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.

The difference between someone on a £175 grand salary and a 20 grand salary is you have choices you can move home, reduce hours, be a sahm, use a different form of childcare all these would save you money. Others don't have the luxury to solve these problems.

I do feel for you OP.

Your mortgage payment is massive. Interest rates are high right now. Your childcare bill is ridiculous. As some say, perhaps one, or both of you can drop a day a week at work?

It will get easier when the kids go to school, just don't go private!

Can you overpay your mortgage, to get it down?

Rent a room out?

Everyone should learn to live within their means, no use earning that amount if you've over committed yourself.

Spend less because we've got a lot less to spend.

Haahahaha! Yes, I’m sure they’re living exactly the same lifestyle as someone on benefits. Great analogy! (If you ignore the big fancy house in London, which they own, the good quality childcare, the stinking huge pension pot which gives them an amazing lifestyle even after retirement, and the fact that in no amount of time they will have £4k just lying around each month to spend on whatever they want.)

What planet do you live on?

In London a FT nanny to replace 7.30-6.00pm would exceed £4K a month for 2 preschoolers once you factor in employer on costs, plus heating your home, paying for classes/activities, food and nappies.

Au pairs are now entitled to minimum wage and it’s very hard to recruit them due to only Australians/Kiwis/Canadians qualifying for a suitable visa. Also, leaving your child for 11 hours a day with an unqualified 20yo with not enough experience to take on a much better paid role as a junior nanny isn’t a great way to raise your child.

You have a massive mortgage and massive childcare. Those things are a choice. The childcare will end in due course.

So what if they do? Are they really “worth” more than any of the rest of us? Are they really that much more skilled, or talented, or harder workers? Why shouldn’t they put a bit more into the pot if they can? It’s all part of being part of society. One which still benefits them myriad ways. And rarely effects their day to day lives in any meaningful way.

Tight fisted-ness is such an unpleasant quality in a person. Much more so in a society.

It is isn’t it people are totally unaware they’ll pay over 70k in deductions roughly twice as much as the average person earns
zero help to children care unlike many of us there paying £48k a year
so there left with 50k which isn’t a bus ride from someone working full time with partner working PT and then getting help with childcare
people just see the 175k and slag them off

Of course it will ruffle feathers but I hear you.

You aren’t getting a big fancy house for that mortgage payment. Not even close.

👏👏👏👏

A £2,400 mortgage definitely isn’t N1 and not the flash bits of N5 either. It’s “only” borrowing c £500k when interest rates were at their lowest.

The I would suggest the postcode is the issue. And the choice that out them in that postcode.

There are loads of places that I’d love to live within my city which are nicer, have better schools, closer to my work etc. I just can’t justify the mortgage retired to live there. So I don’t.

Nursery fees have gone up c 40% since Covid. No one should have to factor their child’s place almost doubling in 3 years.

£2500 per month doesn’t buy you a big house in London. It would get you a tatty three bed terrace where I live and that’s 40 miles from London. Childcare is £1400-£1500 per month per child. Yes, some people in London will be paying less for childcare but they may also have the benefit of (1) taxfree childcare, (2) 30 free hours, (3) family help (4) UC part funded childcare. The OP doesn’t get (1), (2) or (4) because she earns too much. We don’t know about (3) but lots of us don’t get any family support.

Please list all the nurseries in reasonable travelling distance to OP and their fees so OP can see if there is something more reasonable.

How old are the kids ? Soon they will be going tos chill so childcare should be 70% less at least

With kindness, you DO have “loads spare” at the end of each month, you just choose to spend it on lots of meals out and multiple holidays a year. Nothing at all wrong with that, it’s a nice way to live and I’d do the same. But I would never pretend that my only “spare” cash was that which I had after such abundant lovely lifestyle perks.

Oh come off it. Those things you make still require legal involvement to make sure that companies and their workers are protected in various ways. They need accountants to make sure accounts are done properly and taxes are paid. They need marketers so that consumers actually find out and buy their products. They even need social media to ensure that younger people become aware of their products!

But sure, only people who “make something” have real jobs.

I know right? It’s sometimes hard to believe people like that exist, and yet they pop up depressingly regularly on sites like this. I’d bet my yearly salary from my horribly unambitious job that they vote Tory.

@WomanMumLoverDaughterStepmumFriend

posts like these are so funny.

yes it is too high! That’s what the @175allgone is saying.

she’s not accidentally donating more money than she needs to her childcare or mortgage provider.

So why do you do it?
Why not move out of London, get cheaper childcare, live an easier life

what's the point of this thread now?

Op hasn't even come back once. And it's over 800 posts.

She's not even asked for advice.
It comes over as a stealth boast- doesn't need to watch the bills etc.

Enjoy arguing amongst yourselves, but no point trying to engage with her.

@SapphireSlippers because people hope that working in well paid jobs will give a better lifestyle. Sadly if labour get in we may as well all give up!

This

Exactly this ^

And no, I'm not envious. I've lived in London, didn't enjoy it. Had the (relatively) high paid corporate job, chose to leave, chose to have one child because of costs and time

It's about choice

Whining about it after the choice is made , is simply silly and disingenuous