How would you feel if the standard household was single income again?

[Omydearehert]

Not necessarily the man working. How would you feel if a single income was enough to live off of and became the standard again?

Great, I suppose, as we would still both go to work but presumably have far more disposable income. Neither of us want to stay at home.

But it would have taken some kind of horrendous period of deflation/house prices crashing/recession to get to that point though and I’m not sure it’s worth it.

I would be fucking delighted as a single adult household

Never going to happen though

Since we currently are a single income household, it would benefit us greatly.

A single income can be enough to live off if it’s high enough

I’ve always felt the single income thing was quite middle class. I’m from working class immigrant roots and none of my female relatives could afford to stay at home.

All worked as nurses, or in factories - often doing a night shift to afford to pay the bills. It wasn’t even like this was for extra luxuries.

Personally I would still work as I enjoy having independence & financial security if anything happened to DH or our relationship.

I'm a single parent, so in my house it already is.

Well I would hate it as it would mean either, I had to give up my career that I love. Or, dp would be at home everyday whilst I grew resentful that he was chilling out on the money I made. I would still put DS into nursery as I think socialising with other children is really important so dp would just be playing PlayStation and scratching his bollocks all day. This house will remain a two income family I think.

Single parent here. I think there's a big overestimate of how possible it has ever been to do this.

Single parent here too and achieving it years.

By the way, that is not a dig at sahp, it's just what would happen at my house.

I am a high earner. I would love not to work.

I'd feel loaded I guess as a single adult household!

We’d both still go out to work. Work is not just about the money.

If people were prepared to accept a lower standard of living, many people (the wealthier among us) could already survive (no luxuries, no holidays and the acceptance that many modern essentials like broadband would be sacrificed).

Same with a shorter working well a la Corbyn.

This is my household too. Unusual in my area.

If I understand you correctly, you don’t mean both CAN’T work, you mean one salary is “enough”?

If this was ever possible (not sure it was it will be) then I think OH and I would both try to work part time so we both get downtime and both have a job. Our kids are at secondary school now so child care not really an issue.

We’d both go bonkers…my DGM (scholarship girl) was miserable as hell and the big reason was her intellect had been stifled. I suspect I’d be very similar and DH and I get on much better when we’re both facing the same challenges and share the load at home. Financially we’ve set up so we can live on either of our salaries (assuming childcare costs go to nil) but it’s not for us.

It’s a myth that has been used to both keep women’s wages down (pin money) and encourage the narrative re women’s role providing the bulk of domestic labour. From the Industrial Revolution onwards women worked outside the home as well as within it.

Great we could both work part time.

As PP have said, my working class foremothers have always worked. My dad's wage as a factory hand would never have been enough to feed, clothe and house two adults and two children and I'm frankly bemused at how many people seem to assume differently.

@MaverickDanger

I’ve always felt the single income thing was quite middle class. I’m from working class immigrant roots and none of my female relatives could afford to stay at home.

All worked as nurses, or in factories - often doing a night shift to afford to pay the bills. It wasn’t even like this was for extra luxuries.

Personally I would still work as I enjoy having independence & financial security if anything happened to DH or our relationship.

Working class women have always worked, it's a myth that the stay at home mum is traditional. It might have been aspirational though. Parts of the 20th century night in a lot of developments in affordable quality of life, especially during the postwar boom in Englishi-fied countries (sorry I don't know the word but I mean English culture and speaking US, aus, UK etc)

This period is what people tend to remember. Before that the media was very focused and from an upper middle class viewpoint which might have skewed people's views. My English grandma and her mum both worked as far as I know.

Single income as a married man with all the opportunities afforded to someone with no childcare responsibilities versus single income as a single mum who can only work limited hours and/ or pay for childcare are 2 very different things. So it kind of does matter who is earning that income I'm afraid.

Do you mean the norm for families with children? Because single income households outnumber couples with children quite significantly, although I agree you wouldn't necessarily know it from policy.

‘I’ve always felt the single income thing was quite middle class. I’m from working class immigrant roots and none of my female relatives could afford to stay at home.’

Same. There’s never been a female or male in my family who’s not worked. I’m the first to go to uni. It’s never occurred to me not to work.

Even back when a single wage could maintain a family and the woman didn’t have a formal job, she literally spent all day doing hard manual labour, washing, drying clothes, cooking etc. For etc money, they’d take in washing, look after local kids, ironing. There were no appliances or nurseries/after school care.

There was probably a short window post Second World War when there was a large middle class and a chunk of women didn’t work. That period was an anomaly so a single wage household didn’t mean an easier life for most.

I always thought it crazy my DGM spent all those years qualifying as a Doctor, git married just after graduating... and had my mother 9 months later.