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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to be getting a bit fed up with squeezed middle bashing.

111 replies

rosieposey78 · 10/10/2013 17:22

Ie those single income families with an income of 50 to 60k who are apparently moaning about the loss of £20 per week. If that is a problem they have made wrong financial choices or are bad with money etc etc.
Well we are almost a single income family who has lost child benefit. Some £50 per week. No proble with that. We just have to be a bit careful but we can cope. We do however pay loads on fuel. Dh has long commute and live in fairly expensive area so no we are not rich and do not avoid paying our dues. We opted out of child benefit.

OP posts:

comewinewithmoi · 10/10/2013 17:24

Me too!

mrsjay · 10/10/2013 17:32

and me but TBH dave cam and Ed Miliband put themselves across as the squeezed middle with all this we are all in it together shite and they are so not, maybe people get the impression we are bleating about nothing, saying that we don't have a huge mortgage

manicinsomniac · 10/10/2013 17:37

I don't really understand the thread tbh. rosieposey there's no need for anyone to nash you because, as you say, you know child benefit was nice but not necessary to you and you aren't complaining.

But, imo, anyone who earns over £50K and does choose to moan about losing child benefit deserves to be bashed. Nothin wrong with thinking privately that things were better when you had it but to complain that you needed it on a public board where there are people who aren't sure where their next £5 is coming from is a bit tactless.

NotYoMomma · 10/10/2013 17:40

but you said yourself

you are managing.
you're squeezed

wh have combined income of 38k so nothing but cb here

we too are squeezed but managing. we live in a cheaper area than I would like for financial reasons and enjoy nice food, dont have to worry about leftovers and batchcooking etc

we are still lucky because we still jave options that others do not.

others out there are actually struggling, using foodbanks on the breadline

Original poster

rosieposey78 · 10/10/2013 17:52

I guess its the assumption that on 50 to 60k we must have foreign holidays and send dc to private school etc. Just not the case. We don't worry about choosing between eating and heating etc but we have had to cut back on school dinners etc.

OP posts:

valiumredhead · 10/10/2013 17:54

I'm seething about the whole cb thing, absolutely seething, it is SO unfair.

NotYoMomma · 10/10/2013 17:55

I dont think anyone has mentioned private school on those wages? I would assume state school on 50-60k

YouTheCat · 10/10/2013 17:57

Everyone is squeezed. Middle, working, unemployed - all feeling the pinch.

There's only one bunch not feeling it and a lot of them are in government... funny that.

thecatfromjapan · 10/10/2013 17:59

I'm seething about cb too.

I thought it was just window dressing, to make "We're all in this together" sound less hollow.

I know think it was a brilliant piece of divide and rule.

I'm finding it bizarre that people are turning on each other, mithering about who deserves most to have various cuts inflicted, rather than questioning the premiss in its entirety. The very rich are pulling further and further away. As a percentage, they are fractionally small. But doing so very, very well out of the "economic crisis".

Latara · 10/10/2013 18:04

The govt is using cuts and the media to successfully turn people against each other - when we should all be pulling together and protesting against the govt.

It's middle classes against working; non-claimants vs benefit claimants; everyone vs immigrants; private sector vs public sector; young vs old... etc.

Divide and rule?

OneStepCloser · 10/10/2013 18:20

Another one seething still at the CB, and £50/60k may be a lot to live on in certain areas, but where we are it is not.

YouTheCat · 10/10/2013 18:22

What Latara and thecatfromJapan said.

It shouldn't be all 'poor me' - there is always going to be someone worse off/better off whatever your income.

It should be poor us - pretty much all of us.

SaucyJack · 10/10/2013 18:26

I wonder if it's a regional thing in your defence?

I live a few miles outside of Brighton. A bog standard 3-bed costs around 300,000k. I can well imagine that 50k doesn't really go that far when you have a spouse and children to support.

NotYoMomma · 10/10/2013 18:28

hmmm it probably is regional actually.

im in the north east and on much less so have found it hard to by sympathetic

I forget about housing costs

YouTheCat · 10/10/2013 18:32

Also NE here.

But if you're squeezed, you're squeezed. It is irrelevant how much is coming in if most of it is going straight back out again.

So let's start getting angry. It isn't the people on benefits or the working class that has done this. Just as it isn't the middle classes who have made the cost of living increase by so much more than any (pitiful) wage increase.

Original poster

rosieposey78 · 10/10/2013 18:37

Agree divide and rule thing.

OP posts:

PlatinumStart · 10/10/2013 18:37

Cutting back on school dinners seems like a massive sacrifice to me - they are hardly a luxury.

That isn't in anyway a criticism or dig - I just think if I as in the position where I had to cut down on something like that I'd feel pretty bloody pissed off.

I also think that living on 50k near to London would be tough

SoonToBeSix · 10/10/2013 18:38

High earners have choice though, tgey say they have no
money because they live in expensive are so pay a lot for their mortgage. That is a choice though, in certain areas of the north west you can buy a decent three bed with a garden for 60k. If people moved they would have a much higher disposable income.
However the people who already live in the NW and earn 20k not 50k plus do not have the choice to downsize.

Trapper · 10/10/2013 18:39

I would suggest that anyone who was £20/week of their earnings removed would be justified in moaning about it - regardless of where they live or how much they earn.

Trapper · 10/10/2013 18:40

I would suggest that anyone who was £20/week of their earnings removed would be justified in moaning about it - regardless of where they live or how much they earn.

valiumredhead · 10/10/2013 18:41

Well, it's not always a choice to move and free up income. You could do that and use up all your money living while you wait to find another job.

Floralnomad · 10/10/2013 18:42

soontobesix , that's not a practical answer is it ,if your 60k job is in London you can't live in the NW !

AmberLeaf · 10/10/2013 18:52

I also think that living on 50k near to London would be tough

I get what you mean re housing costs etc in the south east, but I think using the word tough about someone living on 50k [less after tax though of course] is where people get pissed off.

PlatinumStart · 10/10/2013 18:54

soontobe sorry that's crap. The vast majority of people who are "high earners" are so because of the area in which they live. The same job in London and Newcastle does not pay the same salary.

YouTheCat · 10/10/2013 18:56

That's true, though I don't think the London premium covers the disparity tbh.

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