To think that life is too expensive?

[Gffbjjgfddbjkkm]

Feel so frustrated.

I work full-time teaching in one of the most expensive schools in the world. DH works full time too. We each earn about £40k.

I'm having to take on a weekend job, just to be able to scrape by to afford to send DS to university next year. Who wants to work seven days a week?!

Would love a really decent holiday, but can't afford that.

I'm sick of working so hard work with nothing but financial stress. Neither of us is likely to inherit much, if anything.

Hi @Gffbjjgfddbjkkm for me it’s your credit card debt that really sticks out as the potential issue here, you must be paying a fortune in interest atm. Can you get a 0% cc deal, a quick glance on MSE there appears to be some 24 month 0% cards, might give you the chance to get a chunk paid off?

You don't have to apologise - it's more a case of a huge concern where all your money is going when you should have huge amounts left over.

I'd be going over everything VERY carefully - your DH doesn't have a gambling habit does he?! Who does all the financial stuff?

Forgot they get nearly as much holidays off as teachers in Ireland😂

Slightly puzzled by the ‘one of the most expensive schools’ but not working 6 days a week as they are usually boarding school which include Saturdays. If it is a boarding school is there a possibility to move on-site? Then you can rent out your house

Youare still early career being only 4 years post training. Can you start looking for promotions - head of year etc….

Life is expensive but I would love to only have 80K left on my morgage so you arent doing too badly

I work a set number of Saturday mornings per year. So often work 5.5 days per week

And I’ve not seen a haven holiday in the summer break for £500 for a long time!

It is boarding, but I, with my family, aren't entitled to live on-site.

I'm always keeping my eye out for promotions. Will keep more on top of it though.

@Gffbjjgfddbjkkm can DS commute to university? Idk how far away from London you are, but people commute in from like Billericay.

Sorry for not responding properly to everyone. Watching a sports activities

I was going by what Google said.
(also bit embarrassed I said "£20 a month" when I meant a week 😳)

You have both retrained and started again in a different career so you are in the early stages of teaching. I taught an evening class at that stage to earn extra, and colleagues did exam marking. We were younger of course.

Won't you receive annual increments for a few years yet? And when you gain more experience you should be good candidates for promotion.

I realise it's tough especially where you live but surely better times are ahead?

Will your DS be working in the holidays ?

Or

While he is at uni ?

I agree op. Although it will be affecting people differently.

Dh earns around 50k, I earn around 20k working part time. I’ve just taken on a second job.

We do ok but once all the bills and mortgage are paid, food shop done. There is little left for anything like a holiday or days out.

People will say it’s lifestyle, but we drive an old car that we own, we have a takeaway maybe once a month, never buy takeaway coffee or lunches out.

There are always a few large expensive’s throughout the year. Car insurance, Christmas, birthdays, replacing something in the house or new tyres.

Fuel bills have doubled in the last few years, council take has gone up 10%, food shop has gone up 25%,.

We went on a very nice holiday in 2019, it cost 3k. The same holiday today would be 6k.

Salaries just haven’t gone up enough to absorb these extra costs.

I have friends who bought their houses 10 years earlier than us and have paid off their mortgages. Housing costs are a big part of it I think.

I also have friends that simply never go on holiday and certainly not abroad.

The private schools round here, midlands, break up at the end of June, so 8/9 weeks for summer, 3 weeks for both Easter and Christmas, 2 weeks for October half term plus two one week half terms, so much longer holidays than state! They mostly do Saturday school too, so wouldn’t be much scope for a second job!

Although I do sympathise OP, literally everything is much more expensive than 10 yrs ago.

£80k for a two adult household is NOT a massive income

It sounds like both your and DH earnings are likely to improve quite rapidly as you are early in your teaching careers so that is something.
My advice is don’t hang out with the rich and privileged unless you want to feel poor!
Reality is that huge number of us are working long and hard and yet not able to achieve the standard of living this would have provided in past decades. Not good.

But shes a teacher so can't go out of term time

Op work out your tax home pay, minus any student loan and pension.

40k sounds like a lot but after tax, income tax, ni tax, student loans, pensions ect, then council tax then mortgage...it's not a lot at all

www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php

We had 5 nights at haven only 3 weeks ago for £180 for 2 adults,1 child and a dog
Didnt go for the cheapest caravan choice and club passes/swimming slots for the week were included ! We had a great time

Utilities and council tax £350 a month?

Ours total £525 - and we have solar panels which bring the electricity costs down

That's a matter of opinion.
Maybe it's not a "massive" income but it's a "decent" one.

I was thinking the same thing- our council tax alone is £315 a month. Combined council tax and utilities are £780 a month!

OP is a teacher!!

Move out of the SE when your child goes to university. As teachers there will be vacancies in many other areas where housing is significantly cheaper. You could even go mortgage free and have holidays!