Things aren’t that bad

[Hellin301]

If the last number of threads are anything to go by, a lot of people haven’t been financially impacted by the virus. In fact a lot of people have come on to say they are saving more than ever (saving on travel costs etc)

Where are all the people who have reduced incomes, lost jobs & financially struggling?
The news is constantly reporting on jobs losses yet that doesn’t seem to be reflected on these boards??!

Me. I lost my income back in March. (Travel industry) We can scrape by on dhs which is not high at all and I'm trying to do more freelance work but it's pennies really. I realise I'm in a far more privileged position than many though.

I still think lockdown had to happen. It's rubbish and I hate it (shielding was the pits) but the virus doesn't care about my income. It's been proven that the more we contain the virus the healthier the economy so we just have to keep plodding on and trying to help those in worse positions as much as we can.

Must be so awful for the entertainment industry 😢

@pralineandketchup I hear you.

Also let’s be honest, furlough is masking the unemployment figures.
There are currently 3 million still on furlough. This will increase dramatically again on Thursday.
How many of those jobs do you think will survive without it?

Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s there. Mumsnet, as the Tories on here like to remind us, doesn’t represent the real world.

It’s happened in my family. My stepbrother was furloughed and then lost his job. He’s doing freelance work now.

I became self employed last Oct. It was not long enough to apply for any help/grants offered. Got told no to job seekers even tho I started applying for supermarket and post office jobs without success due to so many people applying. We have frozen our mortgage but we are living hand to mouth with £0 at the end of the month. We’ve cut out unnecessary food stuffs like crisps. Already shop at Aldi. Haven’t put heating on yet to try and save a bit. Luckily it’s been mild. Cut back on showers and just have sink washes. Been back at work since 4 July but this next lock down will mean I can’t work again. Mortgage payments have just started up again.

Not worked since March, had job offers fall through, and currently no good leads.
Don't qualify for any govt assistance, living on savings. Had a huge tax refund which will pay a few more months rent.
It's shit. And not something to shout about really.

@alltoomuchrightnow

As my partner works in entertaiment he's had no work all year apart from working for two gigs. He does a huge tour every year for a famous band and that pays the mortgage pretty much for a year We are FUCKED

I’m Facebook friends with Sean Moore, the drummer out of the Manics, and he’s been posting about this a lot - roadies, sound techs, events organisers and many other people involved in putting on gigs have lost their jobs or been out of work for ages. One post he shared was from a roadie who said that people they knew in the industry had killed themselves because of it. Small venues are at risk of closure. Bands can’t play and as you probably know, touring is where the money is.

A lot of people don’t realise how much work goes into gigs and how many people are needed. Same with panto. MN may sneer at it but no panto means no work for a lot of people.

There is no way you can take what is written here as the norm for the country. Yes, there are people who has not been financially affected much yet, but that is all depending on the sector you happened to work in before this started.

I got furloughed the first time round, but in all honesty apart from not going to work, my life changed very little. I couldn't afford before lockdown to go out to pubs and restaurants, or to go shopping for 'non essentials' or holidays and saved the square root of fuck all not going to work because I didn't buy coffees and lunches before lockdown and walked.
There was loads of overtime in July and August, so I did manage to get myself somewhat out of the hole I was in by losing 20% of my income.
I've since changed jobs, and will be working through this lockdown, but I'm still in the same position that I can't afford most of the things that have been stopped anyway, so very little change to my life again.
I think that's why I get annoyed sometimes with people complaining about these things being shut and how terrible and awful it is for them - some of us live like that all the time and it seems ok enough for us to do that!
There of course was worry about my job the first time around, and I'm really concerned about the friends I have still in that position and what impact this will have on the industries closed as a whole.
But for some people their lives didn't change that much because they were already like that pre lockdown.

I’m retired on a Work Pension and get my State Pension in January, DH has no Work Pension and will not get State Pension for 3 years.

He works in Event Security and we’d calculated that his wages would make up the difference between income and outgoings until he gets his pension.

Of course he has no work so no wages and every month we’re eating into our savings and at our age we’ll never be able to put that money back so our carefully planned retirement is looking a bit crap ☹️.

All those years of working and planning and scrimping just now getting chipped away every month for the foreseeable future and no way of clawing it back.

Worst thing is that I’m beginning to resent DH a bit because he’s consuming but not contributing........I know it’s not his fault he’s not earning but he doesn’t make much effort at economising and isn’t very clued up financially. I feel like I spend all my time nagging ☹️

I'm pretty young for the average demographic on here (early 20's) lots of my friends have had a reduced income during this. With one of my very close friends losing their jobs and quite a few other friends the same.
I only mention my age as loads of my friends are in the sort of jobs that are businesses being closed down (non essential retail and restaurants/pubs). I do think lots of people on Mumsnet seem to have well established careers that you can effectively work from home. Maybe that's why you don't hear as much about it. I've seen quite a few posts though. Just because you don't hear of it on one Internet forum doesn't mean it isn't happening.

