To have thought our lower income was enough?

[BraOffPjsOn]

Ok so after all these posts where people with huge monthly incomes are worried about a mortgage payment, am I being mad to think that an income (after tax monthly) of around £3500 is enough for a mortgage of around £1200-1300?

I had thought it would be ok but after those posts I feel like maybe I’m wrong!

We’ve got an income of 4500 and mortgage of 1200. It feels tight sometimes but that’s also because of other bills that have increased, some because of the house size that mortgages enables. We also do have a decent lifestyle - ‘tight’ is more holidays, new clothes etc.
but, we’re in it for the long term and it’ll get easier as the ltv improves. We’re also probably over insured in several places which drives bills up

We could live on that, as in we would eat and have heat and power and all the basics, but it would be a massive change in standard of life. We would have to cut out a lot of things that we enjoy, reduce holidays, trips, stuff we do for ourselves, kids classes, etc. If you live very frugally and have no desire to change that then it might be doable. But you will be committing to that kind of lifestyle for the long term.

Have you done a proper budget that includes absolutely everything? As if you’re putting money aside for emergency funds, holidays, car and home maintenance, new clothes, Christmas, birthdays, personal care such as haircuts, dentist, boiler maintenance, replacing tech and household items, all that kind of stuff, that’s hundreds of pounds a month over and above what your ‘bills’ are. And not accounting for stuff like this is often why people can’t work out why they don’t ever have any money leftover when on paper they earn X amount more than their bills.

Our mortgage is £1100 and we’d find it tight on £3,500 a month but our fixed bills are high (gas/water/elec are c £400 a month and council tax is a ludicrous £413 although that’s for 10 months of the year). Add in food, internet, phones, kids activities (but no childcare) and we wouldn’t be living the same lifestyle that we do now.

I’d agree with others, put the extra aside for 6 months and see how you feel/what unexpected expenses crop up.

Wouldn't the banks or other mortgage people be better to advise than a forum?

Wow id think that was very easy to do.

My income isy nearly 2k per month lower than hours but I don't have the £1100 mortgage. If I did it would still leave me nearly £900 a month better off then I am now

. Although my bills are not so ridiculous. Council tax is £125 ( band c with 25% discount ') and utilities are a fraction of that.

I actually don't think it is possible now that I've looked properly.

You would be spending all of your money on the house leaving very little left over to actually enjoy life.

It depends what you want though, our lifestyle includes netflix, gym, pets, Spotify, phones and we aren't frugal on the food shopping. I can buy a lamb leg for a roast if I fancy it and 2 bottles of wine to go with it. I have always said I will only get a bigger house if we can still have the same lifestyle we do now without having to cut back but perhaps you are more willing to be frugal with your food shop, don't need a gym membership.

Go through your bank statements, add up everything you have paid for the whole of 2025 so far but use the higher figures for the mortgage, don't forget to increase council tax, bills, insurances because of the increase in the size of the house. Also factor in interest rises in the future and your children costing more but you can also factor in pay increases if they are likely too.

Yes of course and when we’re ready to place the house on the market we’ll get valuations and an agreement in principle.

I think it’s helpful to see what others think is manageable though as they’re living it.
Also we have a lot of equity in the current house so I think it seems to skew what the calculators say they’d offer us and I want real life advice from people who have been in similar situations.

So are you paying a higher mortgage on a lower income then?
How do you find it?

Just looking at the calculators again (I know they are only an indicator and might not offer as much although some people say the bank then offers more!)

It says they would lend us £320,000 over 25years - this with a current fix is £1600 a month!
Obviously we know this isn’t manageable but it seems crazy that that’s what is calculated!

Our mortgage is £1200 a month and our take home is £5500 pcm. £3500 would seem a bit low if I’m honest.

@FedupofArsenalgame I’m not saying it isn’t doable, but we wouldn’t have the same lifestyle we do now if we had a £3.5k income (our income is higher, so we don’t have to worry about money/watch what we spend).

I know we’re very lucky, and lifestyle creep has definitely been a factor in why £3.5k would feel tight for us - but part of lifestyle creep is what the OP is considering - buying the bigger house because you can, which makes other bills increase.

Before the energy crisis we spent a fraction of that on utilities, and I still thought it was too much! Our house isn’t even warm in winter 😂. Bloody putin.

I have found the 1/3 of your income idea ok.

