Pay day today

[Janeerr]

£2761.92 has hit my account today, which had the staggering sum of £30 odd quid in it. After I take out £300 from my current account to put into my isa, I’ll have nothing left in a month’s time.

Yeah!!!!! What a nice feeling, working 40 hours a week, dealing with office politics, so you can put away £300 a month for a rainy day.

I honestly expected more from life…. I know there are people in worse situations but it’s depressing just having to get by on what is a decent salary.

It’s no good complaining without explaining what your expenses are. I could say £10,000 hit my account today but I just bought a haute couture dress and now I’m overdrawn, life sucks.

Don’t put £300 away ? 🤷‍♀️ COL is hard at the moment, need to live to your means unfortunately, like we all do.

It's shit, I get it OP.

The attitude in society now is that you should be grateful you can pay your bills. It's very much a race to the bottom. Work until you drop. No savings. No holidays. And don't bloody complain about it!

There are a lot of us who worked hard retraining for a better quality of life. I retrained specifically so I could put money aside for savings which would be my safety net for emergencies. I retrained so I could comfortably pay my bills and have one holiday each year. What's actually happened is I got the increased salary which would have given me everything I wanted but as soon as it was within my reach, everything went up a crazy amount.

I now have a lesser quality of life than I did before I retrained. And I'm still paying off the debts from retraining to add insult to injury! What's the bloody point?

And what are we supposed to tell teenagers? It used to be "go to university, work hard in your career and you'll be rewarded". The only reward now is working two jobs for the luxury of being able to pay your rent each month (until it goes up again and then you're really fucked!)

Missing the point but Pay day is 18th of the month?

and a bank holiday?

@Thirteenblackcat yeah, different workplaces have different pay days. Have you really had the same pay day for every job you've ever had?

Usually the last day or last Friday of the month. Never mid month. Been in employment 28 years.

DP got paid yesterday as his pay day is the 21st of the month and Monday is a Bank holiday. So yes, some people will have been paid yesterday.

I will get a bashing for this but I don’t care. I am a midwife and a single parent. I claim a UC credit top up because I am able to. I worked 34 hours a week until this week when I have dropped to 25 hours (2 shifts a week). The shifts I work make it hard to cover childcare due to the early starts and finishes so I have changed to permanent nights.

The drop in hours mean I earn less but the top up from UC means my monthly take home is the same. Before becoming a midwife I was a higher rate tax payer for 10 years and so I feel no guilt taking back out the system whilst my child is young. I am currently doing my Master’s with the aim to specialise and work more hours in a higher banded role in the coming years.

I have a small amount of savings and try to save 200-300 per month but often struggle. Many in here would tear me apart for having the audacity to work part time, claim UC and then have the cheek to save some of it for my future. These will be the same people who complain about the care they receive in maternity when an exhausted midwife can’t give them top notch care.

Anyway, gone off at a massive tangent here! If I worked full time I would be bringing in the same as I get with my UC top up, I’d be exhausted, burnt out, my job and the women I care for would suffer, my child would never see me and my life would be grim, so I completely get where OP is coming from. It seems so pointless and relentless to then only have a small amount left over each month (to save or spend!)

I am in an extremely lucky position to be as I am but that’s only because I am a single parent, which is also extremely difficult.

@Thirteenblackcat I've got two jobs, one I'm paid on 26th of the month, the other is 28th of the month. In my previous one, I was paid on 21st of the month. My jobs before that have all varied with pay days. Have they all been getting it wrong all these years?!

A lot of public sector employers pay in the middle of the month. I get paid on the 15th.

You’re lucky you can afford to save £300 a month. What are you moaning about exactly?

Why would you think it was wrong if that what you’re used to?

Aye. This.

I remember watching Tomorrow's World when I was little. We were promised all sorts of things, e.g. a 3 day week, loads of labour saving devices and decent leisure time / facilities. Instead, what's happened, is that wealth has been redistributed. Those at the top really really are at the top now, and the rest of us are just propping them up as if we've regressed to feudalism.

I had more disposable income in my 20s (bearing in mind I had my children young) than I do in my 50s.

