To think middle-class people pretend they’re “struggling” just to feel relatable?

[SnarkyMintWren]

They’ve got houses, cars, holidays, yet they moan about the cost of living like they’re on the breadline. AIBU to think it’s performative “struggle” for sympathy?

OP reads as a ‘journalist/agent of super rich media owners aimed at getting the working class and so called MC who are still only 3 paychecks from poverty to fight amongst each other for the ever dwindling crumbs and ignore them.

Who, the single mums on 16 hours a week and benefits or the middle class mummies refusing to work 16 hours a week to pay for a holiday and moan they can't afford one while refusing to work for it.

Apples and oranges.

Yeah but neither are paying tax or bettering their income. And that's what you were on about. It's really the same thing. People moan about things within their control all the time, even the working class.

Flash on finance. Most are drowning in debt trying to keep up.

Whether you have to tighten your belts from £100 per week to £90, or from £50 to £40, it still will hurt!

For pretty much everyone these days life is shitter than they expected it to be. Tbh if someone has sacrificed, worked hard to be successful and made hard decisions their entire life and they still feel broke then I've got no problem with them having a little moan about it.

I also think it's easy to dismiss the huge impact circumstances and location have on relative wealth. A teacher who is a single parent earning 40k could be living quite comfortably in Burnley but needing to use a foodbank in London for example.

There's a huge difference between a single mum restricted to school hours and the types of jobs with those hours and the pay that goes with it and the middle class mums woth husbands capable of childcare, who are typically on higher salaried jobs refusing to go back.

What's the personal allowance per year and how many hours does someone on £20k pa need to work to earn above that and pay tax?

What would you, as a single mum with no dad on the scene, do to better your income?

Genuinely, maybe you can solve this problem for the single mums struggling out there?

Most of the middle class complaining I see is dual income households who are run ragged trying to keep i
all the plates spinning, while still not being able to afford the lifestyle they’d expected.

The middle class stay at home mum expecting a fancy house and multiple holidays a year must be a rare bird in 2025.

I’m reminded of a friend of ours, who got SS or the NHS to pay half the cost of adaptations to his home - grab rails, higher toilet seat, etc.
When he died (dh was an executor) he left over £1m cash and 2 houses paid off.

It was in direct response to your comment about paying for holidays and taxes. Nothing else.

@SaladAndChipsForTea
Your comments are offensive to single mums/ parents. There are single mums working highly paid jobs. Just because you are single parent it doesn’t mean you are restricted to certain jobs.
You could retrain/ change careers if you want to earn a higher income.

Out of curiosity, how many middle class, stay at home mums do people know? When mine were little, it wasn’t that uncommon when kids were under five, and then as soon as they hit school, they found jobs. Nowadays, I’m not aware that this was so common.

I don’t know a single woman who doesn’t work unless they have significant caring responsibilities.

GDP per capita in the UK only returned to 2007 levels in 2024. In that time, inflation has increased prices by 70%

The UK is now a desperately poor country that still thinks it's rich, and that a majority of people should be able to live a rich-country lifestyle. It is self-delusion on a grand scale.

And there are plenty who aren't.

Tell me, how does a mum limited to 16 hours a week retrain and better themselves?

My gripe isn't with them. It's with the families who bitch that they can't afford nice middle class things like swimming classes but refuse to actually work because their husband does and they couldnt possibly do shift work and paying for childcare would be equivalent to their wages (which isnt true for the moddle class mums I know).

To be fair, nursery fees round here are the equivalent of a gross income of around 35-40k.

I know three working professional jobs that limit themselves to around 10 hours per week. Two have very engaged husbands/fathers.

No additional care responsibilities other than primary kids with no SEN and no mental health or physical disabilities.

They just like a low stress life. Which is fine, enjoy it, but it grinds my gears that they then moan they can't afford holidays or swimming classes when they choose not to up their hours.

That would annoy me too. I don't know anyone in that position and I've never met anyone personally who's complained about financial strain without taking what measures they could to alleviate it.

@SaladAndChipsForTea
To answer your question they would look at career options and study/ train for them. Why should they be limited to low paying jobs/ limited career options? Lots of options out there if you want it. Children need less care as they get older.