To wonder how people are coping?

[CobbleWobble]

We are very lucky, I know this.

We are "Mumsnet rich" both have professional jobs with good salaries (£170k household income) and yet this last 12 months:

• removed children from private school
• changed how we do the weekly shop to reduce costs
• cut subscriptions (like Disney+ etc)
• reduced what I bought in the back to school shop
• decided against a holiday in October half term
• concerned about our usual Christmas food order

What is going on? I just don't understand why or how prices are rising as they are or how people on less than us are coping!

I'm extremely grateful we have the things to cut that we have but we've also had to remortgage this year which has doubled our mortgage payments and then our utilities have increased and the food shop has just got insane.

We have other things we can cut - a holiday in the UK, Netflix, the monthly takeaway but its just miserable to think we may need to do that just not to be living.

Happy to post spending particulars if people are finding it hard to see where I'm coming from.

So AIBU to think that as a country we cannot go on with prices rising like this? How are others coping?

Apparently the price of mince has doubled???

It must be bad

You're not mumsnet rich your are extremely well off, if you can't live on 170k you're doing something seriously wrong.

I and everyone i know earns a lot less than you but we can afford a Disney subscription and a holiday and we live comfortably too. So we are coping fine.

We have a similar income to you. We have children in private school and still have our subscriptions, holidays etc. Is your mortgage very large?

Because instead of the goverment getting a grip on things they are just letting it happen.
Net zero is a issue that we cannot afford to be doing right now, brexit is a massive inflation issue, the fact the energy companies are allowed to charge through the roof with no regulation is a massive issue, the water companies dumping sewage into the rivers etc and then claiming back paying for fines through their customers etc etc
Then you the wars etc.
Also don’t forget Trump sticking traiffs on things! Cant forget that.

I’m guessing it’s your mortgage. London??

170k and you had to cancel Disney + with that and no more school fees you must slightly better off, no ?

Jesus, what happened that you had to take your kids out of private school and that still wasn't enough to allow you to maintain your usual shopping habits?

But....how will you get to see the live action Stitch movie?

Its pretty easy to see where you're coming from. You're basically paying your mortgage twice by comparison with last year and its taking all your disposable income and some of your essentials budget, like food. It must be an absolutely huge mortgage though if it makes all that much difference. Other people are managing better because they don't have that enormous burden and have enough disposal income as a result to weather the extra costs of other things.
My DDs household income is less than a third of yours. Other circumstances similar, but their mortgage is £500 pm so they haven't had to cut back on any of these things. They just save less. They didn't pay school fees in the first place, obviously.

What are you spending your money on?

Goodness OP that’s a big salary compared to many. Do you have a huge mortgage payment, half your monthly take-home or something?
We are doing OK but shocked how much we are spending and how little we’re able to save, so making some changes like where we shop.

you are not just rich, you are extremely well off. It takes some balls to come here and play the fiddle. If you are struggling on that amount, you obviously live beyond your means/are crap with money. No amount of ridiculous pay can fix that.

What are you eating over Christmas to worry about it at 170k a year? It's said you had to remove the DC out of their schools but all the other cuts are normal for most households, I think.

We have similar to your income and are doing fine. Obviously costs of everything are increasing, but we have always lived comfortably within our means so still have spare money despite increased school costs, food etc.

Regardless of income, if you spend close to your income, obviously you will have to reduce outgoings when prices increase. With budgets like ours, at least we have options. When people are living on a lot less and only having the basics to start with, there isn’t much they can cut out to decrease their outgoings.

You must be doing something wrong.
Less than half your household income and feel fairly comfortable.

Sounds like you’ve overstretched yourself massively with the mortgage. We earn about a third of what you make and have a very comfortable life with holidays and weekends away all year, subscriptions and decent food etc., that said we owe absolutely nothing, no mortgage, no loans.

I want to know what on Earth you were planning to buy in your Christmas shop if you can’t afford it despite now having the money saved from private school fees (must be at least £1k per month per child) extra!

Social media is full of posts like this. I assume it's Russian/Reform bots telling us how awful life is all the time.

I mean, you'll likely not get a lot of sympathy here - our income is jointly 80k for 2 FT workers. with a mortgage and we still have booked 3 holidays for next year (2 in the UK) and have prime and Disney+.

Happy to help try to balance the books if you give a breakdown though - our mortgage is around £1500 a month.

You are going to get slaughtered! Why not post in the Money forum?

I can only assume you have a massive mortgage and childcare costs because having to cut down on £170k seems implausible.

You just have a huge mortgage to be cutting a £10 Disney subscription

You are not 'Mumnset rich', you are top 10% of earners in the UK rich.

Fuck me. I'm on a state pension. Good thing I don't like Disney.