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?

I'm a single mum so have never known any different. Work full time, do all childcare, pay all bills, do all house work.

If you mean someone could stay at home and be a home maker full time, I think it sounds great but comes with all the issues of women (and it will be women) relying on men's income, losing their skills and all the dependency problems that created in the past.
Great in the fairytale, not so good in real life.

Well it would only be possible if something pulled a lot of people out of the workforce.

Financial prosperity is relative, so if lots of people continue to have two adults working, the fact that so many households can afford more will ultimately push prices up, meaning over time it becomes harder to manage on one income.

@lonelyapple

That is exactly what it was in the past and what it should be. The only reason it has gone to two times income is to make the banks richer via increased house prices and a higher cost of living via money printing which pushes up prices for everything and everyone. The person on the street doesn't benefit from this. In the past a family could have a very good quality of life on one income but that all changed in the last 30 years. It's ridiculous and only helps the rich.

I think what has changed is peoples idea of what a good quality of life is. Until quite recently ( I would say post 1950) people didn't expect as much as we do now. Only the very well off (doctors and solicitors upwards) expected to live in single family homes let alone actually own them. It was usual for single working women on good salaries including teachers to either live with their parents into old age or rent a room with a local family. Even a reasonable salary wouldn't cover rent on a self contained flat. Ordinary people lived in bedsits with shared kitchens and loos and bathrooms or shared rented houses with family members. Phones, cars, indoor bathrooms, holidays, washing machines, fridges, hot water every day, central heating, education past 15 and many other things we consider essential were only for the well to do. Pre 1948 even doctors, midwives and medications were a luxury many quite normal working people couldn't afford.

I was born in1960 and both my parents worked but we could still only live In a rented house and had lodgers in the two front rooms. That was normal. When the lodgers moved out my grandparents moved in with some of their younger children so we had 4 adults and 5 kids living ina 4 bed house with an outside loo. And we were considered affluent because we had a car and a phone and a bathroom. The immersion went on twice a week and we all had a weekly bath with shared bath water. There was an Ascot over the sink to heat hot water for washing up and rinsing very grubby children in the sink.

We expect so much more nowadays and that's a good thing but it all has to be paid for.

Mine already is so it wouldn't directly affect me but it would mean parents could raise their children instead of nurseries and schools in some cases.

You mean couples with children?

It would be great if one average wage could support a family. Both parents could work part time and have a far better home/work balance.
Never going to happen though, sadly

Absolutely delighted.

But unless something magical happens with house prices/rents, it's not going to happen

The idea that there was a long period where households had one working person and one caring for a family full time is also an utter myth.

Women have always worked. For thousands of years women have participated in home based or less formal industries like spinning, weaving, sewing, knitting, washing, domestic service including paid childcare, small scale agriculture, baking, brewing, selling foodstuffs & other trades etc.

Young children were often cared for by elderly relatives or older children, or were taken along while women (and men!) worked. Neighbours traded childcare favours, people lived in close knit communities near aunts, older cousins, siblings, grandparents etc, providing a range of people who could take turns watching children to facilitate work.

it would mean parents could raise their children instead of nurseries and schools in some cases.

Parents who use childcare do still raise their own children.

When I worked full time i was told ' you are not committed to your child '
I've heard people say ' why do they bother having kids and then farm them out ?'
Appalling that women have to put others down like this : a man doesn't get told this.

When my grandmother married in the 1930s she had to give up her job by law. She was a brilliant teacher and a not particularly good housewife and it was a trap. Later when war came she could get back to work. Being trapped at home wasn’t great for her, although she put her energy into tutoring my mum, who always worked even though my dad had an excellent income too. We don’t all want nappies and play dates to be the centre of our universe. I’ve always worked as well and it gave me the financial independence to be rid of an abusive husband and set myself and my children free!

@Antinerak

Mine already is so it wouldn't directly affect me but it would mean parents could raise their children instead of nurseries and schools in some cases.

Any parents who are allowing nurseries or schools to “raise” them aren’t parents who’d be investing any time or effort in their children whether they’re at home or not.

The vast, vast majority of parents who use childcare are still raising their own children FFS.

