A post for 'low earners'

[Maybeimweird]

Right so I've just seen the thread asking what people earn and these threads always surprise me at how rich people are and I suppose I do feel abit meh afterwards, I cannot believe how low my household income is comparing to others, feel like I've been living blindly as I thought dh wage was ok. I also read on a thread that the average salary was 35k! Me and dh bring in around 2k a month if that, we were also paying £665 in rent a month. I earn £700 a month it doesn't actually pay me to work, if I stopped working then I could stop having to out my children in a childminders and I would get higher universal credits, doesn't sound great but that's the truth!

So my question is are there any families living on a similar wage and still happy and coping and going on some holidays or should I be feeling deflated? Am I the normal average and sniliar to others? I want to hear positive stories

@Myownwendyhouse and @Maybeimweird thank you I love my job it's very hard and but I wouldn't change it for the world. May have to once the children get older but I'm trying to get as much training as I can before that happens.

I earn £8.75 an hour. I am a single parent. With top ups from tax credits and child maintenance from my ex (I get £500pm from him for context as he is a higher rate taxpayer) I bring in just under £2k a month.

I live comfortably and go on multiple holidays a year due to living in a very very cheap area, not owning a car, having no commuting costs to work as it's in walking distance and having no childcare costs as DS is school age and I work school hours only. My outgoings for all bills and food shopping comes to about £1k a month leaving £1k spare.

I flipping hate those how much do you earn threads. I always think me and DH are doing ok until one pops up - I earn £30K and he earns £24K after starting a new career this year. On MN we are low-ok earners but we own our own home (ok it’s a shoebox), eat out, go on holidays etc.

I don’t know anyone that earns over £50K from my peer group. Or anyone over £40K for that matter.

That being said we are both public sector so our jobs have been secure through this pandemic, which I’m grateful for.

notanotherpandemic if you already live month to month and don't have spare cash why the hell would it be a barrel of laughs and you'd be happier earning less? I can usually empathise and see people's points of view but living the simple life would make you happier? You don't need to earn less to live the simple life, you could do that alreadyxi think what your post means is you spend loads of money because you don't have to think about it and have nothing to show for it whereas if you earn less you would watch the pennies more and see where it goes maybe.

Exactly that!! Not for one second saying it's rights and I'm sure we could easily make changes. But at the moment it's easier to live as we do and not thing about it. The idea of saving to me is ridiculous as long as there's enough money to say fix the car if needed or the washing machine I'm happy not saving. If I had less money I'm sure we would be able to make the changes necessary to live a more frugal lifestyle.

You don't need to earn less to live the simple life
I don't think this is true.

For example, I work in a well paid job. As a result, my employer expects me to be dressed in a way that can be costly. In addition, I am time poor due to working long hours, so I spend on things that seem luxurious but are mainly about saving time.