To wonder how ppl do it...afford it all?

[wishywashyy]

How do ppl (I mean the average joe!) afford everything? I know, I know situations are different BUT in general
Mortgage
Car payments (usually 2!)
Childcare
Savings
And general living

It doesn't add up
Mortgage/council tax on average would be what? 700-800?
Car payments x2 600?
Childcare (let's just say one lot) approx 1000
That's 1400 alone at least!
Saving? I suppose that's depending
General living? Another 800-1k
So That's 2k
Then there's other bills which would be 500ish
That's 2.5k in total

That's a take home of about 40k! Gone! And no savings!

I'm baffled and freaked out at the thoughts!!!

We've never had car payments. I don't get why people bother with the expense of new cars, particularly 2. A new car is just like the old one after a few days, the new car feeling is gone.

Where the hell are people living that mortgage and council tax is that cheap? 2500 here! For the other bits, buy cars outright. Other bills don't need to be 500 a month, switch energy providers etc. When things get a bit tight, I get a better paid job.

@thegcatsmother

Buying second hand cars outright works, and reduces payments. My dh's last pre retirement car was about £1500, a Saab, which trundled between the UK and Brussels for years, and worked well for his daily Brussels commute. We had it for 7 years, put thousands of miles on it, and scrapped it when we moved back to UK.

My Saab was £3500, I've had the car for 7 years and use it much as dh did his. I reckon I'm good for another 75000 miles in her at least. No finance payments, and so far I've had new tyres, a new battery and annual servicing. No major problems as yet.

Yep that's the way to do it. "Buying" new cars on PCP is for mugs.

My car cost me £1250. I never buy a fancy car. Waste of money. Mobiles I always buy reconditioned. Never more than £200 outright. No loans or HP. Sky just £37 and debating cancelling it but I do like MTV and LBC radio on it so may keep it. Utilities are with Utility Warehouse they are cheap. Water on a meter just 2 of us £25 pcm. Clothes for me charity shops or sales. Ds designer as age 16 but he only needs occasionally as stopped growing.

@Lokdok

Where the hell are people living that mortgage and council tax is that cheap? 2500 here! For the other bits, buy cars outright. Other bills don't need to be 500 a month, switch energy providers etc. When things get a bit tight, I get a better paid job.

Where the hell are people living where they think £2500 is a normal mortgage payment? Most people don't even earn that amount.

In most places mortgages are around £5-700 pm which buys an average 2 to 3 bedroom house.

It’s often said a new car is the worst investment you can possibly make. Virtually nothing else depreciates as fast.

If you’re buying it for the pleasure of it that’s fine of course, but it’s just burning money.

The main cost saving for you would be the cars surely?! That's madness to be paying that much on cars.

I personally would be buying a second hand car whilst my childcare costs are high or share car with partner. Then when children start school I'd upgrade the cars when there is more money leftover from salary available.

‘Santander found that in 2018 the average mortgage repayment was £723, with an interest rate of 2.48%.’

For England ^

Cost is one of the main reasons we only had one child

We have no mortgage and own our cars outright so monthly bills currently only around £800

However my DH is not earning right now so a little tight at the moment

I don't know how average person does it either.
We are high earners (both pay 45% tax) and after mortgage which in our case is £3000 per month, school fees, bills, food, savings, pensions, holidays, I wouldn't exactly say I'm shopping in Chanel every month.

(Full disclosure: I'm not worrying about how I'm going to pay the elctricity bill either)

I always wonder this too, how some people are affording all the bills and mortgage and car payments/insurance/running costs, MOTs and services and such like, and then also things like all kids clothes from the more expensive high street rather than supermarket, branded shoes, holidays, birthday presents, Christmas presents, big birthday parties, houses done up with new bedding and cushions and carpets and sofas and new play stuff for the garden and plants and so on and on... even things like those huge balloon displays for events instead of ordinary blown-up ones from a packet... pets, and pet accessories, and pet insurance, and vets bills... takeaways and meals out and days out with all the trimmings, stopping off for dinner on the way back and having lunch at the attraction rather than packing their own picnic...all this "stuff" just adds up so much I honestly don't know how some people manage to squeeze it all out apparently effortlessly when they seem to be on average wages. I must be a crap money manager because I really have to pick and choose.

