So if you're in a job earning less than 25k are you happy in it? Have a good Work/Life balance?

[MellyPapa]

Inspired by the 50k job thread.

I earn £18k as a secretary in a law firm. I do 35 hours a week, 9-5, and it's fairly flexible with good holidays etc.

On this wage I have my own house (partner pays half the bills), save (or overpay mortgage) roughly £200 a month. Pay for my car, have nice food, meals out, attend events etc, couple of short foreign holidays. [disclaimer: I don't have kids]

Of course more money would always be nice but I'm pretty happy at this level.

Anyone else happy with their lot? What do you do?

Very happy earning £17k, 40 hours a week term time only in a private school ( long holidays!) DH earns 27k and I am looking forward to not paying school fees £800/month ( bursery) in 2 months time!
I love my job and work/ life balance is wonderful especially in the holidays

I’m in a couple, separate finances. Both earn about 20/21k a year. Outgoings about 500/560 a month each. I usually have 8/9 hundred a month for saving, clothes, extras.

I work in admin on 25k. The best part is that I can walk to work. No children. My husband earns significantly more and also walks to work. We love not having a commute , so even though our house is small it’s a sacrifice we’re willing to make.

I earn a bit less than 25 k and while the work life balance is ok the commute is mad and we're struggling for money as dh income is fluctuating wildly. After mat leave I am looking for better paid job.

Me before I had kids: earned 23k working for a charity, saved money each month, travelled all over the world

Me after kids: earn 40k in a good job in a university with excellent work life balance but don’t have as much free cash and stick to European camping hols.

Kids are the difference Kids are expensive!!

I work part time (3 days) and earn less than £25k; with bonus included I would be on about £23k. I have a good work/life balance although I am also studying and exams are currently ruining my life and meaning I have no free time at all. When my child starts primary school I will probably go back to full time and hopefully before then I'll have had a promotion which would put my full time salary closer to £40k. I'll have to do a bit more travelling at that point but not a huge amount, probably not even every month, and it's rare for any of my team to stay beyond 5pm.

At the moment all of our childcare is covered by the 30 hours apart from the other 11 weeks (I think) of the year, but we spread that across the year and our monthly childcare bill is only about £160.

I work full time in a school and earn £10k a year (term time only). The holidays and no childcare costs are the main bonus.

Very stressful and busy job (47 children in my class) so that amount of stress and pressure really tips the work/life balance for me in honesty and my anxiety is at a constant high.

If it was part time it would be perfect!

we have 2 kids, cat and a dog, between dh and myself we earn about £23,000

We have a great work/life balance. I work school hrs/term time so no need for childcare. dh starts early and is able to spend all afternoon after school with us.

We have compromised on the house.... its small but enough for us, and means our mortgage is low so outgoings are low. We are paying off car finance so once that is paid off at the end of this year we'll be even better off financially.

But we're happy, still going on holidays (we prefer uk holidays in a caravan we own), have days out, have treats and enjoying life.

That being said.... when we had dc I gave up work as childcare would have eaten up all my wage, dh earnt £30,000 then working 60+ hrs a week....so to now have more time together is so lovely!!!

I'm on a bit under 17k. I like my job, I work 32 hours over four days at the moment and the job is flexible.

My parents look after DS so we're very lucky in that regard as paying for child care would have been financially crippling.

I earn £22k working in accounts. I do 8-5 Mon-Fri, 40 hrs a week and I have far more responsibility than I am getting paid for. Colleague who does much and such the same role as me is on 5k more.

I hate it, but am going back into full time education this year as the work/life balance is shite and I never see my DD. The thought of another 40 years in this grind is enough to make me take a long walk off a short cliff.

I only have a decrnt lifestyle/income because of my partners higher wage.