To be struggling to survive on 65k household income

[Soddinghell]

By the time we have paid mortgage, phone bills, bills car insurance, kids activities etc we barely have anything left. I don’t know what’s going on. DH earns 50k and I earn 15k part time. Please somebody help me I am thinking of going full time to stay afloat, I don’t know where we are going wrong, we are not in London or an expensive area, just outside manchester and people keep telling us we should be fine. We are not though!

Exactly this.

Maybe OP can try OnlyFans? Heard people on there make 800k a month.

Source - Daily Mail. Suspect most of the horrid responders on here are avid readers.

Hardly loser mentality. But you won't see me moaning and complaining how hard my life is when all I am having to do back on doing fewer holidays or spending a bit less on clothes. I am fortunate enough that I can absorb the rising costs without having to cut back on much other than not flying abroad as much as I used to. I wouldn't dream of coming on here and complaining about how life sucks and this cost of living is so hard on me having to cut back.🙄This isn't a situation that is going to last forever, it is temporary.

It's the 50k , you'll be paying in the higher tax band so although it sounds a lot it's really not that much .

Cool, when you've got a minute can you give us the list of things we are allowed to moan about? Since someone died and left you in charge clearly

Someone died and left everyone on this thread in charge apparently

im just wondering how many of the squeezed middle now complaining like the op, voted tory when it suited them? Loads on mn I reckon.

im just wondering how many of the squeezed middle now complaining like the op, voted tory when it suited them? Loads on mn I reckon.

I think it's the ones who are so critical of the OP that likely voted tory.

I dunno, we hear all the time that MN is a Labour stronghold. Usually from right wingers who think it's somehow telling that a site skewing younger and more female than voters as a whole doesn't accurately reflect the national demographic.

I'd like to know if the op did..

Well I live in a labour stronghold & agree with the OP.

It doesn't work like this. The higher tax bracket kicks in at £50271 and you only pay 40% tax on any income earnt above this figure
If apps husband/partner is on £50k they will also still be able to get child benefit

Can someone explain what the term “ it’s not a race to the bottom” means? I keep seeing it on this thread.
Thank you

It means it isn’t a competition to see who is the hardest done by etc - you can be in a shit position, the fact someone else is in a shitter one doesn’t make it okay.

It comes from international industrial competition/globalisation etc - where everyone competes by cutting to the bone: www.investopedia.com/terms/r/race-bottom.asp

What people mean on here is we should be trying to improve things, not drag everyone down to the lowest level. Basically let's all try to bring everyone's living standards up, not bring them all down.

"I am struggling on £65k"
"Tough shit, you should try it on £40k"
"WTF! I'm only on £20k, suck it up!"

These energy prices are fucking us all over. We need to stand together. If those on £20k (or less!) just attack those on £40k, the people who get let off the hook are those in power who are creating the problems.

I can't plough through this but it's perfectly normal for wealthy earners to spend what they earn.
Books like the millionaire nextdoor are about people who earn more but keep their lifestyle the Same.
It's very common to earn more and spend more.
People often don't actually know how to budget or save!
There will be people on far more , struggling more!

I absolutely agree with you. We are in a good financial position now and able to live a nice life and save (still a far way from the £100k household income though!) but this is due to payrises over the last couple of years and childcare costs ending. We didn't suddenly change our lifestyle spending or upgrade our cars etc. We've had a similar budget for a fair few years now and any payrises have covered additional savings and increases in bills etc
I know people already in debt as they are big spenders, always had lots of debt, always will, get a promotion and then immediately take out an even bigger HP or lease on a nicer car. Wouldn't even consider paying off debt or saving
Everyone has a different attitude towards money
I work in mortgages and some cases I see are quite shocking. People earning serious money but blowing through it with tons of debt and huge overdrafts so big that they're both on 6 figures yet don't even get out of the overdraft every month on payday. I couldn't live like that but people do. Lots of people on high salaries are literally living paycheck to paycheck but they would likely have more means to handle a bad situation than a much lower earner would
For us if we ever do get to £100k household which I hope we do in the next 10 years it would just mean maybe a few more treats and more in savings and pensions

How are some people saying a couple doesn’t need two cars?! My partner travels all over the country in his car for work and I wouldn’t be able to get to my work without my own car as there’s no public transport routes

@Zeus44 lots families need two cars what the heck are you on about? I couldn’t get to work without my own car!

Ah yes, get rid of one of the cars…
I’d end up with no job as well as no car if I did that.
A 20 min walk to the station, 30min on the most unreliable train service to ever exist (if I’m lucky) followed by another 30 min journey on train 2, finishing off with another 20 min walk to work.
Or, I could drive there in 30 min…

DH used to get the train to work & it took him a ridiculous amount of time. It also cost him a fortune compared to fuel & car costs.
Unless you live somewhere with an amazing transport network you have no option.

Can we all stop taking the piss out of the one car suggestion? For some people it is a very viable option for others it is impossible.

The OP has so little information on it helping is only ever going to be vague suggestions.

It may become impossible for some families to afford two cars, in which case they will be forced to think more flexibly and change something, be move jobs, move house or ask for a pay rise to cover higher commuting costs… I have a really good electric bike and use a pool car when I need one for work. It would have been unthinkable a few years ago but it works well in reality. The culture is changing.

“Move house”. Yes because that’s cheap.

Fully agree with both. @ScarlettOHaraHamiltonKennedyButler you’re making a very important point.
I know several small business owners - what they offer would either be classed as non-essential or could be purchased elsewhere (from bigger companies and not of the same quality) for less.

But if they all closed down, not only would all these people lose their income, but our already struggling town would become even more depressing.

So nobody should get pets even if they can afford them, because their circumstances might change at some point in their life?
And all the non-essential businesses can just close down?

Definitely not true for everyone.
We didn’t have a car at all for several years, but we lived in a big city with excellent public transport.
Now we live in a smallish town and definitely need at least one car, better two. If you work outside that town the busses are once every hour or even less often, so public transport is not a great option.