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

The other factor relating to how 'comfortable' people feel is how they manage their money. There's such a huge range in how much things cost, that there can a big difference in how far your money goes.

Someone can pay under £10 a month or over £50 pm for a mobile phone.

Likewise broadband and TV services, these can cost £20-30 pm or over £100.

Same for food. Do you get everything delivered from Ocado and buy all the premium brands, organic meat, imported fruit or do you buy standard meat and whatever is on the Super 6 shelf at Aldi.

Etc etc.

The expensive version probably costs about three or four times what the cheaper version does, to buy a very similar lifestyle except that one is subjectively 'nicer' than the other. Yet they're spending hundreds, if not thousands of pounds more each month on what they see as a basic lifestyle with no room to free up money for extras.

if your mortgage is 90k, then its 2.5 times your household income. I am in London, but our mortgage is £285k (2 bed flat in zone 3), combined income is 120k so that is around 2.4 times household income (which is quite close). We have no kids and no car.

A lot of people say they have a 'big' mortgage but big mortgage is relative. I do consider £300k (even in London) to be a big mortgage but if you earn £150k to £200k, it is still affordable even with interest rate rises. The real issue is if your household income is £50k but you have a £250k mortgage... This can be the case due to the mum dropping to part time hours when the mortgage was taken out on two full time incomes.

But you are significantly more underpaid than you would have been 10-15 years ago.

Then people would have accepted slightly lower pay because the hours, pension etc was much better.

Now the pension is worse than it was, everything is mismanaged and underfunded and there's a constant feeling of firefighting because recruitment, retention and morale is at rock bottom.

@Emotionalstorm i hate that argument because it’s totally dismissing the fact that many people living in London earn significantly less than 100k - any nhs employee under a band 8, most train station staff, anyone serving in hospitality, all teachers (excluding head teachers), any receptionist or admin staff, reporters, film crews… literally most people who work in London earn under 100k. They don’t just vaporise at the end of the day then reappear the next morning in time for shift. So let’s not pretend 100k is more than many people have.

Maybe you should consider looking at other jobs if it's like that.

I wonder what will be the straw that breaks the camels back… millions on the breadline their lives ruined with stress and anxiety, public services a mess, a useless government, food prices skyrocketing, small businesses failing, a health service in ruins…

was all this in the small print of the Tory manifesto?

I didn't say it's not above average salary. I said that it's not enough to live a nice life in London so I sympathize with that poster. Are you not allowed to be dissatisfied with with your salary so long as you're not the worst paid.

We are not a revolutionary kind of country so I don't think there will be a straw. I think we will just put up with it and continue voting Tory.

How did you manage to move into social housing within the last 10 years? I’m genujely curious as it seems impossible now :(

@Emptychairdoasolo

I am sick to death of being part of the poorest people in this country and seeing people on MN cry about trying to survive on 50K + salaries.

I must admit, I did roll my eyes a bit when one of the first responses was 'we have no big outgoings, no real debt and a small car, and we're on £70K EACH (£140,000 combined income,) but still feel the pinch, and still feel your pain!'

Me and DH earn (before stoppages) £35,000 between us (he works 32 hours, me 24,) and we have a social housing bungalow with affordable rent, but still £400 a month, and we are coping fine. Not loaded but coping fine, with a few luxuries here and there like a takeaway or a day trip etc....

So anyone with a joint income of £140,000 who is 'feeling the pinch' needs to give their head a wobble, and sort their act out, and get a grip of their finances. It's an insult to people who are ACTUALLY struggling.

Blimey, what on earth are you eating?

I guess it depends what you class as “nice”. Someone on 100k will have a better quality of life in material terms than someone on £30k and it’s tone deaf to complain when you’re on a higher than average salary. I’d love 3 holidays a year but only afford one… I wouldn’t complain to my friend who can’t afford any.

Most people are financially stupid.
They lived for today with no thought for tomorrow, and now that tomorrow has come they're all panicking.

For anyone on Universal Credit, the government has announced extra help with childcare costs:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66023661

Living in a non rough area near good schools and a park. Own your home so you have secure accommodation.

The average salary is like £35k or something. It's unreasonable to expect anyone earning over that to never voice any complaints.

It's putting me off retirement. I'm 62. Got my bank pension at 60, but daren't give up work because I need the extra money.
We were in Starbucks at Victoria Station on Monday..on our way somewhere. I bought two bacon rolls and two coffees and it was nearly £20! The price of things is getting ridiculous.
There used to be a finance guy on the radio who said that in a recession the most expensive shops/services and the cheapest do ok. It's the mid-range that suffers.

It’s all relative isn’t it. We have a combined gross income of about £125k, but have a mortgage and outgoings that reflect that. Things are definitely tighter than previously - before we used to spend (within reason) without thinking about it. Now we watch what we spend, budget properly.

That said, everything still gets paid, we don’t scrimp, and we aren’t going to lose our house. Just the luxuries have been cut back on, so we’re in a far, far better position than a lot of people.

Also maybe if you're so easily offended, online forums are not the best place for you.

Well said. I’m in a similar position to OP and feel I’m not allowed to worry or complain because there are people a lot worse off.

I’m a bit surprised so many people are saying their mortgages are doubling. Are these interest only ones or something? Rates going up shouldn’t double payments surely?

See, this is subjective. £1000 if it's a couple, or a couple with one child, is ludicrous. If it's a family with 4 or more children, then of course it would be more... £1000 a month does sound a lot though.

To be honest, that’s not a bad thing. If you created the situation together, you should bloody well pull through it together.

Yeah, but when someone is on £140,000 joint income and is complaining, when many households are bringing in less than £30,000, it's an insult to the people actually suffering. Don't pretend otherwise.

I d know they have gone up a lot, but DOUBLING does seem extreme at this stage.

£ 4,416.67 this is your gross monthly pay

£ 3,369.17 is your taxable income

£ 719.33 is your tax monthly
£ 381.55 is your NI monthly

£ 3,315.79

This is your monthly take home pay/net on £53000 pa

£ 3,205.71 is your take home/ net pay if you pay 5% (£ 183.46)into a pension monthly

Nursery fees are full time around £1400 a month average
leaves £1805.71

average mortgage is £1262 per month

leaves £543 for

council tax
gas & electric
grocery shopping
tv licence
transport

the child you have, what the the other parent contributing to the upkeep of their child?