To ask how you’re affording everything right now?

[Niftywigglesheep]

We’re two full time workers, 2 kids. We have a level of income per month on which we’ve based our budget on. However I’m unsure how everyone’s managing the increasing cost of life right now.

For example- our mortgage has gone up, our food shop, our petrol etc the cost of just basic living. We think we’re about £1000 less in disposable income each month which is huge due to the increased living costs .

Our salaries have not gone up in line with the increased costs so our normal budget for living like swimming lessons,
clothes etc is being really squeezed.

I find it really depressing- we both work full time, busy with being parents and we really don’t have much to show for it anymore and a bit sad that we work so hard with little to show and stress.

I feel like we absolutely should be able to buy ice creams on days out, go on holidays, not think about buying school uniform or paying for football etc but we really do and it’s horrible.

How’s everyone else dealing with it?

No kids, no pets.

Stopped buying expensive skincare and make up because there’s literally no difference and I’d rather use the money on M&S food shopping.

Don’t go extravagant with socialising with friends - usually coffees and walks or go to each others houses. I’ve never been one for regular takeaways. I don’t go on dates either so that saves me spending unnecessarily but I guess in the long term it would be good to have someone to pay bills with!

Live in an area that’s probably cheaper than average - but does also mean job prospects aren’t so great and I go on weekend trips to get away quite often so swings and roundabouts.

Cutting back is different to cutting out kids don't need multiple different clubs and activities or days out every weekend

Mostly we have never lived within our means. We had always lived much below them to save for uni, to buy cars outright, to plan for times such as these. When my friends got their first ‘proper ‘ jobs and financed brand new cars I was driving a £2 k clio.
If your mortgage is going to be a problem would you consider moving to somewhere smaller or cheaper?

I don’t think hundreds a month on dance lessons and costumes is a good use of funds when you then complain you don’t have enough money left for food and your children are eating out of the bottom of the freezer. Some people just aren’t very good with money though and that’s ok. I bar some want to hear them whinge about r we self inflicted situation.

Could your DH get to work by Public Transport or better still cycle if a reasonable distance?

You’re going to have to lower your expectations unfortunately. List what you ‘need ‘ to spend. There will be money left if you’re both working fulltime in well paid jobs.

This is how we are and how I've raised my kids to be. My daughter and her bf are in the process of buying their first home together and its nothing fancy but it's affordable perfect for a first home as a young couple

I know you won't want to hear it but when we had a disposable income, we disposed of it through overpaying the mortgage so as a result, we are used to living on less and now have lower outgoings.

We also didn't have things like a clothes budget, we just replaced as and when needed, so I'm genuinely interested in what that is in money or actual items. Do you buy new stuff and add it up and that amount becomes the budget for the next year (so school uniform, shoes, a wedding, play clothes =£1000÷12 is the monthly amount you save?) or do you just put say £50pm into the pot and buy clothes because you like clothes? If its the latter then that's not IMO a clothes budget, it's fun money that's spent on clothes (similar to how I'd consider a takeaway part of the fun budget rather than food budget).

We manage finances by each pooling £X into a joint account and all bills, from water to family days out and shared expenses come from that throughout the month. Anything left in personal accounts is fun money, so personal clothes, coffees out etc.

No one wants to live like us. Everyone wants the stuff and the days out and the coffees and the lunches. Make your home beautiful and you’ll want to spend time there. I don’t understand people who overstretch themselves for a house but then never spend a full day off ‘in it ‘.

I’m teaching my children that if you can’t afford to pay for it twice then you can’t afford it.

Mortgage paid off. DH has a decent pension and I work. We are comfortable

Exactly no credit cards, no debt, no cars on finance. Days out are a treat not a weekly event

It's a worry, I got a pay rise and promotion. 20% pay rise actually! Was amazing. First time I ever felt proud of myself and then a few months later I was made redundant

☹️ we have been selling on Vinted to help where possible. But I'm running out of things to sell and the job market is absolutely horrendous.

