Is mumsnet aimed at rich families ?

[starsparkle08]

I’ve seen quite a lot of threads on here where families seem to have a huge amount of disposable income .
Im a single parent without a huge amount and wondering if I am in the minority on here ?
I’ve noticed there seems to be more people with lower incomes on netmums ? Am I generalising or have others noticed this also

Balls! I'm definitely in the wrong place then! 😂

Single mum, disabled on benefits, tenant in housing association flat here. In my time on here (2 years? Maybe more? How do I check this?) I've certainly chatted and got to know various mners who don't have huge incomes and of course if you do go to the money threads there are of course people posting for advice and posters who are either there now or been there in the past advising them. I think it depends what threads you tend to end up reading.

I've also found that even the majority of the better off mners "get it" wrt they're better off than most and have possibly been poor themselves at some point.

However, that's also assuming people are telling the truth, I think most people are honest but some will of course at least embellish or play down their circumstances depending what they are.

And there are occasionally twits who post things like "well if you're struggling to pay X bill just use your savings" without realising not everyone HAS savings! But you'll notice they tend to get quickly put straight even by well off mners.

I couldn't get on with netmums not necessarily the users and tone (although I do think I can be more honest and use adult language here on mn) but the format of the site itself I found hard to use. Too many flashing graphics gives me headaches.

Just had a quick pop over there to see, must admit VERY different tone to here eg a thread on how much partners/husbands do...lots if use of the terms "helping" and "I'm so lucky he does the dishes and hoovers" whereas I suspect the same post here would have much more robust and critical responses.

"Helping?! No! He's a father it's called parenting" 😂etc

"It may be for the middle classes but some of us are still poor and have a low income. We are just educated" tbf that would apply to me to a point. Poor but educated.

@Worraliberty what cracks me up
as an English grad! - is that the people who decide on eg a domestic violence thread to pick apart the op's sodding spag often have shite all command of the English language themselves! I have no problem ignoring and not caring about a clearly distraught op, in a shit situation's spag, where I have to effectively "bite my tongue" is on not jumping on the critics errors! (And yes I'm awaiting a flaming for my likely multitude of spag errors on this post. It's a chat forum not a fucking classics exam being submitted at Oxbridge! If it's legible and the subject isn't "examples of my excellent spag knowledge" it doesn't matter!!)

If you are middleclass, rich, you can have an awful lot of the same kind of problems as the peasants. Health, education,friendships, family and it goes on and on.

I like the swearers on here. However there is an element of toffee nose twats at times. Present company excluded from that comment of course. Have noticed more support the later the time in the day. I am middle class can't help it, born that way. However I'm from the north so that might offset it.

To respond manniclass anyway, if you are poor with problems it is not the same as being better off or rich with problems. Money doesn't buy everything but it goes a hell of a long way. Plusclass does count if you look atthe Black Report. People in a higher socio economic status actually on ave. live longer.

I do feel like the top 5% of income earners are on MN sometimes

I do get the sense that Mumsnet is 'by the middle classes, for the middle classes'

PMSL 😂

ATM as a newcomer! I feel quite uncomfortable with some of the posts! As for the one what percent of your income goes on mortgage and childcare?? I'm a stay at home mum on benefits with many health issues! I have worked before and between having my 4 children!! I've seen a lot of boasting and look at me's!!
Feel a bit out of my depth tbh.
I must be at the lowest of the low on Mumsnet! Sorry sparkly whatever on what percent!!! I don't fit!!!
Just attention seeking

Squeezy sparkly balls

To respond manniclass anyway, if you are poor with problems it is not the same as being better off or rich with problems. Money doesn't buy everything but it goes a hell of a long way. Plusclass does count if you look atthe Black Report. People in a higher socio economic status actually on ave. live longer.

I don’t feel that’s true. Been through different life experiences where at moments we lived in poverty and other moments we were considered wealthy.

Being poor gets you sooo much more compassion, empathy and support when shit hits the fan. You build so many meaningful non materialistic relations.

Being wealthy is very lonely. Everyone sees your problem as your own. People flock to you but the amount of people that end up being materialistic losers makes you lose trust . No wonder so many rich people commit suicide.

materialistic users

Empathy doesn't pay the bills.

shegorath

No it doesn’t. But guarantees you that bit more happiness around “real” friends.

I suspect that MN is the Duchess of Cambridge's guilty pleasure

The money versus education thing is interesting - and that is before you get to the old money/new money caveat.

I was a very poor working class girl who aspired to better herself. I became a teacher, married a hardworking DH and we struggled with a mortgage, then prospered and then became poorer again paying prep fees because we wanted our children to get a good start in life. When they passed the eleven plus we saved a bit and then had to blow thirty grand when they went to university.

So my finances have gone up and down with each stage of life and I am currently very poor again since I retired early due to stress and illness and had my pension actuarially reduced by a quarter.

