£50

[Fakedogdoesnotlookrealistic]

Left until paid…likely tomorrow…this is a good month! usually have less by the end of the month
Both in good jobs-me-university educated, professional occupation. Dh-college educated, managerial position.
We have a mortgage, car, one child, piano & dance lessons, no overdraft or credit cards, but a couple of quite small loans, we never have anything really left by the end

Is it just us?

How much do you have left just before pay day

I have £70 left for a week till pay day. This is for food and fuel, although I don't need to really go anywhere so I should be ok with the fumes I have in the tank.

It absolutely could be real. Similar theme to the thread about Panorama the other day. Lots of people may not be absolutely on the
breadline but feel like should be a bit easier when on paper they've done everything 'right' . There's nothing wrong with those people having a discussion. If it offends you, dont read it. I don't think these posters are unaware that they are more fortunate than some.

I must live on a different planet.

I live in my own flat, walking distance to the city centre. I cover everything for less than 1k a month and save a few hundred as well.

Do you have dependent? Pay a mortgage or rent? And which city? There are so many variables.

I'm often short for a few days depending on when I get paid. If I'm lucky I might have £50 left. Very rarely.

But my expenses are lower and circumstances different.

I guess you could reduce the frequency of the music lessons? So everything two weeks instead of weekly?
Are they both definitely fully into playing? If they're motivated to practice then I guess that might save some money?

I don't doubt that the scenario in general is real. It's pretty commonplace. It is the complete lack of emotional intelligence and understanding of the current economy that gives it away as not real. Nobody who owns an almost mortgage free house, a car and dance lessons is that poor. A human would read the room and maybe whine about it with friends or family in a less distasteful setting as opposed to putting it on a public forum where some people are literally on their knees trying to feed their kids.

As it is said so many times on this forum, it isn't a race to the bottom. Folk can have nice things and still have money worries. It doesn't detract or make light of the poverty that some others live in.

What makes you think it’s not real? Because OP has more money than you?? Genuinely baffled

I had £2477 in my current account before I got paid yesterday. HTH

I dont see it as that insensitive compared to the ones where people are on over £100k and complaining! I'm in the same boat as op and our income is at / just below the national average so I'm sure its very normal?

Normally a few hundred, but because of a random expense I've got about 5p in my account this month and had to borrow some from savings to get to that point

She's not saying they're poor is she? Just wondering if its normal that a supposedly 'good' income can be entirely eaten up with not very extravagant things. Everyone lives in the 'real world', just different parts of it and one is no less worthy of discussion than another.

Most months I’ll end with around the same but I am putting £150-£350 into savings at the start. DP gets paid weekly so if the joint account starts to look a bit empty he’ll put a top up in so I never really have to draw back out of savings.

We’re probably very middle of the road, we’re not struggling but equally do not have an extravagant lifestyle. There is money for a takeaway/meal out at somewhere like Nando’s/Zizzi/Cote, we go on a week long summer holiday, city break and UK getaway each year. We can enjoy days out. Cars are regular models several years old and fully owned.

In today’s COL crisis I’d take a positive balance at the end of the month as a win

Feeling annoyed that I don’t get paid til Monday tbh!

I am normally around that on payday but I do slide a chunk off into savings at start of the month and can dip into that if needed

I’d argue that talking about money can be quite difficult, especially when the economic divide is widening. If you’re unsure about finances why not post on an anonymous forum to see what the general consensus is?

FWIW not everyone is struggling or living like a king, there are quite a few of us that manage ok in the middle

It's all relative.
We're early 30s and save £2k a month, and then anything left in the account the day before payday is chucked into savings too. But we live in the midlands, have a mortgage of £680 a month and earn alright money. My sister in law somehow manages to spend every penny by the third week of the month and usually has nothing to show for it. Different strokes.

1,364.49. But some of that will need to go to the credit card to pay off things like shopping and Amazon.

It could be worse, you could be this couple. They've never had it so bad.
www.joe.co.uk/politics/pensioners-forced-to-sell-their-boat-say-they-feel-hung-out-to-dry-by-labour-463406

It depends if that's left after you have been buying things throughout the month or if that was all there was after essentials only?

Once your loans are repaid you'll be better off. Can you restructure them to an interest free credit card?

Oh bless you, you really don't understand do you, you could not be more wrong about me. This is not about me. This is about having the emotional intelligence to understand the trauma that others are going through. I would like to hope that the opening post is not written by a human because it lacks any humanity.

To be fair piano lessons are a luxury! We pay £18 per lesson, so in a year that's over £700 term time!!

I'd also recommend keeping a spending diary. You'll be surprised sometimes how easy it is to spend money without realising.

Nope, not just you - I'm a director (3rd sector medium size charity mind you), DH works in the wine biz in London. We live pretty much live paycheque to paycheque. Maybe a few quid to spare come the end of the month; any frivolous spending (e.g. "oh, I'll go and get my haircut next week") went out of the window about 6 months ago.

Oh give over..how unnecessarily dramatic. Not every thread on a social media chat site has to be life and death and showing constant awareness of all the possible effects ...can people with one child not complain about secondary infertility because those with none will be upset..how tone deaf! Can people with difficult parents not complain because they aren't dead? Its perfectly reasonable fir one sector of the population to have a conversation that is in a different sphere to another.