I’d feel you were my MIL who thinks that the man should work and the woman stay at home, even if the woman earns twice that of her partner and the partner wants to stay at home.

I'm a SAHM but my DM worked all through my childhood, both of my Grandmothers also worked full time and I know that my Great Grandmother did too.

Both me and my sister are the first in our family to give up work on having children but we both had our DC much later in life ( I was 36 and Sister was 43) and had built up enough financial security to be able to stop work.

Growing up in a working class area I didn't know anyone whose mum didn't work at least part time.

I'd feel a bit uncomfortable not paying into a private pension.

We currently live on a single income. My salary is £41k and we have 3 kids.

It’s doable in places where you can live for relatively cheap - our mortgage is small and our payments low because it’s a small house in what’s considered a not so great area.

When I think about the stuff we pay out for that my parents would have absolutely just said no to - Disney+, Netflix, Prime plus Virgin media contract for example! That’s the better part of £750 a year just to watch tv!

A person who doesn't work can still pay into a pension ( I know it's another expense etc , but not impossible to do )
Most stay at home parents I know have been lucky enough to purchase a buy to let to increase income ( my richer friends , who have had inherited money etc)
It's not always about having a job , some do other things too.

@ofwarren

I'm working class, Dad was a miner and I'm a SAHM, as was my Mum and my Nan. I've never understood when people say they would prefer to work because otherwise they would be bored. Do you not have hobbies or interests? I volunteer at a toddler group, am on the town council committee, part of a gardening club etc. Having to pay for breakfast and after school clubs and holiday clubs would eat up any wages I made.

Maybe because there is a life after children? There is no social security anymore when a spouse dies or is so ill that he can’t spy.

I have seen the latter in my workplace and in my family. It cripples the family and is causing financial and then emotional strain on the spouse and children. I don’t want that for my family do I always made sure I am employable.

And not everyone is a people person. Your job are my nightmare.

@ofwarren your hobbies not your job

I would hate not working I've always been highly independent.

[quote reluctantbrit]@ofwarren your hobbies not your job[/quote]
You don't have to have the same hobbies obviously.
Do you really enjoy being in work, more than being off work? Do you not have other activities you would rather do like paint, draw, read, garden, knit, sew, photography?
If you won the lottery, would you still work?

This seems kind of pointless! How could it ever happen? In a free-market economy, once it became socially acceptable for married women to work, and legally prohibited to discriminate against them, then the economy (and particularly house prices) adjusted to take account of this.

Another single parent here who’s living on one income.

Yep my house is too now. Life's curve balls:

@ofwarren - yes, I enjoy my work. I don't see it as slave labour, I do something interesting, get involved in projects which often mean I learn things outside my normal line of work. In the past it also meant travelling as well.

I like the majority of people I spend time with. I am not working alone but I also don't get caught in dramas or time consuming organisational tasks (been there, done it in primary school, never so glad that PTA is a thing of the past).

Yes, I would continue. working, ideally one day less, anything shorter doesn't work for my role. I think I have the best of both worlds. Little Miss Homemaker I am not, I enjoy a nice home and love to bake but for me the combination of work and home is the best.

I grew up with a mother who really regretted. that when my sister and I were born she. had no way to continue working and later she had unfortunately ill health which meant going back was also a. no-go. She always instilled on us that we have to be our own person and pushed us for the best education we were able to do and not sitting and waiting for a husband to come and provide for us.

The financial security working gives me is also extremely important to me (that would obviously be no problem if I have won so much I could stop working).

Those who don't understand people wanting to work /choosing to work. Or saying "do you not have any hobbies"...

My parents always brought me up to see success as having an interesting and fulfilling job, not necessarily the highest paying. I am so lucky my job gives me a huge sense of fulfillment and intellectual stimulation. (And even more lucky that it pays well too).

I appreciate not all jobs give that to people, but it doesn't mean it isn't true for us or that it is any reflection on our life outside of work. Surely it doesn't take much imagination to realise there will be jobs that give a much greater sense of fulfillment/enjoyment than others

Yes I have hobbies, sports I love, friendships and family. But I wouldn't want to spend all day doing my hobby and certainly have no inclination to be a housewife.