33k and struggling

[farmanimals]

I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. I’m earning just shy of 33k which is a really respectable salary. Yet I’ve just budgeted for the month and I’m really struggling to save anything or even have anything to spend.

My total for rent, all bills, food, car, phone bill, subscriptions I need for work is £1400. My bills have skyrocketed. I am earning £1900 a month.
This does give me £500 but this has to go towards all outgoings including petrol, all my toiletries and make up, I have to get my hair done because it’s really damaged as well. So if I want to socialise it’s basically out of the question.

Also I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself to save a deposit for a house. I’m putting lile £100 away at the moment a month if that, and only have £2k in a LISA. Makes me think I’m never ever ever going to buy a house.

Am I wrong in wondering how this is possible?

@Crikeyalmighty i can see that those benefits look attractive however don’t people on UC have to attend job seeker interviews? And if they are working aren’t they encouraged to look for more hours too? So it can’t be a long term choice?

Pretty sure that OP is probably paid every 4 weeks, so 13 times a year rather than 12, that would make the figures add up to £33k

It's always frustrating when people start these threads and leave without giving a bit more info.

eg I'd query if the other person in the flat is on an equal footing or is a 'landlady' / owner who is not splitting the bills 50-50.

If they are both equal sharers, something is going very wrong with the fuel costs. Makes me think appliances are running all the time, or extravagant use of heating/ cooker/ laundry etc.

I was thinking the same!

i’m “up north” where according to mn everything is cheaper and 2 bed flats in my development are £1350-1395 a month so that doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.
£300 a month for fuel bills sounds high though, I’d be looking around for different tariffs and turning the thermostats down!

Sadly £33k per annum is no longer a decent salary for the SE. Can you relocate or up your income?

You can save a lot of money over a lifetime by getting your hair cut short (and embracing the grey when it arrives).

It doesn't, she still doesn't pay enough tax for this

Hair care is a luxury tbh. Cut that out and you will have plenty extra cash.

Could you claim back the subscriptions you need for work?

I earn the same OP and am in a similar situation in terms of not having lots to save. My take-home is £2150.

Mortgage - £575
Council tax - £120
Energy - £200, ridiculous
Groceries - £200 including cleaning stuff
Transport - £70
Personal bills - £200 (mobile, Internet, subscriptions, pet insurance etc)
Credit card - £30

I give myself 500 disposable so it leaves about £250 to save, which I split between an account to cover Christmas & Birthdays and one for house costs. It doesn’t leave tons spare but it’s enough. Impossible to get away from the massive energy costs, food costs etc at the moment. Can you reduce your rent somehow?

I think earning £30k in the 2000s may be similar to earning £20k in 2023. Salaries haven’t really risen in line with inflation, everything is more expensive so your money doesn’t go as far.

I earn slightly more than you OP, but not by much. My outgoings are also similar to yours (£1,300 a month), but I'm not struggling. Most of my disposible income goes in to contingency funds. "Fun" is a quarterly experience. So, not the most fulfilling existence, but as a result, I never worry about bills or unexpected costs crippling me.

With a little compromise and planning, you don't have to struggle either.

I used to be in that situation a few years ago. I rented my own flat in the SE, total cost of which is similar to what you are paying. I didn't save much back then and I didn't pay for a car, so it's understandable you are struggling to save now given inflation. Quickest win is to downsize from a flat to becoming a lodger because that will often include all bills.

Everybody's focusing on reducing expenditure, but we all know that everything right now is expensive as a baseline and there's no getting around it. Energy and food are double, triple, or even higher than they were just a few years ago.

I would concentrate on increasing your income instead. What can you do to earn promotion? Could you go into the private sector if you aren't already?

I just bought my first house and I could never have got here on £33k, no matter how frugal and miserably I lived.

I'm a teacher on a similar salary and have similar take home pay- the pension is the killer for me and I am very close to opting out of it.

Two downsides to this:

1. You get way less protection from eviction as a lodger.

2. It can be difficult to be a lodger if you e.g. work from home, for example.

It might, of course, be an option, but really on an above average salary, OP ought to be able to afford to rent a small flat.

I’m also being crippled by my pension! It’s annoying that it is opt in or opt out, you can’t alter the % you pay in, and if you opt out you lose the employee contribution so in the long term, we can’t afford to do that either.

By the time all my contributions come off, I’d actually be better off quitting my teaching job and working the same number of hours in a minimum wage job, coz then UC would top up my earnings. Mainly because student loan, pension etc wouldn’t need to be paid, or I could reduce my pension payment.

Your energy bill is high - we don't have that in a 3 bed detached and our council tax is about 190 on a Band E.

Are you a junior doctor, OP? @farmanimals
Unfortunately this is the reality at the moment. 5-6 years of studying endlessly for a gruelling course, racking up a huge debt only to be on about 32k for a huge responsibility even on day1. Not to mention the subcriptions needed, commuting needed and often being moved around the country. I think this is just the sad truth. 1800 sounds about right. In your personal case though, all I can suggest is try and cut the costs on toiletries, move to a cheaper area and share with more people. I hope you are young, sharing with many seems to get harder the older you get for a lot of people..

Any chance of hospital accom? Bit grim but it is normally very warm and not too expensive

Some people clearly don’t know how much rent costs these days! I’m looking at the moment having split from DH (selling our place) and there are no two bedroom flats in a safe area for less than £1,200-1,500 a month and I’m in the south west, not the south east.

Cities are where the majority of employment/people requiring services are and rent is expensive in cities! It’s not feasible for many people to just move.

Half of England lives in Edinburgh. They aren't relocating for shits and giggles, they do it because it's cheaper than where they have moved from.

You have to sometimes make difficult choices.

😲 £1500/month in rent. That's insane.

@Notplayingball If you’re able to then that’s great. In my case, I have a child that’s in year 10, his Dad, who is in this area, a career in a field that means I have to be in or near a major city plus aging parents.

Rent is more than my mortgage was and I agree it’s ludicrous but that’s the market rate.

You’re right about England living in Edinburgh. There was a huge exodus from London to my city and the surrounding area over the past three years and that’s more than likely what’s pushed rents up for people who were born and raised here. It’s brought jobs with it, but the pay hasn’t gone up much.

Last time I paid rent (2016) my rent was £575 a month for a two bedroom flat. A flat in the exact same block is now up for rent for £1,300.

I totally agree. I am getting to the point, though, where I think it might be worth opting out for a few years to get on the housing ladder, and then hopefully opting back in when I achieve that. The one advantage over UC is no-one would give me a mortgage on UC, right?

Student loan is another killer, because it eats massively into any extra I earn. I did some tutoring last year to try and top up my salary a bit, but when I started declaring the income, tax + student loan meant I barely saw any of it, so what was the point?