Omg. Reading some of your outgoings! Our mortgage is £1500 😳

Don’t have two cars, try live more minimally- think small house near your job so you can walk or cycle to work instead of big house with unused bedrooms that’s so far away and requires you to drive everywhere or commute. Try get family to help with childcare or work part-time so you don’t need full-time care, some jobs pay well for part time but depends on your area. Shop at lidl/ Asda and not waitrose/ ocado, Get rid of unnecessary subscriptions that you don’t need like, we don’t have cable but pay for Netflix, we also have minimum phone bills as we went with the cheaper options. Also, one recent thing I did which saved me loads was going into comparethemarket.com and seeing if you can save on bills, home insurance etc. Things like that really add up.

www.ons.gov.uk/chartimage?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/expenditure/bulletins/familyspendingintheuk/april2018tomarch2019/68e1dd4a

I get about £20k between pay and tax credits and have no choice but to manage. I'm a single parent so only one low wage coming in. Yet I do manage and we might not have luxuries but I pay the bills.and feed us all.

This is useful to see where money typically goes. It shows the breakdown by income group.

Under the income mid point (5th decile) a much higher proportion goes on housing and food vs recreation and other things.

Above the mid point the spend propositions are roughly the same. That basically substantiates the 'you cut your cloth' points already made.

This is useful to see where money typically goes. It shows the breakdown by income group.

Under the income mid point (5th decile) a much higher proportion goes on housing and food vs recreation and other things.

Above the mid point the spend propositions are roughly the same. That basically substantiates the 'you cut your cloth' points already made.

I’m on a top 5% income and my wife is on an income nearly double above the national average and we have to make concessions as our mortgage plus council tax is £2400pm (living in the south east).

I don’t generally wear brands apart from shoes/trainers.
We rarely eat out. Partly for health reasons. Partly because we see weekly takeaways as a waste of money.
Our cars at 9 and 10 years old respectively. Bought 2nd hand and outright with no debt. I don’t understand why people that apparently can’t afford a house have £40k brand nee cars.
I don’t drink/very light occasional social drinker.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that people’s expectations shift unconsciously with their income. What food they buy. What clothes they wear. Where they live etc…

Where I to stay in the area where I spent my teenage years in a council home, I would have money coming out my backside. Where I even to stay in my old house. Same deal. But my wants for my children/family have changed with my income.

I have one child and live in a two bedroomed house in the south east. Our mortgage and nursery bill is £2.5k per month.

[quote wishywashyy]@Africa2go so I did so my total would be 3.5k!! 😩[/quote]
Op how old are you? I don’t understand your post. Are you an adult living in their own home and paying their bills? It reads like you’re trying to work out what it will cost, so not currently paying?

@name7852
Me too, I know it's not fair that people are priced out of their home towns and shouldn't have to choose between family and affordable living, but for us we did choose the latter. Not so much for cheaper housing as it wasn't expensive where we were, but for more opportunities to earn more to the

Nothing is fair though, not really. The super expensive towns/cities are expensive usually because they are great places to live. They are desirable. You could argue that getting to live in a great place your whole life just because you lucked into being born there would be even more unfair.

These posts always bring out those who have always bought their second hand cars outright and can't understand those who get brand new cars on finance etc etc - not everyone can afford a second hand car! The majority of people don't have £2,000 to drop on a car so are forced to take them out on finance.

@ilovesooty not if you buy your second hand car for £200 but I don't think that's what people are talking about here.

We have had 7 cars in maybe 14 years, but still, even with repairs etc its not worked out badly, and only 1 breakdown so far which was my fault not the car's.

Debt. You have know idea how much the U.k population is in debt. My exdh is an insolvency practitioner and most people are only three pay checks away from going bust.

Debt management should be taught at GCSE level in schools as a compulsory subject.