Recent thread about disposable income

[Clappingforjoy]

Okay taat but the recent one made me feel quite shitty due to the large amounts people on mumsnett seem to have.
Now I'm asking do we have anybody on here who really struggles.

We struggle. Childcare for the kids costs approx £1200 per month. Our mortgage is £900. This month we had £350 left after Bills to feed us. This is ok because DH is an amazing cook on a budget!
(school uniform has been costly...needed new everything.) But soon we'll be entitled to 30 hours free childcare so waiting for that....DH having to do some overtime in next couple of months to enable us to cover Christmas. We have a second hand sofa that we purchased from ebay 7 years ago. I make do and mend and we don't have a fancy car. But despite the money situation, we have stable jobs, we're healthy, and the house is full of laughter (most of the time)

Everyone will be different and having read loads of threads over the years, take everything with a pinch of salt. Of course there will be people who do have the amounts they say they do, others may have more or less.

Try not to feel down due to an internet thread, which is likely not to be 100% factual and has no bearing on what you have at the end of each month.

In the past had some serious skintness.

Try not to get too down

I’m not one of those with 0000s left over every month but we have more than enough disposable income. We haven’t always though and it was tough when the kids were in childcare but that’s a distant memory now and both DH and I have had promotions so it’s definitely easier.

I used to dread payday though - it would go out as soon as it came in. It’ll hopefully get better for you too OP

Okay taat but the recent one made me feel quite shitty due to the large amounts people on mumsnett seem to have

Please, please don’t feel bad. Don’t take everything you read on here as gospel truth. There are a considerable number of fantasists here (passing off photos of a Paris hotel rooms as their bedroom being one well-known example) and any threads to do with money are likely to include a massive amount of exaggeration or outright bullshit. Sure, some people are high earners, but nowhere near as many as proclaim themselves on here.

There are hundreds of thousands of people struggling, you only have to look at the news to see that. Don’t be fooled by the self-professed riches of anonymous internet strangers.

I could say I have a million pounds spare a month - I obviously don’t.

Remember this is the internet and all may not be as it seems.

I'm on UC and permanently skint OP.

I'm really not asking this to be knobby - I'm not well off - but if you really don't have any disposable income, what do you do all month?

I’m on last bit of mat leave which used all our savings and more (whopping credit card balance) and nursery is going to cripple us for the next 2 and a bit years. We will only be able to cover basic bills for a while, literally no luxuries and watching every penny. It’s because I have an elderly horse and some other expensive commitments (we never expected to have a baby in our 40’s, we are overjoyed but not financially geared up for it).
It is what it is, it’s not forever.

@DerbyshireGirly
I live rurally and in a pandemic there’s not much to do. Walk, ride in my case. We don’t go anywhere that costs any money.

When DS was younger I lived from one pay cheque to the next, with very little spare. I was a single parent and my mortgage and nursery fees combined came to £1300 a month. It was bloody hard.

Now I have a smaller mortgage, larger salary and no child care costs, life is a lot easier.

You will get a real mix of people on here. Some are rich, some are poor, some in-between, some who lie and those who are up to their eyeballs in debt because they keep up with the Jones’s.

Well I have £6 op this month however, that's slightly disengenious because we filter money away.
So I've got 6 left because I put every penny into various filters eg dc tutor, dc clothes, savings.
However not long ago I wouldn't have had 6 left nor money for anything else. We had a very hard 10 years.

@DerbyshireGirly

I'm really not asking this to be knobby - I'm not well off - but if you really don't have any disposable income, what do you do all month?

What do you think people do if they can't afford to spend anything?

• watch TV
• visit family
• go to free places like museums or libraries
• go for walks
• do arts/crafts

Etc.

Don’t believe everything you read. I say that as someone who is gullible and takes things at face value generally.

I do wonder why people would lie about their wealth etc because they are anonymous so absolutely pointless. Only thing it does, is Babs people like yourself feed crap.

We all do the best we can. Some people land on their feet and meet a partner who has a great wage. It’s not necessarily down to them being successful themselves.

You never know what’s around the corner

I have just had to do a spreadsheet to work out what money we need and when.

We are not well off but both in fairly paid jobs and very little debt (not including the mortgage) debt from me being on mat leave but still needing things.

Childcare and mortgage are the biggest expense but we make do and I try to sell what I can to recoup money and buy what I can 2nd hand unless it's for a present or something I cant find 2nd hand in a reasonable condition

The definition of "struggling" is not a very precise one.

On MN anyone "rich" is someone richER than you, so you can expect all kind of replies.

Some posters refuse to believe that anyone with a higher income than they have can struggle....but unless you have all the details, you cannot compare situations:
someone with less "cash" but free babysitting on tap will struggle a lot less than a high income with high childcare cost and no help from anywhere.

I do wonder why people would lie about their wealth etc because they are anonymous so absolutely pointless.

when you look at how quickly luxury holidays, homes, items, activities.. sell out, you realise that there are a lot more wealthy people than you think.

I was so skint in my 20s (digging for change in the sofa cushions), got better in my 30s, never had children, now comfortable in my 50s. Very few people don’t struggle. Just hang in there.

On a bad week, and there are plenty of bad weeks, we have no disposable income.

I think that last thread took off in one direction and all the subsequent posters were similar to the first few answers. It often happens on Mumsnet.

When asked, everyone on MN claims to be a high earner with £10k disposable income each week.

In reality if you had that kind of cash at your disposal would you really spend your time on MN arguing with an anonymous stranger over why she cares she saw her neighbour in M&S without a mask?

I posted on the original thread.

Same same.. some months I have disposable income, some months I don't.

This month we've lost £300 a month income, and forked out £250 for a washer and £300 for dog euth/cremation... beans on toast then!

But we live the wobbly, precarious lives of two people living on one freelance persons income, its only do-able because I own the house outright and have managed to build up decent credit if it's needed.

I don't mind it on the whole, but I have lived with nothing at all, adding up coppers with my neighbours so we can afford to cook a big pan of slop-dop (mostly rice, curry based one pot stuff) so the fact that I CAN buy a new washer or afford the dogs bills is to me, wealth. To the next person it'd be a horrific brand of poverty.

On MN, everyone claims to spend £2.50 on birthday present to avoid "spoiling" the kids, to have to start saving from January to afford a Christmas lunch, not being able to pay for uniforms...

i do take everything with a massive pinch of salt

In reality if you had that kind of cash at your disposal would you really spend your time on MN arguing with an anonymous stranger over why she cares she saw her neighbour in M&S without a mask?
even Kate Middleton mentioned being on MN, not sure why you think the income has anything to do with anything? (I doubt she will be reporting her neighbours about masks I give you that...)

Loads of people struggle OP. As I said on that thread, I know people who budget to the last £20 every month.

I would take what people on here say about how much money they have with a pinch of salt. I used to take it all as gospel, it could be crumbs after all.

Well our income is in the lowest decile (i.e. less than 90%+ of the population), and we do struggle, but live quite frugally anyway.

We still manage to eat and wear completely organic, as we prioritise that over spending on other things. And we save a bit every month.

Subjectively, I feel like my partner and I earn a decent amount, but we can't afford more than a small flat in our town which is dominated by giant villas and actual mansions. It often makes me feel very envious and inadequate. It makes me wonder how on earth people manage to afford these things without sacrificing their souls.