To ask what your life would look like on 60k

[Thecherryhotel]

What do you think your life would look like if you and your partner earned around 30k each per annum? Would you both work full time or would one of you be able to go part time? Would this be enough to support you and the children you have? Would it be impossible? How would you feel?

That's not a 'holiday', that's hard work and/or not a good option, for many, many people for a variety of reasons.

We live in London. We would cope. It wouldn't be a life of luxury, but we would be OK.

Quite prepared to be slammed-:
£30K for me would equate to about 6- 8 hours work, so very, very part time.
DH probrably a little more so we would be working maybe 3 days a week between us.
Our mortgage repayment is almost exactly £2,000 so that would be half of it. Other essential bills are approxiamately £1,500-1,600- leaving around £500 pcm for descretionary spending.
Changes would be: not supporting DS at University, no pensions, no savings, Dd ( aged 17) would have to give up her extracurricular activities, no gym membership, much simplier and fewer holidays.

We lived on about this in 2008/9 ( one salary so lower take home) with 2 young children- it was ok, not luxurious but fine.

We earn around this. Manage 1 child. No holiday abroad this year. It's quite depressing reading comments on these sort of posts as we have worked bloody hard for years to be at this salary and I earn the most in my family and are considered well off.

It all depends on outgoings. I've earned £30k (albeit some years ago). I lived in a low rent city and felt incredibly well off. My disposable income was pretty much everything I earned after rent and taxes.

I've also earned a multiple of that and felt financially squeezed - mortgage, childcare, high council tax and utility bills, cars, commuting, etc - all take huge chunks. I've had less truly disposable income on a far higher salary.

For some people that would be aspirational and for some it would be a pay cut.

My kids activities would be culled, I'd have to get a job and quit my studies, we'd probably have to downsize.

I earn this, OH doesn't work so it's our whole income. It's okish. Well actually quite irritating because it sounds like a lot of money but I am quite nervous of big bills or unexpected expenses. Rented house, old car, as cost of living gone up cut back on a lot of socialising, holidays etc.

Where did you get 17k from I live comfortably on 20k a year that leave 40k but obviously I was joking I wouldn't actually hire a maid and butler

I earn a little less than this as a single parent of 1 and we live comfortably currently. Not a luxurious lifestyle, but I can cover my mortgage, my bills and a few holidays a year and I don't need to worry about affording days out or going out with friends etc. With 60k I could probably afford to move into a nicer house or I could afford to overpay on my mortgage.

£40k pre tax (yours). Less after tax. 2 of them. Approx £17k each!

We earn slightly more but this is similar to our income bracket and we feel we are comfortable but definitely not well off. I work part time and my partner is full time. We have 3 kiddos, a 4 bed semi-detached and an old used car. No debt on credit/store cards, just the mortgage. We manage to have holidays every year (one abroad - all inclusive that we pay up throughout the year and one or two haven type ones - I book during their January sales and book the cheapest weeks I can find) I have to budget for everything and we can rarely eat out/takeaways. We meal plan and shop in Lidl. Family days out are done on a budget and as a couple we rarely go out (our last was a trip to the cinema and Pizza Hut in August last year) On the flip, we have a pony, the kids enjoy lots of hobbies/activities and have a private tutor (we are a home ed family and use private tutoring to help keep us on track)

This would be an improvement for us by around £500 per month. I would put more savings aside for university costs in a few years time, perhaps increase pension contributions (my pension is dreadful after taking years out for child care). It would not change where we live which is a small 3 bed semi with a very small mortgage. The next step up the property ladder is ridiculous here.

So is what your saying if it was me I would have 34k take home spare. I'd buy a boat 🚢 🤣

We’d be much better off.

We would have less children as couldn't afford 4, less holidays , smaller house, not so many clubs for the children , no eating out every week , food shopping would be less , a lot less savings. No family gym membership, life would be very different. I grew up in a poor household so would probably manage

I’d rather have no holiday than go camping. Never understood a holiday that involves worse conditions than you have at home!

I'd be on 3 times what I am now so my life would be pretty good!

We have a household income of around £50k per year. Due to a couple of chronic health issues and caring for my mum who suffers from dementia I only work very part time hours but I am only able to do this because we are older and lucky to have purchased when houses were a hell of a lot cheaper so our mortgage is minimal. I feel for anyone younger with the cost of living now.

Although our lifestyle is ok, if I were to earn £10-20k more per year it would make our lives so much easier (being able to afford private healthcare for my issues rather than sitting on 2 year NHS waiting lists for starters).

That's £3.5K take home pay per month so a jump of £1.5K which would make me feel more content. I'm single, live in the north, have no dependents, no debts other than a Masters loan and live in a houseshare, so I've a big chunk of disposable income every month - essential outgoings including food are only £750 a month - but that extra money would give me more money for holidays and my savings for a future property deposit.

Well I didn’t actually work out the exact tax figures for the sake of a MN thread. Was just pointing out that a maid and butler might be unaffordable 😂.

When I see posts like this, with no updates from OP, my first thought is "parliamentary researcher of some sort"

It would significantly cut our discretionary spending and our saving. We’d be ok short term but permanently we’d likely want to move house rather than have so much more limited money for holidays & activities. I think we’d struggle to have a significant drop in income even if it did buy us a lot more time off

No kids and we live in an apartment in an expensive area.
Wed have to tighten our belts.
We'd be able to pay the mortgage and run a car but we wouldn't be able to save much money or splash out on holidays.

Surely it depends on if you earn more or less than 60k now. And then how much more/less. And how much discretionary vs fixed outgoings you have.

I earn more than this, but 6 years ago was earning a lot less. We could survive on it fine, but it would mean contributing less to pensions, and less discretionary spends like holidays, days out etc. Similar to what I was doing 10 years ago.