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

Its a weird thing. The perception you get is that everyone is well off. The tone of the discussion and the things discussed strongly suggest it.
But when I joined an offshoot facebook group and had a proper snoop at people's profiles- they were all normal types in working class jobs.
So now I think either everyone here is very pretentious. Or working class posters are quieter.

Single mum here, low income, don’t own my own home and probably never will.

There’s a mixture of people on here from the very poor to the very rich.

It is a bit. I think I'm working lower middle class though - because I work but do have middle class parents etc

I would say the site is really, really middle class, and aspirationally so in consumption terms. I would guess that the typical Mumsnet poster is a graduate in a household earning considerably above the average salary, with a house worth considerably more than the average too. There is a small but significant proportion of posters who are very wealthy and have a lot of disposable income, but many seem to be people with a very high quality of life and a great concern with keeping up with the Joneses, who nonetheless are living at the limits of their means (this isn't the same thing as being poor, but it does limit disposable income). Sometimes these describe themselves as 'scraping by', which is just annoying.

To be fair I like netmums. I go there when I don’t want to be hammered down and need actual support. Mumsnet is nice when I want a brutally honest debate.

I don’t think it’s about education level, I’m a masters degree and worked at the top unis in UK. I just think there are times when I want to be treated like my feelings do matter and other times when I am not too emotionally invested and that decides which board I go to

Ooops, just seem someone use the phrase 'scraping by' on the previous page - sorry, that's an accident, I wasn't meaning to pick you out! There ARE posters on here who are definitely genuinely struggling financially.

OP anyone can be anything they like behind a screen.....that might help remembering when the judgey pants come out!!! Sometimes I read and its all a case of do as I say not what I would do, but on the whole theres not much between all of us the very thing we all have in common are we are all either a mum or a dad and we all face the same issues at some point!

Lovemusic33 I only owned my own home (flat) due to an inheritance gained when I was 25 and a guarantor mortgage via my stepdad (DM had medically retired otherwise she'd have been guarantor mortgagor), otherwise with a normal income (for London) but not that high I would've struggled to get on the housing ladder.

property was much cheaper then - 90's.

I agree with whoever said it's the average earners (like me) who are invisible on Mumsnet. Probably because it's nothing to boast or complain, so we just don't mention it. But we are here, don't worry.

It's very London and South East centric which is an area of the country which has a lot more money.

It’s an odd one. There was a recent thread with someone asking people to post how they managed to secure high-paying roles. People on high-paying roles responded, and it quickly turned in to “oh, don’t believe everything you read”.
It was a shame as the OP was getting good advice around how to increase her earning potential.

I think a lot of people in real life are much better off than they let on. I don’t think a lot of my friends and family would realise what my income is, but I’d post about it on here anonymously, on a relevant post. I assume a lot of people are the same.

I think there is definitely a range, just that some may be a bit more vocal than others.

Its better than it used to be. When I joined 10 years ago it was full of high income families. Its mellowed out a bit.

Oh god netmums is awful - it's all babydust and huns. Made me want to vomit when I briefly had a look.
Mumsnet is harsh!

I think mumsnet is a bit more m/c but not rich no. Mainly pious old witches who compete about how much fruit their DC eat and proclaiming to not drink more than a thimble of sherry themselves at Christmas whilst managing to feed a family on 3p a week.
I still love it though!

downcasteyes - I'm not a graduate, earn an average salary and house is worth a bit more than average but only because we bought a cheap doer upper in an area that was down at heel but became on the up - 5 years ago.

DH is a graduate though and on a good salary. and started on property ladder young too.

I also think the super rich people threads tend to get more traction, 'AIBU, my diamond shoes are too tight / I can't decide which 5 star hotel to book' type threads always get a lot of traffic, which might skew the amount on the boards.

The other thing that always emerges when you get threads on this subject is that a LOT of people have a great deal of help from parents and/or large inheritances. Not all of that wealth is self-made - I can remember there being one thread where people were receiving positively staggering amounts of financial support.

I think its less do with income and more to do with attitude and intellect.
Probably more Guardian readers than Sun readers?

I think it can feel that way sometimes, with the amount of discussion about which private school to send the kids to, the advice to "just move house", "buy a new car", "just learn to drive" etc.

I was on a thread yesterday where a poster seemed to suggest that those of us who wear glasses and often have to replace them every couple of years should consider paying for laser eye surgery instead because it is only £3k per eye, so only £6,000 in total. Apparently that wasn't much to her. We should all do it because surely we all have that amount of spare cash handy. Never mind too that many of us are not suitable candidates for laser eye surgery.

It is a mix though, in reality. I am certainly not wealthy. We are in the asset rich but very much cash poor category. I know what it is like to be on the bones of your arse with an empty bank account and children to feed.

Well I’m poor, worked part time dornyears so I could fit around dd’s Schooling.
I roll my eyes at those who say that £50k is a reasonable wage - I don’t move in those circles, and if it wasn’t for the likes of me on my job then the the ones earning £50k wouldn’t necessarily be able to (never forget your support staff!!!).
I’ve had some good advice over the time I’ve been on here along with some laughs and some insults, but hey - we’re all different

I think people tend to notice the extremes, particularly if at the opposite end to them.
It's like the education boards. Reading them you could be forgiven at first glance for thinking that everyone has either straight A children or children with SEN (or both). But realistically there must be a whole bunch whose children are getting Bs & Cs with the odd D (all old money), but they tend to be quieter.

A lot of people I know - neighbours moved into their house about the same time we bought theirs, 5 years ago - teacher and IT guy - they were worried at the time about how to afford sofas etc.

In that time the DH has moved very fast up the work ladder, so much so that his DW can afford to be a SAHM and they've had an extension etc done.

Graduate SIL of mine works in the arts (along with her SIL also works in arts) and they constantly bemoan the fact that the arts is lower paid than the rest of the workforce area - e.g. law etc. But they both love the arts and the other SIL works for civil service role (Tate).

No it's not.

There's more people from different demographics to you than exist around you in your 'real life'.

We tend to be surround by people who are of a similar demographic to ourselves, those of a different demographic who be a small amount. On MN this group is bigger than what you experience in life and makes you feel they are the majority. This apparent majority makes you feel that your demographic is underrepresented. Any trait you detect in a poster that's different to yourself becomes a 'middle class' trait, and confirmation bias starts up

I don't think it matters how much another person earns when you're having an enthusiastic conversation about the lusciousness of Paul Rudd.

downcasteyes you made me doubt myself there lol.

Ok so we do have a large loan from our family which we used to get onto the cheapest option for housing ladder... but that loan is what’s making us “scrape by” and we have -10k in credit cards and 45k in loans to be paid within 2 years..

Our incomes could be considered middle class and we do come from middle class and council estate parents but right now it’s covering our basic living (hardly so).

So I don’t know, I don’t want to be dishonest. If you meant poor, then no we aren’t poor by household income.. but by net savings we certainly are!

I always remember my Nando's argument when it comes to this sort of thing

People were virtually screaming

YOU'RE WRONG NANDO'S IS CHEAP at me when I suggested it was at the high end of eating out for some people

They couldn't comprehend that Nando's being cheap for them, didn't mean it was cheap for everyone