Scared to go back to England

[Valleygirlaccent]

But i’m desperate to.

Currently live abroad, beautiful place but ready ro return to family. I keep seeing posts/videos about how hard it is now and how you can’t survive on £35 k per year (we’d be on around about this initially)
I’m going back to a ‘Naice area’ and although have a lovely lifestyle where we are, we’ve often lived month to month as wages are low, so I’ve learnt to cut my cloth accordingly.

Is it really that bad?

Impossible to answer given the lack of details. Which area? Will you be buying or renting? How much savings do you have? How many children? Etc.

You would not be able to live off £35K in many areas, but in some you could!

Brits are prone to putting a negative and miserable slant on things. You ask an American how they are and they’ll respond awesome. Same thing to a Brit and they’ll say well I’m not dead yet.

A survey came out the other day and the British ranked lower than people in the Ukraine and Yemen for happiness. Bearing in mind these are war torn countries it says more about British negativity than anything objective I would guess

But that is also the reality you are re-entering. A culture where people are very down in the dumps right now and feel that everything is failing, even though objectively it isn’t really. And you can still do things like have cancer and get treatment for free, broadly send your children to school and know that they’re not gonna get shot by some nutter, or higher rates of employment than many European countries.
Personally, I wouldn’t want to live here on 35K

I love England. I live in outer London and am currently in N Yorks visiting family … such a great area. Yes there are grotty places but more nice ones. Beautiful landscapes, amazing food, free activities and places to visit.
public transport is often shit so it helps if you drive.
£35k plenty for one person especially up here, but definitely not enough for a family in London.

No it's an absolute dump, and an expensive dump. Worst of both worlds; everywhere else seems to manage a minimum of cheap and a dump or expensive and nice.

The whole of the UK isn't like that. Where I live in Scotland its lovely and you could live on that.

But it depends on how many are in the family for 33k if you're living or just surviving.

Me and DH met after we’d both lived abroad in places where we seemingly had it all. What we didn’t have was family and I’d take a bit of wind and rain and a high cost of living any day if it meant I could have relationships with my parents and extended family. £35k is fine!

It really isn't, unless you're blind to beautiful countryside, amazing architecture and culture. There are ugly bits of course, like every country. People are mostly polite and helpful.
If you're on £35k OP, avoid the south east which is crazy expensive. Housing costs are a problem everywhere, whether you are renting or buying. Food is still pretty affordable, but going out to pubs/restaurants has got much more expensive lately. Public transport varies according to area but is more or less functioning, likewise the NHS. Generally it depends what you are comparing it with - compared to the current US, for example, I'd say it was pretty great.

We returned from living abroad several years ago and I'm so glad we did. We live fairly rurally and love the countryside and forest that surrounds us. Spring is absolutely gorgeous here - birds singing, lambs skipping about, the trees and flowers coming into life.

If it’s SE England then £35k isn’t a pot to piss in, unless you own your home or are able to get a council home. The East Midlands, and parts of the North East are much cheaper. Also factor in the cost of transport, days out, nights out, kids hobbies, your hobbies, bills, taxes, school expenses, and needing to save up a bit for a rainy day.

35k is probably fine though too low for SE and London in my experience , especially if you have a family. but when we moved back to the UK it was the moving and travel costs that were painful and all the little bits and pieces you pay out for when you're in those days of physically moving to the UK, settling into the new house/flat. It's expensive, you need cash flow. Being back in the UK? Absolutely fine! Glad we made the move back

It’s true that things have got more expensive over the last few years.
It’s also true that most Brits love to complain. So now there’s something to complain about I can imagine that outside of Britain it sounds much worse than it is.

I love to travel, but wouldn’t actually live anywhere else. It’s not perfect, but neither is anywhere else.

We have a very, very good quality of life here, but we live in a village close the sea which makes a difference when we have wall to wall sunshine for weeks and week on end 😎
I find there is much more to do with children for free. The culture and arts. Museums, libraries, ancient forest walks, extensive parks and places to go that are totally free, just take a picnic.
It’s perfectly possible to enjoy a very happy life here, and those that can’t are generally miserable everywhere and it’s a them thing. The moaners.

A close family, culture and heritage are more important to me than chasing a certain lifestyle. I find some countries quite one dimensional when i have lived there.

Crunch the numbers, have a proper plan and budget and use your time to plan how you will enjoy your time once home.

