What do they do that I don't?

[BoujiSnail]

Dd goes to a quite alternative school in a big city. The class is made up of very different kids but one thing I find strange is that the parents never talk about work. We live in an expensive part of the city and it seems to be me and dp are working full time, some of the European parents work ridiculously hard yet we all live in smaller houses in rougher areas. There is a large majority of parents who live in huge, £300,000 houses who do every pick up and are always on the WhatsApp group all hours of the day.
I always imagined that they worked from home during school hours and maybe stayed up all hours on Skype calls to China but during the Covid drama I've realised that this doesn't seem to be the case as they're all out on bike rides, teaching intricate geography lessons using the various items they've collected on their world travels and genuinely having a lovely time. They don't want to send their kids back until September so obviously not struggling too much.
If I sound jealous it's because I am! What is there secret? How can both parents be free every day and not seem to struggle financially? I'm dying here, working every day, striving for that promotion, promising that I will definitely play Lego as soon as I've done this meeting. Just for us to pay the mortgage on our ex council house. I pull up to little Jago's massive house where the mum is an artist and the dad is a gardener and think what am I missing?

You can't buy a house - not even a two up two down - for less than £700,000 where I live.

They probably bought property when they were younger than you and that's made it a hell of a lot easier for them. The later you start earning and buying property the trickier it is. The first few years of home ownership are usually tight for most people (because everything, inevitably, breaks and needs fixing!).

Lots of people I know live in +£300k houses with only one parent earning. A few builders, a doctor, IT manager... £300k isn't really that much and none of their wives work. Plus maybe the families you are seeing are now on fulough or WFH most of the time but you just happen to see them when they're having a morning off?

It’s probably because your perception of the world is all scewed based on your assumptions about various professions and their worth. You speak of artists and gardeners as if they couldn’t scrape a living lol?! Do you know anything about art?
Gardeners ALWAYS have work.
I don’t understand why people use artist as a word interchangeable with hippy or whatever . It’s an INCREDIBLY lucrative career for many.

I'd love to know what business I could design so I get loads of cash and have to do nearly fuck all. A couple of previous posters describe it as if it was a piece of piss to do.

To afford a 300k house you'd need either a huge deposit or have bought when houses were cheap.
Average wages 27000 ish.
It must be a real struggle to even buy a first house round here. 100000 plus when your on 20000. Wages are generally lower outside London and I think people forget that. 4 bed detached 300k in Nice area here.

Appearing to do fuck all yet maintaining an income is an art form. I’m sure my wider group of acquaintances assume I’m jobless.

For 300,000 in my city (not london) you'd get a 2 bed flat in an ok area, most people I know have bigger houses than that that they own and they are have pretty run of the mill jobs, some with one working and one sah parent so none of this seems very remarkable, however I imagine there's much more scope for earning in areas where huge houses are that cheap and they probably have other property themselves that they rent or buy and sell, a husband who works in finance etc and lots more disposable income than average due to local cost of living

As @BarbaraofSeville shows Sheffield is where the cheap houses are 🙂 the first one you linked is just a few minutes from me. We are in a 2 bed of end terrace, near good schools with a lovely community, ours would cost around £80000, you could buy a very nice house for £300000, in fact I have been looking at a new build nearby, only 3 bed but a really nice house and it’s only £220000 but still out of budget for me at the minute unfortunately

Good grief, those houses linked above aren’t to my taste at all (misses point of thread).

Probably inheritance, or moving from a more expensive area, op? There is literally nothing where I live (not even a studio or, hell, a garage) available for £300K, so it’s all perspective.

Used to work with someone whose main income came from a side business, and he only worked for social reasons.

My DH and I met while living abroad. We worked all hours (really crazy hours) in a lucrative industry. We got lucky really, right place right time. This enabled us to build a really nice house mortgage free on a beautiful site when we moved home.

As such we have no financial worries and can dip in and out of work as we please. DH is still quite well paid but it wouldn't be obvious so I'm sure some of the parents in my DCs school possibly wonder how we can afford the lifestyle we lead.

We live in a 300k 4 bed detached house but it's a new build and hardly palatial. I don't work but dh does and our mortgage is tiny due to being lucky in the property market in the early 2000s and also because we chose to stay here rather than buy a much bigger house which we could technically afford but would mean less of a 'cushion' and less disposable income.

In my city £300k could get you a 4 bedroom detached new build or a traditional 3 bed semi or terraced in a more well established area.

Could be anything OP!
Big inheritances, investments, trust funds, lottery wins.

Or perhaps they’ve downshifted, had very highly paid long hours stressful jobs in the past, had a huge house and sold it to buy somewhere smaller and do less stressful jobs.

£300,000 really isn't indicative of living in an 'expensive area in a major city'.

Where can you buy huge houses for £300K?! Here that would get you a garage!

Used to live in the southeast. Bought a shocking house (no roof etc. etc.). Did it up slowly while both working in central London (earning mid £30keach). Once house was functional, spent that time building a side business. Sold house, quit stupid jobs, moved to less expensive part of the country, bought a nice house outright. Without costs of working (higher than you think) and mortgage/rent to pay, our side business covers our moderate living costs. We don't have a flashy life, but we have time for school pickups etc.

Consider also, that an artist and a gardener probably have a lot of control over their time and you're not envying particularly expensive pursuits.

@Herecomestreble1

The money maker is in recruitment.
I also own an art brand (paints, tools etc) that provides products to retailers, and another business that sells products online.

It's taken a lot of time to get to this stage though.

I'd love to know what business I could design so I get loads of cash and have to do nearly fuck all. A couple of previous posters describe it as if it was a piece of piss to do.

Did you miss the first line of my comment? "I've worked insane hours throughout my 20s (think FT job abroad at 60 + hours a week) and set up a couple of businesses (done at night and weekends)"

Almost a decade of no holidays, no social life, living abroad (alone) working at the whim of my employers whilst using all spare time to work on businesses... you and I have a different perception of what easy is.

Agree with PP, if you live in an area where you can get a lovely large house for £300k in a decent area of a major city then they are probably people who have moved from London/SE.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-84474044.html

300k near my MIL goes a long way!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56392338.html

300k near my dsis gets you much less, in comparison

Almost a decade of no holidays, no social life, living abroad (alone) working at the whim of my employers whilst using all spare time to work on businesses... you and I have a different perception of what easy is.
Er, fair point, well made. You have me bang to rights.

The people asking where have never heard of rightmove.

In some decent areas, even in the south, you can get a nice house for £300k.
In many cities you can get a nice house for £300k.

In the home counties town where I'm from you can get a nice 4 bed detached in a good area and shock horror that's in the south east. It's 50 mins train to st Pancras and excellent road links.

There are so many areas in the UK with decent prices but the people living in the most expensive areas always refuse to believe it.

I'd love to know what business I could design so I get loads of cash and have to do nearly fuck all. A couple of previous posters describe it as if it was a piece of piss to do it's really quite simple actually... I didn't say easy though.

Find your niche, something you're passionate about. Figure out how to monetize it and then offer it to people. You don't need to work long, just hard. They're two completely different concepts often mixed up.