce spending on food - now Dh has to do the cooking it certainly costs more!

Nancy66 yes you could.

I didn't say I was complaining. But I also don't think I'm "wasting" money as I haven't listed all our outgoings and without knowing what they are people here would have no idea if I'm wasting money or not. It's so easy to look at someone else's situation and think "oh if only we had x amount more, we'd be loaded" but the fact is you don't know what commitments they have.

For example... At the moment we don't go on holiday as we are paying off a loan on major house improvements in a vague attempt to avoid being in negative equity. That loan is over £800 a month. I could sit and wail about how unfair it is we bought at the peak etc, but there's no point is there. I just feel lucky we are able to do that.

I'm just trying to say its easy to think other people must have it soooo good, but unless you know the whole story it's just not that simple.

It's all relative; I think its an ok salary but not a fortune.

Yes mummy we moved in a year ago from renting and everymonth we have needed to outlay for something else. Sort bathroom, Get washing machine, Chest of drawers, Have garden made safe, Windows sorted etc. Buy things for the baby - cot, buggy, car seat etc. It just seems never ending.

If you see it on paper it seems loads, but it really isn't. Yes people have less, and actually when i was younger and earned less i had loads more. But i'm now with a baby and a lot more expenses.

When we both commuted to London our fares were £1200 per month!!!

Just because people "survive" on benefits, doesn't make £40K a fortune.

Is complaining about surviving on benefits crass when people are homeless and hungry in developing countries.

DSIL "survives" on benefits. DH used to give her extra money, until he sat down and worked out how much they both had after bills. She was laughing in comparison. Of course there was the benefit to DH that was paying a mortgage and would one day own the house....she lived in a council house, and didn't face a £1.5 bill when her boiler broke and needed replacing. She still complained enough about having to wait two day for it to be replaced, while we went two years with boiler/central heating. Gotta laugh!

Krum - well yes we could - badly expressed on my part but we couldn't meet our current outgoings on £40k

Ladysybil merci for the biscuit. I certainly have plenty of sympathy for anyone in that position and do appreciate that I am secure enough whilst still being utterly skint.

Krumbum - no, don't hold with them. F/t nanny until the youngest starts school next week, which will ease things a lot.

Big drafty Victorian doer-upper house, though.

We are very fortunate in terms of income & I wouldn't pretend otherwise, but the expenses do seem to expand to keep pace.

This whole thing confused and annoyed me for such a long time. I would see friends who have a smaller income than us have a seemingly better lifestyle than us. They had new cars, foreign holiday, new clothes, sky etc etc.
After feeling a failure at not seeming able to live up to their standard of living and feeling a poor steward of the money we have, I came to a few conclusions and most of the time I feel much more peaceful.

The subjects we chose to study at 18 have had an impact, the jobs we chose to pursue, that we aren't,t career ladder people so don't want to be head teachers or deputies have an impact. That we had student loans as our parents weren't rich. That we bought our first house in 2002 where as friends who bought just 2 or 3 years before had a better deal. It didn't help us when we moved house in 2006 with a northern rock mortgage and then ended up with larger monthly bill after moving it to a different company.

That some people have generous and/ or well of parents who look after their children so they can work. That grandparents buy clothes and toys and pay for clubs and lessons, meals out and holidays and baby sit for free. And some that will just pay off over drafts run up or the car bill when it goes wrong or have invested / contributed to the deposit for a house.

Some people just land on their feet in circumstances and get head hunted with huge bonuses, never have to buy clothes for their kids because they get given them, have cars given to them and get furniture given for free.

Some have worked all the hours in the day to attain a certain lifestyle and can rest a bit.

For years it felt that we were chasing our tails, not having a pot of money to draw from but going from one car problem to broken washing machine paying off the overdraft and never getting anywhere. Dh was earning 42000 gross and I was a sahm. I felt stupid that we were struggling on this amount. He has had a pay cut and the only reason we are ok now is that a relative died and left me some money that paid off debt and now we have a pot to use now the washing machine needs replacing and we are planning our first proper holiday.

There are so many different circumstances surrounding people's disposable incomes and what they can live on. It is depressing to read how people are living comfortably off of half your income when you know that you are living frugally and getting nowhere fast.

Now, I just try and do the best with what we have and not compare us to others with more or less, with amazing families or who made a different set of choices when they were 18.

There was a time we earned that and lived month to month we now earn 75k and still live month to month. Nothing has changed. I'm not sure why but you basically live to whatever you earn but never fully appreciate any changes.

But you could look at what you spend and see where your overspending. And when on 75k your hugely overspending.

£40K seems a lot to me. It's about double our household income and our circumstances are otherwise similar to yours. It's all relative.

It's all relative. We need almost £3k net per month for school fees but we don't have a mortgage. OTH we don't have sky, a big tv, expensive cars or very many take aways and the house is generally "tired" and could do with redecorating from top to bottom and a new kitchen but we do have photovoltaic panels and an electric 2nd car and we do value nice but not extravagant holidays and our one family holiday every year is very very special to us. Life only gets complicated when tastes and income are out of kilter. We have friends with beer money and champagne tastes who have found themselves in grave difficulties due to a reduction income; fortunately we have chardonnay tastes and champagne money. DH hates parting with the stuff and relatively speaking I am "careful".