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?

Im okay as i live alone, rent bills and food shop is really cheap for me.

We earn pretty well so can afford the increases, but we don’t want to lower the amount we save so the increases are mainly eating into our disposable income. Our pay rises aren’t quite keeping up with the increased nursery fees along with everything else. So we are spending less on days out and eating out mainly. When we go on days out we are tending to take picnics instead of buying lunch out for example.

It’s not just rising prices and stagnant wages that has caused this, it’s also frozen tax thresholds which haven’t been rising inline with inflation.

Honestly: no kids. Low mortgage due to a chunk of the house as large deposit. Low rate so overpaying as will go up next year. House prices increased massively in the 9 years but we are up north. We heat at 18/19ish but not all day everyday

My gym is at home: i do spin, yoga, kettle bells and bands. We walk everywhere possible and have some lovely nature walks locally so cheap couple hours. Only one car, which is partners and minimal journeys as he WFH: use public transport for many days out/evening out etc. i walk two of my 4 shifts

Ive never had much money growing up and im Band 4 nhs which is £31k ( low according to mumsnet) and my other half is not materialistic so we don’t have to have the latest tech; i’ll buy a phone every 3/4 years. We are happy with ikea furniture. Holidays are euro city breaks, or u.k breaks and saving over several years for a longer haul one.

We save before we buy or do house refurb stuff so no loans or credit to pay off monthly. No car finance or lease. It’s bought. We do shop Ocado. But buy the ocado or cheaper m&s brand etc. Don’t buy alcohol at home

We eat out, have a take away, have a few drinks . We defo don’t deprive ourselves but it’s not every single week. We also manage to save a little and have public sector pensions.

I’m sorry but it’s just not plausible that your DH’s petrol costs have gone up by £400/month. Petrol is up about 30p/ litre. Call it 40p to be generous. For your bill to have risen by £400 he would have to be using a thousand litres a month. In a 30mpg car that’s the equivalent of driving London to Edinburgh every day.

I've not. I've cancelled what I can cancel, changed what I buy, go without anything I can.

You have to work with what you've got.

Me cutting costs by using budget supermarkets, switching utility bills, using savings.

DB and his wife and 2 young kids aren’t saving anything at all. She’s the bigger earner so pays for most things, his salary pays for nursery for toddler. He’s got a chest infection now though and can’t afford to take time off. Plus he needs carpal tunnel op on both wrists, toddler will have to be taken out of nursery because they can’t afford it. DB used to have lots of film and tv work but a lot of that no longer in London and longer hours not suitable with young family, really.

Same. I buy far less clothes and stuff than I used to.

40 is still young in career terms. With the retirement age where it is, you’ve potentially got almost 30 more working years ahead of you!

I earn just under 29k, my bills not including food and petrol are around 1k a month. I just about manage with small treats but no holidays for example.

I think a lot of people have to money to live but not the live the lifestyle they want (which is shit) because everything is going up. I work with someone who constantly moans, shes visits her home country more than once a year, goes abroad for family holiday, Xmas market abroad, pays for her sons driving lessons, doesnt have to think about her food budget, sends her sons money when they ask. To me she has money, to her she doesnt.

Same but I don’t work now. Looking for part time job partly to find something to do.

DH works full time and I'm part-time with a top up from universal credit. It's really hard at the moment with the cost of everything. We try to keep outdoor time to parks and other low cost days out for the kids - with grandparents helping where they can.

Disheartening to read it's not much better on two full time wages. I don't know how you do that with the cost of childcare as it is for school wrap around hours. That's why I'm part time so I can do the school runs.

Exactly re school. DB luckily can collect his son from school most days but holiday club otherwise. Wife commutes for work so not much time to do drop off pick ups. Me and parents help out with school holidays looking after nephew. Wife can’t afford to be part time as she’s paying off mortgage.

I’m can’t afford to buy everything I want but I think that’s quite normal. I don’t expect to have everything just because I want it. If I need to cut back I do.

@MidnightMeltdown I know. It's a recruiters and employers world so they can say whatever they like. Even if it's "wrong".

At least there's time to hopefully save my pension 🫠

Bloody cheek. I’d go mad if a recruiter dared say that to me!

I’ve really started cutting back, shopping more in Aldi, not eating out, etc

Can’t save what I used to.

@HairyToity I find it depressing, this should be the years with more money before uni costs & I feel I have less then ever.

I don’t disagree but I’m not talking about buying caviar or a Range Rover. I’m saying for 2 people in England to work full time in decent paying jobs that questioning essentials
like food shopping and school uniform feels like something’s amiss. I think my parents had much more disposable income when I was younger yet my mum was part time and my dad on a less senior job than my husband is. But they could afford 3 holidays a year for us/ Florida , piano lessons 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

Most younger people have to stretch themselves to buy a house these days though ?

What’s decent though? We earn well (imo) , 140k between us, 2k mortgage, we budget really well too, save a min of 2.5k per month.

We are ok, biggest thing is not having to pay childcare as our kids are grown up. Things were hard when they were small though and we were stuck in a fixed mortgage deal at 5.85%for 5!years just before the rates crashed. Things are more expensive besides that though. We are about to clear our mortgage which will definitely help.

Not necessarily depends where you live my dd is 19 buying her first home with her 22 year old bf. Its a 2 bedroom starter home it needs modernising but it's a step on the ladder. They are both working full time and not stretching themselves at all. Sure they could of stretched themselves and bought a bigger, nicer home in a nicer area but they don't want their whole wages going on bills

I think on reflection from the posts it might be our age and position we are in. We are in our 30s. Did degrees, got professional jobs, had children relatively young, bought our first house at 24. I think for our age maybe we’ve done a lot and we don’t have any support of anyone to fall back on . We live in a modest house but the area is expensive. I guess we could move but that would mean me changing my job, moving kids school etc

Im sure in a few years it’ll get easier!

@Niftywigglesheep can you respond to posters asking how your DH commute has resulted in a £400 increase in petrol costs?

It seems rather unlikely…

We are potentially going to use a chunk of our savings to pay down our mortgage as it’s coming to an end next year and the interest rates will be much higher than our current rate. It will leave us with about 30k left to pay off once we’ve done that.

I find out if I’m being made redundant next week. I don’t bring in much but it covers the kids extra curriculars. How we manage us we live very frugally. Most food is Lifl and yellow ticketed. I cut my own hair and don’t dye it. One holiday a year in this country. All clothes bought from Vinted and charity shops. You get the idea.

we have zero debt outside of the mortgage so that helps a lot.