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 fact that some posters believed it says it all.

My income is just over 6,000 a month with no childcare costs and I struggle so paying that much for childcare is insane I think a nanny might be cheaper OP

£60k in benefits?? I thought there was a cap?

Where are you getting your information from? How do you know how much deposit OP put down on her property?

Oh you don't.

DH and I have a similar household income to you.

We have holidays, good pension contributions and savings because we choose not to live in London/the SE. Our mortgage on a solid, pretty 3 bed terrace is £1,000 a month and nursery fees would be £2,000 a month for 2 DC.

Do you both have to live in London for your jobs?

I wonder if OP can move abroad for better opportunities and less expenses. On 175K you should be keeping at the very least 80% of your income and ideally nobody should be paying for school or childcare - we pay enough taxes.

In debt to the energy company and eating crappy food to save money. Have you tried cheaper shops?
And do you really have nothing left over, or does it just feel like that right now because you've had to sacrifice some things that you consider normal, like the odd meal out, new clothes etc? Are you still going on holiday this year?

People are losing their homes and using food banks to survive, its terrible. If you think you're poor on your income god help us all. When is it going to get better?

Most people even the poor pay council tax. They will be funding roads and other things local to them. Perhaps more than your taxes.

Yeah but I’m already an awful person anyway for overpopulating the planet/stealing everyone else’s hard earned tax (because parents don’t pay tax obvs) etc etc etc (plenty of other examples of how bad parents are see every second bloody thread on Mumsnet) so one more thing doesn’t make much difference does it?

Exactly.

I'm not digging at anyone who did believe it as many posters have no experience of claiming benefits so don't really know how likely the scenario would be. However I do see it posted a lot on here that if someone quit their high paid job to work in a supermarket they would be just as well off which isn't true.

It’s temporary though, while your kids are little. Once they are in school you won’t have a massive childcare bill. Unless obviously you send them private, but that’s a choice. Our choice is that one of us does the childcare and the other works. We make additional income from side hustles. We’re doing ok in se London on about 75k less than you.

Yes that is a good point for sure. Depending on personal preference taking a bit of a hit on that front is worth it to be with your dc, on the other hand I know some people feel they need to go back for all kinds of reasons.

@shuggles i didn’t call anybody lazy. I just acknowledged that anyone who obtains wealth through a job, does so by working, not by ‘sucking’ it out of the economy, as you rudely suggested.

@Differentstarts again, though, the point of the thread is that 175k doesn’t actually enable these things when it should.

so I’m not sure why more people aren’t supportive of the OP.

the only realistic answer i've seen so far.
this is why people chose to have no kids or 1 kids.. having 2 kids in Islington is luxury so you have to reduce other luxuries. ORR focus on other streams of income.. discuss with you and partner what other options to make money grow.

I think one thing we can all agree on is that nothing gets Mumsnet quite so excited as a “high earner but I’m feeling the pinch” post!

Absolute gold dust that has clearly kept a lot of people thoroughly entertained and engaged on a bank holiday weekend.

But there ARE certain pockets of London where you do have to be extremely wealthy to live. OP could live practically anywhere else in the country and be better off, even in a different area of London her money would go further. She's chosen the one area that is the most expensive. It's a choice.

@Bumblebee907 didnt seem much point in continuing responding when the general solution was I should move to a 2 bed terrace in Skegness, put the children up for adoption and hope I can continue my STEM career up there.

Haha having your children adopted was a joke!

Move out of London then.

Exactly right, agree with all of that - and I fully appreciate that I’m still left with a cushion larger than most and that the violins are tiny, as a PP said. However, it is still not fun to have a large pay cut, in real terms, even when salary is high.

But what kind of solution we can offer? We have a HH income of ~150k (depends on bonuses) and don't even think about moving to London because we would be in similar situation. Of all senior people in my company, who earn at least 80k annually, only 1 lives in London for exactly this reason. You either grit your teeth until children and in school or move out of London.

I live in zone 6. OP would have a similar size mortgage on a 3 bed terrace unless she has a ton of equity and she would still have a 4k pm childcare bill. It's the childcare which is the killer and the reason I spaced out my children. In a few years the OP will be significantly better off unless she sends her children to private schools.

@MintsPi do you really get £60k in benefits?

someone suggesting you are joking…

Their not millionaires they can't have everything they still have to be mindful but they do have more choices then most.