However, with food, utilities, transport and council tax being higher now there is an absolute amount you need left with. There's only so little you can eat. You should know how much those essential costs are already?.

I also think things like how the earnings are split matter. Are you relying heavily on one person being fit to work and not made redundant.

Whether you have savings for a rainy day or would moving wipe out every penny, so a boiler breaking is a big deal.

Whether you realistically will get pay rises or have hit peak career..

What your plan is if interest rates go up by the end of a fix.

Our mortgage payment is that and we would definitely struggle if our income dropped by 700 to 3500/month but if you can save 900/month with 810 mortgage at the moment then a1300 mortgage seems fine for you and you would still have 400/month for saving and house DIY etc

When we started our outgoings were roughly 1/3 mortgage (incl overpayment), 1/3 living costs, 1/3 savings and we lived comfortably
We moved and had a child stopped overpaying our mortgage and our outgoings were roughly 1/4 mortgage, 1/4 living costs, 1/4 nursery and 1/4 savings

Child is now in school but I have been made redundant and we are very glad to have our mortgage and living costs to be covered by one salary. I found out I was pregnant the same day I lost my job and we are looking at 18+m on a single salary and very glad we went for a house towards the lower end of our budget as it's given us a bit of breathing room now.

I would look at the total expenditure for running the house for the year and affordability on either salary on it's own. The redundancy in my company came out of the blue, they announced they were having my team and within 3 weeks I was unemployed!

Absolute essential outgoings including food is £3235 for us with a £1300 mortgage. We don't have car payments, or high childcare costs. Having £265 to cover any presents, kids activities, clothes, memberships, emergency repairs, etc would be extremely tight and there'd be no chance of a holiday ever

Lots of variables - essential transport, type of diet , social environment for the children as that can affect expectations- but quite a normal sort of budget and people are managing and having sone treats and holidays

No I have paid it off now. Hence why I can afford to earn less. It was tight when kids were were small though. The mortgage was around 40% of my income but we just lived more simply.

Wow!
Nearly 2k of essentials after the mortgage is paid which isn’t car finance or childcare costs. What do you count as essential?

We don’t have cars on finance and our childcare is low as we juggle drop off and collection.

Water: 105
Gas&electric: £155
Wifi: £28
Mobile bills: £22
Tv licence: £15
Car tax: £14
Childcare: £88
Swimming lessons: £76
Union: £20

Then it’s just fuel (I work around the corner and DS is a 15min drive away) so not a big commute.
Food - which we’re careful with but eat out or takeaway occasionally.

Then the mortgage which at the moment is £810

So now add up all the other things that need to be budgeted for but not necessarily paid for monthly.

Council tax
Life insurance
Car insurance
MoT and repairs
Family trips
New clothes
Haircuts
Dental
Other personal care stuff
Boiler service
Home maintenance
Holidays
Christmas
Family birthdays and parties
Birthdays for school friends etc
Replacing household items
Emergency fund in case of job losses

and so on.

For us, this stuff adds a big chunk more every month that needs to be put aside as it all has to be paid from somewhere.

council tax: 227
Water: 105
Gas&electric: £155
Wifi: £28
Mobile bills: £22
Tv licence: £15
Car tax: £14
Childcare: £88
Swimming lessons: £76
Union: £20

Then it’s just fuel (I work around the corner and DS is a 15min drive away) so not a big commute.
Food - which we’re careful with but eat out or takeaway occasionally.

Then the mortgage which at the moment is £810

(Not sure how I missed the council tax off!)

When I was looking for a mortgage I wanted repayments to be under 30% of my take home income. This gives you wiggle room for rate increases and means you aren't working to pay the mortgage and nothing else.

It certainly is area dependent. A mortgage of £800+ (going off the cheapest figures mentioned here) would give me the heebie jeebies. It's so expensive and I don't know how anyone manages to pay that much each month. I live in an area where you can still buy a house for under £100k (granted you will have limited choice but still) and a mortgage below £500 a month. But salaries match. I have a job that is considered a profession and the maximum salary for my role is £34k. So I guess it's swings and roundabouts.

£400ish but we're coming to the end of our fixed rate so...

A lot is going on necessary house repairs plus in the last few months our washing machine has died, our TV broke and the oven went a fortnight ago. The boiler also needs replacing.

If you're 40/50 then yeah £57k is quite low. DH £100k pre tax in his mid 40s