To ask you honestly what are your first thoughts on seeing this?

[gemful]

NC’d for this

A couple. 2 dc (no childcare)
A brand new, new build house. Mortgaged.
Two brand new cars.
They don’t dress designer but the present well.
She has a few designer handbags.
gadgets are always good brands, latest I phones, shark hairdryers, robot hoover.
very organised and tidy home, both work full time in good jobs.
They do family outings every few weekends but not every weekend.
Honesty, what are your first thoughts?!

What is "dress designer"? If we are doing knee jerk reactions I assume the op is into tiktok and made in Chelsea

That's quite a low income tbh. Surprised you manage to get what you have, does your DH earn similar?

Presumably the kids are teenagers if their parents work fulltime and have no childcare? The family are clearly well-off and look to be managing everything well, but that description makes them sound a bit bland.

Oh give over. OK you might earn a lot more, but it’s not that shabby.

I would think they live a different life to me.

I'd be minding my own effing business. 🙄 You really have time on your hands.

Tbh what stands out to me is your sister is not your friend.

We all earn different amounts as siblings and live quite different lifestyles. Neither of us overshare in a bragging way but we are happy for each other although none of us are struggling. I have a dear friend in a completely different tax bracket from me who never shares holiday snaps, I mentioned it once and she said it might come across as bragging and tone deaf so she doesn't. I appreciated on social media it might come across that way but not to me. She now sends me a slew of photos of the food they eat on holiday and I love it because I love her.

So my advice would be tell your sister bluntly to stop asking questions she doesn't want to know the answer to. Otherwise live your life and enjoy it, you really don't have to justify your purchases to anyone.

Where I’m from you’d not be an average family; you’d be considered very well off indeed.

You must have a very high household income to be able to save so hard. And buy designer bags, hairdryers that cost 20 times as much as a regular model etc.

Not average in the least.

I would think nothing.

He would have to earn at least £60k, if not more.

£7k take home a month wouldn't be enough for this lifestyle.

Honestly @gemful you sound just like my family - except for the designer bags - not my thing. I'd rather spend that money on extra holidays, and do.

Your neighbour and others making mean comments are jealous. That's sad.

I would think they were wealthy, because most people I know do not have all of those things. I wouldn’t hold it against them, or anything. I’m sure it’s nice for them. I would get a bit annoyed if they constantly drew attention to their new car, fancy hairdryer etc.

Screw your neighbour, sister and friends. Next time they saw, a don't know, "wow, another handbag", just reply, "I know right, isn't it gorgeous!!" Etc etc. Enjoy your life and fuck everyone else.

Low income?

OP earns twice the national average salary.

Yes, seriously. I’d think it was unfortunate that their kids were in after school club or left to get on with their homework on their own every day and that they couldn’t afford to work less.

What do you mean modelling an expectation? That a new car takes priority over time with family?

They’ve got fairly decent jobs and no kids. Not out of the ordinary but nice for them

Apparently I can’t read. 🤣

Wouldn’t it?

If you have no car on finance, no childcare, surely you’d have a disposable income of a few thousand a month. Which you could easily spend on bags.

They may not want to work less?

My partner and I work circa 100hrs a week between us, and neither of us would want any different.

We’re not all forced into full time work, a lot of us choose it.

Nothing….I’d think nothing not all.

If I knew you I’d probably think nice house. But the other parts are not important to me. What you spend your money on is your business. I don’t think I’m materialistic. If my neighbour was commenting I’d think they were nosy/jealous. Turn it back on them op. Does it matter kind of comment?

My observation is that everyone thinks they can comment on this stuff about middle earners.

I closed mumsnet yesterday after someone started a thread along the lines of "had a shitty year, want to spend £1k on Christmas day" and she was pounced on with virtue signalling, no doubt from people with good earnings, going on about how someone else might be struggling and might read it and be upset (no thought given to how insulting that actually is to people who are struggling and aren't particularly bothered by what someone else spends their money on).

Op someone asked about your hairdryer- sorry to ama you but thoughts on hoovers? If you don’t like dysons are you a Henry fan or shark like the hairdryer?

The number of people on this thread with warped ideas of wealth is shocking. DH and I earn about £42k between us and while we aren’t wealthy, we aren’t poor. We have 2 10 year old cars (nothing fancy), don’t go on holidays but do go camping occasionally, kids are in childcare but family help out too. We have a few luxuries, but most of our money goes on living expenses, and that’s fine. That’s normal.

We did have a panic this time last year, when my 18 year old workhorse car was written off, but we managed to get a small loan for a replacement.

It would come across as quite conspicuous consumption to me but not choices I'd make, and I'd assume a good salary or use of credit.