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)

Well we do live in Zone 2 London. Here, a small three bedroomed terrace house starts at about £750,000. In a nice road, in catchment of a good primary they are closer to £850,000. With a loft conversion and downstairs extension they cross into 7 figures. Yes, you could get a bigger flat for £300-£400k but it will not be in a good school catchment.

If you work in London full time nursery will frequently set you back £1000/child/month even in zone 5. And you need to book a place well before you give birth I'm glad I now live somewhere cheaper now and don't envy my NCT friends.

£40k salary isn't £40k to take home it's somewhere in the 20s take home.

Krumbum - in Surrey the average family home costsb500k. I could fine one for less than that, yes. The min would be about 300k in this area. You can't get a one bed flat for under 200k. Please do look because I am not exaggerating.

Just looked on rightmove because I was interested in how overpriced Surrey is. They have loads of 3 bed houses for about 150k. Not that bad at all!

Au pairs also aren't insured don't have to carry out risk assessments,do they even need a CRB check?Nurseries are expensive for a reason.

A girl with no qualifications looking after a preschool child full time? You've got to be kidding!

I would be really interested to know what the take home income would be for:

1. A family with 2 working parents each earning £20k;
2. A family with 1 working parent earning £40k and one SAHM; and
3. A family with 1 working parent earning £20k.

I have no sense of what tax credits/benefits etc are worth as we've never been entitled to claim anything, do they add a lot to a low income? I wonder if the difference in the net amount in the pot if you're on £20k rather than £40k is actually not that great really? I doubt very much that a £40k salary equates to double the net income of a £20k salary.

Of course £40k is a living wage and if you lived in the 'right' place in the 'right' property etc then you could manage on that amount - but as others have said, it's not as simple as that. People are often tied to particular areas in order to get a job, and in the current economic climate, selling a house and moving is very far from easy - plus there are lots of folk in negative equity who can't really move.

We couldn't live our current lifestyle or remain in our current home on £40k. Could we move to a cheaper house in a cheaper area? Maybe, but it would probably take at least a year to sell our current house and it would cost money to sell up and move. If you're taking it from a 'standing start' and can choose exactly where to live with a £40k job 'in the bag' then of course you can live comfortably on that amount - but this is real life, and there are other factors that dictate the area people live in and the outgoings that they're stuck with.

Where Krum?Do link.

We have friends a little bit older than us who got on the housing market at just the right time. Traded up at just the right time and consequently have houses bigger than ours but with much smaller mortgages. Their salaries go a long way. Ours much less so. We will never be able to afford to move to a house as big as theirs (I mean a 4 bed, nothing fancy!). Not bitter by the way. Just bad timing. We do live in a quite expensive area. This means that friends and family are nearby and we have reasonable public transport meaning we can manage without a car.

So OP YANBU, its a question of timing and circumstances (debts/childcare etc).

Where in Surrey? I work in gu20

Well we live in Hertfordshire in your standard 2-up,2-down Coronation Street style house although unmodernised and is 'worth' 250k.

Our largest room is 11 foot by 8 foot.

Not a palace but a (slightly small) family house deemed unsuitable for workers 100 years ago when they started building bigger ones in the next street.

There are 6 of us. 3 bed doesn't do it. I don't want dh sharing withnthenau pair. Then boys already share a room

So you pay £2k a month for a £250k house then commute across London? Yet you earn a gross family income of £120k..

I would also love to know where the 3 bed houses in Surrey for £150k are too!

No, we have an income of 60k and work a couple of towns along which we drive to in our two cars instead of taking public transport into London and back out (which would be stupid obviously).

m.rightmove.co.uk/quickPage.html;jsessionid=EB305A59929509A49B42569837B6692B?page=8&cc=html5%2Fhomepage.html%3Fgoto%3DHOMEPAGE#listings
4 beds then?

we would think ourselves unbelievably rich on 40k! 20, come to think of it... :(

It's an empty page krum

Someone asked for a breakdown so here goes:

monthly income approx 2000 net

mortgage 320
elec/gas 100
phone/internet/tv 20
mobiles 13
groceries 400
Council tax 120
Water 31

Some of those are approximate,from memory. I don't think i forgot anything major.
That adds to approx 1000 leaving 1000 for sundries, renovations and savings. We don't have a car or childcare costs so that helps!

:)

Stupid rightmove. m.rightmove.co.uk/quickPage.html;jsessionid=EB305A59929509A49B42569837B6692B?page=8&cc=html5%2Fhomepage.html%3Fgoto%3DHOMEPAGE#listings

It can't be done!

i am pissing myself laughing at some of the posters on here claiming poverty on their half a million pounds houses. dh earns 45 grand.i am a sahm.we have a couple of kids and live in a tiny ex council house in a rin down area.we are far from rich but alot of that is our own fault. if i lived in a 500 grand house and had kids at private school i would not plea poverty.some people on herr dont kbow their born...

You've got that right Krum!

Calin our water bills and mortage are 4X yours.

Wherever you live (except central london) you can definately find a house for under 200k.

I live on the outskirts of London and my house is worth about 280,000.