To be fed up of being on a good income but always skint?

[Justonemorecurlywurly]

I know I’m going to get flamed, lots of “boo-hoo, poor you”, and that there are people far worse off but -

Our household income (family of 4) is roughly £110-120k. DH earns about £100k of that, I’m self employed and part time so my income fluctuates. I think that’s pretty good money but it feels like we can never afford to do anything.

No holiday for 2 years.
1 car
Very few clothes
Modest house

If after paying bills, we ever buy something non-essential like a meal out, or maybe one or two items of new clothes, birthday present, that’s it, we’re out of money for the month. And we have no savings. It’s ridiculous!

We did try to move a few years back but couldn’t afford it so remortgaged instead to extend the house a little. We got the best deal we could and borrowed only as much as we were comfortable with (even though it meant we couldn’t do as much work as we needed). But unfortunately we made a mistake fixing the new mortgage for only two years and when that time was up, rates had shot to which has made our repayments considerably more expensive which really hasn’t helped.

I’m so fed up of it. I honestly feel like we felt so much better off about 10 years ago when we were earning A LOT less.

Does anyone else feel like this? Is it just that everything is so expensive now??

I know some people will say I should work full time but for reasons I won’t go into, I need to be available for my DC so me being p/t works much better for the whole family.

Exactly. It's want want want these days. Private school, large house, flashy car and moaning boo hoo we're broke. Ridiculous!

im exhausted just reading this.

another thing about the social contract is that people assumed being high earners they could stop living like students or impoverished people. They thought their energy could go on something more interesting and fulfilling than hours on MSE or go compare

But yes house prices are ridiculous, I couldn't afford to buy my house now.

Well there is your answer! You should still be able to have a holiday. Don’t you save every month for things like holidays?

Exactly. It's want want want these days. Private school, large house, flashy car and moaning boo hoo we're broke. Ridiculous!

100k is not affording the above

I’m fortunate that I’m retired and mortgage is nearly paid off but I do sympathise with those of you who have young families and are working. It must feel so frustrating to work hard, to earn what would have been a fantastic salary 5-10yrs ago and then not feel like you have anything fun to look forward to like holidays and treats. I can’t see it getting any better any time soon. I know the UK is a mess but I’m not sure it’s any better anywhere else either.

£120k per year is around £6k pre pensions per month.

Now, whilst you have no spare cash for holidays etc thats down to mismanagement of your finances, either now or in the past.

Everything is expensive for everyone, if your house really is modest, then so will be all your bills.

Appreciate mortgage costs are high but you decided to remortgage.

But i also realise people cut their cloth according to their means, perhaps you need to look at how you cut that cloth?

another thing about the social contract is that people assumed being high earners they could stop living like students or impoverished people. They thought their energy could go on something more interesting and fulfilling than hours on MSE or go compare

😆

@ThePoshUns I agree, depressingly I can't see it getting better.

Why did you have so much work done if you can’t afford it? We bought a small house and did it up ourselves bit by bit. On much lower salaries.

Sorry but your spending must be insane. You earn 6-7k per month. After your main outgoings that leaves you with £3490-4490.

Let's assume you spend:
£50 mobile phones
£600 food
£50 life insurance, house insurance
£50 car insurance
£100 petrol/travel
£100 clothes
£30 WiFi

That leaves you with £2510-3510. If you live frugally as you say, what on earth are you spending that on to have no savings?

You need to tackle your spending or choose a cheaper lifestyle. For reference our household income is 70k and still manage to save £1.5-2k per month. We chose to live in a cheap neighborhood in a small house (and no, not up north, we're close to London) so we could be financially comfortable. Could you move somewhere cheaper?

lol where does this poster live? In a shoe?! We pay £3200 a month mortgage 🤣

Omg.
What I’d give to have that kind of income.
With all due respect you need to learn how to manage your money.
Most families are on a quarter (or less) of that and ARE skint. This means not a penny left over and using credit cards.
Given what I have to manage on, I just can’t sympathise or see how you have no money left. Seems bonkers to me.

I hear you, I'm in the same position. It's disheartened. There's been no actual uplift to my lifestyle, it's just sunk into rising costs.

Other than mortgage are there any other debt repayments. . If not you must know where you are spending the rest of the money and should easily be able to be reduced

I would like to live somewhere cheaper but as a Londoner it made sense to stay close to family as I saved on childcare costs plus commuting is ££££ these days and often a shit service.

OP - with due respect, can you find a job that earns more for you and also pays into a pension.
You have a huge mortgage to pay off and you’ve probably overstretched on that and your extension

£1,900 pcm mortgage at 5% interest over 25 years is £320k.

Thats not an extravagant sum for a house.

I’d check your home energy supplier to see if you can get a better deal. We pay under £200 with BG for gas and electricity and try to make as much use of half price electricity on a Sunday as possible. Your water bill is also very high although there’s no flexibility on changing the supplier (Thames Water?). Are you on a meter or fixed rates? We’ve always found meters to be cheaper, even when DC were smaller, and we try and fill the dishwasher / washing machine using eco modes rather than half loads as much as we can.
Otherwise I can only suggest what others have previously said and itemise your spending to see where the holes can be filled.

Whaaaat? Christ almighty!

I hear you, I'm in the same position. It's disheartened. There's been no actual uplift to my lifestyle, it's just sunk into rising costs.

It's the food costs that are killing me, completely cut back on eating out but shopping even in Aldi is ££££.

N.B we have normal appetites so a chicken won't last a week.

Teachers don’t ’get 28%’ because it doesn’t go into a pot that we can access. It costs the government 28% on current workers’ salaries to pay for the very generous old scheme DB that lots of currently retired teachers are on. The scheme most teachers are on now is not as good, though it is still better than most private sector pension, obviously. However, had I worked in any other professional career with the qualifications that I have, I would likely be earning double what I now earn…

I doubt it’s 25 years these days. Plus it might be interest only

Another poster who has absolute no understanding whatsoever of current prices and interest rates.

People seem to think £1,900 a month buys you a million quid McMansion.

Yeah, it went up £1000 per month overnight when our fixed term ran out and the rates had shot up! It is what it is.