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

I'd say it's aimed at more educated people, rather then rich people.

Just now someone has posted to say they have inherited a very large sum of money and asking for tips what to spend it on , this is one of a number of money orientated posts I have noticed

I don't think it is MC on here at all. In fact I'd say the opposite.

Once I responded to a thread about DC's lunches. I got my head totally ripped off because I stepped outside of a cheese sandwich, Walkers crisps and a bottle of orange concentrate.

I was living overseas somewhere hot at the time and we fed our DC different stuff. I got my head ripped off for being MC (I'm not) and having different ideas.

Agree with the posts that say it's mainly educated and intelligent posters and so that includes a large number of MC posters with large disposable incomes.

I'm not convinced by the 'well people must be making it up' mainly because I've seen that about threads I have posted on . I wasn't making the number of coats I had up (or my salary on those threads) and why would anyone? I don't have any friends on NMW but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist and it would be roundly criticised if someone said 'no-one can have that little money'. There was a thread where someone said she wasn't poor despite having only one pair of leaking shoes that she couldn't afford to replace until payday (something I'd absolutely consider pretty much the absolute definition of poor), I thought her refusal to consider herself poor was a useful thing to remember, no-one wants to be labelled and by using these labels that have negative associations can prevent you helping those that need it most. It was absolutely an insight into how the other half lives.

I think it's one of the great things about MN is that it's a corner of the internet that is not an echo chamber. You read the papers and they are just reflecting back their readers biases, but here there are lots of different views. It's so valuable.

Absolutely appears to be my new favourite word!

There certainly are a lot of pompous twats on here. Have they money? Doubtful.

Yes it is very middle class. Many posters have a cleaner and think a lodger is a reasonable way to make extra cash. ‘Contact your solicitor’ is also a regular line despite many people definitely not having enough money for a solicitor or cleaner or au pair or childminder while we’re at it .

It's definitively the opposite.

If anyone dare asking about help with an au-pair, cleaner, they get slaughtered for being too grand for their own good

No one is allowed to have problem if they take holidays, are home owners, and just try to start a thread about problem with your tenants if you are a landlord.

Anyone earning average or above average salary gets accused of having "shit tons of money!"

There's some insane competition of being the less possible well-off, shopping in charity shops and finding a school request for £1 completely extravagant.

If you have a fairly well paid job, you'd better lie about it on MN.

Yeah, the £250k surprise inheritance and the first place you look for advice is... Mumsnet.

I love the threads where posters claim not to be well off and talk about all the 'sacrifices' they make to send their kids to private school.

Erm...you can make all the sacrifices you like, but if you have more than one child and the yearly fees are more than you earn in a year it's not going to help

As for disposable income. Totally relative to your outgoings. I have half my bosses income, and a lot more disposable income than he has.

Very true. We're a family of 3 - soon 4 - living off a single minimum wage job and tax credits. We live frugally, rent a dirt cheap shithole house as a stopgap until we can move, and have more income than outgoings most months. A lot of people struggle on more, we're fortuitous really.

The ease at which people are allowed to name change, really does add to a lot of bullshit I think.

But obviously some people need to name change for sensible reasons, so what can MNHQ do?

Of course disposable income is relative to your outgoings, but those outgoings are a choice.
So when DP and I met I was living in a tiny bedsit. I had more disposable income than when we moved into a 2 bedroom house together. But no one would have thought that I was better off when I was living in a tiny bedsit. And that is because I wasn't.
I could at the moment buy a bigger house and increase our mortgage so that we have virtually no disposable income. But I would be living in a better house and be building up a bigger asset.

I don’t know what constitutes being ‘rich’. People hold different perceptions of this.

Of course disposable income is relative to your outgoings, but those outgoings are a choice

Yeah, I don't really get this discussion on disposable income. I've actually seen people on here before ranting that they're not rich because despite earning triple figures, the mortgage on their 6-bedroom detached barn conversion is very high so they don't have loads of money left over.

Oh, the relative bullshit. Wealth is choice, choose wisely and don't whinge.

I have been on here since 2006 and certainly think it was the case at that time. Testament to that opinion is if you look at the threads on 'Behaviour' or 'Parenting' as they advocate fairly 'progressive' ideas that at the time, I didn't come across many people bringing up children like that in the 'real world'. I think that level of overthinking is often a middle-class trait. The level of publicity MN gets now has diluted that middle-classness.

I think some people exaggerate how much wealth they have so I take it all with a pinch of salt

Nuno Exactly. They should just sell up and move into a caravan. They would have loads of disposable income then.

I find the concept of Mumsnet being “aimed at” any demographic a bit odd, if we are talking about the Talk boards. (personally I barely ever look at any of the content in the MN main site that is written by MNHQ).

It’s a platform. Anyone can start a thread on any topic. Anyone can reply to that thread. Beyond the basic talk guidelines there is no editorial control over what turn the discussions take or who contributes to them. So Mumsnet Talk might possibly be used by a self-selecting group with certain characteristics in common, but it’s not “aimed” at anyone in particular.

It’s not even “aimed” at parents any more!

people really don't get that disposable income is money after compulsory taxes which is why it is after income tax, council tax (really take home pay - council tax)

as what you spend on food utilities housing childcare transport is within your control though you need these things you can choose between areas, size etc of housing whether you use waitrose or Aldi, whether you have basic phone or iphone10, how much your heating is on, whether you walk and take bus or have a car, and even though these are needs you have to cut cloth to suit if your disposable income is the average for UK about £2100 per month per household all the above must be less than £2100 this is the just about managing category there is little or nothing left for emergencies or discretionary spending like presents toys new clothes even prescription charges

what most people are actually meaning is discretionary spending (things you don't need but want) ie do you spend any spare money on school fees, clubs, dentistry, music holidays presents, eating out, takeaways, clothes hairdressers etc

some people have no discretionary spending because they are truly skint ie they couldn't spend less on food without being always hungry some have no discretionary spending because they spend more than absolutely necessary on needs ie bigger food bills, nicer phones larger houses because they would rather have a nicer house than a holiday etc this group is not skint

I’ve never read anywhere on MN that someone earns less than 20K a year (and one poster was told by another when she admitted she did to get a full time job not part time. 20K was her full time wage).

But, I’d also add, never believe everything you read on t’tinternet.

Oh c'mon. Some people have disposable income. Some don't. Whats the big deal? I agree with thedisorganisedmum. I have seen that a lot on here to.

Worraliberty

I know so many women who could really do with the support and wisdom found on Mumsnet. Yet some have told me they felt hounded off the forum, due to grammar and spelling pedants

This^

I had (well have) a friend, a single mum of 4 whose cheating ex-husband had moved in with another woman. She was lonely and depressed.

'Guess what' I said, 'I've found this lovely website called Mumsnet. I'm currently posting on this really funny thread, why don't you join up, and when I get home lets both post on it together'

My thought was if she enjoyed posting for one night she would eventually get stuck in and at least not feel so lonely each evening.

She agreed. So we did it.

Except within 5 minutes of her posting some smug grammar Queen posted: 'Oh Fgs sake M..... it's through not threw! No one can understand a word you're saying!'

Friend stopped posting and never returned. And this was years ago when MN was supposedly more friendly