@pralineandketchup I understand where you're coming from but if you normally earn 100k and now you 'only' get 30k you may still have bills and mortgages that require a 100k wage. So it's not unreasonable that you may struggle taking such a huge pay cut. It's all relative really.

[quote fastandthecurious]@pralineandketchup I understand where you're coming from but if you normally earn 100k and now you 'only' get 30k you may still have bills and mortgages that require a 100k wage. So it's not unreasonable that you may struggle taking such a huge pay cut. It's all relative really. [/quote]
I know..just 30k to me would be life changing, it's a different world.

@pralineandketchup I totally understand. I'm the same as you, just trying to understand others too in a world that's so shitty and horrible right now!
to you.xx

Here I am - single Mum, was made redundant in June with no redundancy pay.

Have spent the last 5 months applying for jobs daily & having a few interviews but no luck & can’t see that changing for at least a few months.

Mentally & financially on my arse.

My job has stayed secure and even boomed. I'd almost rather it hadn't as I work in the homeless sector. Things will only get worse for the homeless, vulnerably housed, insecure renters and even homeowners. We are seeing more people in temporary housing needing food and more and more 'normal' people ending up on the streets.
Not the growing sector that we need really

My husband took a 50% pay cut, my brother in law took a 25% pay cut and both work in industries that are being hit hard. Do you think people want to come on here and scream from the rooftops that they had a massive pay cut or lost their jobs?! Have a for your lack of compassion

Here I am. Newly self employed events business started in September last year. No help available, business needs to be mothballed, maybe even folded. Plenty jobs but hundreds applying within minutes of them going live. Savings we did have now gone due to missing an entire eventing season and bills still needing to be paid. No UC at that time because we had savings. We are in a better position than most but as a pp poster said, it's all relative. Life is fucking shit.

We are £2500 a month down. We have savings but once we have used them there is nothing, plus we won't have anything to pay the tax bill with which is what the savings were originally for.

I've spent the past 10 years building up a business. From about April, demand fell significantly, and I now go for weeks with no clients at all.

I had got the self employed grant, but because my earnings go up and up and up each year (clearly not this year!) as things grow, doing 80% of the past 3 year average was significantly lower than I would have otherwise been earning. Then the 70% was obviously even worse .. the next one is 40% and I have no idea how I'm going to cope.

I made the decision to let my business go, because even though I adored it and worked so hard, it seems likely that it will struggle for a long time to come, and there's obviously not the help there for businesses like mine.

So I've been applying for all kinds of jobs. Apparently our supermarket get 60 applications per job, and they're hiring younger people because their minimum wage is less.

I do have a degree, but thanks to the fact I've spent 10 years doing this business, I'm not in practice in my area, I'm not up to date with studying - it just makes it useless, however I'm overqualified for lots of the jobs I'm applying for. One email feedback said they're looking for someone long term and it's likely I'd move back to work in my sector after covid (I actually haven't EVER worked in my degree sector, having taken the steps to start my business straight after graduation, but whatever).

So it seems I'm stuck and I can't win.

I hate the pressure this is putting on my partner. He's a keyworker working a load of overtime, and I'm grumpy and anxious because I'm sitting at home applying to jobs all day just getting rejection after rejection.

Not to mention I'm missing my family like mad.

I'll keep trying .. but things really ARE that bad.

My income has been cut and savings depleted.
I have friends and friends children who’s hours have been cut or lost their jobs with very little chance of finding another. They mainly work in cafes and bars which again will be hit with the new lockdown and I am not sure if some of them still with jobs will have jobs to go back to.

I know someone who now makes per week what he was making in a day and is slowly sinking further and further into debt.

I know people who worked at Gatwick who are now without jobs and no income with very little chance of recovery anytime soon.

I know friends children who have just finished uni with no jobs to go to and even their summer jobs are gone so they can’t use them to tide them over.

MN does not reflect the true demographic of the uk. You only have to read a few threads to see this so it is not surprising that it is not full of threads from people working minimum wage jobs who have had their hours halved.

fastandthecurious I think you are right, I'm early 30s and most of my friends work in offices or are key workers (teachers/drs) but in our early 20s most of us were in retail/hospitality/students.

I think there are also lots of public sector workers on mumsnet.

We are ok (DH is a key worker wfh) but I haven't heard back yet about going back to work next month, hopefully I'll hear back soon, as it was really flexible and nice.

Hi!
We are struggling. If this lockdown comes in any earlier and they even slightly expand it, we are done for. My husbands wages do not cover food, electricity, gas, water, petrol and mortgage payments. We are in financial difficulties and will continue to be so.

I lost my business in March and not earned a penny since then. I also work in recruitment and talked to so many people that are suffering financially and emotionally because of the draconian measures that the government has implemented.

My son has lost his business.
I have lost 90% of my income.
Any savings we had were spent on surviving first lockdown.
We will not financially survive this one.
I know countless people in the same situation.
MN is not a good example of the majority.