Seriously? This is The Times idea of an average family being squeezed for cash?

[ItchySnoof]

How fucking out of touch are these people? Given that some families literally can't feed themselves?

Genuinely thought this was a joke

Hedge fund managers are making more money than ever. The stock market has boomed in the past year. So I don’t believe for a second they need to cut back.

Nannies get 40k? I’m in the wrong job!

Not interested but presume there overheads will of gone up like everyone else's .
They probperly pay more in tax than most of us earn and as a family.
Pay massive council tax but use the same amount if not less public services than the rest of us .
Have there kids privately educated and take nothing from the state
Have private health care taking nothing from NHS.
Employ staff conturbting to the economy .

Ill never be in the same position as them but don't begrudge them it .

All the people amazed by a nanny making 40k - the article says it would cost the family 40k, not that the nanny would be paid that much...

Everyone also seems to have missed the part where they're considering getting an au pair instead of a nanny - but do not in fact have a nanny already to let go.

Absolute bloody disgrace.

The state of this country. I despair.

@Benjispruce5

Nannies get 40k? I’m in the wrong job!

Yeah. Why should they get decent money for what is probably 24/7 childcare with a couple of days off ?

@rwalker
Agree with you except for this
Pay massive council tax but use the same amount if not less public services than the rest of us

The richest boroughs in London, especially Westminster, actually pay the lowest council tax rates in the country.

Funnily enough, I’ve cancelled my Times subscription this week (£42 a month!!) because I can’t afford it any more. It’s a luxury I’ll have to live without, which is a shame because it’s usually a great read (Janice Turner! Deborah Ross! Carol Midgeley! Anthony Loyd!) and I love the cryptic crossword 😪

That’s me tightening my belt. I always wished they’d cover financial issues for people without much spare; perhaps if they did, I’d have given up wine and kept up my sub! But I am clearly not their target demographic...

Don’t get the Sunday Times though, always found it a bit more to the right for my taste.

@Nanny0gg hadn’t realised it was 24/7.

At the end of the day all that really matters is how happy you are. More money would not make me happier. It’s my family and my friends that make me happy. I’m retired and I do some volunteer roles which makes me realise how lucky I am.
Money does not buy happiness.

No but it buys security which is paramount.

@WinnersDinner

Also the times never said this was an average family

Looks like the OP could do with a trip to specsavers

Ffs.. I can hardly believe this post

I see real poverty every day.

It’s shockingly sad. Awful. I’m sick of it.

Genuinely thought this was a satire piece when I read it. How unaware can you get... And I bet the hedge fund manager husband knew nothing about her doing this piece and is seriously pissed off. She has a unique name and he will be easily identifiable, in an industry where reputation is everything.

Lols

I guess they dont expect the reader to live outside of the M25

I’m up north. Levelling up means nothing here.

I’m lucky. I’m nearly 60 and lead a comfortable life but as I say, seeing poverty via my work, is awful.

@WinnersDinner

How are they out of touch?

They were asked what they were doing to help with the current cost of living squeeze

Should they have lied?

It the word squeeze. They're going to be warm, well fed, sheltered, entertained etc. They are cutting costs but they aren't suffering.

[quote EmpressCixi]@rwalker
Agree with you except for this
Pay massive council tax but use the same amount if not less public services than the rest of us

The richest boroughs in London, especially Westminster, actually pay the lowest council tax rates in the country.[/quote]
Westminster has high levels of social housing as well though including new arrivals
The very rich and the very poor

Money definitely does buy happiness.

I know if someone deposited a 7 figure sum in my bank account tomorrow I would be over the moon. My stress levels would go down and I could turn the heating up to get feeling back into my stone cold fingers.

The only thing that is making me not happy atm is my lack of money.

I'm on about £10k/yr in benefits.
I'm disabled, can't work and have a mortgage.
Half this goes on my mortgage (fortunately it's a very small one), leaving me with less than £90/wk for everything else. It's a real struggle but somehow I just about scrape by, although with the new cost of living increases and the cost of gas and electricity going through the roof again in April, heaven only knows what I'll do.
The government has said benefits will go up but that's not until April and if last year's increase is anything to go by (I got less then £1/wk increase), I'm not expecting to see much more this year.

Newspaper stories like this (as much as they show that even people with massive income will be making a change or two to their spending patterns), don't reflect how the majority of people are living/existing, it just feels like they're rubbing our noses in the fact that they have so much money/spend massive amounts of it and pointing out that they're easily able to cut £30k from their annual spending without really seeing much difference in the way they live.
Oh what I'd give to just see £30k!

@rwalker

Not interested but presume there overheads will of gone up like everyone else's . They probperly pay more in tax than most of us earn and as a family. Pay massive council tax but use the same amount if not less public services than the rest of us . Have there kids privately educated and take nothing from the state Have private health care taking nothing from NHS. Employ staff conturbting to the economy .

Ill never be in the same position as them but don't begrudge them it .

People in London pay less council tax than other areas of the country. In some boroughs people in an expensive house pay less in council tax than an ordinary family in other parts of the country.

@DrierThanANunsNasty

It’s a newspaper, it’s twisted to fit the narrative their target demographic wants to hear.

I wouldn’t go all frothing at the mouth about it.

This. Someone I had worked with once featured in a 2 page magazine article about how women were treated in work (and her experiences particularly). After she left the company, she approached the magazine, and she was paid for it. There was a lot of anonymity going on "names have been changed etc." Whereas I would not have said that it was all utter nonsense; there WERE a couple of grains of truth in it - it was mainly made up or vastly exaggerated stories, and it did only tell one side. I felt sad when I read it, and I wasn't sure who I felt sadder for. I do think the press will misquote, exaggerate, twist the narrative when it suits them.

I don't think she's on Mumsnet, she's got too much money.
Most of the people here seem to have money issues.
Deadbeat partners.
Benefit / CMS issues.
The only issues this site seems to be good for in my opinion are the health, DIY and conception boards.
Other than that it seems to attract people from the lower end of the financial section to middle income.
This woman is not part of that.
This site is actually very unrelatable, as this thread confirms and the OP's opinion.

Does every cost of living article have to be about those already on the breadline?

I think there are an awful lot of people (myself included) who loom externally like they live a good life but are living on quite tight margins.

I am worried about tax increases, energy bill increases, increases to my mortgage due to interest rate rises, inflation so everything costs more. Put all those things together and I may not be able to afford my lifestyle any more.