How are people managing to pay the bills in this shit show

[Allthenameshavegone1972]

My daughter, fiance & dgs moved into their small, rented house nearly 3 years ago. Finding it a big struggle every month with the rent being £860. We, & her in-laws are guarantors for their rent.
I've found out her fiance has asked to borrow money for rent from his mum & for the second time my daughter has asked to borrow as he has not had the overtime. They obviously can't afford it. Both trying to get pay rises but it's hard in this day & age.
At the grand old age of 60 I was hoping to take a break from my office job, which I hate, for a few months and then go temping or work part time. We can afford for me to do that. If, on the other hand, I'm working full time then we can afford to be guarantors for their rent. Cant win either way!
She wishes theyd never rented now. They were living with her inlaws who have the space for them. She wishes she'd saved that rental money for a deposit instead. Their only option is to go back living with them, or all us parents carry-on working til we drop to pay for their rent. At 60 years old we should not have the pressure of working til we drop to pay for our adult dc's rent. We're not going to be in the best of health to work forever as we get older.
My dd is despairing, saying that she can't see life getting any better. I agree, unless us parents die relatively young without needing a care home and they inherit from us.
This shit show of a housing & col crisis is at breaking point, something had to be done, but I don't know what! 😡😡

2 minimum wage jobs would be about £3500 per month take home pay

In 7 years time, £20k might not even be enough for a house deposit.

You are overlooking other factors though. If someone is earning £25k (a job that pays a little bit more than minimum wage), then using the x4.5 rule, that means she would only be able to secure a mortgage for a £112.5k home. That could mean living in an unsafe or remote area.

he works more than full time plus slightly above NMW

and throw in CB

so approaching £4k

That's a huge sum! How on earth can families claim to be struggling on that?

Well they have managed to get away with it with the OP and basically scam her

People talking about house deposits are getting ahead of themselves.

This couple are borrowing from their parents because they say their income doesn't cover the money they need/want to spend day to day, let alone having money to save for a house deposit.

I hope this thread has opened her eyes and she manages to enjoy her well earned retirement.

Minimum wage is still £1632 for 37.5 hours per week, and £1721 for 40. (A bit less if they are paying into a pension.)

It's obviously still not easy, but that is still over 3k a month.

(Made up figures alert:)

£1000 for rent, £200 gas and electric, £50 water, £50 internet, £50 for two phones, £200 council tax - so that would be £1550. That's okay. Add two car loans onto that, taking you up to say £2150 if they're £300 a piece, and that is then why they're not okay. Because £850-£1000 to pay for food, petrol, insurance and everything else for 3 people isn't that much. It should be just about doable, but it wouldn't be easy.

What are their options on the cars? Could one of them cycle to work? Even a eBike on the cycle to work scheme would be a hell of a lot cheaper than a car, assuming they haven't got some bargain deal.

Me too
and wises up to her dd and son In law

Perhaps both?

I would be interested to know what sort of car they have bought. Was it a 5 year old fiesta or a nice larger car? I often see younger people in quite nice cars.

They need to move back in with in-laws but save up. It’s not fair for you to have to continue full time to finance their rent.

You would be better off agreeing to a set amount to help with then you could plan a bit better. My parents used to help with swimming lessons, school shoes etc.

My ds says allot of his colleague pay car loans plus smoke.

No wonder they have no money! Ds saved up for his car.

Well... We earn about £4k net, pay £800 mortgage, and have one child with no childcare costs. We manage to save about a quarter of it per month. It must be going somewhere - I suspect their car loans are enormous for a start.

If they worked 37.5 hours a week on minimum wage their income would be 3k a month. At the level of rent they are paying that leaves over 2k for bills and living, which should be completely doable with no child care costs. Have they overstretched with their cars? Maybe they need to look at those but they shouldn't be needing to borrow for a whole rent payment, plenty of people live on that amount.

It amazes me how much people spend on cars.

Such a lovely, non-judgmental thread. Very MN.

What kind of jobs are they working? When I graduated and started work 20 years ago and had a flat share, my part of rent was 500 a month. I managed to pay this with my starting salary (which was low compared to others). I had enough for food and to go out from time to time.

80 h per week each 4 times a month gives how much

Actually I don't think so? some reasonable ideas and thoughts.

It is really tough, and I’m honestly not having a go but it doesn’t quite add up that they need to struggle so much. If the wages are so poor they can’t afford that rent (our mortgage on a 3 bed is 900 so similar) then they should be entitled to universal credit. If they aren’t entitled then there must be places they can cut back. We are a familtu of 4 on one wage of 40k (so could that be two 20’s for your dd) and have a mortgage of 900 and manage fine, not swimming in money but comfortable

@Lighterlilly @SnowdropPancake @Fairyliz @Horserider5678 and the many others quoting £3200 or more a month take home, have any of you heard of workplace pension schemes? You are all working on the assumption of take home pay after tax. Do none of you pay into a pension?

I have a healthy pension but I'm willing to bet that people who have to borrow from their parents to pay their rent, probably don't prioritise that

Yes
but then most of us aren’t paying in to pensions, both in full time employment, Zero childcare costs and scabbing money after our retire aged parents

It is not a shit show. Your relatives are pissing their money on fancy cars

@berksandbeyond you may well be right but I just think when people are quoting actual
figures they should try to be reasonably accurate considering all likely expenses, not making up figures that fit their narrative better