To be in this job and feel poor?

[fedippp]

I trained for seven years, reasonably large student loan etc, to end up age 35 on 58k, and barely anything left at the end of the month!!! Mortgage is 1300 for a 2 bed semi, (up from 800 last year). Student loans are still hundreds a month. I have a car on finance as I couldn’t save house deposit and car deposit, need car for work. I eat beans on toast 3 nights a week. I feel like an idiot. I missed out on so much in my twenties to get into a decent job that I thought paid well and it seems to have been a waste of time! Does anyone else feel this way? I feel so disheartened.

why do you have a 'professional bank loan' ? What career do you do that it's 'standard' on £58k ?!

Some of us out here surviving on 12k !

I meant £50 a month as you mentioned. That is going to be some basic food. If you've gone SIM only you must have paid for the phones up front which you'd have to save up for or borrow money for.

I don't see how you can survive on £12k unless your housing costs are £0.

Cheapest phone possible is not necessarily crap, this is pure capitalistic brainwashing that the more expensive phone = better phone.

And £50 a week for food for a single person is not eating like a sparrow, that is literally a normal amount to spend.

OP you've had some really rough responses. I absolutely understand. It's like "Have I worked this hard, to be this skint?" If other posters don't understand, or are in a different situation, fair enough - life is different for everyone, and nobody's experience of it should be marginalized, but you're definitely not alone in feeling this way.

I thought you said £50 a month! So £200 a month then, OK. You've only saved a bit though, this still isn't a luxury lifestyle. It probably was pretty good before the interest rate kicked in though and the OP is probably justified in feeling annoyed about that as it's out of her control.

If you're on 12k, and are a parent, there are benefits available to top that up considerably. Not judging, just making you aware, in case you weren't.

Do you also have absolute job security, a great pension, very generous sick pay and a transparent career trajectory that will likely double your income in the next 5 to 10 years.

58k? People live on that as a joint income and have dc too. Sounds like you’ve over stretched yourself and want more than you can afford. Yes, most people do find they need 2 incomes to fund buying a house yet you’ve achieved that on your own. I’m not saying you’d be on private jets and 3 holidays a year, but you can live a decent life on less than that so stop the pity party and realise you earn more than most.

Have the heating on an hour a day, gas and electric bill was 240 last month.

check for better deals! I’m with next eon and it’s £220 a month for a large 4 bed house and a hot tub. We have heating on wherever it drops below 19 degrees in the day (dh works from home) and 3 teenagers constantly showering.

@ireallycantthinkofaname I'd assume law. Bank loan to cover the LPC

Your fuel bills are way too high OP for a single person

For what it's worth, our full time combined income would be £60k in the SE but I work 4 days so it's less. We have childcare fees and a mortgage to pay. We live in overdrafts.

I'm going to guess you are a doctor, architect or solicitor or other close professional. One of the bitternesses is that professional status no longer purchases a mid-middle class lifestyle with no worries about money. Yes a tonne of people earn less and struggle more, but that's not what you thought you were working toward. I can only say that you can either work harder (extra hours, locums etc) and push through the costs you have now, or bite down the costs you have currently. Unfortunately that does mean not having a new phone every couple pf years, not going on the holidays you want and having a pretty sparse home and social life. You'll not get much sympathy as you are in the top quartile of earners but you have invested more in your earning potential and feel cheated. I get that. At the end of the day, a lot of middle class people can't afford their middle class life and it's important to acknowledge that early and not slither into debts and other spirals. You can't live in the way you think you ought to be able to afford, but you'll have to live in the way you actually can.

Could you sell up and move to a smaller home, perhaps a flat even? I've read through all your posts and it does sound miserable and like you've done your half of the bargain to afford and deserve a more comfortable life. Sadly you're running a house on a single income and that's always going to be more of a challenge.

I thought this but then she said it wouldn't go up much - which isn't true for a solicitor- or certainly there is always potential if you're prepared to move areas or seek promotion etc.

Professional development loans can feel crippling ontop of everything else. I ended up paying mine off early but I think they might have changed the rules on overpayment on it (I got a random work bonus)
How many years left of it do you have?
Is your mortgage on a fix or are you on the standard rate?

You should be able to get your gas and electricity down look around the likes of octopus have cash back referral system too.

It’s your mortgage that has put you in this unpleasant financial position. Thank goodness you have a spare room to take in a lodger to get in some tax free income. I wouldn’t want to either, but if needs must you have to do it. But vet them carefully and get a proper legally binding agreement drawn up by a professional so you don’t end up back on here if they turn out to be nutty non-payers.

Sorry if someone has already posted this (there’s a lot of responses and I haven’t looked through them all) but your utility bills seem crazy.

Our gas & electric is about £280 a month at the moment and we’re a 5 bed, 4 person household, working from home full time, with the heating on for at least 4-5 hours per day (with Octopus).

I would look into using a different provider, and maybe getting a smart meter if you don’t have one already, so you can see what’s creating such high bills, and can maybe make some small changes? For example, we have a conservatory that we use as a playroom and a garden office, both of which get very cold in the winter months so have electric heaters in them. I was putting the heaters on full power (two buttons) and the cost was 60p per hour for each heater. Using only one button instead of two, the cost is 25p per hour per heater. Only real difference is that it takes slightly longer to heat the rooms up to a fully comfortable temperature, but they still take the chill out of the air quickly enough - definitely enough to not be able to justify pressing that second button and adding 70p an hour to the bills!

But she is not "skint" too, most of her money simply goes on owning a property (that's too big for one person!) and a new car. Those are luxuries, so she is certainly not skint.

You do the "right" thing and get fucked. That's the reality of the UK these days.

Student loans are a timebomb IMO. I was lucky enough to go to university back in the days when there were no fees and there were funds available to apply for, to help you live. That, combined with a little bit of income from summer jobs and generally living ridiculously cheaply (£30 rent per week IIRC), was enough for me to emerge debt free.

I mean, if someone like you works full time, struggles to break even, can't have a holiday etc etc, I don't actually understand the incentive to get good qualifications and work.

I think that your life would be easier if you had a partner. Although clearly that's not something you can force to happen.

I'm not where you are but I can totally empathise. 58K is a great salary but it's all relative, right? Your mortgage is hefty, especially for a single person. Just to throw a few ideas out for you:

1. Create a monthly spreadsheet so you can REALLY see where your money is going. A small leak will sink a great ship, as they say. I started doing this at uni and was shocked at how little purchases would add up. Even now, I am occasionally shocked and it stops me from doing it the next month.

2. I know you're living in a 2 bed house but there is always the option to downsize to a 1 bed house or apartment? I would only do this as a last resort though as moving costs can add up too unfortunately.

3. Any chance of applying for a job with more money? Or has your career peaked at a 58K salary?

4. Can you get a cheaper car on finance than the one you currently have?

5. Please please please don't feel like an idiot. You're on a great salary, you have managed to get onto the property ladder BY YOURSELF, and it's not your fault that everything is just so costly these days! And single people do pay a premium in life as you can't split the bills, mortgage etc.

I really do hope things get better for you.

@fedippp move, head North and live a little easier

Are you being serious? The OP lives on beans and pays a mortgage. It’s hardly an enriched life.

With respect, according to money saving expert OP pays £248 towards her student loan and has a take home pay of £3291 per month.

Her take home pay is nearly £40k