That must have been disappointing for you. However the weather in Scotland in August/September is often glorious. Cold mornings and brilliant sunshine.
Any country will have it's issues. I wouldn't want up live in USA at the moment. I love Europe but climate change is making many parts too hot to live in for my cold, Scottish blood.

Have you said which area you are moving to?

We moved back to the UK when my DC was 8.

We had a house in the UK (BTL which we sold and moved into a cheaper one).

Wages in the UK fluctuated between 50k to 100k between us.

What is your housing situation like in the UK?

It's bad if you have health issues and waiting lists in your area are years long. Although I'm in Wales, maybe they are shorter in England?

This country is fast on its way to becoming a shithole. Low pay, shabby unkempt towns, litter everywhere, if you venture into inner cities even worse, poor facilities, worse housing.

Don’t bother coming back, unless you are planning on living on the taxpayer’s dime. Then it’s a paradise.

Stay put.

I wouldn't live anywhere else in the world. I like the weather, hate it to be constantly hot it makes me lethargic. The odd hot day is great and the weather has been loveky and sunny for the last couple of weeks here now. I live in the outskirts of a big town, which is a suburb of a big English city but I'm situated in the last outpost really with beautiful country walks and every time I explore I find something new. My local train station can take me into real countryside with little pubs or number of Northern cities within an hour. I love going on holiday but I love living here.

You will be fine on that wage! Don’t listen to the moaners! It’s beautiful where I am. On the edge of a national park. Very safe, very friendly. Very clean. Very pretty. Love it here. U.K. has so much good stuff going for it. We Brits love to complain.

Just stay away from weekly mumsnet threads about how terrible the uk is about everything compared to the rest of the world.

The UK is not without its problems but I don’t recognise the ‘shithole’ description. We live a nice life where we are, in the North West.

This weekend we spent Friday after school in the sunshine in one well kept park 5 mins walk from our house. Saturday morning we visited another lovely park, 10 mins walk this time, then in the afternoon went to a kid friendly show at a small local theatre in a really pretty town 20 mins drive away, driving through lovely views and scenery to get there. In that town we were able to park (for free!) and walk past people sitting outside cafes and in beer gardens, having a nice time, through the weekly local producers market where live music was being performed and into the theatre. Admittedly the tickets for this weren’t particularly cheap - about £24 each - but manageable with a bit of planning.

Sunday a third beautiful park nearby was having a fun day, spent grand total of £3 - £1 to do the Easter trail, for which DD got a little prize at the end, and £2 for the bouncy castle. Other than that hours of fun just running round the park, meeting friends and watching a few performances from choirs and a dance group.

Now DD is off into her incredible school today, where the staff genuinely care and children seem really happy - my DD certainly is.

My brother in law has just had a heart operation in an NHS hospital and received excellent care - admittedly he had to wait far too long, I’m not claiming it’s utopia.

We manage on very average salaries - mine would be 40k ish but I’m part time so significantly leas than that, DH is around that. We managed fine too when I didn’t work for a year after DD. Our housing costs were/ are low though which makes a huge difference.

It’s been said often on the thread already and you seem reluctant to answer - but of course your experience is going to depend on family size, where exactly in the UK you’ll be, what the housing situation will be - rents are astronomical from what I can see.

But it’s ridiculous to say the whole of the UK is a shithole or that everyone here is miserable. There’s a lot of problems, but there’s an awful lot of good too. Some people don’t see how good they have it honestly.

£35k in London or Surrey and yeah you'll obviously struggle. Most other places you'll be ok. You might not be in the David Lloyd, Waitrose and dinner out every Friday night tax bracket but should be ok.

Hard to say without knowing what kind of lifestyle you're expecting or hoping for.

In the last few years my food bill has risen astronomically (£700 per month for 3 easily somehow) but everything else has been manageable.

What does Naice Area mean, OP?

If your current life includes private healthcare, schooling and a maid (which is often the case for expats- companies cover a lot and health/education is often routinely paid for in certain countries by necessity), then there will be a big adjustment moving back here.

We lived in Singapore for a while- the apartment complex had a hotel style pool, natural rock landscaping and palm trees, everyone else with DC had maids, and there was no free healthcare so we went private and billed the company. It was like a holiday for me- though DH worked long hard hours 😅.

Coming back here was still a relief.