SAHM

[mamadrummer]

Hi
Just saw someone say a husband earning £35,000 isn't enough for the mum to stay home. Just curious, what do you think is an ok salary for one partner to earn so the other can comfortably stay home?? I know it depends on situation and costs etc but just rough idea?

I wouldn't think for London - no, unless no mortgage etc.

Otherwise- yes, but how many kids?

Rent around here for a 2 bed semi is around £600.

I also think the above amount maybe to little. However, it depends on rent/ mortgage/benefits) allowances etc. What you consider comfortable varies person to person.

Well its our combined income (2 adults working ft plus 2 dc in childcare) so yes we could definetly manage with one if us on 35k and one of us at hone

It depends where you live.

Sorry "too little".

There is no straight answer to this. For example I'm in SE and we need to earn around 60k between us to cover mortgage bills etc. With a couple of hundred quid to save at end of month. Our mortgage is 1200 per month. So for us it would be a min salary of 60k before tax.

Napqueen you would lose the second persons personal income tax allowance.

Forgot to say we have 4 dc

yoyo we dont have that anyways.

I would think you'd need to earn more than that if you were thinking long term. I'd want to have enough saved up to cover bills for 3 months of the sole earner was unable to work or was made redundant. Also if the non working partner was down on their pension or NI then pension contributions would have to be enough to cover the shortfall for the other party. We have a little over that as a joint income but I pay into a pension scheme and NI.

DH earns just under (33k I think) and I am a SAHM to a 2 year old - London/Surrey border. Things are fairly tight and I’m going to go back to work p/t soon.

It is doable I think while DC are little and happy to go to feed ducks etc but when they get older and want to go to football club/cinema/school trip to France then it probably isn’t.

Plus there’s boring sensible things like NI and pension, I can’t afford to pay into those as a SAHM so that will be another good thing about working.

My dh earns just under that and I'm a sahm. We manage fine. Only one car and no debt other than mortgage.

Depends entirely on circumstances. We worked out our finances before trying to conceive 8 years ago and the rock bottom income we needed for one person to say at home was £40k it's probably a bit more than that now.
We live London/Kent borders paid £700/month mortgage and didn't have any loans or credit to service.

Double that outside of London. Inside London about five times that.

We have in the past but it's that middling stage between low income with top ups and being comfortable. With work pension etc it was take home circa 21k. It was fine for cheap terrace mortgage, one car UK hols and that suited us at the time. However if a big bill comes in then it's hard. Also teenagers v expensive. University deposits etc.

One friend used to annoy me going on about it being loaded but she was actually better off as got top ups etc. I worked out if DH had been on min wage we would have come out with more due to tax credits etc. So it isn't always as simple as annual wage.

We don't have any kids yet and combined income around 70k, we certainly don't struggle but mortgage, bills and household expenses comes to around 2500 a month and that's for just us (includes two cars but DH now walks to work). I think I'd find 35k with kids difficult, but it depends on what you want. I'm very debt averse so last year we both worked overtime to pay for our wedding and house renovation and have come out the other side with just our mortgage (oh and the final dregs of student loan but that comes from wages before tax) and we like to holiday a few times a year usually nothing too extravagant (other than recent honeymoon), and enjoy, theatre gigs, comedy etc. It really depends on where you live and cost of living + mortgage and the lifestyle you choose

My dp earns a similar amount and we manage fine, we're not living a luxury lifestyle but we're not struggling either. We get a small amount of tax credits but we could manage fine if they stopped.

Depends on where you are in the country though, we're in the Midlands. I don't think we could live on just his wage if we were in London or the south.

It absolutely depends on what your outgoings are. Any credit cards to be paid off, mortgage and transport costs. So there isn't really an answer I'd say.

I SAHM and DP earns 27k, it's fine. We've cut down on some things and don't have money spare but we get by.

Just to let you know, if you are claiming child benefit, then you NI pensions contribution should be paid for you until your youngest is 12 yrs. You can log on and request they back date and fill up your years. Well worth it even if your partner has to spend 1hr per year doing a self assessment tax return and you pay some of the child benefit back. You still have your NI contributions filled up. Speaking from experience.

We do it on 22k, it's not a glamorous lifestyle but it's perfectly doable (outside London obviously) and totally worth it in our opinion.

Manchester, SAHM, husband earns 35k.
Bit of a struggle but do-able

We do but only because childcare etc doesn't make it worth me working. Earn too much for tax credits etc. We have an okay life, 1 car, small house, small holidays but I'm concerned longer term thoughas we ddont have pensions..

We do it, starting on about £26k, now up to about £30k with 2 kids in the south east. You just adjust your lifestyle to fit your budget. If you want foreign holidays and new cars and gym membership, or in fact any of those things, then, no, probably not doable on £35k in the SE unless either you own your house outright or you live in a shoe box. However perfectly easy if you are sensible. I am going to be a SAHM for the next 3 years alongside going back to uni. Long term its a bit dull and isolating, but worth it.

Well, I'm a single mum on less than that - but there's no mortgage on the house, so that does make a big difference.