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!!!

That’s the thing, you cut yout clpth accordingly. If you’re both low earners then you’re unlikely to have a high mortgage or be able to afford to run two cars on the never never, you’d not get the credit.

But many families with both partners working are earning twenty grand a year each and up, so taking it to your forty and thus affordable.

Mortgage/council tax on average would be what? 700-800?
Our mortgage is £300 and our council tax is £112.

Car payments x2 600?
None of these - we own our (third hand) cars outright.

Childcare (let's just say one lot) approx 1000
No DC.

General living? Another 800-1k
We don't spend anywhere near that on general living! Maybe £500 total including food.

Then there's other bills which would be 500ish
Our main monthly bills (gas, electric, internet and car insurance) come to maybe £200, if that.

Not everyone lives in expensive areas or has loads of outgoings.

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

Well obviously some people earn more than that.

We have never paid for child care as I work from home. We don't have car payments - we buy, pay it off asap, and keep it until it's falling to bits.

You don’t have to have a £300 per month car each for a start… that’s ridiculous to add in £7200 per year worth of car costs and ‘how do people do it’ in the same sentence 😂.

We have 6 fig household income & struggled when paying childcare. Only have 1 car which was 2nd hand. However not being on the housing ladder long & paid as £££ as we were still at school in the 90s.

Surely it’s a case of living according to your income? There are lots of high earners on MN so that’s skews these kind of threads on this particular forum. Lots of wools supposedly living the dream on social media are either lying or in debt.

*people

@SpamIAm general living in my head includes food, petrol/diesel kids clubs, days out, birthdays etc

The other 500 for other bills electric, gas, tv, phones, etc

The time I worked somewhere where most people commuted by car, many of my colleagues car shared with their DPs so only one car per household.

Mortgage/council tax on average would be what? 700-800?
Our rent is £525 and our council tax is £165 so 690

Car payments x2 600?
120 q month on public transport

Childcare (let's just say one lot) approx 1000
I'm a SAHM

General living? Another 800-1k
Food / general shop is about 600 a month. Say max £800 for general living

Then there's other bills which would be 500ish
Our main monthly bills are utilities (145), TV (25), insurance (25), charity (10), phone (40). I have some small catalogue bills, say £50 max so that's £300

That's 1910 roughly. DH brings home 1560. CB is £200. Carers is 290. Then we get WTC

@Africa2go so I did so my total would be 3.5k!! 😩

Both in FT. Total household gross £115k.
1 in FT nursery
Other in reception with wraparound all days + sports in weekends + hobby + holiday care (no family around)
Mortgage in south east £1700 a month
Two cars - one owned outright other £180 a month
Various else I suppose

It depends on your priorities and living to your means - anyone with a household income of £40k with a child in full time childcare, a large mortgage and two cars on finance have made some very strange decisions.

I draw up a budget of what I think I need. Then divide by 12 for a monthly figure. Take net annual income and divide by 12 for a monthly figure. Do the maths. What's left goes into savings. If what's left is a minus figure, I look at the Things I Need list and start prioritizing and cutting things out until the figures balance. If you're struggling to prioritize start by thinking I your health would be impacted by not having xyz. It's surprising how many things you think are essential really really aren't when it comes down to it.

My combined mortgage and council tax was £350 per month, it's much cheaper up North. Mortgage now paid off

@cupsofcoffee

Mortgage/council tax on average would be what? 700-800? Our mortgage is £300 and our council tax is £112.

Car payments x2 600?
None of these - we own our (third hand) cars outright.

Childcare (let's just say one lot) approx 1000
No DC.

General living? Another 800-1k
We don't spend anywhere near that on general living! Maybe £500 total including food.

Then there's other bills which would be 500ish
Our main monthly bills (gas, electric, internet and car insurance) come to maybe £200, if that.

Not everyone lives in expensive areas or has loads of outgoings.

Mortgage is 1k a month, I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know about council tax.

No car bills as they were bought outright and DP maintains and fixes them. The car insurance is about £400 a year for both cars.

Food and luxuries are about £600 a month. I shop in charity shops and rarely have my hair done or nails or anything. We don’t go out because of small kids and don’t get takeaways. No expensive hobbies.

Childcare - zero

Not sure about utilities

One UK holiday a year.

I would say that expenditure is probably two thirds of income. The rest goes into savings.

@dorangme

We have 6 fig household income & struggled when paying childcare. Only have 1 car which was 2nd hand. However not being on the housing ladder long & paid as £££ as we were still at school in the 90s.

If you're struggling to afford childcare on an income of in excess of 100k then it's because of expenditure elsewhere, not the unaffordability of life though.

It is a lot of money each month. However, most people have 2 people working (1 could be part time) and childcare costs are for such a short period of time.

I think its so individualised, Although I see where you are coming from. Our family for example:

I don't work so zero childcare costs.
DP earns 54500 PA.
Two used cars so no finance.
DP used to be a mechanic so car repair maintenance is taken care of.
Bought house from family so relatively low mortgage (£600 pcm).
We don't smoke, drink rarely and eat out occasionally.
We live in the North East so things are cheaper in general.
Have 2 dc, planning on one more in the future.
We live very comfortably, go abroad every other year and lots of uk trips.

I think it depends on where you live and how you live.

Hence why I mentioned our home. 2k on childcare is not insignificant.

I find it's the cumulative effect of the 'little' things that suck the most money - insurances and miscellaneous bits that add up. And food! There are 6 of us at home and the money I spend on feeding us is a big chunk of the monthly income.
We have no childcare or car costs so I don't know how other people do it all!

@wishywashyy what is your actual query? Are you looking to have kids bad wondering how? Are you in massive debt and don't understand why op one else is?

Id love a £500 mortgage!

We live in the Northwest so cheaper housing anyway ,plus it's social housing,so secure we have a brand new car,,but it's my son's mobility car ,so it's paid out of his DLA,we get a fair amount in benefits ,but a lot of this is due to my son's disabilities,when I was working full time we were no better off tbh .

Oh I agree. The frittering of money on absolute shit is very detrimental to outgoings. That’s why so many people were flush during lockdown. My neighbour lost so much weight I hardly recognised them. They said it was due to being at home and eating proper meals instead of going to Costa or petrol stations and eating crap on the go. Forgetting the health impact but the cost of eating like that day to day really adds up.