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.

i agree with you OP. it's so frustrating and as i sit at my job slaving away for pennies i have to ask myself why im doing any of it?! jobs have always been soul sucking but now you dont even get a sort of decent lifestyle in return. im almost 30 and still live in a tiny 2 bed flat working full time which is not how i wanted my life to go really.

also university costs coming up must be an additional stress on you. university expenses are absolutely crazy now! student loan covers the fees but is nowhere near enough for everything else (rents, foods, study materials, leisure activities, etc) in many cases. and it's even worse than it was when i went, and i was basically locked out of entire regions for university even though i had grants and bursaries for being dirt poor. no wonder students are not bothering and trying to earn their degrees with AI, im not sure i could say i wouldnt do the same if i knew what was ahead of me as a late teenager now.

You could try house swapping. This is a cheap option with a family abroad. There are websites that facilitate this. The NCT used to do it as a cheap way to holiday.

Apart from it being in the OP, it's been pointed out time and again on this thread that she teaches at a private school.

And it has also been pointed out that her husband teaches in a state school and her child attends a state school so unless she wants to go on holiday alone, school holidays it is...

Depending on your subject, why not offer tutoring over the summer holidays? (Or even 1 night a week- you could charge up to £50 an hour for some subjects at GCSE/ A level or Common Entrance.)

You will get around 8 weeks, compared to the state system of 6, so you could work those until your DH is on holiday.

It was probably in the 90s.

Make that the 1970s

Re home swap, there’s even one agency just for teachers.

If you’re a teacher you will have about 12 weeks when you don’t have pupils in. Could you not use that time to tutor privately or take on a different job. That way you won’t have to work 7 days a week? That’s too much

My dh and I are both teachers on the same salaries as you and we both have to do tutoring 4 times a week each...it pays for our holiday!

In fact a quick
google shows there ismore than one such agency, but here’s an example www.we-teachers.com/en/concept-pricing

Why is your wage only £40k each? Are you both relatively newly qualified? In the UK? 80k is still a very good household income, I’d do a clear budget accounting for every penny. Online tutoring is good for extra money, I only do 1.5 hours a week and it’s an extra £200 a month.

I am really noticing this lately and it’s beginning to get me down a bit. (I know lots of people way worse off and am only comparing my own situation now with a few years ago). I can’t afford even halfway decent clothes, everything is horrible synthetic fabric and I’m hot all the time!
I’ve been cutting my own hair since covid. Switched to cheapest versions of all cosmetics etc and pared right back. Can’t get things fixed in the house or replace appliances/ furniture til they are completely necessary and urgent. We don’t even have a car. It’s shit.

I'm on SLT - so assistant headteacher. Before that I was HoD for quite a while, which put me on £50k. It's true that you can't get higher than UPS3 without taking on something extra, and sometimes that will mean having to move schools.

Hers at least sounds private so could take advantage of the much longer holidays they get

What did you both do before retraining as teachers? Does this help open any lucrative doors / career progression opportunities? I ask this because a teacher with a teenage son would usually have 15-25 years teaching experience and be on £48K+.

Between my job and UC etc I have about £26K a year as my total household income. I support 2 children and supplement my adult child on this.

I am able to run a car, keep the bills paid and afford a basic holiday this year. I really struggle to understand how a household on £80K is struggling. To me this was would be a luxury amount of money. Definitely outgoings rather than income.

This doesn't really add up. On a £85k mortgage you should be paying max £500-£600 a month capital repayment. You probably have a net income of at least £5000 pcm, even with credit card repayment of £8.5k I estimate you have £4000k a month for other bills and expenses. What am I missing?

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.

I was able to send DS1 a small amount each month to boost his loan (might just have paid for his food). I work full time and have another child to look after and support (lone parent).
DS2 will have the same (whatever loan he gets and a small amount from me). I think this is what most parent do, don't they? Most graduates leave with a lot of debt.

You at least have 2 incomes, £80,000! What kind of world do you live in that you don't realise how lucky you are

What were you both doing for work before Covid/teacher training? Is it worth one of you going back to that?

I really feel like I live in an alternate universe sometimes when I read MN.

Tax to high and poor public services

Politician taking public money like Jacob Rees-Mogg

Do you assume people have the same situation as you? Perhaps they live in a more expensive location for work purposes or have other costs which they cannot control.

Perhaps you have access to benefits and tax credits which they don't have?

80k isn't exactly millionaires, a 40k salary is pretty close to UK average.

Frightening how people perceive this to be high.

Living in the South East is monstrously expensive, I think 50-60k in the Midlands is equivalent to 100k in London.

You've not been teaching very long and so there should be plenty of of opportunity to improve both your salaries over time. Exam marking is very poorly paid - I’d go the private tutoring route instead.

Agree. It explains how we have 60% marginal tax rates.