What would our lifestyle be like in U.K.

[Isitsconeorscown]

On this wage-£37 grand a year-Dh
Me-possibly-£18/19 grand a year

We’d be in Cornwall and would have a mortgage of around a grand a month.

We have one primary aged dc

British, but living abroad and wishing to return.

Also, lifestyle on just Dh’s wage (I intend to work, but chronic illness and may not be immediately)

You'll also get Child Benefit. We got it straight away when we returned to the UK from abroad. PIP is trickier as you don't automatically qualify after living abroad, it's a total minefield.
The main issue you might have is getting a mortgage after living abroad. We've had to rent for the last 18 months as it's hard to get a mortgage if you've a foreign address history in the last 3 years and it's hard to get one atm anyway.

Can you cut down the mortgage repayment? That's around 170k of loan, over 25 years, at 5% I think.
On 35K you will be very tight repaying 1k a month.
If you can work too, and don't need childcare I'd think you would have a comfortable, but fairly basic, lifestyle.

I earn £20k. Single, 2 kids, mortgage, southeast. I get by, but no luxuries. Cut your cloth, you'll be just fine.

@NeptunaOfTheMermaidBattleSquadron How much is child benefit?

I thought with the money from the sale of our house, we’d have a fairly sizeable amount to put into a new property

I’m in education so would hopefully be able to gain employment year round with holidays off to care for Dd

Depending on how long you’ve been out of the country you might need 12-24 months of payslips in jobs in the U.K. to get a mortgage

u don’t know where you are now? But it’s pretty shitty here tbh! I wouldn’t come back if I’d managed to leave!

We don’t have an extravagant lifestyle, beach at weekend with picnic, dog walk and coffee and cake, occasional lunches out but not dinners really. We do like some days out for Dd and would love a holiday a year if possible

I don't think you would struggle on one income. I think you could live reasonably comfortably and happily, but wouldn't have much for luxuries like regular meals out or holidays - but those things aren't essential.

@Growlybear83 And with my extra potential wage, could we live quite nicely?

DH & I earn slightly more than you & live on the Devon/Somerset border.
We have a good standard of living; not luxury cars & holidays but reasonable.
Our mortgage is lower but we also have some debt. Wfh has meant we've gone down to one car. DC attend several clubs; we go on holidays (usually UK), do theatre trips, days out, etc
The price of food has been the biggest increase for us plus utilities. We've very fortunate that our mortgage rate was fixed a few years ago, so haven't yet been affected by those increases. You definitely need to factor in car costs - public transport is pretty nonexistent.
Maybe look at trying to buy a smaller house to reduce the cost of your mortgage?

A lot of people live on less, some really quite well. We live on a lot less, but have no mortgage or rent, nor childcare costs

Our biggest expenses are fuel, both heating and driving , and living rural you soon put the miles in and you do need two cars if one of you is working

Struggling is subjective. I wouldn't say we were, but we dont live a lavish life. We live a quiet country life, we live in jeans and work clothes, we dont eat out much or expect takeaway. Our socialising is the local pub/eatery . We dont want long haul holidays or cruises we prefer short city breaks around the UK of which we have maybe three a year

Do be honest about the lifestyle you want when you look at your budget. Dont be saying to yourself oh we will cut back here and there when here and there are important to you because its never going to happen.

You'd struggle to make ends meet to be honest.

We're on similar household income but living in the North. We can't afford luxuries like designer clothes, meals out and exotic holidays, but we can afford some activity clubs for DC- we only pay £15 a month for Beavers, for example. I have a savings fund for future school trips, as I know we won't be able to find the money in a short space of time. It's doable on the two incomes as long as your expectations are not too high- you might struggle on one income though.

In education meaning what?

£19k is a part-time teacher- hard role that can be hard to get.
It is more than a full time TA and those roles are being heavily cut everywhere.

Some families will live "quite nicely" on just your DH salary

Others will say they are seriously struggling on three times that

"Quite nicely" is too subjective

It is more than average so you will afford essentials but may need to be careful about luxuries.

The average income in the UK in 2022 was £32,300, so even just with your DH's salary you'll be well above that and with yours as well you'd be on £56-57,000 so I think you'd be absolutely fine. Particularly as you only have one DC and won't be living in the expensive SE. Child benefit is £24 per week, so will potentially add £1,248 per year to your income.

No one can tell you definitively because we don't know if you could make it work - you need to make a proper spreadsheet with all your outgoings including annual things like insurance / MOTs / TV licence & council tax etc. - if you don't know get some quotes. Do a pretend food shop online & see how food costs compare to where you are. How much driving will you need to do? Would you need a second vehicle if you both worked? Would it get you down if you had nothing left for clothes / going out / replacing furniture / house repairs? Do you anticipate that your income will realistically improve over time due to promotion (growing business whatever idk what your exact jobs are)

And look on Moneysavingexpert or another calculator to work out what benefits you may be entitled to. I think you need to see a realistic picture in black and white before you decide if it's worth it, bearing in mind the non-financial benefits of coming back here to be close to family which you can't put a number on.

Will you have 2 cars? Transport is pretty poor... You maybe better in city Truro, Plymouth, large town Bodmin, ? as density of population may mean more schools. And amenities close ..and also 1car potential.. income wise it will be tight..

Have you looked at property prices in Cornwall? I live on the Devon/Cornwall border and property can be expensive. Less so in the more deprived areas, but in the decent areas, yes, quite expensive. Rents are about twice now what they were a few years ago. Does your dh have guaranteed income, like already has a job lined up at that salary? Salaries are also generally quite low relative to the rest of the country. Lots of people, myself included, work mostly remotely, but commute in to head offices. It's a long, expensive commute, even more so post-COVID when now everyone seems to be doing this.

You certainly would have above average incomes, esp for Cornwall, if you were earning just shy of £60K a household.

Do you have school age children? Do consider quality of schools. They can be hit and miss.

If I didn’t live here in the UK I wouldn’t choose to move back.
No NHs dentists.
NHS in shambles.
Terrble government.
Cost of living crisis.
Local businesses failing.

Parts of Cornwall are nice when it’s sunny I guess.

I think with both of you working, you'd be fine. With just your DH working, it'd be tight but doable. The one thing I'd be worried about is whether your mortgage would go up in future and what the heating costs of your future house would be (ie don't buy a draughty little cottage!).

I dont think with only Dh working it would work in the long run. Maybe a couple months but not long. My hubby was on more than that and i didn't work for a stint. It is not fun trying to wrangle everything into that budget. Yeah you'd be able to survive, just. But if you're used to the odd coffee and cake, it's soul destroying to worry constantly

I'd suggest watching this before making your mind up
https://www.google.com/search?q=simon+reeves+cornwall&oq=s8mon+reeves+Cornwall+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgBEAAYFhgeMgYIABBFGDkyCAgBEAAYFhgeMggIAhAAGBYYHjIICAMQABgWGB4yCAgEEAAYFhgeMggIBRAAGBYYHjIICAYQABgWGB4yCAgHEAAYFhgeMggICBAAGBYYHjIICAkQABgWGB4yCAgKEAAYFhgeMggICxAAGBYYHtIBCTE5NTM5ajBqNKgCALACAA&client=tablet-android-skythtek&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8&chrome_dse_attribution=1

So you’d take home £3800 and your mortgage/council tax/gas& electric would take up around £1500

leaving you with £2300pcm which is roughly £575pw

i think it sounds doable