The only roles being advertised have salaries that were the same in 2011! I'm applying but not getting any interviews and I guess it's because I'm 40.

and in a recruiters exact words "corrr! Gettin' on a bit then!"

I have noticed that we don't pay for "entertainment" every week for days out.

No judgement at all for people who do, we have friends and family who take the kids out every weekend and I love that for them, but we tend to do more free stuff because the costly kids activities that we pay for are actually entertainment for the kids (my parents certainly couldn't have afforded music and swimming lessons and we were genuinely excited to have a day at the beach, a birthday trip to soft play or swimming and a summer big day out, so although sometimes I feel guilty, I try to remember how much I remember and loved those because they were a special treat and we really were very happy just climbing trees and playing in the park so please don't feel guilty about cutting back. Kids honestly just won't know to miss it. And tbhbi think half the time we pay for days out because its easier than being at home and doing boring pretend play and being on the kids level to kick a ball around.

it's not just Wages not going up it's interest rates have come down as well.

Our situation is slightly different as Dh owns a business and I am able to stay at home with the children but I have tried to be more conscious about our spending because I realised how much extra costs we were taking on for no reason.

-i have stopped buying ice creams/snacks out
-stopped buying a takeaway every weekend
-stopped the “quick trip” to the shops as it’s mutiple trips a week and averages £30 a time
-I take snacks or a lunch out for the kids
-stopped buying coffee out all the time and use what I have at home

there’s a certain standard of life I feel you’d expect with 2 full time earners
As always, expectations versus reality is the problem.

We don't run a car.
Don't eat meat and cook everything from scratch.
Obviously not possible for everyone.

We will be paying off much of our mortgage when our fixed rate tragically comes to an end later this year - fortunately with a windfall that I had hoped to use on something more fun.
We are considering getting a lodger later this year.

On the surface, I'm still doing everything, we still go on days out, buy ice cream, kids activities etc. But behind the scenes everything's been cut. Half of the kids clothes are from pass it on, topped up with vinted or asda. Painting & decorating myself insted of getting people in. Packed lunches and water bottles go everywhere, and are packed with aldi own brand. My car is tiny and full efficient and the heating is on less (on at all for the last month, but only a couple of hours before that).

We have a high income and our bills have gone up, but we have always kept our spending below our means, and squirrelled our bonuses away in longer term savings. So we always have the option of saving a bit less if necessary. We overpay the max allowed on our mortgage annually so we have the option of not doing that if things get tight.

We bought a house that we could comfortably afford rather than towards the top of our potential borrowing so that although obviously the mortgage has gone up, it is still comfortably affordable. If we had bought at the max affordability then we’d be significantly worse off now with the rates going up.

We’re quite lucky that the petrol prices aren’t a huge issue for us because neither of drive huge distances for work but I know my friend was saying if the price stays as it is or continues to rise at the same rate then she will be £150 worse off a month just on petrol.

I wish I'd done this - would've saved us £600 a month for five years

We made a very conscious decision not to buy the sort of house you’d expect someone on our incomes to live in. Our house is plenty big enough for the 4 of us but nowhere near as big as the house I grew up in. At the time we made the decision it was because we love travelling and having at least one fab holiday a year was more important than a huge house. Plus we saw that the only direction mortgage rates could go was up. The result was we managed to overpay the mortgage and were mortgage free in 15 years. That means we have good savings, good pensions and both kids being at uni isn’t crippling us despite the cost of everything going up.

Two of us working full time and we’re doing okay. BUT

• I live in a small house, probably small enough that many would look down on it (kids share a room)
• I buy some of the kids clothes from charity shops
• I work from home, so have no commuting costs
• I do all of the cleaning and any redecorating needed myself

We’re just about managing, though we have no children and no car. I’m on disability benefits, but my DP works full-time.

We make the most of free activities on the weekends, so we only need to pay for bus fare.

We only buy what we need.