To think people with money would never understand

[Canfeelamozzieflyingaround]

I live in an affluent area, we have a nice, but average house, I’m from a middle class background (I think!) but one parent from a working class background, all very down to earth.
I have a good job, degree educated, but it’s not a well paying job. In the holidays I supplement by doing some childcare/babysitting. I often babysit for wealthy people. Just being in their homes and everything about the way they are and the things they have is so different.
They would have no idea, for example that we live basically month to month and these little nights working for them pay some small bills or afford a small treat for my dc…to them it would be nothing.
Even the things they fill their fridges with and the sun creams and toiletries used (not snooping! Some on tbe coffee table, on the toilet etc)
I don’t know..I always feel less of an adult when I leave and wonder why my life didn’t go like this and theirs did

What are you doing to do for food when it's not the holidays and you can't top up??

I think that wealthier people are aware that other people might be struggling but I agree with you that it is unlikely they would expect families like yours who are in a profession like teaching to be struggling so much. I'm a teacher but my dh isn't so I am lucky that he earns more but I can easily see how all the current price rises would be really hard to manage. This is exactly why I went on strike recently, for my colleagues in the same position.

Money is the be all and end all if you don't have any and you need to feed you and your kids!

That sounds really hard OP, £12k is low and if your DH is on a similar wage and you live in an affluent area I don't know how you manage (and it sounds like you aren't if not enough money for food for the weekend.)

They are crying out for teachers in the UK and elsewhere - would you consider moving? Or maybe becoming a nanny/governess for one of these wealthy families? If you are a degree holding experienced and qualified teacher you surely should make more than £12k.

Ah ok. They’ve become so shit in recent years, I worked for them on a summer job when they were setting IF up and it was such an exciting concept but they stopped investing in it, it will never get any better only worse sadly.

I think with wealthy people ,they are probably thinking about money a lot .either running a business,or trying to increase their portfolio or whatever. It's a different mindset.Next time payment is late just say yo need the money urgently. Surely your parents wouldn't want you to struggle? I think we shouldn't compare to other people.

@SofiaSoFar Thank you! I have stated these things a few times 🙈

@Bacon88 You really have no idea and shouldn’t make presumptions, where we live has become incredibly expensive, there’s no way we could afford to sell up
and move to anywhere else in the area.
Looking to come back to the U.K. as people cannot survive on local wages now at all, it’s a shame as it’s a beautiful place and amazing lifestyle.

I can't pay my gardener in advance as when he turns up is dependent on the weather.

I'm away from home at the moment and made a point of telling him to text me when he'd been and I'd transfer the money immediately - which I did.

There aren't many payments I need cash for but for those I do I have the manners to ensure it's available for the recipient on the day. I don't expect to have to chase payment in my line of work and don't think those who provide a service to me should have to do so either.

No I don’t because it’s automated and they have a whole department dealing with Payroll. But I do have to work a whole month before I get paid as I’m paid a month in arrears.
I do accept of course that’s it’s my fault if I forget to pay my gardener for a few days but it’s human error nothing nasty. If he ever texted to remind me I would apologise sincerely. There’s nothing else you can do when you’ve forgotten to do something you know you should have done.

@Fairyliz

Because salary is relative to where you live... teachers are not poorly paid around the world vs a factory worker. So if I lived in her country we would still be poorer than her and I am not poor.

It is about perspective. The fact people think teachers and health care professionals are poorly paid is utter rubish. Regardless of country.

I was also replying to guy that said mums net is full of 6 figure finance professionals in uncaring role. That was a direct dig at me and I was calling out his bs in my country that finance people get paid less than teachers...

@SofiaSoFar you says she not in the uk but it's about relative incomes. I am sure a factory worker gets paid a lot less in her country than a teacher so relatively speaking a lot of us would be poorer than her in that country. I mean she does live in a middle class area...

I would imagine the cost base is lower than the uk as well as salaries are linked to an economy and costs.

So before you start she is moaning for some bizare reasons as so far no one has named a country where a teacher would be paid less than some of the jobs listed on here ???

@saraclara

Maybe because salaries are relative to the country you live in. So her cost base is probs lower than in the uk. The issue on here is people think teachers are poorly paid around the world. They are not. What country pays more to a low skilled factory worker than a teacher???

Its relative. We do not live pay check to pay check. We live within our means and happy with our lot in life. I took exception to a person that said Mums in finance on 6 figures. I am chartered accountant and in my area of the UK, TEACHERS GET PAID MORE. So I am not in 6 figures 😂

Same here, I'm a chartered accountant in a run down Northern town, and locally such jobs are paid less than experienced teachers/nurses of similar ages, etc. I've never been a higher rate taxpayer, so that speaks of the kind of salary I've always been on. No large accountancy firms in our area, all small private firms who pay as little as they can get away with. Around here, it's teachers, nurses, police officers, etc who live in the "nice" parts of town!

What jobs don’t do good to others? You and the OP seem to have a very narrow definition of a morally superior career.

How is what fair? That some people have more money than you? Lots of people have more money than me - I don't question the fairness of it. They have just made different life choices. People that work in banks and business help society too by the way.

@Nik2015 in the past, it was easier to buy a house for 3 or 4 x salary. Housing is far more expensive now, so many adults are still reliant on family for support

Not necessarily. At least some of those wealthy people will have got where they are off their own backs and whilst it might have been a long time ago when they were living month to month and worrying, I don't think anyone truly forgets those times.

Lot of the replies on this thread have got a real Rupert Murdoch feel to then.

I think you’ve tagged the wrong person!

How do you know their backgrounds? My dad is minted, grew up in a children’s home because his parents had more children than they. Oils afford. He knows what it’s like.

The only time you should look into someone else’s bowl, is to check they have enough.

Snip your beak and get on with your own life rather than making assumptions about other people, it will turn you into a bitter old woman.

I wouldn’t presume a teacher doing babysitting relied on the money, as while it’s not a high paid job, it’s not low paid- I’d assume it was for extra fun money, not bills. However when we’ve used nursery workers as evening /weekend babysitters, I have presumed they needed the money for basic living as I know they are on a relatively low wage.

what struck me OP is you said you are now thinking you picked a bad career - when you were younger, did you not see teaching as a relatively low paid job for a graduate? I do think that’s one of those soft educational issues that kids from working class backgrounds don’t get, most wealthy people will have realised that teaching was an option for them and dismissed it as low paid in comparison to other roles available and only for people who wanted to do it as a vocation. They will have seen you as actively choosing a career with lower standard of living, and presumed you went into that with your eyes open. However, you might not have grasped at the time what you were doing, or even what your other options were (or the lifestyles available to you).

im another who didn’t get what options were possible when I was a new graduate. Didn’t go into teaching, although have found myself in a non- teaching role in a school after being a SAHM. I’ve got lucky in that I’ve married a man who is earning pretty well (but we are still not properly rich !), he grew up surrounded by people working in banking/law/insurance and had a good idea how to get to a nice comfortable lifestyle.

I would make it clear that you expect to be paid on time for your efforts.

You’re a teacher and you’re loving hand to mouth?? I’m sorry but you must be in debt or something?? I’m a teacher and live a very comfortable life in a 4 bed detached house, nice car, have whatever I want. Is OP trying to get sympathy? I don’t get it, if you have a degree then you can better your life.

Teaching is not a poorly paid job, don't be so ridiculous. Maybe research average wages.

It baffles me that so many people in average paid jobs think that if they'd just chosen a different path they'd be rolling in it.

Op says she isn't in the UK though...