How are people surviving

[Truthseeker456]

I don't get it. One income and I am on a what was a good wage 53,000. My mortgage is likely to double next year I have nursery fees and 3000 take home and always in my overdraft. How are people surviving, we don't hear anything in the media. Rents are also though the roof

Especially with people also choosing not to have kids/have fewer kids therefore fewer future taxpayers

It’s really hard. We’ve literally cut out everything we have cancelled things like sky (use a Firestick) and Amazon Prime etc. We are always very careful.

This 🙌🏽

Yes because you don't have kids it's easier to save, good for you 🙄

They take out rent and I'm left with that amount so have to pay my bills out of the amount that is left over including council tax

Bitter much.

🤣🤣

I get just under £760pm in UC. No housing costs as home is owned outright. Council tax and all bills come out of that amount. I live frugally, and alone, so I get by.

Single mum of 2 school-age children on a salary of 46k. I am honestly astonished that people on more than double my income are struggling, but I guess location and childcare plays a big part in that.

My mortgage is £750pcm, so higher than a lot of what I've read on here and on similar threads. Where does all the money go? Bills excluding food and car are, perhaps, £350 (CT less than £100, gas and electric less than £100, water £40, subscriptions, which include contact lenses and trade union membership, around £100), which still leaves me with £1500 for food and other things. Granted, my car is very old and sounds funny, but it does its job and will continue to do so until it falls apart.

I am genuinely baffled that so many people find it difficult to survive on much more than I have to live and raise 2 children on. One of them still needs wraparound care, so I still have a £200 childcare bill every month.

So, unless you have nursery-age children, what makes people's lives so much more expensive?

Our joint income is about 14k more per
month, we have about £3500 coming in per month. We aren’t living on the breadline but we certainly aren’t rolling in it either.

Mortgage - £1200 (normal 3 bed semi 1960s house, nothing fancy)
Council tax - £180ish
Car - £360 (not a fancy car - a 2017 model which we took over 3 years and will keep after payments finish)
insurances - car, pet, home etc - £200
Gas and electric - £280
Petrol - £150ish
Internet, phones and subscriptions— £150ish
Nursery - £700
After school care -£100

That leaves us £180 to feed and clothe ourselves.

Fortunately we had a reasonably large age gap and saved up for 5 years while ttc our second, so we have some savings which are covering the nursery fees until we get our funded hours - but if we had not done this we wouldn’t be able to cope financially.

Prices of things have gone up so much, it’s ridiculous. We didn’t plan on getting a new car but our old car wasn’t worth repairing (the clutch went) and our mortgage increased massively (by about £400 pcm) along with the gas and electric increasing (by £150ish) plus we did have free childcare from family but due to death and serious illness we now need to rely on nursery/after school.

As I said, we are fine because we have a little buffer and my partner can work more hours if need be. However, it’s easy to see how people on “good” wages could be struggling, through no fault of their own.

Understand where you're coming from but you say about how you won't have been paying for the mistakes of others... what about other people who will end up paying for your mistakes getting into debt if you declare bankruptcy? Yes you may see it as big companies being impacted and not you. But there is only so much companies can take without making normal people redundant or taking on less people. There's a butterfly effect for everything. And what if everyone thought like you, then where would society be? Its a bit selfish isnt it?

I fail to see how getting into debt can cheer anybody up. I live very careful in order to avoid debt.

If I was a pensioner in my 70s, I would be rocking up those credit cards like no tomorrow. The Debt dies with you.

My council tax is £293, for an average 3 bed house. Gas and electric have just gone down to £198, it was £250. Water is £50.
My commuting costs are £300, same for DH, and we need to run a car on top of that.
Wrap around care for 2 children is £630 a month.
I’m surprised that people on twice your wage would be struggling (unless they have high childcare costs) but some of your costs are very low and someone could easily have twice those outgoings without being extravagant

I wouldn't. I don't see how living with mountains of debt as a pensioner is easier than for someone younger. My mum was being taken to court a few weeks before she died due to an unpaid bill that was actually the councils fault. This image of pensioner's living the high life racking up debt is naive and insulting. As for the pp racking up debt cos its the government's fault, ive never heard anything so stupid. So you're happy to put your own financial future at risk, do you think anyone in government actually cares?? This is a time to look after yourself precisely because we have a shower of idiots in charge, not act like them and think it wont come back to bite you.

Why would your mum go to court weeks before she died more to the point why would she give a fuck what the outcome is?

The issue here and it is actually the fault of somebody. I’m not quite sure where it lies. But if you give people nothing to lose so it’s impossible for them to gain assets, etc. Then they don’t care if they get into mountains of death because they were never going to have anything anyway.
I’m not saying it’s how I would live my life whilst I am accruing assets at the moment I’m not everything changes.

Cos she lived 85 years paying her own way and being responsible and i guess at 85 suddenly acting like a dick might not come naturally.

@ssd well more fool her

Wow to the posters who think it's okay to get into debt and then throw the "debt problem" they created onto other peoples shoulders!!!!! I've had to spend literally years in debt myself (courtesy of always having been single - so only one income coming in to my household) - but I made sure it was debt I could deal with okay (courtesy of a - relatively secure - job and living very economically). It's not okay to leave other people bearing your debt for you. I'm a 70 year old pensioner now myself - and I wouldnt dream of anyone being left with money owed by me and am scrupulous about paying my dues as soon as they are due (and all the more so as I get older - so I don't leave anyone else "carrying my can" so to say). As for not caring if bankruptcy happens = what!!!!!!!!. A friend of mine has a son that's still owed money by a bankrupt literally decades later (he transferred their house into the wife's name and used the "let them off the hook" bankruptcy provisions when he could) and I know someone that's a bankrupt now (their house in wife's name) and there is always always always the risk someone somewhere will realise if you are a bankrupt and you won't be able to keep it quiet that you can't be trusted.

@elizaagain do you have any idea how many influences and entrepreneurs that our household names who have gone bankrupt? Nobody cares.

You sound about 10.

I have no plan to rack up debts in my 70s and 80s as creditors would expect their debt to be cleared from my property upon my death so it would mean d s would inherit less.

That’s nice. You sound very mature.

Who cares what ‘influencers’ do?