To wonder how do people afford everything?

[JL642]

Just that. How does everyone afford everything?

Coffee shops etc packed here. Social media full of people doing expensive things.

DH and I ate high earners so I don’t get it.

People don't go to coffee shops every day, and you know, there are lot of people in the UK, so they rotate.

Some people are in a lot of debt and see it as normal. I work in banking and see it constantly.

The biggest difference is when you a have little you spend it all, when you have more you try to save it all.

A mixture of lifestyle choices, bittersweet circumstances (which some may call luck, though it doesn't feel very lucky when a close relative dies!), and making savings elsewhere.

We inherited a house four years ago so have been mortgage-free since the age of 29. I'm a competent DIYer so I do pretty much everything around the house and garden myself, plus our energy bills are very low compared to many MNers. I have seen posts on here about energy bills at £500+ a month and I think I'd simply pass away if I received a bill like that 😳

I have also spent the last 9 years studying alongside working full-time and have gone from having shite school qualifications to having a Masters degree, and I'm now halfway through a PhD. Last year I got a promotion which reflects that.

Oh, and we don't have (or want) kids, which is probably the biggest saving 😅

I'd quite like a newer car, a new kitchen, a garden remodel, but these things cost money and I'd rather not take out a car loan and a home loan and be paying them off for years! I think being happy and content with what you do have and what you can afford is valuable.

Of course some people have the cash to pay for these things outright, but we are a single income family and if I had extra loans, this would reduce our spending for days and meals out, short breaks, etc.

We are relatively high earners but we also don't have kids so have more disposable income. Even so i still buy most of my clothes on Vinted etc.

They don’t have mortgages or have small mortgages. That’s the difference among people we know.

You can never tell what the actual outgoing is based on material possessions from the outside. There are plenty of loopholes in many industries that enable people to enjoy a lot of perks which they never have to pay full price for.

People who own their own businesses can write off a ton of things as expenses so that effectively only costs them 50%. We know plenty of high earners who fund big things through credit and use their monthly income as spending money. So they take up multiple mortgages for their business or private home(s) and just make the minimum payments. Expensive cars are always leased and counted as business vehicles so they just need a few hundred a month (tax deductible) rather than a 60-100K lump sum to buy it outright.

Holidays are often combined with conferences, workshops or seminars so those are also tax deductible. Many 5* hotels offer special rates that are much lower than the usual price. Companies who run these events actively encourage attendees to bring their spouse and kids and it's often in glamorous tourist locations or luxury ski resorts. This type of tax-free vacation is extremely common in the medical field (doctors, dentists, technicians) and totally legal.

For people working in international relations or diplomatic jobs, their embassy pay for virtually everything. Cars, homes, travel and private education for their children are all heavily subsidised. People working in PR or the media can also easily access free trips, gifts or access to exclusive events. It's unfair but the higher up someone is in the social ladder, the easier it is to get things cheaper or for free.

All very true @JellyBubble! Around here most people drive a really expensive car, but they're nearly all leased. A friend of mine goes on, what appears to be, several really fancy holidays every year, but most of them are because her DH is attending some work junket and she goes along for free.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to social media. I look at Instagram like I used to look at magazines,things are edited and filtered etc. Good to pass 10 minutes of my time but I don't fixate on what other people have and how they got it.

Comparison is the thief of joy and Social Media isn't real.

It's just a matter of priorities and different lives. Me and my partner don't have children, haven't bought a house beyond our means and didn't go right to the limit of a house we could have afforded, we don't spend £60 - £100 in the pub on drinks every weekend, we own both of our cars outright which yes this means they aren't big flashy cars but I definitely don't want to pay the equivalent of my mortgage on a car every month. We find the best deals for holidays, shop at Aldi, buy all of our clothes on vinted/charity shops.

We spend our money on nice holidays but we still get the best deals. My friend made a flippant remark about how I'm 'so lucky' to be able to afford to go to Australia every year. But she has different priorities, finances a car, goes out drinking every weekend in a new outfit etc.

It's all just a matter of priorities and keeping track of what you spend and where you spend it. People can do as they please with their money 😊

Not read full thread but people post the highlights to sm - so day out, holidays. It’s not constant.
Plus offers and deals. I can imagine some places are busy but not taking much. I use my £1 cafe Nero coffee each week (three app) and meerkat is a decent discount.

It's astonishing people have the ability to carry out a job enabling them to be 'high earners' yet are unable to work out something so obvious .....

I always think days out to places like the zoo have got really expensive but people are still obviously paying it! I'm not sure where all the money is coming from, I certainly don't have it.

We are reasonably comfortably off so I can still afford botox, coffee etc but I have noticed that local coffee shops and restaurants are much less busy than they used to be so I think a lot of people are definitely cutting back on treats like that.

A lot of people in zoos aren't paying full price. There are memberships, points schemes, voucher type offers and advance discounts. Probably not all zoos have all those options but they'll all have some.

There are lots of factors, such as your time of life. We are late 50's, no DC's at home, no mortgage, both senior management. We have over 8k per month of disposable income, even after all, bills (Inc food and drink).

Each visit to our local zoo would cost us £80, but we have annual membership which costs £200 for the family. Sometimes we go just for the soft play that’s there which then saves the £24 it would have cost just to go to our local soft play centre.
There are similar membership options for most of the places near us.

We are not high earners , I’m a average earner ( around 52 k and hubby low earner at 19 k ), there is 5 of us in the house and 2 step sons , but one is adult so doesn’t get child support , I think priorities , we have little on credit ( less than 2k ) would never consider a car on credit as a example as it would eat so much in our budget , altough I have a company lease car that makes sense as it includes everything . We don’t smoke and drink the occasional red wine and beer but not more than once a week . I can be very frivolous on some things só wait for big sales to buy the kids clothes and shoes , use discounts etc .
We love traveling so holidays are a priority and we have 2 to 3 holidays a year not huge ones around 12 k in total . We shop at normal stores at Aldi and Lidl too .

I think priorities. I’d certainly prefer a coffee and cake over makeup, haircut, non essential clothing, any type of fashion accessories.

I think it's just choosing what to spend the money on. The new clothes or the meals out or the cinema or the holidays etc etc etc.

Credit cards, overdraft or a wealthy partner!

That seems to be how my friends that are doing all the "nice things" seem to be funding it.

where is this £2.75 coffee you speak of??? My oat flat white cost £4.20 last week i nearly fell over i couldn't believe it

Back in 2008 when house prices dropped we (DH was an electrician) noticed that people were getting lots of quotes but then deciding to get Cousin Bob do the work for a 4 pack of beer. Building regs could go hang.

DH hung up his electrician boots and got a supermarket job.

Every time I see someone saying that trades are never out of work I give a hollow laugh.

Coffee was £3.90 today!