The point is that whatever financial stage I have been going through I have not felt poor as I have an education and autonomy. I am prudent, sensible and a good manager and have a Rolls Royce life on a Trabant income.

I think, perhaps, that a definition of middle classness is to have a certain confidence and self reliance. Rich people do not faze me as I knew many of them when I was a prep parent and they were as human as everyone else. Some were arrogant idiots, some splurged insane amounts of money on ephemera, some couldn’t spell for toffee, some never read a book from year’s end to year’s end, some were perfectly nice people.

It amuses me sto think that from being genuinely poor I am now what the Victorians called ‘genteel poor’.

Single mum, struggling with health and finances. Just getting through day by day and thankful we’re still breathing. Our family is a mix of middle class and working class, some are upwardly mobile and others are downwardly mobile. You just got to work with the hand you’ve been dealt and what life throws at you as best you can I think. I also notice people have different priorities and some would rather sacrifice income to be there for their kids whilst others want to provide and think it’s character building and a good example for their kids if mums have a high powered career and everything else in between. There seems to be a broad spectrum on here but maybe those of us struggling don’t really want to talk about it too much for fear of judgement possibly?? Or boring the pants off of everyone. I don’t know.

If being poor is so much easier that being rich, why don't the rich just give all their money away?

Well OP, it may perhaps feel like that, but it's all about context.

One must strive to be excellent in all areas of life. Just this very morning, I was in Waitrose, popped in to pick up some Gooseberry and Cinnamon yoghurt (I find Waitrose have a much better organic range than M&S), whilst perusing the hummus, I was struck by how awful it must be for those who have to shop in rather less salubrious establishments.

Indeed, even whilst driving home to our new barn conversion afterwards, I felt particularly melancholic, the heated seats on our new BMW X5 did nothing to lift my spirits, such was my cognitive dissonance

(We just had to downsize from our previous home, we felt the extra unused bedrooms were proving to be rather unsettling for the girls. Tabatha and Rosie are particularly sensetive little souls).

Not withstanding the fact that I feel it really is a better example to set, large detached houses in this part of the South East are positively decadent.

I simply don't believe that Mumsnet is overtly upper middle class, perhaps ostensibly, but one should really consider to demographics of the data set used to formulate that particular hypothesis.

In short. I truly believe it's an utterly Bollocks viewpoint.

Oh fiddle sticks! Where on earth did I put the Quinoa?

@Confusedfornow

I think there are a lot of creative writer's on MN, a fine example shared by @confusedfornow

Nothing to do with money, but eloquence helps imo. All that fluffy shit with hubs living their best life can stay on the other side!

What I've always liked about Mumsnet is that it does seem to be 'everywoman' as there are just so many users globally.

Having said that though, two recent long threads gave a good indication of the average MNetter: one was how many sexual partners you'd had and the other was what do you do at weekends if you haven't got kids.

From the responses it seemed a great deal on here are a bit 'sheltered'.

If being poor is so much easier that being rich, why don't the rich just give all their money away?

Because it would be selfish to make other people suffer the way we are suffering.

I was thinking exact same as Graphista .
Just because I am exceptionally poor, doesn’t mean I am not educated and articulate. It also does not mean I think that ‘mummy always knows best hun’. I like mumsnet as that is something you won’t find here.

Actually M&S does much better food than Waitrose.

I’m sure there are some fantasists. I pay very little attention to what anyone says here and I certainly don’t become heavily invested in anything anyone writes.

But the fact is, there are plenty of people in this country who do have plenty of money. It’s not inconceivable that many of those people would be on the country’s biggest parenting forum.

People with lots of money are still just people.

Don't worry op the majority of the 'rich' posters are likely lying. It's amazing how many have numerous holidays, an excellent high paying job, 5 kids and a massive home on some threads and then on another thread asking if £200 is enough to last til pay day the come out ranting how they only have 1p to last til pay day.

If its all true, its all on credit cards, loans etc. In which case they are stupid. But I doubt half of it is even remotely true.

Ohhh my apologies, it was organic food that was mentioned.

I’ve never compared the two, as I find the whole organic thing hugely tedious, worthy and over-hyped.

If I ever decide to ‘go organic’, or properly eco minded, I will grow the majority of my food myself. I like an honest existence.

But yet again, I digress.

attracts more people that are attempting to reduce their food bills by £10 pcm whilst "style and beauty"attracts more posters who want to spend 100x that on a handbag.

I went into the beauty section one day to a post that asked if people wanted to not spend a lot on beauty. I thought it was to help people who couldn't afford moisturizers etc, but it was people wanting to do swaps for all their high end stashed. I spunk out It's for everyone OP, and it's more likely not about money/ circumstances but that you'll find someone who thinks/ parents the same as you and you go 'YES! That's it exactly!!' Also great for random threads you lie in bed and laugh about!! ( Welcome OP!!)