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 also agree with thedisorganisedmum

Anyone that asks about anything that costs more than about £5 gets told they are being braggy / showing off / having diamond slippers

Anyone earning more than 20k is accused of lying

WhoWasIt That IMO is just a way to deny and obscure the real inequalities that exist.

Ninkaninus I was referring to people who say they have 6 figure salaries but are on here throughout weekdays and evenings. I understand in some jobs you may be able to skive a bit and post on here a lot, but I would be surprised if that was possible with very high paying jobs.

But the understanding of working class varies WhoWasIt. I agree with you that if you get up to work, then you're working but now working class (to me) indicates that you deny that education has an enabling factor. All you sell to the man is your time; no thought, no engagement. My grandparents were WC (horse dealer and aircraft mechanic originally) but after leaving school at 14, they studied further and their family life was middle class.

That works on the assumption that you work harder the more you are paid, which often isn’t so. You probably work a lot smarter, but that’s a different thing IMO.

It's possibly useful to revisit the ABC1C2DE socio-economic categories.

AB means inherited wealth and/or buttressed by university followed by professional qualifications (broadly speaking). Lawyers, farmers, accountants, engineers and teachers.

C1 is skilled time served trades, often self employed, like builders, plumbers, joiners, and electricians.

C2 is limited skills, but with a full time (not zero hours) job that pays a dependable wage/salary. Clerical, secretarial, admin, postie.

D is fairly unskilled, with irregular hours or seasonal employment, like cleaners, ice cream vendors and shop assistants.

E covers day labourers, unemployed and unemployable, whether age, health or disabilities.

I agree with those posters who say it's an education thing, rather than income.
I ventured onto Netmums when I was pregnant with my first. I have never seen so much 'hun-ning' in my life. You cannot disagree with people over there, even respectfully.

Go against the popular opinion of the thread (which is generally, the OP is always right and 'are you ok, hun?') and you'll be shot down in (sparkly) flames!

Netmums often reads like it is populated by the very young (the language used reminds me of how teenagers speak) with people sending sparkly babydust fairies to each other. Mumsnet seems populated by people mostly who you can have a sensible, intelligent discussion with and I know personally I've learned things from people on here.

I don't ever pick people up on poor spelling or grammar because I'm not an arse, but I must admit I do prefer to read well written, coherent posts. If I click on a thread and the first post is one huge block of text without a full stop or paragraph to be seen I can't be arsed reading it.

Nink I have never had a job with a 6 figure salary. But everyone on MN who talks about having such a job always talks about how hard they work and the long hours they do. Fine if that is not true.
Plenty of people who do not earn lots also work smart too.

I don't think it is about education, there are women on here who have little education. It is about intelligence.

@Ninkaninus, IMLE, the people I have known who work hardest have been paid most. It may not hurt physically but they are the people who work gruelling hours, and travel during the hours most of us sleep, to be in place for the next round of meetings. It's a completely different angle on drudgery. They may do it in first class airline seats, but they are complete company slaves.

What amazes me is how most of the ones whoCLAIMto have high-flying, amazing, busy careers and a £150K per year salary, are on here most of the day. If they had such busy lives and busy fulfilling careers, they would not be on here all day!

I sometimes think the amount a person earns is inversely proportional to the amount of work they actually do day to day. The higher up you go the more you delegate. Plus there is a huge culture of presenteeism in the UK, so you basically get a lot of people sitting in their offices looking busy when they're actually on mn.

I agree with both of you of course. I’m not saying that everyone who is a high earner sits around twiddling their thumbs. And of course plenty of people who earn less work smart too. But I expect there are plenty of busy, high flying men who manage to make time for hobbies and/or special interests during and outside of work, and plenty of busy, high flying women who might conceivably take the odd fifteen minutes to an hour to de stress with a bit of S&B and/or general chatter on MN.

A close mate, some years ago, working for a big Latin American company, set off on a six week business trip of sales/marketing meetings. It was three weeks before he was in one hotel long enough to have his laundry done. Three weeks of three flights a day and three meetings, all of them needing reading preparation of the papers for each meeting.

Took too long writing my post and Ninkaninus said it better.

But yeah, you only have to work in the kind of corporate office I work in to know that higher salary does not always correlate with harder work. It just doesn’t. A different kind of work, sure.

They still had time to moan to you about what hard work it all was though didn't they XingMing? (Joke)

Thousands of lower level jobs depend on the high flying few doing their jobs well. Otherwise, another company gets the contract. That's why it helps to play golf.

How do they do it? Well, it helps a great deal to have an equally intelligent aware partner at home raising the children and managing your family/social life, which is why the SAHP is not a spendthrift luxury whore!

Actually my low paying job is essential to the high flyers in my company having work.

Twas the BIL, Moving, at a family meet up. And it was told to me as a "funny" story about the person who was envious and asked for a similar job, to hate it after a few weeks.

Claire, you are completely right. Without you, none of it happens.

Yes that is true. But actually my job really is crucial. If I was not there, one of the high paid people would have to do it or there would be no clients.

Out of interest, Claire, and please ignore me if you wish, but are you not interested to take the next step up?

You know what's involved, you understand the work, why would you not aim for the next level?

It seems to me that there are plenty of poorer posters here. And it's not as though the majority of threads are about money anyway.

I can't. I would need a PHD.

Of course! I’m not saying their work isn’t needed, or vital, obviously it is or they wouldn’t command the salaries they do!

My OH has a job that’s not quite at that level, but close enough. He still has some hours in the day that he can fill however he likes. And since he’s not an extrovert, ‘busy’ character, who likes to be out and about in his free time, he likes to chill at home, iPad in hand. If I were he, I would likely find the time to talk clothing and handbags.

Also, a six figure salary does not mean that the job that comes with it is ‘fulfilling’. You might do that job because a) you happened to be interested in or good at something that other people will pay handsomely for, or b) you simply wanted that level of income, and so you decided to do that job whether it’s ‘fulfilling’ or not or c) you kind of got lucky and happened to fall into that particular sector, or in fact any number of reasons, none of which preclude you wanting, or even needing, to find some online community in which you could have access to support and advice or just social interaction. You might well be ‘bored’ in a staggeringly well paying job, especially if you are highly intelligent.

Anyway, I digress. To answer the OP, no, I don’t think it’s aimed at rush people, but I do think there is a sizeable part of the demographic that is at a higher income level than the average in the U.K.