You are taking home not that much more than the median, and saving every month and feel hard done by?

I think there was a “lucky” generation whose parents were able to spend money like water - I quote lucky as I think it’s led to a lack of happiness over all. Having grown up with far less- no takeaways , no yearly holidays, no tech - I feel happy that I live with a warm house and nice food ( mostly vegetarian and home cooked ) holidays ( yes camping , I like camping better than hotels ) and my small savings mount up over the years.

it’s sad so many people have grown up unhappy - you only live once so make the best of it

I'm fully expecting to get slammed for this, but so many people seem to just follow a default pattern of "school, degree, work, marriage, children, mortgage, retirement" without actually thinking about what that actually looks or feels like, and whether they'll actually enjoy it.

You don't need to join the rat race.

It’s epically shit, and yes you’ll be expected to be grateful you can save a small amount each month. The race to the bottom attitude where anyone who is ‘better off’ than someone else should just suck it up is fucked.

If our middle classes are struggling, we as a country are completely screwed. There is no more money to squeeze from the middle, the government won’t make their rich mates pay more, eventually they will come for the lower earners/benefits claimants in a big way. It’s already starting with the changes to PIP.

unfortunately @Janeerr I can’t see a way out. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere in the western world that isn’t suffering in a similar way. I don’t know where it’s going to end but it’s soul destroying.

It's all about perspective though isn't it. I'm living in my overdraft and would love to be able to put away £300 a month. So to me, you're in a very lucky position.No frivolous spending here either- it all goes on bills.

This is why UC has ended up being a terrible idea. The taxpayer is subsidising employers (including the State itself) who won’t pay a decent wage. Midwives should be on salaries that are way above a threshold for government help. It’s an important and responsible job for which you’ll have been trained. Same with teaching.

To me saving £300 a month is absolutely not achievable. We r literally hand to mouth every penny so Altho its not great the fact that you have savings is a luxury

So you are earning over £33k AFTER tax? So you need to look at what you do with the rest. You are saving £3,600. You are spending 29,400. What on.
How often do you eat out.
Do you lease a car and could you reduce the money spent there, when's the last time you shopped around for broadband, car and house insurance, phone contract?

could you save money by turning the heating down by a degree of 2, switching off lights?
Could you take some money from your isa and buy a car rather than lease..putting the money back via the reduced car payments?
are you someone who must have branded food...rather than own brand...do you use Sainsbury's rather than lidl? Could you cook ffrom scratch rather than processed foods....batch cooking saves time in the week
there are many ways to save money and still have a good life.

I can’t save anything on my salary! You are lucky! I am 56 and will never be able to retire!

I hear you OP.

You take home a similar amount to me but there are an infinite number of reasons why I feel like I’m doing okay.
The number 1 reason is that dh out earns me significantly so hardly any of my income goes towards bills (I pay for other things but it varies month to month). If you’re doing it on your own (guessing you are but not sure if it was mentioned) then no wonder you’re feeling the way you are.

I think we have really, really lost perspective in the UK of the level of expectations. An 'Instagram luxury lifestyle' isn't normal life for almost anyone and I don't think it was in the past either.

I presume the OP has a roof above their head (mortgage to eventually own, or rent), able to cover daily expenses, and her pension contribution has already been deducted before receiving her net salary.

What's the 300 pounds actually for, other than savings just in case? It's a luxury for the vast majority of people of the world, and even many people in the UK, to be able to save several thousand pounds a year.

300 pounds a month is half of many people's salary even in developed countries like Portugal, Italy etc.

It's good to have a rainy day fund, I have one, and I'd encourage most people to have one if they can afford it, but this asset accummulation, the expectations to have a large + nice house, a good car, annual luxury holidays etc... That puts you in the global 10%.

It's great that people with average jobs have 100K+ in savings, a house AND a pension in middle age, but on a global scale this is being comfortable.

For the majority of the world's population this isn't normal, 300 quid is a lot of money for them, and I'm pleased that it's possible to have comfort and security by working a normal job in this country. Count your blessings.

Totally understand, it’s shocking that it’s now harder to live on £40K. At least you can save a bit and hopefully have a pension.