175k salary and all gone

[175allgone]

This will ruffle some feathers, but after tax, mortgage , childcare, living expenses….there doesn’t seem much left. SE London, commuting, wrap around care. Whilst I appreciate I’m not having to watch my bills I’m hardly living an extravagant lifestyle.

@Matthew54 my friends who have the most flexibility in their work hours are public sector. They have changed their hours/patterns up and down loads.

Im struggling to see how you are spending £4k on childcare unless you have had two so close together that you aren't getting your 15h for either yet, and are choosing the shiniest, most expensive glossy nursery around. Is it one salary or two, are you earning beyond the tax free childcare & 30h limit? Can you pension contribute to get back under?

Look for a cheaper childminder and I suspect you could shave at £1,000 off that bill immediately.

Its temporary op. Wraparound is typically far less than early years childcare as it can run with far fewer adults per child.

Your best bet is to get your head down and survive and enjoy how well off you feel when both are in school.

Where has the OP mentioned beauty treatments and holidays? She had a £4k childcare bill and a £2.5k mortgage. All very normal for London. My Northern friends are the ones that go on all the holidays. My best mate goes away almost every school holiday including long haul…because she doesn’t have to pay childcare (her mam looks after the kids) and her house cost a fraction of the OP’s. It’s probably bigger too!

Have you contacted a mortgage broker about your options? You may well be able to remortgage at a lower rate now.

Do an audit of all your bills. Run each one through a comparison site and switch to cheaper options.

Are you receiving your income in the most tax-efficient way? Eg are you receiving childcare vouchers (or the new scheme whose name I forget) which are deducted from gross salary? Does the nursery accept these as part-payment?

These are all tweaks/checks you should be doing at least annually as part of keeping an eye on your financial welfare. Saving money takes effort.

As many others have said, your childcare bill is far and away your biggest expense and you may just have to wait it out until the children go to school (if you’re going to use state education). But in the meantime there are things you can be getting on with to trim your expenses.

I sympathise with the gentrification argument but I'm not really sure what people are supposed to do. Not buy a house where they can afford because it might be considered gentrification?

Ive been priced out of my part of London but if I moved out of London I’d be accused of pushing out locals!

Not sure how relevant the housing aspect of this all is.

It's the childcare. Which is SHORT TERM.
In the short term, she'll have a grand a month spare. (Well below what many people have)

In the long term, she'll have FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS a month spare.

I really don't see how this is a problem that desperately needs fixing.

175k isn't even crazy high for london any more - especially not if that's two salaries. Definitely not "living in islington" money. DH and I are on £300k between us and viewed zones 1-3 as too expensive to live with children.

Exactly this. I'm not from London, but I work in an industry that only really exists in London. I bought where I could afford - not a fancy area. Should I have been restricted to only buying in Mayfair, Hampstead, Richmond, any other insanely expensive place so I couldn't be accused of gentrifying?

If I move back to my home town, I'm pushing up prices for locals, or something. If I move to commuterville, I'm pushing up prices for locals there too.

I can sympathise unlike most posters here, I think you might just need to ride it out without drastic lifestyle change

@SwingingPonytail I agree that most people are usually asleep by that time but a significant proportion are not and I know many people who are still awake at that time. I usually go to bed at around 1.30, and spend an hour or so on my phone reading forums and playing games until I'm ready to go to sleep. It's also the time when I catch up with a couple of friends on WhatsApp who go to bed at similar times to me.

Whatever I may think about the OP's posts and circumstances, I've not seen anything to suggest that they're any less genuine than most of the threads that are started on here.

@parttimeweddingplanner

As much as I wasn’t a fan of Bojo, I did approve of the policy discussed before he was ousted that spoke of not punishing people for saving for a home and allowing housing benefit to go on mortgage costs.

As stands anyone on low income who saves more than 6k is punished for doing so by withdrawal of benefits. Housing benefit largely increases the long term wealth of landlords and does nothing to pull low income people towards long term security.

I was appalled recently to discover that we would be entitled to a ludicrous amount of UC if we were renting rather than mortgaged.

If they are going to spend that amount of money surely it should go to getting low income/disabled people security so they and their descendants aren’t dependent on the benefits system to house them for a lifetime… rather than increasing the wealth of landlords - those who do it for a living and those who become casual landlords due to excess income who are already secure.

I don’t think increasing social housing is the answer because it compartmentalises society and does nothing to level the playing field long term.

I don't know if I'm missing something - being a poor public sector worker managing as part of a couple with kids, on the equivalent on what is supposed to be a full time salary for one person - but what sort of arrogance comes with assuming that the rich moving from posh parts to 'poor' parts means 'gentrification'? Are the local poors meant to doff their caps or something and move away so the area is filled with those unable to manage in Posh1?
Genuine (albeit slightly sarcastic I agree) question.

The point of this post is…?

In Islington that is not a ‘bomb’ at all. That’s a mortgage of £450k at 4.5% over 25 years

Whenever you see a post end with simples - you just know the poster doesn’t understand the issue.

I'm guessing you have a really nice house, in a desirable part of the country, with really decent childcare for your children. You're spending your money but getting nice things in return, including building equity. No doubt your house will continue to increase in value in the years to come.

Yeah the mortgage really isnt big. Mines that much and I'm an hour out of London.

Our combined salary is probably £100K at best before tax in London. Have a child with 2nd arriving in 2 months.

It's tough but we still have more disposable income than you, which suggests to me its poor management more than anything.

If you earn above 100k you don’t get the free hours under the new scheme . OP will be paying full rate for her children

Thank you, OP. I was having money worries, but your thread put it all into perspective for me and helped me realise what true poverty is. I hope you get by 🙏

@175allgone @Pin0cchio has good advice - you need to get smarter with your childcare and working within the systems for support available. For most people this means adjusting work/pension contributions/type of childcare provider/spacing children out properly.

It’s the same for everyone really, as the salary goes up so do all the relevant costs proportionally because people
on good salaries generally have nice homes.

We have an income around half yours @175allgone and not in London. Our bills are about half yours and we also have none left.

You will see a big difference when childcare ends, as will we. Until then it is shit.

My guess is:

You can order any takeaway you like / eat out without questioning how much it costs
Your house will be large- and nicely decorated
Your pension pot will be healthy - you will end up in a lovely care home to end your days. .

£8K mortgage.. that is a huge amount - how much is your house worth? You could easily move to outer London and buy a smaller/cheaper house..

Same here!

Their mortgage is only £2.5k