to ask how do people afford all these things ?

[kermitspants]

Me & DH have a fairly good/decent income between us. What with the cost of living increases etc and general costs to run a house for 5 of us, we don't/cant afford to have many luxuries. I see FB posts with friends (acquaintances) who:

Were celebrating the coronation at home with Fortnum & Mason champagne & hamper

Purchased a brand new landrover as a gift for their wife for Christmas

Brought their DC a brand new car for their 18th

Pop up marquees in the garden with the biggest TV screen for friends to come over and watch England playing

Christmas and the gifts are ££££££ with some people taking the DC to lapland (in addition of the summer holiday they had) and buying top of the range gifts/food/hampers

Have the biggest Christmas trees (ours is usually around 5 foot and costs around £50 (real tree) which I thought was a hell of a lot of money for a tree). Goodness knows how much the bigger trees cost

New York trips for Christmas

My 'luxury' for Christmas food was a posh bottle of M&S prosecco for the table along side Tesco food. I splashed out on a £14 posh bottle of fizz for the coronation, and that was pushing the boat out.

Am I missing something here ????

NB - those who think I am jealous, need not reply.

This thread comes up about once a month at the moment.

People earn more, have savings, take out credit cards/debt, have family money, etc. It's not rocket science really.

Also people have different priorities and perspectives- some would look at your £14 bottle of fizz and wonder how you can afford it.

Possibly fiance for the cars... some people look like they have loads of money but are actually drowning in debt. Credit cards ect

Choosing what they spend on? £30 food budget pp pw then a f and M hamper is only £100-200 ish?
credit
working long hours
discount holidays
loans etc etc

They’ve got more income than you.
Savings.
Credit cards.
Loans.
Inheritance.

Could be anything really.

I don't get it either...our income is pretty decent and we are lucky to have a low mortgage but I'm often left wondering how friends afford so much. Constant home renovations... endless holidays. It baffles me. Having said that we are in no debt apart from our mortgage so perhaps everyone else is in debt up to their eyeballs.

Agree with this.

They earn more than you. Or have lower expenses.
Get off social media in general and FB in particular. Does wonders.

They earn more than you. They have more surplus income than you.

HTH.

Also, comparison is the thief of joy etc...

It’s really straightforward: they have more money than you. No great mystery.

Family money most of the time

You are jealous OP

As above really. Some people use credit or have more money. We didn't have children so have more disposable now for that reason.

They choose to do different things with their money or earn more money or have inherited money etc. I do think you sound jealous

5 of you so a bigger than average family. If they only have 1 or 2 children immediately they have much more spare cash.
Earn more. Have income from inheritance or investments or rental properties.
it’s show eg car on finance, older car with private plate, won the hamper.

They earn more, probably more than you think they do, they have different spending priorities, they make different decisions. To us, £50 for a tree or £14 for wine is small change, not “splash out” purchases. Which just demonstrates how much people’s financial circumstances differ.

I’m never sure why people are so convinced that it must all be debt and credit. Credit has to be paid back. People aren’t living for years and years on ever increasing lines of credit buying more and more things without ever making payments on them.

Being a high earner isn't necessarily advantageous if you have huge outgoings. I'm a single parent with average income, but have no childcare or car payments, and mortgage is only 10% of net income. It's all relative.

Are these all the same family?

Sorry, how DARE you respond on here. 'U so jell' accusations not permitted!

They have more money than you.

A lot of people have inherited wealth.
Some old friends of mine have parents who gifted lots of money from property or have just given them a chunk of money from their pension or savings.
Some people have debts or run up credit cards , have cars on finance.

They have more money or more debt.

if you think £14 on a bottle of wine is splashing out, then myself and most of my friends have a significantly higher income than you.

that's not a boast - it’s just a fact.

Same as others earning far less than you would wonder how you could afford it. You have more money than them, obviously.

Generous family - grandparents buying car or holiday.
Wfh has really blurred things - ‘Dave’ in his home office might be earning massive salary working for International company.

cost of living increase has not affected everyone. I have no mortgage, my electricity is still fixed and costs under £60 per month and liz truss did wonders for my savings.

I think credit is used very widely.

also some people just prioritise things over hours. One person slaves away for a big posh car and sacrifices holidays for example. Another person will sacrifice holidays so their home looks amazing etc.

some people are gaming the system, I used to know of a couple who pretended to live apart so the mum got full benefits.

some people set up companies and pay themselves huge dividends while claiming they earn a modest salary

some people are just incredibly lucky and well off!

I have a friend who often outright asks me how me and my husband can afford XYZ yet she and her husband can't, and it's very uncomfortable because the answer is simply that we earn more than them and spend less on general monthly expenses. I don't know what else she thinks is going on tbh.